Hi guys! Been a while since I last updated this story, got busy with School and everything. I was able to finish this one as I can and I will take some time to work on the next so please wait. Also, Just me and you is still very much alive, I'm just taking a break from it, but I will work on it later this year.

In case any of you are confused. Lincoln is 12, Lily is 2, Clyde and most of their classmates who are still alive are 12. The loud sisters haven't aged up yet and it will in the future chapters.

Speck

In the dictionary, it is a small discoloration or spot, especially from stain or decay. Or for him, is what he would call himself from then on. What did it matter whether his name was important or not? What did anything from the past even matter at this point?

The only thing that mattered now was that group of grown-ups gathering together on the street in front of the shop. There had to be at least fifty or so of them. They all appeared to answer to a heavily-built adult who stood over seven feet tall. He had sandy blond hair that went down to his shoulders. And a very serious look on his pale, green, slightly rotted face that looked like it had never smiled before. He also wielded a sledgehammer that was still stained with blood from when he used it earlier.

Whenever an adult found a dead kid's body they brought it to him he'd nod, and they'd set the body in a pile in the middle of the street. However, one adult who Speck recognized as a gas station owner named Flip, knowing how much of a selfish cheapskate Flip was whenever he came to his store so seeing him trying to keep the body parts for himself to eat didn't come as a surprise for Speck. And when the other adults found out they dragged the reluctant clerk up to the towering adult who ended up spraying his head and brain matter all over the street with one ferocious swing of his sledgehammer.

Speck observed the whole scene with his binoculars, waiting for them to move, but it seems as though it won't happen anytime soon. He wanted to grab a gun and shoot them all to the ground but couldn't risk getting caught by the adults because the gunshot would attract them to the shop.

He sighed and went back inside.

"Looks like we got company outside, Dad." Speck joked.

Unbeknownst to him, his dad can sense the other adult from outside just as they could sense him. He could simply call out to them telepathically to the other adults anytime he wants. But the problem was they wouldn't wanna waste their time breaking into the shop with one adult resided, and if they told them there was a kid, this place would be knocked out like an old house and devour the kid and he knew that those adults aren't fond with sharing, he didn't want that, he wanted the kid all to himself. He just needed a way to break free.

The sun shone from outside and into the gymnasium, prompting every kid in the elementary school to get up from their beds. Though, most kids refused to leave their place as they were too lazy to get up prompting others to make them. Lincoln, however, didn't get up along with her younger sisters who hadn't moved from their spot either ever since their older sibling left minutes prior.

Walking up to them was Clyde with the familiar happy expression on his face. "Hey, buddy how are you doing?" He asked though he knew it was kind of a silly question knowing that his best friend was worried for her older sibling.

"I'm okay, Clyde," Lincoln answered but from the look of his face, it was the opposite. Clyde had tried his very best to cheer up Lincoln and his younger sisters, but they simply just shrugged it off telling him the same sentence of how they were okay.

Around them were several kids walking around the gym and talking amongst themselves, one in particular a fifteen-year-old boy walked up the louds and had his eyes fixed on Lana.

"Hey, Lana, ready to get back to work?" They looked to see a brown-haired boy smiling down at him, he had his right hand behind his back while the left held a wrench.

"Oh, hi Marco," Lana greeted sadly. "I don't think I'm in the mood right now."

"Is it because of this morning isn't it? Look, your sisters are going to be fine, I heard they went off with kids from the middle school. Jay, Eric, and Franklin, heck I knew them, very tough fellas, trust me, your sisters are in good hands.

Hearing this lightened Lana a little bit. "You think so?"

"I'd bet my life on it." He spoke confidently.

Smiling, Lana got up. "Well, what are we waiting for? Bus ain't gonna fix themselves."

She and Marco went off on their way leaving Lincoln and his younger sisters behind. Suddenly Lisa got up herself.

"Where are you going, Lis?" Asked Lincoln.

"To the library where I always go." She explained with her brows furrowed slightly and her hands behind her back staring at the floor as it told her a sad story, Lincoln knew how much Lisa loved reading books as much as he was from reading comic books, one time she even borrowed so many books that she forgot to return them and had to pay fifty thousand dollars. But seeing as the world has left in ruins, it would mostly be lost in time so she particularly had to go there definitely more frequently in a pretty major way. As she left, another figure walked up to them.

