Disclaimer: I own only Roanoke and her beloved awesomeness.

I kind of want to start assigning songs per chapter but I won't be doing that for every one though. I suppose the song for this chapter would be Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day, then again it could be used several times in the past eleven chapters! Anyway, this chapter is a little dark (sort of, not really.) I also think it was a very fun chapter to write so please enjoy and reviews are more than welcome!


Zombieland: Cherish What's Left Over

Chapter 12: Intervention

"What?!" exclaimed Roanoke, giving Wichita her best 'I don't know what you're talking about' looks. "Please, It's written all over your face!" Wichita smirked. "I really don't know what you're talking about, that's just retarded! How could anyone ever--"

"Like him? I don't know, but believe me, I noticed as soon as you shoved that twinkie in your face the day he kidnapped you." Wichita continued. "Believe me, I don't, and I seriously think that talking crazy is a symptom of the z-virus, I think you should go lie down or something, Wichita."

Roanoke had always been good at lying, but when it came to stuff that other people specialized in, well, even the master of lies would have trouble tricking someone who was an expert on whatever they were talking about and Wichita was an expert on all things girly. "You can't hide it from me, Roanoke, it's as plain as flippin' day." Wichita grinned evilly. Roanoke rolled her eyes. "Fine." she barely whispered. "But you can not tell anyone what I am about to tell you!" she snapped. "Or it will be the end of you!" Wichita's wicked smile turned into a soft one. She held out her hand and stuck out her pinkie finger. "Promise." she said. Roanoke frowned and hesitantly locked their small fingers. "Okay, it's a small crush, nothing huge, just a small... admiration if you will, there is nothing going on, I don't extremely like him, it's only a little, brief crush and nothing more. And don't argue, I took your pinkie finger and that also means I should tell the truth and you should be inclined to believe me." she grumbled as fast as she could to go ahead and get it over with. Wichita smiled. "I believe you. Don't worry your green head over it, okay, I could actually care less that you like Tallahassee, and it doesn't have much to do with me so..."

"Wait a minute! 'Much'? Wichita, what do you have in mind?!" Roanoke squealed softly. Wichita looked at Roanoke thoughtfully for a moment. "Dear God, Roanoke, you're acting like one of those star-struck high-school girls! Anyway, I might do a little meddling here and there." She smirked. "Wichita! You better not! Besides, it's only a crush, a miniscule one! Besides, you can't do anything, you guys are leaving tomorrow and I'm staying here." said Roanoke sadly. Wichita gave her an upset look. "Why do are you so adamant about staying? You're a good addition to the team." Roanoke gave Wichita a 'you gotta be kiddin' me' look. "Wichita, I'm scared of zombies, if I end up alone for five seconds with one zombie, I have a flippin' episode!" Roanoke got up from her bed and walked up to Wichita. She sweetly put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, I can't stay with you guys, even though I want to pretty badly. It's just, I can't, you have to understand, this is just somethin' I can't go on with, I run solo, if I didn't I'd only end up jeapordizing the ones that I've grown on. I can't be a burden. To anyone. It's too risky, if I were the last one in a building and a horde of zombies were to get to me, I'd be toast, I wouldn't want anyone risking their butts for mine."

"But you wouldn't be a burden! We would help you, that's what families do." protested Wichita. Roanoke's eyes saddened further. "Just please don't argue, please understand." Wichita waited a moment. "I do. I won't urge you any further. I was just... I've really grown to trust you in the past couple days and that is a rare thing." Roanoke smiled. "And I've grown to trust you too. I just can't stay with you guys." Wichita smiled as well. "Hey, if you want, when we leave, I could keep any and all other girls we run into off of Florida for you." she smirked. Roanoke's mouth couldn't help but from a grin. "Sounds good, you tell any of those sluts you run into, that if they lay a hand on my southern bad-ass, Roanoke Virginia will be comin' to haunt them." she smiled and laughed a bit. Wichita laughed too. "Can do." she said. "So, how long have you been crushin' on Florida?" Wichita said slyly. Roanoke blushed. "I've only known you guys for a few days, I mean how much could I possibly know about you?"

