Chapter 9: iMeet Old Friends

Shelby's POV

"Of course we look alike, Sam. She's my sister."

Everyone looked at me like I just said the N word. Except Spencer, who was driving, and Tori who was laughing her ass off in Hollywood.

This should be interesting.

Then everyone said the same thing, same time, same volume, scaring the pee out of Spencer. "YOU'RE WHAT?!"

I walked around to the laptop and waved with a small smile. "Hey, sistah sistah."

"I thought that was Trina's thing?" Cat asked.

I shook my head. "Nope. Trina adopted it after I left to help Tori cope. It stuck."

Jade spoke up, who, by the way, when I said everyone, same time, same volume, I meant EVERYONE. Even Tori's gang in LA. "So, wait, how come I never saw you? Vega and I've been together for the last 5 years."

I smirked. "Oh, but you have, Jadey-" "DON'T!" "-You just didn't know it. Tori and I body swapped quite often. Y'Ever notice those days Tori wore long shirts when it was blisteringly hot out?" She nodded. "That was me. I..." I arrogantly flexed my right arm, showing off how much more pronounced I was than Tor-Tor. "...Am a lot beefier than Tori over there. I had to hide it. I'm amazed you never noticed, there're other key differences. I have a small scar..." I bent down momentarily before Sam stopped me. "Uh, Shelby? You're only wearing a towel, maybe y'oughta change before you-"

She was interupted by falling into me. AS if to prove her point, the towel came undone. No one saw anything, but it did.

"Spencer, what the hell!" Sam shouted, glaring his way.

"Sorry Sam! It was that or hit a pack of dogs." He replied.

"Oh. Carry on." She helped me up, while I secured the towel. "Be back in a sec."

Couple minutes later and I am dressed; I didn't have any clothes but the blood-stained ones from before. Luckily, Sam's about my size. So I now had a black tanktop under a red, white and black plaid shirt, cargo pants and combat boots, a style Sam seems to have adopted from Jade. "Sorry for almost flashing everyone." I said as I pulled my hair back.

"You should be. Only Vega's tits I wanna see are Tori's." Jade said, getting a smack from Tori.

"Sorry. Anyways..." I squeezed in next to Sam. "...I have a scar right here..." I pointed above my right eyebrow. "...And here." Bridge of my nose. "I didn't even cover them to see if you guys'd bring it up. Then there's the fact that I'm about 2 cup sized bigger than Tori..." I said with a grin. Tori was a high B-Cup, I was a low Double-D. Tori blushed profusely and fed me a glare that Jade would musta been proud of. "I also have a slightly, JUST BARELY lower-pitched voice than Tori's, and I'm 3 inches taller than her. She's five-six, I'm five-nine."

Jade just shook her head. "I prided myself on being a good actress and a better judge of character. How did I NOT see that?"

I just shrugged. "It happens. I make a good Tori. Though, if I'm being honest, I think Beck suspected something." Jade's eye twitched. "I caught him staring at "Tori's" chest more than once." She growled.

"BECK!" "Jade, wait- Oh, for... I'll go calm her down. Stay connected and keep someone near-by at all times." Tori said. We all nodded, and it was good timing, too.

"Hey, guys!" Spencer shouted as he stopped the RV. "Check it out."

Carly's POV

"Wha- Oh, my fucking God." Sam's eyes went wide. "... What? I curse. Sue me. I can't believe the redneck strip mall is un-looted!"

Now, you might be asking, what's the "Redneck Strip Mall?" It's actually the West Seattle Strip Mall, but considering the stores, we consider it a redneck strip mall. It's got a gun shop, a liquor store, a XXX store, a barbecue restaurant, a SkyBucks, a walk-in-only Inside Out Burger, a HoagiePath and a walk-in clinic, all right next to each other.

"This is great!" Sam exclaimed. "We can get some guns, booze, food and meds all in one go."

"Wow, not worried about the sex shop, Sam?" Shelby quipped with a grin.

"Bite me."

"Alright, alright, calm down, everyone." Spencer interjected. Here's what we'll do. Carly and Sam, I want you to get what you can from the liquor store, the Restaurant and the SkyBucks. Freddie, I want you to get stuff from the Inside Out Burger and HoagiePath, whatever you can, things we can freeze or refrigerate. I'll get guns and meds. We meet back here in one hour. Everyone grab a bag and move out."

