Robin sat at Barney's side inside of the tent. He was lying on his back, shirtless, the un-wounded arm up under his head.

Robin washed off his face with a damp cloth, then rung it out in a bucket of water. This was the second time so far that she'd had to treat Barney's injuries- he just didn't share the same survival skills that she did, the affinity for taking extra care to keep one's self alive and well on a constant purpose.

But Robin still loved him.. He had weakened a bit since James left, and didn't put up half the fight he would have normally when Robin wrapped the small lacerations strewn across his body like gory tattoos in gauze and tape. He seemed placid, tired, and lethargic in comparison to any other time.

His body felt warm to the touch- abnormally warm, almost as though he was racked with fever, which concerned her a bit. She watched his chest slowly rise and fall with every breath he took. At least he breathed normally, she thought. A good sign. And in his sleep, he looked contented, even reaching for her hand and gently taking it in his.

After treating the open slashes on his neck and shoulders with clean water and salt, just as James had instructed, she wrapped them carefully in cloth bandages. He came to shortly after.

"Robin," he addressed tiredly. "Where's James?"

"He left," she replied. "Went off to find that traitor, Darren. That jerk."

Barney nodded slowly. "Ugh, right. I knew something was up with that guy."

"You knew correctly," Robin responded, sounding utterly disgusted. "Any zombie-like symptoms yet?"

Barney lazily scratched his side with his free hand. "Nah, not really. Although I'm a little hungry. Actually really hungry. Starving!"

Robin reached for the packet of beef jerky near to her. "Here," she said. "James did tell me to give this to you."

Barney's eyes went wide and he snatched the packet from her, then tore into it rabidly and quickly gobbled down the meat. He licked his lips after finishing, closing his eyes and savoring the taste. "Mmm," he hummed to himself. "Thank you!"

Robin pushed her hair back behind her ear, a bit confused by how her husband was acting. "Um, you're welcome."

"Got any more?"

Robin looked around. "Nah, I don't think so."

"It's good, I'll just take the wrapping," Barney said as he began chewing into the red Jack Links package the meat had been encased in before Robin gently removed it from him.

"Uh, Barney, why don't you lay down on your back?" she suggested.

"Wow, really?" he asked with a smile, once again misinterpreting Robin's words. "Should I-"

"So I can treat your wounds," she cut in, and he looked a little less eager. Barney obeyed her, however, and laid back down, closing his eyes. Robin only watched him for a few minutes. Something strange was happening to Barney, slowly but surely. She hoped that James would be back soon…

Ted checked the compass in his right hand. "We're getting closer to them," he announced. "I can feel it."

Thunder rumbled in the distance as Ted looked on, the heavy wind blowing his mess of hair and adding to the overall dramatic effect of the scene.

It was a gut instinct- he could sense the presence of his friends nearby as he stood majestically atop one of the city's last standing buildings, looking down onto the crumbled remains and desecration below.

"Hey dude," a voice from behind him called. "Don't fall off the roof there!"

Ted turned to see a smiling brown-haired man standing on the rooftop behind him, a relatively young man looking to be in his mid/late 20's. Whoever this was, it startled Ted to see him there- where had he come from?

"Uh, hey," Ted responded as he turned to face the man. "Who are you?"

"The name's Darren," the man answered. "Yours?"

"Ted." He looked back at Darren. "You look a little, uh, jilted- you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Darren was quick to respond. "Hey, listen, Ted, I'm in kind of a situation here. You wouldn't mind lending a guy a hand, would you?" Ted only stared at him for a few seconds before saying anything.

"Yeah, sure, um, whattaya need?"

"To hide," Darren answered quickly. "Can you find me a place?"

Ted smiled. "You've picked the right guy, Darren. Follow me."

Back at the camp, Barney's symptoms seemed to be progressing- more rapidly than Robin had hoped. His wounds had long been bandaged, but he was now prowling the camp like a wild animal searching for something to eat. When he finally came across a can of beans, he cracked it open and ate it quickly.

