A/N: I have my own internet, and my laptop was rendered useless since I was overthrown with family dinners and turkey after turkey. My neighbours are home now, so now there is internet, and chapter 10. Also, note that some of the dialog looks like it's supposed to be an accent, but it really isn't, the characters are pretty inebriated at this point. Except Ellis is supposed to talk that way.

Also, a VERY late MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEARS to you all. :D

Chapter Ten: Makeup and Magnums

"Girls night? Niice!" Bandit giggled as she picked up her blankets and weapons, "In the Gym?"

"Yeah." Ro smiled as she gathered her things, "I'm serious, no boys allowed. Okay Ellis?"

"Yeah I heard ya..." Ellis smiled softly at Kay as she picked up her blanket and gave a small wave as she followed the rest of the girls through the change room. I grabbed the last bottle of dark rum and gave a small wave to the rest of the group, who just looked a little confused that the girls weren't going to be around for a night. "G'night girls...man, what ya'll wanna do then?"

"Good question, let's play some poker while we decide." Nick suggested dryly as he picked up the deck of cards and watched as the door behind me closed. I entered the Gym and found that it looked empty, but I heard some muffled conversation. Looking around, I found that the girls had found a weird room-like thing under the bleachers, complete with walls and a door.

"Interesting spot to pick out..." I commented. It was quite obvious that the janitor didn't go in there at all, there was sleeping bags, bean bags, blankets and Christmas lights dangling around with small little ornaments that reflected the coloured light around; pretty obvious that students made it their 'secret hide-away'. Jude flopped on a futon that was in the corner as the other girls found a comfy spot on some blankets or what not.

"Hey...let's...uh..." Jude was dazed over something, "Wait what?"

"Dude, you're really drunk." I giggled a little at her expression of being totally confused, but totally okay with it. "I think...I think we all are."

"Gee, really?" Ro giggled. "Okay girls! Spill it!"

"Noo! I like the alcohol, I don't wanna spill it...that's a waste..." Kay frowned as she stared bleakly at her emptying cup, but gave an absent smirk within the few moments. "Oh...oh wait, I just got what you meant."

"Leo...he's okay..." Jude grinned a little staring at us, gauging how interested we were. "Do you wanna hear all of it, or just the boring basics?"

"Maybe...maybe not all of it...but...enough to- umm..." I shook my head, trying to understand what I wanted to talk about. A series of giggles followed my drunken words. "Just...go for it. What happened why you disappeared for...uh...that long?"

"Hehehe...well, I was only supposed ta ask him out...but y'know me..." Jude looked at her friends who just nodded with small giggles. "It didn't quite stop with the 'hey, wanna go out?' bit...kinda took it to the office across the hall and...y'know...I mean, I would spill it all, but you guys are little pussies when it comes to this stuff you beg ta hear."

"Well..." Kay giggled as she took a good long gulp from her glass as she looked at Jude again. "I guess we can take the 14A version or something..."

"Okay well, I was gonna tell ya anyways. So we were making out, right, and then we ended up in the office thing 'cross the hall and yeah, we were on the desk. MY GOD IT WAS HOT!" Jude was either blushing, or it was the Christmas lights. "I mean...who hasn't wondered what it'd be like to make out on a principal's desk! No I'm totally joking, I never thought of that before today...but yeah...he's a good...uh...kisser for a geek."

"What about...his other features?" Bandit giggled as she worded her question. Jude held her hands a certain distance away from each other as she grinned. "Oh my god...that's...wait I think that's what I asked...I'm not sure."

"Well, yeah...it was pretty good if you want the truth. And you know how I feel about sex, dude...it's all about that for me...hehe...penis..." Jude giggled as she and Bandit started to laugh instead, probably remembering something else. "Yup...so...anyone else got the balls to come clean?"

"Well, what about you girl?" Ro looked at Bandit, "C'mon Andi, I know you and Jason have had this thing for each other for awhile."

"Well...I can't really judge his kissing...being my first kiss and all." Bandit smiled shyly as she took a sip from her glass, "Y'know...I think I'm getting used of straight hard alcohol...so I think it's safe to say I'll die of liver failure before I die from zombies...OH! KAY! So how was ya'll with Ayehlus?"

