AN: Here's the new chapter! And *GASP!*, the plot makes an appearance!

And another character is introduced...More insight is at the [first ever] AN at the bottom of this chapter.

P.S: This chapter isn't up to par with others. And I had to whip out some techno-babble for the whole boat thing...


- -CHAPTER VI: WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR DEAD- -


"Wow, you can see a long ways away," Josh commented to the rest of the group.

Sammy nodded. "Yeah, you can see if anyone's coming towards you from quite a distance," she replied, agreeing with Josh.

"I think that we should stick to the beach," Dahhria told Nathan, who nodded.

"It seems like our best bet right now is to stick around the area of beach. Anywhere else is too dangerous and uncertain," he told everyone.

"If I knew we were coming here, I would have brought my bathing suit," Francine whined. "See, not even the monsters are out here to enjoy the ocean! It's only us!"

Nathan whipped his head to look at her, and stopped. "Can you repeat that again?"

"Um, repeat what again?" Francine asked him, a delicate eyebrow perked up.

"What you just said a few seconds ago," Nathan said, making a circling motion with his index and middle finger together, a sign for her to repeat what she'd just said.

"About the ocean? I said that, um, 'not even the monsters are out here to enjoy the ocean!'" Francine repeated, brow creased from how hard she was thinking.

"Exactly," said Nathan, nodding his head in approval.

"Oh, I see," Dahhria said. "Yeah, it's kind of odd how zombies aren't really around here at all…"

"Wait, you guys know what that means, right?" asked Josh, catching on.

"It means that the zombies are mostly avoiding this place for a reason," Nathan stated.

"Do they not like to swim or something?" Francine asked confusedly.

Nathan grinned at her and nodded his head at her. "Good job; that seems like the most likely reason for them not being around here, since it's so close to the water."

"Until they start roaming over here, this is probably the best place to set up a camp," Dahhria inputted, scanning the area.

"We should still follow the shore just in case; we'll stop to take a break here, for now," Nathan told everyone. The rest of the group let out a sigh of relief and set their things down, sitting on the sand to rest from all the running they did.

Things were starting to look up for them.

- -MAGIKARP OF THE DEAD- -

"Hey, I hear the shore!" Yuki-Rin told the group as they walked along in the forest.

"Shush!" Hydro chastied her, scowling at how loud she was.

As they walked a bit more, he heard the sound of crashing waves too.

"See," said Yuki-Rin smugly.

"Great job, Yuki-Rin!" Kazuma said, turning to look at his friend.

"Whatever," Hydro scoffed.

"Come on, lighten up," Teresa told Hydro, poking his arm playfully.

"Yeah. I don't know if you guys've thought of this, but if we get to the shore, you know what we can do?" Sunny told the others.

"Uh, swim?" Kazuma asked him.

"We can find boats," Sunny told them. "AKA, we can get off of here if we find some!"

"Genius!" cheered Yuki-Rin.

"Alright, that actually sounds like a plan," Hydro decided, nodding his head in approval. "We'll see if we can find any when we get out of these trees."

"Good thinking, Sunny," Teresa told him in a low voice, falling in step with him. She gave him a smile, and Sunny returned it whole-heartedly.

Hydro had seen the exchange and scowled. He whipped forward again and stalked the rest of the way out of the woods.

- - M. O. T. D- -

"We're doing great!" Taro told his group, turning his head momentarily to look at them.

They had to take a bit of a detour, dipping into the woods momentarily to avoid a large cluster of zombies. Taro didn't want any of them getting bit; he opted for them to veer away from the imminent danger that they traversed around.

"I can't believe we had to cut away!" Lessly said, huffing as she jogged with the rest of the group. "We were getting close to the exit!"

"Too bad!" Raven Rivers told the girl, she taking the flanking position at the very back. "That horde was too much for us to handle!"

"If we're on our guard, we'll be ready in a case when we're ambushed," Raven Castiel mentioned, turning his head around to tell the rest of the group that was following behind; he was currently in the position right behind Taro, somehow obtaining the status of the co-leader-level position in power while fighting zombies. "We won't have to worry about zombie attacks in here if we're careful."