"That much is true, but for how long have you been following us?" Wichita had Roanoke pinned. "A few days, and I took those days to fully stalk Tallahassee, you wanna know how much I stalked him?" Wichita shrugged. "Enough to not even notice Little Rock." she smirked. Wichita's jaw dropped. "You were totally stalking him! That is so more than a crush!" she whisper-yelled, jumping up and down and pointing her finger at Roanoke. "No, not at all, I just found him... interesting." Wichita smiled and couldn't help but give Roanoke a friendly hug. "Imagine Tallahassee in his undies." she whispered deviously and stood back to see the results. Roanoke's jaw was dropped and she looked at Wichita like she was a zombie, yet she had a somewhat thoughtful look in her eyes. "You're blushing!" Wichita pointed out. "Am not!"

"Are too."

"Your face!"

"That doesn't even make any sense." Roanoke smiled. "Exactly." Wichita shook her head. "Hey, you think we could keep in touch when we're gone? Columbus has a laptop." she said. Roanoke's smile weakened a bit. "Um, I dunno." Wichita shrugged and turned to look at Roanoke's band posters she had on the walls. "I don't think they have internet connection where I'm going." she mumbled to herself. "What was that?" asked Wichita. Roanoke gave a disguise smile. "Nothing." she said. Wichita shrugged it off and turned back to the Evanescence posters. Roanoke frowned deeply behind her but her sorrow quickly faded when she remebered something. She glanced to her right to find an empty glass tank sitting on her bedside table. She frowned. "Aw, well, so much for hope." she said. "What?" asked Wichita. "Fluffy and Milo are gone." she sighed. "Who?" asked Wichita. "Fluffy and Milo. They were my pets." Roanoke responded sadly. "I'm going to go along with that and say I'm very sorry." said Wichita awkwardly. Roanoke let out a soft chuckle. "Eh, it's okay, they were... Fluffy!" she exclaimed, running towards her bed and reaching for something on top of a shelf above the bed. "Oh my God, Fluffy! I'm so glad you're okay!" she said, nuzzling something in her hands. Wichita walked over to Roanoke's side and curiously peered over her shoulder. Wichita screamed at what she saw and fell back onto the floor. In a matter of seconds, Tallahassee and the other burst into the room.

"What is going on?!" he exclaimed. "I don't know." said Roanoke. "She's screaming for some reason." she said, nodding her head in Wichita's direction. "No reason?! You're holding a flippin' snake like it's a bunny or something!" Wichita yelled in defense. Roanoke sighed. "It's only Fluffy, see?" she said, holding out her arms letting Tallahassee, Little Rock and Columbus see the medium-sized camouflaged python wrapped around her arms. It moved it's neck until it was looking Tallahassee in the eyes and they sort of stared at each other for a moment. After a moment of the stare-down, the snake seemed to start glaring instead of staring. Finally, the snake bared it's fangs and hissed it's loudest. Tallahassee jumped back a bit and curse. "Stupid snake! It wants to bite my head off!" he exclaimed. Roanoke and Little Rock giggled and Roanoke held the snake up to her face and nuzzled it some more, the snake seemed to enjoy it but while it was loving on Roanoke, it was glaring daggers at Tallahassee. Tallahassee glared back and stuck his tongue out at it. The snake flickered it's tongue as well. Little Rock giggled and took a step forward. "Can I pet him?" she asked, her eyes aglow. "Fluffy is a girl and yes you may." Little Rock took another step and reached her hand out towards the snake. "Why do you even want to touch that thing? Little Rock, you could get bit or something!" Columbus finally spoke. Roanoke rolled her eyes. "You think my parents would let me keep a poisonous animal? As much as I want to.... well, anyway, Fluffy wouldn't hurt a fly, maybe a mouse, but other than that no. Besides, he seems to like you, Little Rock." she giggled, watching her pet the reptile. Tallahassee snorted. "Then why'd she just try to friggin' bite me?" he asked arrogantly. Roanoke raised her eyes and stared at him for minute. "Because Fluffy doesn't like you." she said before looking back down. He snorted again. "And I care about what a snake thinks of me why?" Roanoke glanced back up again. "Because he could come in your room and bite your little friend off." she put simply. Wichita watched in suspense, not wanting to miss a second of the free entertainment. "Now what good would that do you, missy?" he retorted, smirking. She glared harder. "Well I was just worried, you see, what good would that do Columbus?" she asked innocently before leaving the room with her snake and leaving the other girls behind, laughing at Tallahassee and Columbus' expressions. The men looked at each other. Columbus blushed and left the room while Tallahassee muttered things about Roanoke.