"We just...made out really..." Kay looked down at her hands as she fiddled with the bracelet she had on. No one seemed to believe her though. "What? I don't wanna make out in front of ya'll...it was weird enough to start with..."

"Hey, how did you two end up dating?" I asked with a lopsided grin, "I was down here saving Nick's dumbass from a smoker that was hiding in the gym."

"Oh, it was pretty straight forward; he decided to just say: 'So, uh, you wanna be my girlfriend?'" Kay made a pretty good impersonation of the southerner. The other girls smiled or giggled a little at the cuteness of the memory. "It was sooo cute."

"Now that's true..." Ro smiled as she turned to look at Bandit, "So...yeah...Jason was only on top of you...you can't say that you can't judge it overall..."

"Well...it was nicer than I thought...honestly, I kinda thought it'd be more awkward and drooly and shit to be any good...like...any kissing with anyone..." Bandit giggled as she got her girly on. "And...if anything, it was kinda fun to not care if people were watching or not..."

"Hey...I'm just happy you kept the clothes on...otherwise, you'd better be out of my sight..." I sighed, giggling at my little sister's attempt to hide her embarrassment. "Ro...I got a question for ya...did you and Nick ever fuck?"

"Oh...well..." Ro looked surprised and embarrassed at the same time, with a tinge of annoyance directed at me...maybe she wasn't expecting to be the target of attention that night. "Yeah. In short yeah we fucked, so what? He's into you now, girl. Probably hoping to be literally into you soon...ahahahahaa..."

I cringed a little at her last comment, but spoke sarcastically anyways; what can I say, it's my comfort zone. "Oh for sure girl..."

"Well...what happened in the bathroom?" Ro insisted on turning the tables on me. I shrugged, but that wasn't received well from the other girls. "C'mon girl, you already gave yourself away earlier."

"He basically threw himself at me...it was, weird if anything. Because until today, I was under the impression of...wait." I tried to figure out what I was going to say before shrugging, it wasn't going to come back.

"He threw himself at you! That's...funny actually! How?" Ro giggled as the other girls stared me down to answer, knowing I'd try to avoid it altogether; lately I was horrible at my normal stance of avoidance. "That and why'd you run in the guys' bathroom?"

"I didn't know he was in there...besides I didn't wanna piss myself!" I sighed as I retold the story of the brief, awkward delight that caught me off guard. "So yeah, it was actually...y'know...nice. Even though I was kind of thrown to the wall...that was weird...hasn't happened to me since...yeah."

"Wow..." Ro sighed with the rest of the girls, "You've got him wrapped around your finger, and he hates that, girl. I'd bet ya a million bucks on that...if money mattered still."

"Well...that and he was drunk...really, really drunk! You know what? I think I've had enough girl talk for the rest of the year." I sighed, "I...yeah...can we talk about something else? Oh! Makeup! I have some makeup!"

"Oh my god, I have an idea...let's be twelve for a bit here." Kay giggled as she showed off a kit of makeup she must have taken too. "Someone go see if the guys are passed out yet! Rikki, I vote you!"

"Oh, just come with me, I might need back up!" I giggled a little as I stood up.

"Agreed!" The girls giggled as they chose their 'weapon of humiliation'. I sighed with a smile as I agreed to be more immature than usual, and picked up bright red lipstick as we headed to the door of the room, then the boys' change room.

I put a hand to my mouth, making the rest of the girls quiet down, since I thought I heard muffled chuckling away on the other side of the door. I swear I heard Ellis do the same thing, and then there was silence. I signalled for the girls to just jump through the door with me, and as we did that, we collided with Ellis and his group of guys holding sharpies. I got a blue mark across my face as Ellis got a red lipstick streak on his bottom lip and up his cheek. There was a mild standstill, almost slow motion...maybe we were too drunk, before everyone hopped at one another, wrestling around and marking each other up with markers and makeup alike.

"Hey! That's not fair, that shit doesn't come off!" I remarked as Nick laughed as he drew something on my face, holding my wrist in place that had the lipstick that left a big mark on the side of his face. Everyone else was already fed up with wrestling around; Ro was almost completely red faced while Coach brandished green eye shadow all over his face and neck. Bandit was completely blue faced, Kay had green scribbled on her face and Jude was almost completely black faced. I didn't know how I looked until I shoved Nick back to his little group of guys, who looked like a group of misfit clowns that couldn't put makeup on right. I looked in the mirror and saw purple faces messily drawn all over, making all kinds of weird faces and saying things that couldn't be deciphered.