"So, basically, cutting through the woods was the best option," Taro told the group.

It was, though the fear Taro had of them getting jumped in here was still large.

- -MAGIKARP OF THE DEAD- -

She had no idea where the hell she was; she'd gotten lost when she fled out of the camp.

She wasn't really counting on her friends making it, either; everyone got caught off- guard when the zombies had stricken that early morning. It seemed like ages ago, too.

Well, maybe that was because it was because a considerable amount of hours had passed since this morning.

"Out of all the scenarios, it had to be zombies," Rachel sighed, shaking her head.

- - M. O. T. D- -

"You've got to be kidding," Chase breathed, frustrated. He looked at the large clump of zombies in disgust and carefully walked back a few steps, turning around and making his way back into camp.

He almost ran straight into another zombie and was quick enough to bring up his weapon, blocking its jaw. He then shoved it away, getting it to dislodge itself from his bat.

The exit he'd went towards was too populated with the undead to surge his way through. If he'd been in a group, it'd be possible to do the task, but with just himself, there was no way he was going to get his way through it.

Chase jogged his way towards to the heart of Camp Magikarp.

As he re-entered the war zone of the camp, he quickly decided to take another exit that would lead out of the camp.

As he traversed his way through the camp, he noticed a strange spectacle.

There were two girls fighting back to back whilst in the middle of a horde of zombies. The red of their clothes was bright against the undead surrounding them and caught his eye.

The strange thing about it, though, was that their fluid movements made them seem like…they were dancing? Maybe it was just him, though.

But, what he knew was that these two women were doing quite well on their own.

It looked like it was easy for them, anyway.

He didn't dwell more than he just did on it, though. He just made his way straight towards the exit he'd chosen.

Maybe, if he'd noticed them before Hell itself broke loose, he'd have spoken to them. They seemed pretty cool.

- -MAGIKARP OF THE DEAD- -

~"Do the impossible.

A whirl of colors- of flowing hair, fluid movements, an air of determination, with the mixed mirage of the garments of the deceased—is what made up this little world of hers, where only she seemed to be the one that could utter a breath.

That was not true, however. She had someone else here who was fighting at her side.

The girl was fiercely determined as well and seemed to know that they must defeat the odds. The girl even had a battle cry, something the young woman who was originally on her own did not.

She kept up her dance. The other kept up her strife. Soon, though, they both intermingled, creating a wonderful deadly dance; the dance from the bringers of death and rebirth.

The other girl was dainty, yet strong and independent, with much style, poise, and grace.

Just like her.

The other girl sported raven-black tresses, like her, although the other girl's were longer and wavier. Though, to be honest, hers used to be long as well when she was younger.

Just like her.

The other girl wore eye-catching red, like her, and in the whirl of the intermingled dance, the blotches of red danced around each other, much more prettier a color than the disgusting rust of the dark, infected blood of the monsters.

The other girl would probably be able to wear that dark color, and others, and still be able to be presentable.

Just like her.

The other girl had her own thing, with what the Fedora hat and the matching belt, matching her accessories.

Just like her.

The other girl had a soft face and thin, elegant limbs and quick reflexes, being able to flick her delicate hands and spin her weapon around to block attacks and strike.

Just like her.

Even with the differences, the other girl was just like her.

When she finally realized this, Kamille smiled, her emerald-green covered lips curving upwards.

Kamille Melima finally found a partner, someone she could keep up with.

Someone that was just like her, yet different.

This was all Kamille needed, really; it gave her hope.

She flitted her gaze around the ring of lumbering buffoons that where her enemies. It seems that they were being kept at bay by the joined forces of the flighty broads, but not much damage was made.

Maybe this was all because of the improbable weapons that were currently in use to fulfill their deadly dance. Her partner's was a bright-string adorned rainstick.

And her own weapon? Why, it was her trusty hair straightener.

Honestly, she'd have liked to have used her lipstick, but, really now, that was an impossible feat.

So, her trusty hair straightener sufficed. The fact that she was straightening her hair before this hell began also reinforced the notion of it being a great weapon to use.

But…They had other weapons on hand that would do more damage to their adversaries.