Later, the five gathered in the living room and Little Rock was the only one who wanted to sit by Roanoke as long as her snake was wrapped comfortably around her neck. And when Tallahassee spotted the flat screen tv Roanoke had, it was love at first sight. "Movie time!" he announced. "Fine!" said Roanoke as she stood up from her spot. "But I pick the movie." she said icily. "Oh no you don't!" Tallahassee protested. "You're probably gonna pick some cheesy movie or a chick flick! I'm callin' the shots tonight!"

"Psh, a rock could call better shots than you!"

"Ooooh, burn!" interjected Columbus, the two glared at him and he immediately sat back down in his seat to play with his hoodie strings. "And for your info, I was going to pick What About Bob!" Roanoke continued. Tallahassee turned pale and he opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. "Nut up or shut up, Yosemite Sam." she remarked, pushing him down on the couch and marching over to the entertainment center. "She stole your catch phrase." said Columbus, breaking the ice. Tallahassee gave him a glare. "Boy, do you want sixty-five percent power?!" he snarled, cracking his knuckles. "No." Columbus whimpered, avoiding Tallahassee's sharp gaze. "By the way, Columbus." spoke up Roanoke, shuffling through all of her dvds. "I heard through the grapevine that you chose the movie Ghostbusters to teach Little Rock a thing or two about Bill Murray. Wow, you are stupid. If you want to show someone the brilliance that is Murray, you don't show 'em flippin' Ghostbusters! Meatballs! What About Bob! Anything but that! Sheesh! Okay, Lil' Rock, time to actually watch the master Murray." she winked, tossing the dvd to Tallahassee who quickly shoved it in the dvd slot. Roanoke went to grab some popcorn and after that, they watched the movie and they all fell asleep after watching Meatballs. And before falling asleep, all Roanoke could think about was how this was the last bit of fun she'd ever have.

The next morning, Roanoke woke up to a scream, she slowly opened her eyes and found Tallahassee... dancing? She then noticed that Fluffy's mouth was clamped tightly to his leg. "Fluffy." she complained, walking over groggily to Tallahassee, slapping him over the head for no apparant reason and pulling Fluffy off of him. She let the snake coil around her arm and arch it's neck and hiss aggresively at Tallahassee who glared hard at the serpent. "I'm going to kill that snake!" he claimed. Roanoke rolled her eyes and stroked Fuffy's head gently. "Go wash the bite, it will be better within two days, nothing to worry about." she mumbled, glancing at the others who were watching with small smiles on their faces on the couch. "Breakfast anyone?" Tallahassee rolled his eyes and complained about the bite all the way to the bathroom.

"Oh my God." said Roanoke when everyone gathered to scrounge in the kitchen. "The butter and bread both expire the day after tomorrow." she said, still in awe. "Who wants cinnamon toast?" she asked happily. "Oh, come on, next you're gonna tell me that cinnamon toast is your specialty and because you put it in the toaster, it'll come out better than if anyone else would." remarked Tallahassee rolling his eyes. Roanoke narrowed her eyes at him. "Who says I use a toaster?" she asked. "I use the oven and I do it a little differently." she said cleverly. "How the hell can you make toast any better than anyone else?! What are you, some sort of food witch or somethin'?!" Roanoke smirked. "Or something." she said, grabbing the bread out of it's plastic wrapping and placing each slice evenly apart on a cooking tray. She then got the butter out of the fridge, which still surprisingly worked, and a butter knife. She spread a thin layer out on each slice of bread and she put the tray in the oven. "You've gotta be kiddin' me! With only that much butter, it'll melt in two seconds!" he complained. "That is how I make it, that is how my grandmother made it and so on and so forth and every time, it turned out perfect and delicious, so unless you prefer dry, expired cereal as your yummy way to start the day, I suggest you shut that southern trap of yours." said Roanoke coldly, taking the cinnamon-sugar out of a high cabinet above the fridge. "Um, Roanoke, the toast is steaming." Roanoke turned her head only slightly. "Good." Columbus looked at her weird but after staying with Roanoke for a while, you learn to stop asking and just go with it. After another minute of watching the butter melt, much to Tallahassee's dislike, Roanoke pulled out the tray and started to shake a lot of cinnamon-sugar on to each piece. "Dig in." she finally said. Each grabbed a piece of toast and they all swooned on how it tasted when it began to melt in their mouths.