"Aww man...that didn't go as planned at all!" Jude huffed as she saw her face in the mirror; the guys quickly rubbed and washed the makeup off. "Retreat!"

"It's a tie, not a retreat." Bandit commented, but Jason proved her wrong by striping her face a little more with the marker. "Oi, that's not fair, you guys used permanent marker!"

"Anything goes; sorry kiddo." Nick chuckled as the lipstick came off of his face while he scrubbed. Bandit picked up a stranded sharpie as she carefully inscribed the words 'I 3 Rikki :D' on the back of his white t-shirt. Nick whipped around once he saw her reflection walking away in the mirror; he turned to see what she put on his back. "What the hell? Oh come on..."

"G'night, ya'll!" Bandit giggled as she grabbed Kay and Jude by the arms, who grabbed Ro and me.

The girls laughed as I got dragged into the girls' change room to attempt to get the markers off our faces. That barely worked, since there was still pretty visible outlines of what was on our faces. We gave up and went back to our little slumber party haven.

"Well, now that the immaturity is controllable for now...I think I'm going to sleep." Ro chuckled as she curled up on a few blankets, "It's warm in here...I don't think I noticed how cold I got at night..."

"Oh that's just because you don't got Nick to warm you up no more. Hehhehe..." Kay giggled away to herself as Ro stared at her a little displeased. "Okay...maybe that wasn't too funny."

"Well, whatever...hey what do you think we'll do tomorrow?" Ro yawned as she spoke, and fell asleep before anyone could answer her. I think everyone else fell asleep at that moment too.

... ... ...

"Hey Nick?" Ellis was lying on the couch Kay normally slept on and was staring at the ceiling thoughtfully. All of the other guys were already asleep, and he wasn't sure if Nick was asleep. He heard a small grunt of annoyance. "You awake, bro?"

"Well, I am now...the hell you want?" Nick groaned as he turned to look at the southerner who was obviously fighting his sleep. Ellis just shrugged as he turned to see Nick glaring sleepily at him. "Well...?"

"I was jus jokin' about the whole Rikki thing...I mean I like her 'n' all...but not like that. I've got Kay now! 'Sides, Rikki, she's...she's too much like you fer me to like her 'n she probably don't like me like that anywho. But I think she suits you..I mean you two find the same things annoyin' and all...Oh, and then there's that whole denial thing you're so fixed on, but I think she really likes you becau- " Ellis was starting to go into rambling mode.

"Hey Ellis?" Nick interrupted his speech.

"Yeah?" Ellis' voice had the tone that revealed he was annoyed that he was always interrupted.

"Shut the hell up." Nick snapped, he was clearly irritated, "Maybe tell me...(yawn)... when I'm awake!"

"But you are awake, Nick..." Ellis sounded confused, but heard another soft snore added to the sleepy atmosphere surrounding him. He eventually relented and started to go to sleep, grumbling. "'Sides, you never wanna talk."

"Fucking Christ..." I moaned as I woke up to a blistering headache rivalling the one a week earlier. I heard a few mellow greetings from around the room. "Do you guys feel a shitty as I do right now?"

"Not as much as I could be...I got laid so I'm happy!" Jude smirked upwards as she threw a pillow at Bandit, "Oi, Andi! Wake up woman! Ah never mind..."

"Hey Rikki? I got a question..." Ro turned her head towards me, "I think I remember Leo saying something last week or something...but I don't know if I'm actually remembering it or if I just...I dunno, imagined it...something about a group...argh...I had it and now I can't remember..."

"Illuminati?" I asked, and she looked surprised that it sounded right to her as she nodded, "Yeah...lucky for us he didn't make it up. I think he wanted to tell you all himself."

"But don't you know...I mean I've seen you talking to him." Jude smiled shakily, "I think I remember you telling me about something like this...that whole shot thing?"

"Yeah...pretty much...guess Jesse Ventura was right, kind of..." I wanted to shake my head, but I learned from the week before that it would hurt. "I mean...it was supposed to kill us, not sort of kill."