Even though it pained her to propose an end to her performance, Kamille decided that one was necessary.

"Hello there, fellow one in strife. I am Kamille Melima," she started out, enunciating her words to make them sound clearer, careful to flit around and around with the other girl so that their stride wasn't broken. After all, doing this ensured coverage on each other's backs, and stopping would break that connection, causing them to get overpowered.

"I'm Adilla Merand!" The long-tressed Asian girl answered, not stopping in her expert twirling of her rainstick, the technique resembling that of a baton.

"May I suggest that we use our other weapons so that more damage can be dealt to these grimy undead? I am aware that our current weapons of choice to strife with are fine, but one can only do so much with a rainstick and a hair straightener," Kamille went on, flitting her gaze back, catching glimpses at the other girl.

Kamille went on, using up the time of silence between the both of them to slightly slacken the grip on her weapon, causing the cord of the appliance wrapped around her arm to shift and lengthening the amount of cord between the end of the appliance and her hand. The hair straightener whipped out, and with the acceleration of Kamille's petite-footed spin, it made a large half-arc, slamming into the heads of many of the zombies on her side of the circle that were in the front lines, the closest to her.

Kamille quickly jerked her hand back, predicting that the weapon would cause a whiplash that would cause some complications if kept unchecked. With the momentum of the object, it could make a full circle and hit either one of the fighters, restrain their movements, or circle fully around them, tangling them in the cord; such setbacks weren't good.

The hair straightener jerked back around, and both girls shifted to the side, keeping their in-synch circular formation, and Kamille caught a bit of cord close to the objects' end. She twirled the cord in a circle, flicking her wrist out to hit approaching targets with precision.

Adilla, meanwhile, was deftly twirling her rainstick around, taking jabs and blocking with it like a sword. If she was armed with an actual sword, she wouldn't be too shabby, but her technique was off; it was like she had handled a weapon that had a handle to grasp, before, but it had a different structure…

Kamille couldn't really explain Adilla's technique; it was fluid, yet firm at the same time.

Intriguing.

Did she know more than one weapon, or was she only versed in the ways of one specific weapon?

Kamille, of course, knew of her own technique, since, well, if was her technique. She just didn't know about Adilla's.

After a few seconds of silence, a reply from the wavy-haired girl came. "Yeah, I guess we can switch out our weapons! I'm a bit rusty, but it's fine! Can we finish them off with our cool improbable weapons, though?"

Kamille smiled. "Of course," she sufficed, and Adilla smiled brightly.

"Alright, when I say 'Now!', we get ready and use our other weapons!" Adilla supplied. "Ready…"

Both girls stepped so their backs where firmly against one another. Kamille adjusted her fashionable belt and Adilla adjusted her hat, making it tip slightly downward. They then slipped their hands down and grabbed a hold of their other weapons in their free hand.

The zombies surged at them, and time seemed to slow. The girls readied themselves…

"Now!"

…and then brought their weapons out, striking their adversaries and reinitiating the dance again, their pace increasing.

- - M. O. T. D- -

"Finally!" Yuki-Rin exclaimed as the group emerged from the forest. She ran towards the sand and fell to her knees, smoothing her arms over the shifting surface of the beachy ground.

"Nothing here," Sunny noted, confused.

"That's good, though, right?" asked Teresa, who was also looking around a lot.

"Yes, it is," Hydro inputted. "How about we—"

"Look, over there!" exclaimed Kazuma, who was a bit aways from the group, pointing off in a certain direction.

"What is it, Ka-Ma-ZuZuZuZuZuuu?" Yuki Rin asked from her spread- eagle position on the ground.

"Wait, those are boats!" Sunny exclaimed as he neared Kazuma's position.

"Let's go!" Hydro ordered as he jogged towards the indicated area, waving his arm to the rest of the group.

The rest of the group followed behind the extremely tanned boy.

"Woah, wha happened here?" Yuki-Rin exclaimed as they neared the area.

There were boats there, alright, but not in the expected condition that the thought of boats brought.

The boats where basically in a messy pile of sorts. Many of them where smashed together and there were parts that where thrown on top of one another. Other parts where strewn around the perimeter of the scene.