After breakfast, Wichita followed Roanoke into her room. "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, keep cookin' like that girl and you'll have Florida eatin' out of your hands... literally probably." whispered Wichita when they were going down the hall. Roanoke rolled her eyes. "Who says I want that? I'm fine like I am and I told you it was a miniscule crush, nothing more." she whispered back and opening the door to her room. Wichita showed herself in and flopped down on the bed. "You just make yourself at home don't you?" asked Roanoke. Wichita didn't respond, she just stared up at the poster-covered ceiling. Roanoke grumbled to herself and shut the door behind her. "The house has water, if you want a shower do it now!" she yelled so the whole house could here. She then heard a struggle, Little Rock and Tallahassee yelling, and the two rumbling down the hall towards the bathroom. She heard a thud. "Tallahassee just crashed into the wall, heh, heh, that corner's a doozie." giggled Roanoke. Her ears listened intently. Little Rock got to the bathroom first. Tallahassee's banging on the door, he stood back, he's yelling and... ooh! Lil' Rock just opened the door and smashed it in his face!" she laughed. Wichita studied Roanoke. "How do you know?" she asked. "I've spent my whole life here pretty much, if I don't know what every sound is and where everything is, I must be either really stupid or careless. Like, I'd know the difference between my mom and dad's creaky door and the sound the air conditioner makes when it turns on. You just know these things after staying in a place in a really long time, especially if you really like the place you're at." she smiled. "Oh." said Wichita sadly. "Well, I wouldn't know about anything like that, me and Little Rock were always moving with our parents and when we left, we did less of staying in one place, so... you're lucky... to have, y'know, had a good family and stuff." she said. Roanoke smiled gently at Wichita. "I don't really know what to say to that really, I'm normally not good at this sort of thing, but, you two turned out really well if I may say so." Wichita looked at her and smiled. "Thanks." Roanoke gave a polite nod. "You've raised her your best and you've done really well with her." Wichita gave a 'thank you' nod and turned back to staring at the Three Days Grace poster that was above her.

The rest of the day was kind of awkward and it was all like a blur but each second was playing in slow motion for Roanoke. They took showers, hung out in the living room, Roanoke and Columbus had a Neverwinter Nights online tournament and Roanoke beat Columbus to a pulp, this gave Tallahassee the right to call her a nerd and in turn gave Roanoke the right to have Fluffy bite his head later, which he resented greatly. And soon, it was time for them to leave and Roanoke to stay. The four were on the doorstep and none of them seemed to want to leave. Even Tallahassee, he was just better at hiding it than the others. Roanoke stood on the inside and all of them were staring at Roanoke and she was staring back. Little Rock was about to say something, but Wichita stopped her. "Goodbye." she said. "Bye." Roanoke said hesitantly. Columbus gave a small wave and mumbled a goodbye. Little Rock rushed in and gave Roanoke a big hug. "Bye sweetie." said Roanoke, stroking Little Rock's brown hair. "Bye." she mumbled into Roanoke's shirt. She released from Roanoke's grasp and backed up beside Tallahassee. Wichita stepped forward and hugged her as well. "Will you stay strong to your promise?" Roanoke whispered into Wichita's ear. "I'll tell those skanks what you said, and if you want I'll just use them as zombie bait." she whispered back. Roanoke giggled. "Thanks." she said. Wichita tried to hold back tears and she stepped back into place beside her sister. Roanoke took a step forward and gave Columbus a small hug and a pat on the back. After Columbus' hug, she stepped back and her and Tallahassee just stared at each other awkwardly. Roanoke finally chose to stick out her hand. Tallahassee hesitantly reached out and shook it firmly. "I, um, I'm sorry about the bites, they don't hurt that bad." she said, inside, counting how many seconds their hands touched. Tallahassee nodded and turned a bit. "Well, we best be headin' out." he said. "Right." Roanoke said, choking back tears along with Wichita and Little Rock. "So, bye." said Tallahassee, heading for the van. The others slowly followed. Roanoke suddenly realized something and rushed into the living room. She grabbed her sword out of the corner and dashed out the door. The girls' faces brightened when they saw Roanoke head out of the house with her sword. Roanoke rushed over to the driver's side and offered the sword to Tallahassee. "Here." she said, out of breath. Tallahassee looked at her strange. "I haven't been trained with it since my sensei died, and I think you'd be better with it than me." she said. Tallahassee hesitantly took the sword and swung it out of it's sheath. He gave a small smile as he swung it through the air. Roanoke couldn't help but smile back at him. "Goodbye." she said and she walked back into the house. The others looked a bit crushed but what did they expect, she'd been planning to leave since day one and she never had changed her mind. Tallahassee stared after her until she disappeared into the house. He slid the sword back into it's case and hopped into the van. He could feel the tension in the van weighing on him. He finally snapped. "Look, she don't wanna come and that's that! Let the chick do whatever! If you think that halfway to Maryland I'm gonna turn around and get her again, you're wrong!" he yelled, grabbing the steering wheel and leaving for good.

