Author's Note: By now you've pretty much come to expect that the Author's Note at the beginning of each chapter will be an apology for taking so long! So we'll just skip over that part and go to the part where I hope you enjoy this new chapter. Just keep in mind - there is a time difference from the events that are happening to Leah and the things happening to Seth, it's just that you haven't been told what that difference is yet. Enjoy!

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"Where the hell could she be?" Seth thought aloud, staring at the empty car seat where Leah should have been. This is not good. Why can't anything just go right? "Damn it."

"What do we do now?" Kendall asked.

"I don't know," Seth answered, his expression despondent. "But Luke's here, so we need to wake him up and get moving."

"That might be a good idea," Bryce piped up nervously, looking out the cracked rear window. "The zombies are coming."

Seth whipped around to see the large pack of zombies coming down the highway at an alarming speed. "Fuck," he swore, and rushed over to the mangled Ford. "Come on Luke, wake up," he muttered, lightly slapping him on the cheeks. "Come on." Luke's eyelids fluttered briefly but he didn't come to, much to Seth's chagrin.

"Shit. All right, let's go, buddy." Seth undid Luke's seatbeat and gently but hastily pulled him from the car. "Bryce, open your door!" he yelled, struggling with the dead weight. Unceremoniously hoisting Luke into the back seat, he slammed the door and shoved himself in the driver's seat. Gunning the engine, the car shot forward down the highway, gaining a fair bit of distance from the zombies.

Driving past a small gas station, they soon entered the city limits of Finbar. Much like when they first got to Williamstown, nothing moved. It was unnerving. "Okay," Seth broke the tension-filled silence. "It's night-time, we have a big mob of zombies after us, we're in a strange town, and Luke's unconscious in the back seat. Does anyone have a plan?"

Kendall and Bryce didn't say anything.

"I'm loving the input from you guys so far," Seth commented, his eyes darting around Finbar's main road for a place to hide. When he saw one particular building, he stopped the car. "This'll do."

Bryce stared up at the building. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, why not?" Seth pointed to a hastily scrawled sign on the front door. "It says closed due to family emergency, so no-one would be in there, right?"

"I guess," Bryce agreed hesitantly.

"We don't have a lot of choices," Kendall said. "How do we get in?"

"Leah should have something." Seth leaned over and opened the glove compartment, rummaging through the mess. Along with a few other protection methods like mace and an airhorn, Leah was known to also have a Swiss army knife in her car.

Eventually he felt the cold metal, and pulled the knife from the compartment. He held it up, relieved that Leah was still over-cautious about personal safety. "Does anyone know how to jimmy a door?" He received blank looks from Bryce and Kendall. "All right, I'll do it. Wish me luck," he added with a forced smile.

"Good luck," Kendall whispered, her blue eyes wide with fear. She handed him the gun they'd been keeping alongside her feet.

Seth gave her a look of appreciation before checking their surroundings for zombies. Clutching both the handgun and Swiss army knife, he exited the car. So far so good, he thought. He knew that he didn't have a lot of time; the zombies weren't that far behind. Moving quickly to the building's front door, he tucked the gun in the back of his jeans, opened the blade and placed it in the door jamb. He'd never done something like this before, although when he and Roger were in their younger reckless days he'd seen Roger do it several times. Of course, he knew that there was a big difference between watching someone jimmy a door open and doing it yourself.

This is fucked, he thought. What are you going to do, wiggle the knife for a while and hope the door opens? Despite feeling a complete idiot, he attempted to get the door open by using Roger's technique. A few minutes passed and he felt like he almost had it when Bryce said from the car, "Uh, Seth?"

"Yeah?" he replied without taking his eyes off the door.

"You might wanna hurry up, the zombies are getting a little close!" Bryce informed him in a strained voice.

Seth took a look down the road. He could see them in the distance, and at the rate they were moving, the swarm would be on them in minutes. "For fuck's sake," he muttered in frustration, and returned his concentration to the door. His panic was rising, and his hand was soon slick with sweat. "Shit," he cursed as he almost dropped the knife. Finally he heard the lock release and pushed on the door. It swung open with ease. Thank god.

"Come on!" Seth yelled as he ran to the car and opened the back door. Pulling the gun free, he handed it to Kendall. "Keep an eye out for any zombies that are close, okay?" Without waiting for a reply, he slid Luke's unconscious form out onto the ground and picked him up under the arms. Bryce ran round to grab Luke's legs, and together they hurried for the door. Kendall followed behind, her eyes darting in all directions, scouting for danger.

As Seth and Bryce were about to enter the building, Kendall moved in front of them. "I'll go first," she said

"Are you sure?" Seth asked, panting with the effort of supporting Luke.

"Yeah." Kendall nodded, attempting to look brave but her trembling hands gave her away. "I'm the one with the gun, I should go in first."

"Let's make this quick guys, there's not a lot of time," Bryce spoke up, his breathing also labored.

Seth watched Kendall go through the doorframe, gun raised, and then she disappeared in the darkness beyond. He and Bryce entered the building, and Bryce shut the door behind him with his foot. "We'll need something to block that with," Bryce mentioned.

"Yep," Seth replied, keeping that in mind. He shuffled backwards through a long dark corridor, then heard the sound of automatic doors opening behind him. "Can you see anything?" he asked Bryce, who was the one moving forward.

"Not yet," Bryce answered.

"Kendall?" Seth called tentatively, his voice sounding unnaturally loud in the silence. No reply. He adjusted his hold on Luke as his hands were cramping from the strain, trying not to drop him. "Kendall!"

Suddenly the fluorescent lights overhead flickered on, and Kendall was visible on the far side of the room. "I found the switchboard," she announced. "The power seems okay. No zombies as far as I can tell."

Seth and Bryce hoisted Luke onto a nearby countertop with grunts of exertion. "We need to block that front door and disable those automatic doors," Seth said. He looked around the room for something heavy that could barricade the door for a while. There were a few vending machines lining the walls, several desks, loads of shelves. The shelves would make a good barrier, but they would have to take off all the objects weighing them down before moving them. The objects were bowling balls, of many different sizes and colours.

They were taking refuge in Finbar's only bowling alley, Bob's Bowling Bonanza.