"Shipwreck," stated Hydro, feeling irritated as their hopes seemed dashed. With all the mess, it didn't look like there could be any boats that still worked to get them off of the island.

"Maybe we can still salvage something," Teresa offered.

"Yeah!" Yuki-Rin agreed. She quickly and carefully stepped over the debris and parts and made her way over to examine some of the boats. "I know my way around boats. If we can get a stable enough frame and if we can salvage some working parts of the electric or gas-using boats, like an outerboard or innerboard motor, then we can wire them together and possibly have enough devices to manufacture a new boat of our very own to escape the island!"

Yuki-Rin quickly went to work with finding parts, and Kazuma quickly jumped in to help. Teresa also went and helped, looking around at the outer perimeter of the wreck, carefully overturning pieces of the shells of some fishing boats.

Hydro decided to stay where he was; he really wasn't up for searching through the sand to find parts that he doesn't even know to handle. Besides, someone has to keep watch for zombies.

"Never knew she'd be tech-savvy," Hydro mused aloud, surprised that Yuki-Rin, such a brash and brazen girl, would know so much about the items required to create something as complicated as a working boat.

The tanned boy looked across the beach, scouting the area with his attentive eyes. The range of this area was large, and mostly clear and easy to see across; that is, until the area connected to the trees, and beyond that point, you couldn't see much.

Sunny had decided to look around a bit, too, until he got tired of always having to dig deep through bended metal and pieces of wood. He made his way next to Hydro, scanning the area as well.

"So, we've got someone who's good around the woods and someone who's good around boats. Looks like we've been pretty damn lucky," Sunny commented smugly, giving a side-glance to Hydro.

"Quiet," Hydro grumbled, crossing his arms, scruffing the sand with his foot.

"Getting us killed, huh? I'm surprised; you're a paranoid little bastard, Hydro," Sunny said casually after a minute, purposefully looking away, following the long trail that was made when the waves met the sand.

Hydro clenched his jaw tightly. "Look, just drop it, you pussy," he said through his teeth.

"No, Hyro, I won't drop it," Sunny said firmly, turning to look at his friend. "Acting bitter won't help us; they've helped us through this, and so far, they've been doing a great job."

"We didn't need anyone joining us! It just being us 3 would've been fine!" Hydro hissed vehemently, his fist, gripped tightly, shaking.

Sunny shook his head, sighing. "Look, man, right now's no time to be selfish. Hello, there's a zombie apocalypse happening right now! The survivors that can have to eventually join together; there won't be many of us left if we don't."

"Whatever," Hydro spat, turning to look at the progress the others were making.

"Hey, Yuki-Rin, what about these?" Kazuma asked as he indicated to a pile of parts next to him and also holding up a piece of an undistinguishable electronic part.

"Hm… I can't really tell. Hold on," Yuki-Rin responded, stepping over large splinters of wood to reach Kazuma. She stood by his side and gently took the boat part he had in her hands, examining it closely, turning it in her hands.

"Nope," she sighed, shaking her head. "You see, if this little propeller wasn't snapped," Yuki-Rin began, pointing at the propeller located in the lower unit of the device, "then it'd work perfectly; kinda sad, too, since this part seemed to be one of the ones that wasn't water-logged and ruined by the collision that caused the wreck. Without the propeller, though, there's little point to have this."

Curious, Hydro went to get an assessment of the problem, Sunny following him.

"And any of these other ones?" Sunny asked, curious, as he motioned to the pile on the ground and the ones in Teresa's arms.

"Uh, give me a few minutes," said Yuki-Rin as she took a sitting position next to the pile of parts on the floor. Teresa bent down and gently place her pile next to the large one that Kazuma had gathered.

- -MAGIKARP OF THE DEAD- -

Although, with their switch of weapons, not much had changed; their pace and their grace soon became constant.

They both seemed to not want to just finish through the zombies.

Eventually, though, they had their fun, and really got back down to business, going into the offensive instead of the defensive, as was the position they held through their battle.

They pressed on, only needing a few simple phrases to pass to confirm of the string of action to take, striking quickly and efficiently with their deadlier weapons.