"Jesus Christ! So that means we're gonna die!" Bandit's face looked dumbfounded.

"Dude, when'd you wake up?" Jude looked at Bandit, who really did look scared and confused as she stared at her left arm. Jude just shrugged, "Never mind."

"Well, it hasn't killed us yet...so...maybe we're unintentionally immune. Can't have kids if that's the case...apparently we'd be sterile if we live through this bullshit." I sighed...there was a small giggle coming from Kay. "Hmm?"

"Oh...heh...yeah...that would just make you all the more perfect for Nick. No kids." Kay's giggle turned into a cackle as I rolled my eyes at her. "So what're we gonna do about ourselves then? Anywhere, plans...what're we doing? I know I'm not dying here. I'd rather go out of town, die in some place cool...like Edmonton or some shit."

"Might as well go see if Leo's ready to tell us anything." I sighed, standing up and regretting it. "Holy fuck...I think I'm gonna have a pill or two...my god my head is dead! Maybe in a bit instead...I just wanna sleep..."

"What in the hell are you talkin' about, boy?" Coach was the first to react verbally to Leo's explanation of our situation as we sat in the library, sharing morning joints. "You're sayin' the government started all this shit?"

"Well, yeah." Leo stuttered a little, "But I know that there are safe-zones. Hell, whole towns have been set up in Ontario."

"And how do you know this?" Nick raised an eyebrow as he scrounged around for clean clothes. There was puke on his shorts from the night before, and no one seemed to remember how it got there.

"There are images and videos posted on facebook. Of all things, facebook!" Leo frowned a little. "Survivors have internet connection there, and they're broadcasting to anyone who would think to go on a normal everyday-website if they could. I was thinking that if we could get ourselves there, then we got a better chance at figuring out why the fuck no one's done anything to prevent the nationwide spread of this virus; or why they started it."

"Why were you on facebook, Leo? I thought you were being all-importantly smart, y'know...doing little nerd things to come up with some brilliant plan!" Nick looked irritated at Leo, who ignored Nick's comment as he continued by speaking over him. "So you're saying we're gonna make a cross country trip to some 'safe-zone', for all we know could just be more government bullshit because of fucking facebook?"

"These things are the simple things I did to make sure that what I found in the system were true. Now we're talking about hacking, and reading confidential files that are not governmental, they're addressed and sent from people that seem to have more power than the government; democracy is the puppet that makes the masses feel secure while the people I'm talking about dig a grave under our feet. So I won't get into all the minutiae, but really Nick, I'm not dumb. The facebook part sounds dumb I'll grant you, but I only said that because I know most of you are familiar with the site and know people actually have to use it, instead of me telling you about all the systems and files I spent hours upon hours on, alone! It's even on the Navy's website, there are lists for each province, and there are strikeouts for which ever ones were overrun! There are satellite videos, the military-" Leo was frantically trying to keep his glasses in place as he was interrupted by a variety of voices.

"Oh, yeah. A lot of good they've done us so far."-"Oh sure, the military...yeah...them."-"Yup, the ones with all the fire power and men get infected and die uselessly as the ten of us with no training whatsoever, and barely equipped..."

"Shut up! I'm still talking here!" Leo's voice resonated over the rest, causing everyone to fall silent from both surprise and slight annoyance. "Satellite, military, and a shit tonne of black cars. It's really weird. I have no idea still of what's really going on here, but I do know that there are still people left, and there's still a form of power left that we need to get to."

"But you still have no idea." Nick spoke flatly, a glare in place. "What the hell can ten of us do to a power like that?"

"Do I look like a fucking science team? No, I wasn't planning on saving anyone from the end of the world; I just wanted to be left alone as I tested video games, smoking weed and getting paid for it all. But that's asking too much. Instead, I'm stuck in the shithole of Canada, with a few barely-tolerable morons and a complete asshole who hasn't bothered helping anyone but himself!" Leo was reddening as his glasses slid off his face for the first actual time. Without the glasses, he looked sort of like Keanu Reeves in the Bill & Ted movies, but with sandy blonde hair and a face trying to hide anger directed at the gambler.

"Nerd rage, how cute." Nick's face remained stoic as ever, even thought Leo was glaring at him.