Spencer didn't wait for a reply, he grabbed a dufflebag and took off. We all did the same while Cat and Shelby waited with the Laptop.

A 30 second walk and careful watching later...

W got to our spots and nodded. "Okay, Sam, go to the liquor store and get what you can. Snacks, booze, soda, whatever. But, only get things in plastic bottles or cans. We don't wanna risk the glass breaking. I'll go to the SkyBucks, look for coffee, uncooked foods and the like, and we'll both meet up at barbecue place in 20."

Sam nodded, and before I could turn, she stopped me by grabbing my arm and pulling me into a very pasionate kiss. Almost desperate. "Please be safe, Cupcake?" I smiled and nodded, assuring her I will.

"Of course. If I get into trouble, I'll yell for you. I love you." I gave her one more kiss before heading off to the SkyBucks."

"I love you too, Cupcake." I hear from behind me, and it makes me smile. I never thought I'd be dating Sam, let alone married to her.

I'm more ga-ga for her than I was for Steven, I just haven't gotten to try out Carly Puckett in various fonts yet.

A couple minutes later, I've got my gun at the ready and step into the SkyBucks. I quickly get the flashlight headband we found back at the arena and put it on to light the way. Aiming around, I checked for threats before nodding. "Looks clear..."

After that, I opt to use my machete to be quieter. I'm amazed the coffee machines are still running, but that makes me wonder, why weren't the lights on?

Heading into the kitchen, I found out why. Powers beginning to go out. The coffee machines are on a back up generator, separate from the lights. The generator for the lights, however, is out of fuel.

I waste no time getting anything edible; donuts, treats, anything that can be eaten. Unfotunately, that aint a whole helluva lot. After dropping off the full dufflebag, I let Cat and Shelby know that the coffee machines are working. For now.

"Oh, cool. I could certainly use some. Cat?" Cat nodded greatfully, before a voice came over the laptop. "Is it possible to send coffee through e-mail? The powers out all over LA and there's no hot coffee anywhere. At least not the good stuff from JetBrew."

"Don't you just take it black with sugar anyhow?" Shelby asked.

"Used to, then Tori got me hooked on Mochas. She decided to combine my love of chocolate and coffee."

I laughed. "Well, hold out longer, I grabbed one of those single serve machines aswell as a buttload of flavored coffees. You'll have your mochas."

Jade's jaw dropped. "...Do you think our better halves would be made if I kissed you? Full on the lips?"

"Yes, I would." we heard at the same time. Turns out Sam was dropping off her bag while Tori came back from, as I was told, the washroom.

We all laughed before Jade spoke up again. "The cheek?"

"Jesus, West, when'd you become such a softie?" Sam asked with a Jadeish smirk.

"Since I asked out Sweet Sally Peaches over here." Jade replied in her Tori voice, as I was told a couple times.

"I don't talk like that! You've been married to me for three years and I STILL sound like a 1940s damsel?"

Jade's reply was simple. "Yes."

"C'Mon, Cupcake. Ribs and steaks await." We walked out with an empty bag each to go to the Barbqcue place. But we stopped when I looked to my left. There was a shopping cart filled with AT LEAST 20 cases of Bill's Hardcore Lemonade, both the standard lemponade and the black cherry lemonade.

"Sam?"

"You know me and coolers! I didn't use the dufflebag, give me some credit!" I just laughed and took her hand as we headed to Wild Mark's Western Style Barbqcue.

Sam's POV, same time as Carly.

I sighed as I cocked my UMP and turned on it's flashlight mod. Looking around, there was nothing obvious in the place, since it was small, a couple rows of booze and some fridges with stuff in them.

Little known fact, as touch as I am, I'm a sucker for wine coolers, especially Bill's Hardcore Lemonade. ESPECIALLY especially the black cherry one. So to heck with Carly's orders. I grabbed a shopping cart and loaded it up. They also had the cranberry and lime ones, but I hate those ones. I pushed the cart over by the door and loaded it up. I knew only some of this would be used for drinking, so, un-seen to everyone, I brought to bags, a black one and a red and black one. The red and black one, I filled with the shittiest, cheapest booze I could find; that'd be for medical purposes.