Adilla, especially, was doing a great job with being creative with her kills. Her weapon was versatile, yet could easily be hindered in a situation like this with these type of adversaries; she found ways on how to make her weapon work, while still keeping up with the pace and flitting around.

Kamille was impressed with her resourcefulness.

Kamille, admittedly, wielded a deadlier weapon, but in all honesty, she wished she could wield something even deadlier. A chainsaw, perhaps? It was too bad that she didn't have the muscle conditioning for wielding a chainsaw.

Soon enough, they killed almost the entire horde, leaving the last kills for the use of their first weapons of choice.

A metal clack! and a serene sounding shhhhhh followed by a wood clunk! later, and the original horde was down and out.

"You are very skillful," Kamille said, impressed, as she kneeled down to wipe her weapons on a piece of clean clothing from a dead zombie.

"Thanks, Kamille! You too!" Adilla exclaimed as she cleaned her own weapons on the clothes of a dead zombie as well.

"I suggest we stick together. We'd make a very dangerous pair," Kamille said, and stuck out her hand towards Adilla, her lips quirking up to a grin.

The Fedora-wearing girl blinked, looking down at the extended hand, and with a bright smile took it and shook it.

"Partners, for sure!" she exclaimed.

The two girls stood up, smiling at each other, and then went off to garner some packs with food and water.

After that, with little preamble, the two classy, similar teens went off towards the trees, knowing that they'd do just fine.

They were the motherfucking coolest classy broads, after all.

- - M. O. T. D- -

Yuki-Rin sighed. "There's not much here to work with, all things considered. The problem is that, well, we'll need tools to help put all these things together to even make something worthwhile…," Yuki-Rin said, saying the last statement sheepishly.

Sunny sighed. "So, nothing?"

"Greeeaaaat," Hydro said sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm not even sure if it's safe enough ta go back into camp and get any supplies to build this!" Yuki-Rin snapped. "Besides, not many bases are intact to use; no base, no boat."

"Well then… What about looking through the Magikarp Express?" Teressa asked. "It should have working spare parts and such, and even supplies, shouldn't it? Maybe the controls to it still work and we can take it!"

"Yeah, it should. But if this says anything," Yuki-Rin said, gesturing to the almost unrecognizable mass that used to be the Magikarp Express, it being tipped to it's side, horribly bent and pierced by metal boats, "then there isn't much hope that the parts could be spared. Maybe some of the packaged food, though, if it hasn't gone bad or was opened on the boat during the crash."

"It's better, though, to save the biggest place to explore for last, right?" Kazuma piped up.

"What I'd want to know, though, is why there's so many boats here! I mean, our camp certainly has canoes and stuff and the Magikarp Express, but not these many smaller boats," Sunny mentions.

"That's easy," Hydro scoffed. "People obviously came here boat."

"Wait, but why? Unless… Everywhere else is the same," Teresa said, the revelation chilling everyone.

"Then that'd explain how there's so many boats; those that could fled here by boat from the mainland," Sunny said.

"Also, that would be the most probable reason for zombies suddenly showing up here. And how there's a lot of unfamiliar faces in their ranks. I mean, there's even little kid zombies," Teresa added, shuddering at her last statement.

"Waitwaitwait- How could zombies get here, though? If people fled to the ocean, then that means that it was one of the safest options they had, right? If we take into account some of the theories out there, the zombies can't swim or can swim, but not for very long. How'd the zombies survive enough to get here, then?" Kazuma asked, brow furrowed.

"Well, it could be that the passengers were infected," Hydro murmured, his chin in his hand.

"Yes; and if they so happened to not turn until they where close to the shore, then no one would be directing the boat. So, the boats would crash into the canoes and stuff that're docked here," Yuki-Rin said, crossing her arms and nodding her head in contempt with her theory.

"Yeah, that doesn't cover all the bases, though; some of the survivors must have survived until they reached land, turned, attacked the other survivors, and then came to the camp," Sunny supplied.