"Hi, Lincoln." Spoke a calm and soothing voice. Turning their heads was a tall and pretty 15-year-old girl with curly blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Oh, hey Eleanor." Spoked Lincoln.

Eleanor peered down directly at Lola and smiled warmly. "How's our little princess doing today?" The teen asked, she crouched down so she could match Lola's height and put her hands against her knees. Lola just looked down.

"Okay, I guess." The six-year-old responded. Very rare has Lola been so quiet. Once upon a time, before the green mist, she would always go on about her pageant career and how beautiful her face is compared to others. But ever since then, she had been a literal shell of her former self. Everything that had happened these past few weeks had affected her more than anyone. Sure, she helped prepare food in the cafeteria and still loved to sew pillows and blankets together for her sisters and other kids to sleep in. But after her older sisters had departed, Lola has been too worried about them to focus on anything.

Lincoln wanted nothing more for Lola to go and have fun and do things she loved doing. Before Eleanor could speak about Lola's silence, Lincoln spoke up.

"Oh, no Lola. It looks like your hair's a little tangled."

As if all of Lola's worries about her sisters have ceased instantly and were replaced by her self-image. Her eyes were as wide as a dinner plate and her mouth hung open.

"What?! but I just brushed it fifty times yesterday, arg I knew should have counted to a hundred" She screamed. As much as Lincoln doesn't want to admit it, but he always finds Lola getting worried about her hair pretty funny. Ever since Luna made everyone cut their hair (Except him, Lisa, and Lana though you could say the latter was never that long, to begin with) Lola had been rather self-conscious about her appearance. Making as much effort of being elegant and beautiful as humanly possible. Now that he thought of it, it almost made him giggle. Dude seriously? I can't help it.

Anyway, Lincoln smirked like a little perv watching a woman showering from the window then said. "It also appears to be dark spots under your eyes."

This made the young blonde yelp like a turkey which Lincoln tried his best not to giggle. You're the worst you know? Shut up!

Getting up from her seats she yelled to Eleanor. "Take me to the bathroom and help me fix my hair pronto!" Lincoln would have helped but Eleanor's skills with make-up were far beyond that of his. I'm sure Eleanor and Leni would have been great friends on account of their knowledge of beauty and fashion design. Now that he mentioned Leni…sigh.

And speaking of a sigh.

Peering onto his left was Lucy. Still holding Charles on her lap. Lincoln scratched the back of his head, wasn't sure what he could do to Lucy but he needed to try.

"Hey, Lucy." Said the white-haired child with a smile crept on his lips. "Is there anything you wanna do today?"

No response.

Her eyes were completely invisible and she liked to keep it that way. Despite her hair is shorter than before, she insisted Luna keep her bangs uncut.

"Do you wanna go crawl around the vents or even work on your poems?" He insisted.

Still no response.

"Wanna go to the auditorium? You always mention it being haunted. Maybe there is some ghost you can talk to."

Yet no response.

He didn't blame her for not wanting to go to the auditorium seeing as though Duke and Joey resided there and she resented them for making their older sisters out. He resented them as well.

"Do you wanna go upstairs and look out the window? There are probably corpses lying around?"

No response yet again. Perhaps the goth girl really should have reminded Lincoln that she doesn't like people asking her too many questions.

Sigh. Well, I'm out of options. He thought. I really thought that would work, seeing as though Lucy once had a container of spleen put on the fridge once and pretended it was lime jelly. Then again, after what happened to the world, I don't think bringing up corpses is a good thing even if it was someone like Lucy.

Looking around and on to his left, he spotted a short girl sitting alone in one of the bleachers. She appears to be around the twin's age, with long jet-black black hair with two daisies on each side of her head. From what Lincoln could tell, the little girl was either writing or drawing something on a pad of paper. Lincoln recognized her as one of the members of that writing club Lucy and Haiku were in.

Pointing at the girl. He said to Lucy. "Maybe you should go talk to her. I see her with you all the time during writing class."

Lucy craned her head to the little girl who she instantly recognized but still didn't say anything.

Thinking of something to get them to hang out, Lincoln noticed the smell of poop. Both kids turned to Lily.