The black one got the good stuff; Dacarby Whiskey, Captain Vinkov's Vodka, Sailor Jimmy's Spiced Rum, all that stuff. All the plastic mickey or two-six bottles. The 40s were glass, so there were a no-go. I also loaded up about three dozen six-packs. Remember I said these dufflebags were huge? They're HUGE. I can fit 10 mickeys of each, aswell as 5 two-sixes, of each, and then have room for about sixteen six-packs of whatever, and I chose Pilweiser, since we all like it.

Then I returned, not interrupting Shelby and Cat's conversation with Tori and Jade, and grabbed another bag, this one solely for soda and snacks. Lotta Peppi Cola, Mocha Cola, Dr. Fizz and Rawrz Root Beer. Then just some New Hutch potato chips of various flavors.

It was this return trip that I found Carly conversing with the girls. And I heard Jade's question. Right on time with Tori, I uttered, "Yes, I would."

We stayed and chatted for a bit before heading for Wild Mark's Western Style Barbecue. Then Carly interrogated me about the cart.

Freddie's POV, same time as the girls

Walking into Inside Out burger was surprising. It was dark, which confused me; people surely came to work today, it was only a Wednesday. I grabbed out my flashlight and flicked it on, which was a terrible idea. "Shit!"

They were silent, which surprised me, but there they were; two zo- Walkers, as Sam insists we use, standing over the remains of an Inside Out Burger employee. They started towards me. Now I had a dilemma. Risk getting close without stealth, or risk alerting more by firing my gun?

I didn't need to think long before the first one grabbed at me. It grabbed both arms, so I was unable to lift them, so I did the next best thing; I headbutted it. When I felt it's face cave in a bit, I was surprised, but recalled it would be due to them being walking corpses, their brain stems are the only things functioning. Their bones would be weak.

Still, it did hurt, and I had zombie blood heading for my eye, which I KNOW would cause me to turn. I quickly wiped the blood away and swung the flashlight. It hit the Walker with a sickening thunk before it dropped dead. This was one of those hefty police-style flashlights, so it works as an effective club, too. I repeated this with the other one, and my head dropped when I realized who it was; Wendy. I didn't notice the long red hair, n ow in shambles, until after. The bite on her neck told me how it happened, though. Then it clicked. I looked behind me and sure enough, the other zombie was Jonah. Jonah got pretty popular the last few months of school and maintained it as time went on, eventually dating Wendy. They musta been here when it all went to shit and got bit.

I know that rhymed, shut up.

I sighed and headed for the kitchen. Jackpot. Un-opened fresh veggies, frozen burgers, chicken strips, all that stuff. I started loading my bag and 15 minutes later, I was finished and ready to head for HoagiePath, still with room.

Same thing again.

The food, not the friends-turned-Walkers. Veggies, chicken breasts, eggs, all that stuff. It took a bit of effort to walk back to the RV, the frozen shit was heavy. But I did it. "Hey, girls. Tori, Jade."

"Hey Fred." "Hey baby!" Hey Freddie!" "'Sup, dork?"

I smirked at Jade's reply before setting my bag down. "You guys mind getting this stuff in the right places? Buncha veggies and frozen meat. I need to go shower, I domed a Walker with my friggin' head and it's killing me, pplus I have zombie juice-" Tori and Cat's gags stopped me. "Sorry. I just... I'm.. .Gonna go shower now."

Whoops. Forgot Cat, and apparently Tori, is still a tad squeamish.

Spencer's POV, do I NEED to specify the time?

I had... A dilemma. Guns or meds? Meds or guns? Which do I wanna be sure to get, just in case shit hits the fan?

I eventually opted for meds, since we didn't have too many of those. I went into darkness, which isn't shocking. It's a walk-in clinic, it closed at 4 PM, we've been out and about since 5 PM, and it's 10 PM now.

Turning on my flashlight, I was... Genuinely surprised nothing was off in here. So I quickly got to work, but unfotunately, again, walk-in clinic. There wasn't much in the way of meds.