Marshall and Lily peered out at him from their tent, unsure of what exactly was happening to the man.

"So should we lend him a hand, or…?" Lily asked Marshall quietly.

Marshall couldn't help but scoff a little. "Yeah, if by lend him a hand you mean lend him your arm as he eats your hand."

Lily cocked her head in confusion, staring at Marshall.

"Because he's a zombie," Marshall added. "He'll probably eat your hand. Then your whole body."

"He's not a zombie, Marshall," Lily responded, sounding as sure as she could though she was beginning to debate such a possibility herself. If his wounds had been treated, however, he would be okay- wouldn't he? Lily didn't want to spend much time thinking otherwise.

Marshall was ever apprehensive. "Really? Not a zombie? Explain that." He gestured back to Barney, who was now moving about with a slow, limping gait as he scoured for food like a mangy stray dog.

"Well…I don't know, he's acted like that before," Lily replied. "You know, like when he's drunk. Maybe he's just disoriented!"

"Only one way to find out," Marshall said, before calling his name. "Hey, Barney!"

Barney turned around, and as Lily expected, his physical appearance had remained normal, save for the minor cuts, scars, and bruises on his face and body. "Yeah?" he answered eagerly, limping over to Lily and Marshall. "What's up?"

Marshall looked him up and down. "How do you feel?"

"Awesome as usual," Barney responded confidently. "And for some reason, oddly hungry." He placed a hand on his stomach as he said the words.

Lily quickly noted that his wound, which had been thoroughly bandaged, was beginning to bleed through the wrapping. "You got a little bandage on your blood there," she teased with a smile.

Barney looked down. "Oh my God, you're right! I'm gonna die, where is Robin?"

"Calm down, you big baby, you'll be fine," Lily said, grabbing him reassuringly. "Hey, as long as you're not half-zombie or anything, like James expected, you'll be okay."

As if by perfect timing, just then, James could be seen from a distance, sprinting as fast as he possibly could and screaming at the top of his lungs as he ran to the camp.

"And speaking of James," Marshall remarked.

Barney was there in a minute. "James, are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, kinda," James replied breathlessly. "It's just…there's an enormous mob of zombies back there. And they're headed this direction."

Robin, who just happened to be standing nearby, interjected worriedly, "What are we gonna do? I mean, no offense to Barney, but clearly he's out of the question for fighting, and-"

Barney, of course, cut in with, "Hey! I am not 'out of the question,' Robin. I mean, just cuz I got a few minor scratches, you think that I can't fight? Uh-uh. I can take 'em on. Trust me."

Robin looked down at his wound. "Your bandage is dripping," she told him casually, and Barney noticed, placing a hand on the area to staunch the bleeding.

"I can still take them on!" he insisted before heading into one of the tents to treat himself.

"Okay, since Barney's out of the question," James begun, before his brother impudently shouted out "AM NOT!". James continued. "We need to come up with a plan for the rest of us. Robin, you're good with the guns, so I need you to start loading. Lily, I've seen how you fight, and it is amazing. You could probably take on twelve at a time with just one shovel."

Lily blushed, pushing her hair behind her ears. "Thank you.'

"What am I, chopped liver?" Marshall commented dejectedly.

"Actually, Marshall, I was getting to you," James said. "You can guard Barney, make sure he's safe."

"For the last time, I do not need guarding!" Barney snapped. "Geez!"

"And as for me, I'm getting out the bow and arrow," James told them. "You know how horror movies always show that one guy that doesn't make it out alive? Yeah, I'm not gonna be one of those cases." James headed off to prepare, leaving Marshall and Lily to themselves. Barney emerged from his tent, arm bandaged triple the amount it had been.

"Why does James get the bow and arrow?" he whined.

Ted had led Darren to the top of the GNB building, which was one of the last fully standing buildings in the city.