"Wily pooped." The 2-year-old cooed cutely and Lincoln had an idea.

"Alright, Luce. If you don't want to do anything then at least help me change Lily's diaper." The white-haired child then winked at Lily.

Lucy seemed hesitant then turned to the little girl. Maybe I should hang out with her, she's possibly the last of my friends who hadn't suffered the same fate as the poor souls who met a terrible fate. And I really come to like her.

Getting up Lucy says. "Okay, I will talk to Sasha. She is very sweet."

"Sasha? That's her name?" Lincoln asked.

"Indeed, she was part of the writers club before the blast." The goth girl explained before getting up and went over to Sasha. If he recalled correctly, Mom joined the writing club after Lucy was thinking of quitting due to Principal Huggins not letting them write when the club is literally called "The Writers" That's like saying you're not allowed to park at a parking lot.

Lincoln watched as Lucy walked over to Sasha who smiled.

"Oh hi, Lucy." The little girl beamed. "I was just finishing writing my story, you like to read it?"

"Sure." Said the little goth girl. A small smile crept on her face as she sat next to her with her head buried on the pad.

Lincoln smiled in satisfaction. "Now that that's been taken care of." He turned his head towards Lily and her crib. "Time to change your diaper."

Lana walked down with Marco down the hall and into the second floor. Across them, Sander just lit up the last candle then proceeded to walk downstairs. Lana peered out through the window that still had a glass, apparently not all glass was heavily damaged by the blast. Guess this one is made up of super thick glass. Peering closer, Lana could have sworn she saw some adults running around down below but quickly shook it off, hoping that it was just her eyes playing tricks on her.

They reached the bathroom door and were ready to get some work done.

"Okay, Lana these are all the toilets we need to work on." Said the 15-year-old teen pointing at all the 4 bathroom stalls. "Think you can handle that?"

"Do you know who you are talking to?" The young girl spoke. "I got this."

"Oh right, haha." Marco chuckled. That's when the sounds of something tapping on the window outside the bathroom caught the young plumber's attention. From the looks of it, it sounded like a pebble being thrown against it. She turned to Marco who's attention focused solely on the toilet.

Deciding not to bother the teen, Lana went over and looked through the window herself. And what she saw, made her regret even doing such a thing because what she just witnessed made her sick.

Standing with a few other adults, was none other than Grease Monkey. Standing 6'4, bloody overalls, long greasy oil-colored hair, a neck-covered beard, and scarlet-red eyes made him easy to recognize. Lana's heart sank into her stomach when she saw what he was holding in each of his arms; In one hand, he held her dead pet frog Hops, and the other was her dead lizard Izzy, whose head is still missing.

Grease Monkey made the same creepy smile when he saw Lana. He held up the two dead pets and brought Izzy to his mouth and bit down and ripped another chunk of the lizard.

Lana's body shook like she was in the cold, she clenched her first tightly making her knuckles white, and tears formed onto the back of her eyes, her face contorted to a look of rage. She banged furiously through the window almost breaking it while shouting out "I'll kill you!" Over and over.

Marco, hitherto, almost finished fixing one of the toilets when he heard Lana screaming. He quickly rushed over to the crying girl and wrapped her around his arms.

"Lana, what's wrong?" He asked, but once he looked outside of the cracked window and saw the greased adult he now knows why. "That bastard." He mumbled angrily before putting himself between Lana and the window and began to guide her way.

Clyde sat heavily on the bleachers looking at Lincoln trying to get Lucy to hang out with the girl sitting a few feet away. He wanted to help but it looks as though Lincoln had it covered. He sighed, ever since the blast had happened. Clyde had been relatively lonely since then. His parents are dead, his two cats are lost and now he doesn't have all that much.

Don't get him wrong, Clyde still had his friends like Lincoln, Rusty, Liam, and a few other kids, and Lincoln's sisters are very kind as well. He remembered how he went into a sleepover with the louds and he had to hang out with all of Lincoln's sisters. Well, except for Lori who at that time he was still trying to win her heart. Boy times sure have changed.

Still though...

"Hey," Said a voice. Clyde turned to his left to see Chloe standing with her arms behind her back and a shy smile forming on her face.

"Oh, hey Chloe how are you doing?" Asked the African-American child.

