When the Sertori family arrived at the café, Mr. Sertori replaced Simon as a leader of the group. This made Don quite proud. He was also put in charge of getting food and he went out fishing sometimes, with the guys to help him out. He caught a TON of fish in his boat and that was put in the freezer for storage.
Propane was no longer a necessity at the café. Emma refroze the contents of the freezers once a day to keep everything cold. Bella continued to get fresh water, and Rikki could make fires.
A few times a week, the mermaids would swim to Mako Island and gather fruit for the people at the café. Weekly supply trips were also made to look for canned vegetables and other food that wouldn't go bad.
On one of these supply runs, Rikki's dad was found in his old caravan. When the zombie epidemic started, he'd been in the next town over, but he eventually found his way back home. He was very happy to be reunited with his daughter and everyone was glad he was okay. Bella's parents were the only ones missing, but they were out of the country and most likely okay.
Elliot and Kim started spending a lot of time together, as they were the youngest at the café. They became a couple within two weeks, and Elliot helped Kim become a much nicer and less selfish person.
The rest of the couples stayed together happily. Emma met a nice guy at the café who was older than her, but very mature, athletic, smart, and was going to be a solicitor before the disease started. They fell in love.
Bella and Emma hit it off as friends and the four became a close-knit group.
Shortly after Simon was banished, Lewis sent out the girls to get samples of the coral that cut Emma. They found a few pieces and very carefully brought it back for Lewis to study. Lewis confirmed that it was the coral that started the zombie epidemic.
With this knowledge, the gang went to the old marine park (a very dangerous place) and found the medicine Laurie used to cure Emma the first time. It took two months, but Lewis was able to mutate the medication so that it would also cure humans. He raided the marine park and created mass amounts of the medicine.
Rikki and Cleo helped unthaw Mr. Gilbert and he was the very first person to be cured. Emma, Mrs. Gilbert, and Elliot were all very thankful to have him back safe and sound. Mr. Gilbert didn't remember anything about being frozen or turning into a zombie.
Lewis started curing other zombies until the entire town was human. None of them remembered their time as zombies, either.
Eventually the medicine worked it's way across Australia. A temporary government was set up which helped restore order to the country. The disease had also infected people in New Zealand, but it didn't get any farther than that. The rest of the world was safe, including the area Bella's parents were at.
Lewis was given a lot of money and awards for his miraculous cure. He went on to win a Nobel Peace prize for his work.
The cure was developed in two months and after four months it had cured everyone of the disease. Many people had died and no one ever forgot the terrible disease that ravaged Australia during 2014. The country quickly started rebuilding. By 2015 you would never guessed that the buildings and homes had been abandoned.
Simon Caruthers was found north of the town and was imprisoned for the crimes committed during the epidemic.
Lewis got a prestigious job researching rare tropical diseases. Cleo went to Uni and became a Marine Biologist.
Zane and Rikki managed the café, which became very prosperous. It was also deemed a historical site because it was where the famous cure had been developed. They had people from all around the world visit the place.
Bella wrote a successful book about her experience with the disease. She didn't originally intend to publish it, but it was so good that her friends urged her to. She changed a bit of the story to exclude mermaids and magic, but it was still surprisingly truthful. Will got a job for an archeologist who explored shipwrecks. He got to dive in the ocean with cameras and get paid for it.
Emma went to Uni and became a doctor. She encouraged physical health and got a black belt in Tai Kwan Do so that she could protect herself against anything.
The entire gang stayed close although they each went on separate life paths. So, obviously, they all lived happily ever after.
Well, that's it for The Stake Are High. I hope you liked it and let me know what you think about this conclusion. I'm very happy to have completed one of my first fics, and this story let me know what sort of things readers on this site like. If you like my writing, I hope you'll check out my other story, Hi Society, and watch for any others with my name! :) Thank you to every single reviewer and if you still have questions feel free to leave them.