"Quite a view from up here," Ted told him. "And totally foolproof. Whoever or whatever you might be hiding from, uh, this is your place."

Darren smiled at Ted, hoping that he was right.

"Don't move another inch or you're dead!" a voice from behind them commanded.

Both Darren and Ted wheeled around, looking straight into the eyes of…Cindy? Again?

"Cindy! What are you doing here?" Ted asked, his voice wavering in slightly more than a little concern.

"Ted, this guy is scamming you," Cindy said. She gripped a large shovel with both hands, should Darren do anything aggressive or sudden.

"You're crazy!" Darren retorted. "I'm not scamming anyone!"

"Wow, you're a liar!" Tracy stepped in, tightly clenching the handle of her folded yellow umbrella and causing even Darren to recoil a little. "You're not fooling anyone, Darren. I can see right through you."

Darren laughed nervously. "Honestly, they're making this up," he told Ted.

"You see that?" Tracy said, pointing to Darren. "That, Ted, is the expression of a liar. Come clean, Darren. I know you're hiding a secret." She held up her umbrella, tip pointed at him. "Look, I don't want to make this bloodier than it has to be- trust me, I've had way more than my fair share of blood this year. But you have to tell us what you're holding back, or I will have to do something that I don't want to." As if to add dramatic effect, thunder rumbled loudly above them, and a few loose raindrops started to fall as the wind picked up.

Darren backed away slightly, not very far from the building's ledge. "Alright. Fine, you caught me redhanded. I guess I was partially responsible for the zombies."

"Wait, what?" Ted was beyond perplexed at this point. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute…what?"

Cindy turned to Tracy. "I told you."

"And?" Tracy pressed.

"It had to do with that weird chick that lived next door to me- Jeanette," Darren continued, and Ted rolled his eyes. It was only natural that Jeanette would somehow tie into this. "She had just moved in and I thought she was kinda hot, so we started talking and one day she gave me this dead rat in a bag, said it was part of some crazy science experiment that she was conducting and for me to throw it away, so I did, obviously, and the next day there were a bunch of cats in the alley down the street lookin' at it, eating it, and I guess the cats somehow spread the disease it was carrying. You happy?"

"Jeanette!" Ted growled out. "I shoulda known it was you!"

"You guys positively cannot tell anyone this though, okay?" Darren finished. "Seriously, don't. Please. Just find me a place to hide, let me stay up here or whatever."

"You think we're not gonna tell anyone?" Cindy scoffed. "Really? You don't think that you need to at least apologize for killing millions of people?"

"It was an accident," Darren countered, to which Cindy snapped, "Accident or not! I'm telling those other guys back there, because they deserve to know!"

"Yeah, Darren!" Ted interjected heatedly. "They do deserve to know, you know why? They're my friends. They've been through literal hell trying to protect themselves, and me, and all of us, and you think that we should just hide your dirty little secret? I don't think so."

Ted was incredibly close to Darren at this point, as even he couldn't help but be riled up at the man's scandalous behavior.

"Ted, I can fling you down there to those zombies if I want to," Darren threatened. "You have two seconds to back away. One…"

"Ted…" Tracy urged.

"Two!"

In a flash of a second, just as Darren was about to push Ted off the edge, Cindy smacked him full-on with her shovel, sending him flying over and into the mob of angry zombies below.

She looked over, feeling accomplished at what she had done, while Ted stepped aside, panting breathlessly.

"Thank you so much!" he told Cindy. "Seriously, I owe you."

"It was nothing, just a little gesture," Cindy responded, smiling smugly.

In the distance, a loud gunshot broke the air, followed by a familiar screaming voice. "I'LL GET YOU, YOU SONS OF BITCHES!"

"That's them!" Ted exclaimed. "That was Robin's voice! Come on!" He started off running, then tripped and faceplanted into the ground.

"You okay?" Tracy asked worriedly.

"I'm good," Ted replied.