"I'm good thanks." Answered Chloe.

Looking at her from top to bottom, Clyde could tell this wasn't the case but decided to just roll with it.

"Can I sit next to you please? If you don't want to that's fine." She asked politely.

"Sure, Chloe." He said and the young girl's face lit up and sat next to him, perhaps maybe a little too close as she had her hands on top of his but Clyde ignored it. He liked Chloe. Ever since that valentines dance. Both he and Chloe had been hanging out during school, after school, and even hung out at each other's place.

He stared at Chloe and noticed she was looking down. "Hey what's wrong?"

Chloe held Clyde's hand tighter. "I'm really scared, Clyde. I don't know what happened that made those things what they are. Emma was killed right before me, and I'm terrified to go out there."

He felt sad when Emma was mentioned. She and Chloe knew each other long as he and Lincoln Clyde knew when they were little and seeing her die must have been very traumatizing for her. He knew how she felt, everyone knew how she felt. He held her tightly. "It's okay Chloe, as long as I'm here, you won't be anywhere near those things out there."

"Really?" She asked.

"Sure, you see how I was able to take that one adult to save you? I could probably do it again." He said confidently though he knew he would most likely be fucked when he does encounter one.

Chloe chortled softly. "You're so funny."

"I sure am."

"There, all done!" Said Lincoln, finished changing Lily's diaper. He then grabbed a bottle of milk and gave it to her. Thanks to Lisa's preserving ray. She was able to make food and disposable drinks like milk last a little bit longer. Plus, there was a farm nearby where a family of kids lived. Folks that his friend Liam knew thereof. Being well fortified, and the animals were all taken care of. That's where they managed all the milk and other assortments of food.

He went over to Clyde who was hugging Chloe tightly. He waited for a few seconds to give them some time before his friend noticed him.

"Hey, buddy, what do you need?" Clyde asked.

"I want you to take care of Lily for me while I take all the loaded diapers to the roof." Said Lincoln.

"Sure thing," Clyde said.

"I can help." Chirped Chloe.

"Not surprising there," Lincoln said and walked out of the gym and went upstairs. He passed several kids he knew or didn't. Once he reached the roof and threw the diaper into an oil drum that was burning constantly. It was used to burn garbage since they don't feel like throwing it outside. Over to his side, stood several kids who were older than him chatting amongst themselves.

Lincoln walked closer to the edge of the roof and starred with half-lidded eyes over at the once peaceful town that now looks more like a post-world war two Europe. He had his hands folded and gave a small inward sigh.

"What a world we live in." The young loud muttered, loud enough for a kid standing a few feet away.

"You said it." A voice called out. "But you have to admit, it does create very desolate beauty at the sight before us."

On to Lincoln's left was a boy who used to be one of Lincoln's classmates before the green mist. His once short brown hair now extended into a bowl-style feature. He turned 12 like Lincoln only the Tucker was a week younger

"Oh, hey Tucker," Lincoln responded. He remembered Tucker as the school's hall monitor for less than a year, and he was that kid on the school rooftop who saw them driving by the road then told Stan and the others when the adults attacked them.

Seeing that Lincoln isn't gonna say any further, Tucker continued. "Been coming up in this roof every morning to watch the sunrise and look at the world that used to be. I keep hoping that I'll see the world turning back to normal. That one day I'll look in the dawn and see people living their lives as they had before all of this happened. But of course, I'm just wasting my time and it won't happen anytime soon."

"Hey, we all could imagine something like that," Lincoln said, trying to come up with a good word he can use.

"Yeah, all I could do now is try to be optimistic and hope that one day we'll beat this thing, that we'll overcome adversity and I can look off this roof and see a new, better world."

Well, Tucker, it doesn't always work that way. Lincoln said in his head. Unlike him, Lincoln wasn't all too optimistic about the new world, he doubts he would live to see it. If it ever does happen.

"I hope so too." Said Lincoln. "I just hope my sisters are doing okay."

Tucker looked at him and gave a melancholic smile and placed an arm on Lincoln's shoulder.

"That's one thing that we have and those adults don't. Hope. As far as I know, the only thing those adults are the desire for human flesh. While we have the desire to survive and overcome them."

"I agree with that," Lincoln said.