Luckily, there WAS at the pharmacy on the way out of town, next door to the Seattle PD.

Heading out, since nothing went wrong, I used the moonlight to guide myself to the gunshop.

I was disheartened and worried to find the door unlocked. This place closes at 4 PM aswell, city regulations. That means someone picked the... No, they shot the lock. That means someone with a gun might be in there.

I took my rifle off my back and switched to the headlight I had clipped to my hat.

Yes I was wearing a hat, I like to keep my head warm sometimes, alright?

Surprisingly, there was nothing changed in here. But I also knew there was a walk-in safe upstairs, where a lot of the good stuff was kept.

By good stuff, I mean illegal. This guy was one of the guys I'd tell Carly to avoid. Up in that safe, I knew for a fact that he had AK-47's, frag grenades, flashbangs, basically stuff you'd need a contact in the army to get.

Then I heard a crash and someone cursing. Whoever shot the lock was still here. I cocked the gun and silently made my way upstairs. It surprised me that I was being silent, whereas the guyupstairs was noisy as crap.

Finally I turned the knob and peered in. The stranger was loading a book cart from the library down the street full of guns. Sorry, pal, we need those.

I silently made my way to him, before pressing the barrel to the back of his head. "Don't move. Drop the gun and turn around slowly.

Then I was shocked when I heard his voice.

"...Spencer? Is that you?"

I blinked one before pulling the gun back, gently turning the guy around, to reveal... "Gibby? Oh, man, I almost shot you! What're you doing here?"

He looked to the guns and nodded. "Getting some protection. And maybe I can use some of this stuff to bribe anyone that wants to kill me." Oh, poor, naive Gibby. "I went to your place when this started, but no one was there. I figured I may aswell get some stuff and get outta town." He pointed down to the humvee he had down behind the gun shop, chock full of weapons from the safe. "I was gonna leave after this one."

"Why don't you stick with us?"

"Us? Carly's alive?" He looked hopeful.

"Yeah, so're Freddie, Sam, Cat, and we even found an old friend. You remember Shelby Marx, right?" He nodded. "Remember Tori Vega? That girl who Carly's ex, Steven, was cheating on her with?" Again he nodded.

"We're heading for Vegas to get Sam's sister, and then we're heading for LA."

"Cool, I'm in. I can take the Humvee and follow you guys." He said.

"Yeah, sure. I'll drive it, you ride with me. Same can drive the RV and we can keep in touch with radios."

We finished up here and headed back to the RV. "Hey, Shelby! Cat! I found a stray!"

"Shhhhh!" They both said... Or.. Did... Whatever. They came out and Cat, who'd gotten close to Gibby, saying he reminds her of a less insane version of her brother, hopped the last step and engulfed Gibby in a bear hug.

"Whoa, hey there, Cat. Hi, Shelby." He said, patting Cat gently on the back.

"Hey, Gib." Shelby hugged him aswell.

"So, listen, Gibby..." I pulled a walkie from his Humvee and handed it to Shelby. "...Wanted me to give you this. We're going to go to the Seattle PD to see if we can get some more guns. You can never have too many guns in this situation." They nodded in agreement.

"But what'll we tell Sam and Carly?" Cat asked, with a wqorried expression.

"Tell them the truth. We'll only be about a mile away."

She nodded in understanding and hugged us both before we hopped in the RV. "Tune it to Channel 20. If you pick up ANYTHING abnormal, switch it to Channel 5 and hit call. I know for a fact that 20 connects with 5, 10 and 15. It'll be more on the staticy side, so just tell us to switch to the channel."

They nodded and waved as we pulled away. Somehow, I feel like we're gonna be fine.

Shelby's POV

"... So then I socked in her mouth so hard she was talking like a braindead chicken."

Jade laughed over the laptop. It was nice getting to know the sister-in-law I didn't know I had. It'll be better in person.

"What'd she say after the fight?"

"She said insert braindead chicken speak here. No, once they got her jaw in place so she could speak somewhat, she told me if it was the last thing she ever did, she'd get me back. UNFOTUNATELY she did. She cheated though, her gloves had a metal plate in them, so when she punched me that one time, it looked like she OHKOd me faster than a Raichu against a Wingull." I said.