Roanoke stood in her house, alone and cold. "Now how to do this." she pondered, thinking of a way to get it over with. She didn't like the cutting thing, that crap hurt. She let the ideas run through her head. Get eaten? No. Drown? Definitely not. Overdose? Hm... "Sounds good to me." she grumbled.

Meanwhile, Wichita was thinking intently in the back seat. Where was Roanoke planning on going or doing? Why didn't she leave when they left? Hold on... she wanted to give away her stuff, she kept mumbling to herself about where she was going, she... "Hey Florida." she said. Tallahassee grunted. "When we were back at the hotel, did you see Roanoke do anything strange?" she asked. Tallahassee sighed but thought about an answer anyway. "Well, the night we were there I saw her comin' out of the lobby bathroom actin' all weird and askin' me stuff but other than that no." he said. "What did she ask you?" asked Wichita eagerly. "She asked me some sort of crap like 'do you think physical or emotional pain hurts more' or somethin' like that, why?" Wichita thought for a moment. "When you went in there to use the bathroom the next morning, did you see anything?" Tallahassee looked at her strangely in the rear-view mirror but answered anyway. "I saw some blood on the floor, but it was just probably from a zombie er somethin'." Wichita's eyes widened. "Was it... fresh?" she asked quietly. "Kinda. Why, Wichita?" he asked more seriously. "Give me the wheel!" she screamed, lunging towards the front seats. "What the hell, woman?!" Tallahasseee yelled, slamming his foot on the brakes. "She was cutting herself! Give me the wheel, Tallahassee!" She shouted, climbing into his seat, despite his profane comments. "Why woman, let the chick slit her wrists! It don't concern us!"

"Tallahassee!" Wichita said gravely, looking him in the eyes. "She is going to kill herself." she said sternly. Tallahassee went pale and without another word he got out and got into the back seat beside Little Rock. Wichita turned the wheel as far as it would go and she floored it.

Roanoke stared at the bottle of painkillers. Oh they were painkillers all right. She poured herself a glass of water and said a prayer.

Wichita looked at the street sign. "Almost there." she whispered to herself.

Roanoke swallowed hard, she couldn't get herself to open the case. Her shaking hand reached out for it. She grabbed the bottle and closed her eyes, she slowly turned the cap. She jumped up suddenly when she heard someone pull into the driveway. "Ah crap! What are they doing back?!" she exclaimed, quickly putting the bottle back in a random cabinet and slamming the door shut. "Poker face, put on your poker face." Roanoke mumbled to herself, taking a deep breath and grabbing the glass, acting like she was about to take a sip of water. At that moment, Wichia burst through the door. "Roanoke!" she yelled. "What?!" Roanoke yelled back, putting a startled look on her face. "What are you... doing?" asked Wichita, noticing that Roanoke was acting totally normal and all she was doing was having a drink. Wichita's brow furrowed. "What?" Roanoke repeated. "I was just--"

"Wichita, you better not have dragged our asses back here fer nothing!" bellowed Tallahassee from behind her. It didn't phase Wichita and she took another step inside. She noticed that the cabinet above Roanoke was slightly open. She walked towards it, pushed by Roanoke and swung open the cabinet. She found the single bottle of pills among silverware. "That's an odd place to put a case of pills, don't you think?" she asked seriously to Roanoke, who looked defeated. Wichita sighed. She grabbed Roanoke's wrist and dragged her into her room.


Ah, yes, another cliff hanger indeed! Sorry guys, I just had to end it there! ;p

Tallahassee: so brocoli-head over here just attempted suicide. Great.

Roanoke: .....

Little Rock: um... so.. yeah, please review you guys!

Roanoke: or Fluffy will be coming to get you.

Columbus: Make sure you lock your doors and windows, sanitize your hands, remember rule number 1 and review please!

Author: Indeed.