"Yeah- Or, how about this? They escaped on the boats. Some people got here first, docked their boats, and then set up camp nearby. More people kept on coming, but maybe they couldn't see since it was nighttime when they arrived, and so they crashed into some of the other boats. Maybe they'd been infected and turned by then, too! And then someone from the mainland stole the Magikarp Express, followed, like, a map or something that was in the captain's cabin, and got here! Something happened and the Magikarp Express crashed and flipped over! So, there were zombies here and they eventually found their way to the actual camp. There," Kazuma said, laying out his entire theory out on the table.

"Woah, that's a good one!" Yuki-Rin exclaimed, congratulating Kazuma on the job well done.

"So, basically, the whole world's screwed," Hydro quickly said with finality. "Now, all we have to worry about right now is about this mess right here and not getting infected or dieing from zombies."

The rest of the group stayed silent from Hydro's brazen comment.

"Alright, then… I guess we should go look through the remains of the Magikarp Express, huh?" Kazuma asked then, and stepped his way around the debris towards the large ship.

"Hey, you're gonna need me to help ya!" Yuki-Rin exclaimed, following Kazuma, grabbing and holding on to the back of his shirt.

Hydro gave a huffy sigh. "Jesus fucking Christ," and he went off and followed the pair, with Teresa and Sunny just behind him.

Maybe they'll get more answers soon…

- -MAGIKARP OF THE DEAD- -

"I…I think I should just sit up in a tree," Hana announced to the group.

"Wait, why?" asked Alex in surprise, looking up from looking through his bag on his position on the ground. He had done fairly well so far about his twin brother's death; he was probably keeping it bottled in, which wasn't healthy at all, but for him it probably beat thinking about it.

"Yes, why?" asked Kari curiously, puzzled as to why the young-looking girl would want to do such a thing.

"Well…" Hana started off nervously, not liking the attention that she was getting from the others. "It's…I, um, actually thought you'd hear about by now, to be honest…"

It seemed to instantly click in Avrey's head. "Oh yeah…"

"Can someone please explain?" asked Alex, who was rubbing his head from the strain his brain was taking with trying to figure out what the heck Hana was talking about.

"I'm narcoleptic," Hana elaborated. Alex still looked confused, but everyone else figured it out.

"It means that she sometimes falls asleep for no reason and can't control it," Robyn elaborated to Alex, using the most simple terms she could use on the thick-headed boy.

"Ohhhhh," said Alex, who nodded. "Okay."

"So, if I fall asleep suddenly, it'd take too much time and effort to move me around. I think it would be for the benefit of all of us if I stayed up in a tree so that I don't weigh us down for my uselessness when my narcolepsy acts up," Hana elaborated.

Kari frowned. "But, you'd be left out of our group; it'd feel as if we were shunning you."

"And what about when we eat meals? You're not able to eat if you're asleep," Robyn inputted.

Hana just sighed and shook her head. "See? This is why it'd be better if I were apart from you guys," she said. "I'd be too much of a nuisance."

"But you're not!" Alex inputted, flaring up.

"I think it's best for her to decide what to do about this," Avrey said, giving a quick sigh.

"Yes, and I think that being up in a tree would be the best choice," Hana said. "And I'm used to skipping meals because of my strange sleep cycle," Hana added quickly.

"But what if you fall from the tree?" Mallory asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Geeze, you're pessime- pessimescs," Alex started to say, but couldn't pronounce the certain word correctly.

"Pessimistic?" Robyn inputted, helping him.

"Yeah, that!" Alex said, snapping his fingers.

"It's not as pessimistic sounding as the scenario that could happen if I stay right with you guys," Hana said, sighing solemnly.

"What do you mean?" Kari asked, frowning at Hana.

Hana smiled a bitter smile. "If zombies just so happen to come across us while I'm out like a light, it'd take too much effort to carry me to safety. I don't want anyone to die trying to save me."

She then spun on her heel and walked away to find a suitable enough tree to make camp at. On the way from leaving, she grabbed a small bag that had her share of food and her lucky branch.

The rest of the group just looked at her retreating back. All of them had more or less been thinking the same thing as her, but the fact that she herself actually put her handicap in spoken words made the situation seem even more hopeless for her survival in all this.