"You know what, Leo?" I spoke softly, but that didn't mean I felt like being nice to him; I was not a moron. "You all are talking down on this shithole that happens to be my home, and I've held my tongue. So, us, we can talk down on it all we want. And I've been asking if you needed any help at all since you spilled 'the secret' that I've been expecting to hear this whole time! You shook your head, so don't complain about how many 'hours upon hours' you put into this research; that, I'll give you, but you didn't have to do it alone; because we know that's just horseshit. Otherwise, besides the inconclusive data you've barely collected, do you have a plan? Y'know, since we're all depending on your holier-than-thou knowledge you're oh-so-cursed with?"

"I- uh..." Leo looked flabbergasted. Personally, I didn't have a problem with the guy, but I was a little hungover and not in the mood for a nerd-rage-rant. Sure, I never graduated with cum lade, but it didn't mean anything on paper anyways. School sucked, I just liked the internet and video games and documentaries on weird stuff. If it weren't for those invaluable sources, I don't think I would've been here to tell you this story. I sighed and closed my eyes, my hangover probably added to my little tirade on the nerd.

"I'm sorry, Leo, but seriously; I offered help, and I'm not a moron, thank you very much." I didn't want to look annoyed, but I must've. "I've been thinking about this for awhile now, and I think that we can't really do anything about deciding a carrier or immune or whatever...but we can decide what we ought to do. I mean...we're obviously going to run out of food and guns sooner or later, so anyone have any input for a plan B?"

"Oh! I've been thinking about that for awhile now too!" Jude smiled a little, "I mean I knew of this Illuminati shit since you told me two years ago!"

"See, that's how it's done Leo...you open your mouth and ask." I gave a small smirk at him as he just frowned a little, but remained quiet. "What were you thinking, kid?"

"Well, since we gotta get ourselves to...Ontario?" Jude asked as Leo gave a small nod, "Okay, well I was just thinking about the railroad tracks. If we can get oursel-"

There was an ear deafening roar as the red door to the parking lot exploded into the library, sending Ellis flying backwards with it and the rest of us screaming in surprise mixed with fear. In an instant, we were armed as the giant swung through the group one at a time; hitting them at the wall or into a horde of zombies that followed. There was so many of them, like the rest of Prince Rupert were waiting outside for the right moment to come in and gulp down the ten remaining people inside. No one was expecting it to happen and not one of us had anything to say besides,

"Watch out!"

"SHOOT IT!"

Or

"HO-LEE SHIT!"

Once the tank finally succumbed to the bullet parade, the other infected were relatively easy to clear away. All that could be heard was another echoing roar of a horde and a few people yelling to be helped up.

"Hey, I can't do this on my own!" Nick's leg didn't look to good as everyone else was helping up others; we were totally caught off guard and suffered dearly for thinking the zombies would never get in. I picked Nick up by the arm, grabbed a few shirts and pants and helped him limp through the change rooms as zombies raced towards us. Everyone else was already hiding in the bleachers that had a safe room door, beckoning and frantically yelling, like that would make me move faster.

"Hurry up! Git inside, man!" Ellis was propped up against the wall as Kay and Jude were yelling incoherently with blood smeared on their shirts.

"Can't you see I'm dragging Nick? It wouldn't hurt for you to come out and help." I groaned as I dragged Nick just inside and let him drop on a few blankets.

"Oh yeah, that felt great; just drop me on the floor with a fucked up knee. Thanks sweetheart." Nick grumbled, holding his knee and trying to manoeuvre it back into place. I slammed the door as the zombies raced to try catch up. They were lifelessly groaning and growling as they scratched and pounded at the door. "Oh great, so now we're stuck in here listening to that."

"Shut up, Nick." I grumbled slightly, as I took a seat by Ellis who was mumbling to Ro and Kay. Nick just rolled his eyes as Coach knelt down beside Nick and placed two hands on his knee, pulling at this awkward angle and shook his head as Nick howled and cursed at Coach.

"WHAT. THE. FUCK. COACH!" Nick cringed as he looked at his knee, then to the man that had a small smirk. He moved his knee a little, and looked a little less angry when he found that it moved properly.

"I'd done seen my share of dislocated things, and I tell you, that wasn't that bad Nick." Coach gave a small chuckle as Nick just swore under his breath and lay down.