"Nerd."

"You know it!"

Finally, I heard the dreaded sound I was worried about. My cell beeped to alert me service was lost. That means cell towers are powering done.

"Shit, Jade, get Tori. It's time to say good-bye."

She nodded and headed off to find her wife, just as Carly and Sam came in with dufflebags of frozen food. Sam met Freddie and went to the buses second floor to get the meats in the deep freeze while Carly slid in next to me.

"I'm surprised things are disconnecting there before here." Tori said.

"I'm not. LA's got a much bigger power grid than Seattle. It takes longer to shut down in LA." I replied.

We said our good-byes, but before we shut the laptop down...

"What're you doing, Shel?" Carly asked when she saw me open Zaplook.

I didn't answer, opting instead for a request. "Get Freddie's portable printer set up."

She did and within 5 minutes, I was printing out pages that gave the directions from here to the Lucky 83 Casino. "We'll need these to help Melanie. I just hope she's held out so far. We can't contact her now, either."

Carly nodded but she had a determined look on her face. "She's fine. I feel like I inherited some of her twin telepathy when we first made love. Somehow, I can just... Sense she's fine."

I nodded in agreement. "I feel it too. Maybe my own twin telepathy is overlapping."

"What's this about twin telepathy?" Speak of the angel's twin devil.

"We were just talking about how we can sense your sister's alive." Carly said, after receiving a kiss from Sam.

"She better be. I'll beat her up in the afterlife if she's dead."

Then Carly asked the question I was waiting for. "Uh... Shel? Where's Spencer?"

"I was wondering when you'd ask. He found Gibby." He face perked up, and I swear I heard Sam mutter "Aw, dammit." "They went to the Seattle PD. So if we're done looting the RNSM, we can go. Sam, can you drive?"

She nodded. "Got my car license in LA. I mean, this isn't a CAR, but it's not much different, right?"

"Wait, how the heck did you get a motorcycle license if you didn't have a standard driver's license?" Carly asked what I was thinking.

"I... May or may not have actually HAD a license. For either." Carly responded by flicking Sam in the forehead. "Ow! That hurt!"

"Good. You're a dumbass. Luckily, you're my dumbass."

"Okay, if you're gonna do the PDA thing, I'll drive."

The words were barely out of my mouth before the raced to the second floor, where their cot was.

I shook my head as I slid in the driver's seat and took off.

We saw Spencer and Gibby standing by the Humvee talk- Well, I saw them, Cat was upstairs sorting through expired canned food and Freddie was cleaning the guns.

We all know what the married couple were doing.

I headed outside, grabbing my jacket on the way. It's 10:45 PM, it's frickin' cold. I headed toward where the three, yes, three, men were standing in a lantern's light. "Hey, Spencer, Gibby. Who's your friend?"

"Oh, hey Shelby. This is Officer Carl. I may have accidentally made a neon sign that malfunctioned to say "Pee on Carl" instead of "Please Visit ."

"... I don't wanna know. You coming with us, Officer?"

"Just Carl's fine. Yeah. I kinda have nowhere else to go, so, we opted to stick together." he replied.

"Cool. That makes eight. We ready to go, then?"

"Sure are. Carl's gonna drive the Humvee, Gibby and I are gonna get some shut-eye. Just use the walkie to alert him when you need to pull over and switch." Spencer told me.

"Pff. Pull over... As long as someone has the steering wheel, I can switch and drive."

I walked off before anyone had a chance to bitch. I did hear Spencer say "The world kinda ended, Carl. Can't really enforce traffic laws when there is no traffic anymore.

Damn right, Spence. Damn right.

We're comin' Melanie. Hold on. You'll see Sam soon. I promise you that much.

Fabulous Las Vegas, here we come.

Whoo. Longest chapter yet. I've decided for this, and the sequel to Brighter Side of Tragedy that each Chapter has a minimum of 4000 words. No more tiny-ass chapters.

'Cept smut. I can only embarrass myself for so many words.

Fun fact, not counting this Author's Note and the Title of the story, this chapter has 4000 words on the nose. That being said...

Don't forget to review!

'Til next time. :)