- - M. O. T. D- -

They were getting to their wits' end.

"'Ey, Eiji?" Zuriel asked behind him as he quickly reloaded the last of the ammo he had on him into his gun.

"Yes?" the Asian man asked back.

"You also have a feeling that we're pretty much done for and that we've done what we could?" Zuriel asked him as he took a few shots.

"Yes, to be quite frank," Eiji responded tiredly.

"Well, we did our duty; protect the campers," Zuriel said, a smile flitting on his face.

"Are you going to suggest, now, that we go out with a smile?" Eiji asked the man.

"Nope. We're going to go out knowing that we did somethin' for the greater good," said Zuriel simply, and Eiji turned to smile at him.

"Yes. I was going to suggest that, actually," Eiji replied.

Zuriel fired the last of his shots, and then raised his fists up in a ready position. "I'll take the lead, now. You've done enough fist-fighting."

- -MAGIKARP OF THE DEAD- -

Hana found a tree that looked manageable enough to climb and climbed up it, straining with carrying up both her branch and her bag of food. After hopping down from her first attempt, where she only reached the first three branches, she put the bag in her mouth and began to climb again. She managed to get up to a height she thought was safe enough; not too high, nor too low, to avoid obvious problems like of falling and breaking some bones or of zombies trying to claw up the tree to bite her.

She got as comfortable as she could and looked off in front of her. She had a spectacular view of the mountains, and they looked nice. Nice and calm.

This was one of an abundant number of times that she wished she had her sketchbook with her.

Really, she wanted to capture the serenity and safety that the mountains seemed to give off. They seemed to be like the only place that was left untouched by the zombies in this damn zombie apocalypse.

Hana closed her eyes for a bit and imagined that she was back to a time when everything seemed normal in Camp Magikarp. Where the chaos was of the more of the fun and adventurous variety and not one made by pure terror and of wanting to not die painfully.

As she thought back to those types of fun times in Camp Magikarp, a smile grazed her features; the first smile she made since the start of all this hell.

And with that serene look on her face, the blonde girl dozed off.

With the beautiful surroundings around her, her stature, and her smile, she looked like a little porcelain doll; one that was in the middle of the eye of the storm that tore through the island almost piece by piece.

She was in a temporary time of peacefulness.

- - M. O. T. D- -

The continuous shots that had been so common- comforting, even- had ceased.

Everyone noticed the silence right away; it was deafening to the ears.

…A few minutes passed.

And then a large, gutteral roar, one that could only be made by a large, congregated group of zombies, was made.

It was fairly clear that the two teachers that had fought so hard for them to survive where alive no more.

And, yet, many could not shed even a tear; they were numb from all that they've seen.

One person, though, couldn't help but stop and stare towards the camp.

"Nathan?" Dahhria asked curiously when the man stopped. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Nathan said quickly, blinking back moisture. He turned back to face the front and kept on moving forward.

…For his companion, he must move forward.


- -CHAPTER VI: WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR DEAD. END- -

- -"I wanted a minute to myself, to mourn for him. But, if I did that, then the group would get worried. I'm their leader; I must be a stone wall, for their sakes. I also couldn't look suspicious to them…"- -


Another AN: Hehe, whoops. I was gonna make Adilla save someone else…Someone that I'd just casually grab from Camp Kabutops. But, then, my internet had cut off, since every time someone calls, the internet cuts off to my laptop. Anyway, I was just sitting there, wondering how I was gonna write out Adilla's rescue and stuff, when, suddenly, a new OC pops into my head! I started typing the scene out, not wanting the idea to escape, and suddenly I loved the section a lot and added it in there.

So, meet Kamille Melina! She and Adilla will make a great team, no? I mean, who wouldn't think so? One of them loves Indiana Jones and tried to fight a horde of zombies with just a rainstick, and the other wielded a hair straightener against a horde of zombies, wanted to use a chainsaw, of all things, despite her appearance, and is fashionable. Flighty broads= HELL YES

And the only group with more coverage than Adilla and Kamille was the one that found the wrecked boats, which is pretty important. WOOPSIE

I blame the cool music I was playing on-loop for their section; it was pretty fucking intense!