"Well, that worked." I sighed, absently reloading my gun and pistols. "So...do we just wait until we don't hear them anymore before we gather shit together and go?"

"Pretty much." Ro shrugged, "Where to first?"

"Well, before I was rudely interrupted, I was thinking of following the railroad tracks." Jude shrugged a little, "But now that I think of it, there are docks just down the hill. If we can manage to get a boat, we can travel up the Skeena as far as we can get and go from there."

"Jude, once again, that's a good idea." I sighed, realising just how much we'd need each other to do this. "So, here's what I'm thinking. We take the van with a lot of food, some clothes, make sure you have a jacket and good shoes on; this isn't a fashion show. When we get down to the docks, we're going to need to find some fuel to take with us and the easiest boat to get out with."

"When?" Bandit questioned, with a look of understanding and an attempt of readying herself. There were some red kits lying around that I hadn't noticed before, so grabbing one with the others following my lead for some reason, I peeked out to see zombies leaning against the wall, smacking the door they couldn't get back through and sitting around.

"Okay, when this door opens; take out the zombies, grab an armful of food and drinks, throw it in the backpacks and get out to the van. Sound reasonable?" I asked the nodding group. I smiled a little, not knowing why and swung the door open, already shooting the zombies I'd mentally claimed before opening the door and running to the library. Within minutes, the first part of the plan went smoothly.

At the docks, five of us scavenged for fuel as the other five surveyed the docks for a good sized boat that had the most fuel in it.

"Let's take this one." Ellis' eyes gleamed as he looked around at the nice cots through the window; it was a decent sized boat. "Oh wait...who's got the keys?"

"Shit...no one thought of keys?" Bandit groaned, slamming her head on the door that remained locked.

"Ah hell, screw the keys; I'll hotwire the damned thing." Ellis chimed as he pulled out a pistol and shot twice, with a look of honest surprise when the door slowly swung open and rushed inside to get to work.

My group was running around with big cans of diesel, mostly hoping that was the right kind of fuel and shooting some zombies that caught on that we were at the docks. Running through a cloud of smoke, dodging bile and throwing the one pipe bomb I was smart enough to grab before leaving the library to divert the accumulating horde, we raced to the boat we saw Jude hopping around on, and Kay who was kneeling on top of the boat with a rifle in hand and killing some zombies around us to help us get there faster.

"Now's a good time to get that motor going!" Nick yelled as a tank threw a chunk of concrete, crushing a few infected instead of us. Jason was slicing through the seemingly duplicating zombies. The motor started up as we hopped on the boat and started to go. "I'm beginning to like you guys."

"Seriously, it takes that long to just like us?" Kay put on her best pouty face as Nick just rolled his eyes and took a seat. "Whatever, you love us all and you know it."

"Especially Rikki!" Jude giggled as Nick just raised an eyebrow and looked away from her.

"Whatever." Nick shrugged as he got more comfortable on a seat beside a fishing rod. "So, who found the keys?"

"It's name's Ellis, freaking hillbilly can do just about anything." Bandit proclaimed as Ellis just grinned back at the group, with a red hat that read 'Captain' sitting on his own hat.

"My buddy Keith lost his boat keys all the time, so you kin thank him fer saving your ass, Nick." Ellis smiled as he looked at the waters before him, "Uh, hey...I don't know where I'm going."

"We'll show you, just go; you're going the right way." Kay nodded encouragingly, as Nick grumbled something probably unfriendly about Keith.

"Shit! I forgot the smokes!" Jude looked mortified at the disappearing city behind us as she pouted, almost in tears.

"That's just great." Nick sighed unhappily, grumbling about the 'dumb kids' he was stuck with.

"You could've grabbed them too, y'know...You have hands." Bandit sighed, being annoyed as well. Nick took out his cigarette case and lit a smoke, his stare set on Jude's envious one as he gave a small grin, which Jude glared at. She opened her mouth to say something.

"Nope, I'm not sharing." Nick blew smoke in her face as she swore under her breath at the grinning gambler.

"Oh boy...this'll be one long trip." Kay sighed.

A/N: Tada! I do not care if boats can be hotwired or not, but I do care for you to read and REVIEW please! :D