"Oh and action, don't forget action," Tucker spoke then continued. "Everyone knows Hope is useless without action. So, if I want to see the world change I'll have to do it myself, but the good thing about action is that sometimes you don't have to do it alone. I heard that some teens from middle school showed up. It sure would be great if there's as many of them as there are of us. We can join forces. It's up to us to work together to beat these things. So, as long as your sisters and the kids from the middle school work together and have the will to beat these things; they should be fine."

Lincoln wasn't surprised that the 12-year-old boy made a minute-long speech given that Tucker was great in public speaking, something he himself does on some occasions. His use of the word action prompted him to speak once more.

"Now that you mentioned it. I'd solve a lot of problems that my family had. Leni with her driver's license and her workplace, Luna with her music career; even play together at some point, Luan with her comedy routines, Lynn during her workout sessions, even now, Lucy is helping her write in her poems, Lana with her animals, Lola in preparing for her beauty competition, Lisa when I'm being an unwilling participant in her experiment, or Lily in changing her diaper. So much more, as for Lori." Lincoln smiled sadly at his fallen sister. "I took charge when Lori wasn't there, like the time the power went out and we had to go to the basement and check to the fuse box or that time when she worked at Gus' and Games and Grub where I kept asking her such as things like food and token so I can give them to Chandler in hopes of getting an invitation to his party, which I did. But, she had to work overtime when her boss found out, meaning she wouldn't go to the school dance she hoped to go to. So I decided to do the work for her, meaning I missed Chandler's party."

"I didn't want to go because Chandler was always been a jerk to me," Tucker stated. "I almost wanted to report him for running around the halls."

Lincoln just laugh. There was one instance where I bad-mouthed Ronnie Anne when I didn't know she was right behind me, which hurt her feelings. So, she told her older brother Bobby, and he ended up breaking up with Lori and she flipped at me for insulting Ronnie. Luckily we were able to arrange a double date where I was able to apologize to her and all was forgiven."

"Not to sound mean but, your sister is pretty harsh when she threatens you about what happened," Tucker explained.

"I couldn't blame you. Even Ronnie Anne was mad about what Lori did to me." Lincoln said.

"Speaking of Ronnie Anne. How was she since she moved away?" Tucker asked.

"Oh, she's doing great, have some really amazing family, and her friends like Sid, Nikki were also great." Lincoln spoked. "We would always video chat together every day and talk about what's been going on. Hell, we would make vlogs about our life and post them on YouTube."

"You two would be a great couple, to be honest," Tucker said with a smirk, causing the white-haired boy to laugh nervously while scratching the side of his head.

"Probably." Then his face turned to a look of sadness. "I just hope she's okay."

"I hope so as well, she's probably with a group of kids just like us," Tucker said and patted Lincoln's back.

"Yeah, maybe." Lincoln said, "Also did I ever tell you about that video contest last year?"

"Do tell."

The gym inside the middle school was almost like a complete replica of the ones in the elementary. Gym mats were placed on the floor, kids were spread throughout the room, the younger ones were playing games while the older kids loitered around the bleacher, some of them were even taking shots. The loud kids thought that at least some of them would recognize them but no one said anything. Everyone sat still as the newcomers made their way into the gym. It felt as though they had first arrived at the elementary school gym a week prior.

As they walked, Luna spotted Brock who was sitting in the bleachers with his palm resting on his chin with a stern-like expression, chatting with a boy about his age, from what Luna could tell, the boy was writing something down on a paper.

"Slow day isn't it?" Asked Jay.

Brock looked up confused at first but once he was it was Jay he smiled. "The whole place is always pretty slow since we boarded it up a month back." Said Brock, putting his palms on his knees. "I was just talking with Jacob. Making a list of some other items that we would need in case we get caught in another hostile attack. Found anything while you were there?"

"You bet, got some spare medicine that the elementary school kids had."

Spare? Brock said inwardly. He knew the last time he saw medicine, they were spilled all over the floor, and wait Elementary school kids? He was about to speak up when he saw 7 kids who he was certain, weren't here in the school. Stan, Jeremy, Jake, Luna, and Luan. He knew Lynn a little bit but not for Cooper.

After the elementary group said hello and told Brock where they came from he smiled.

"Thank goodness we're not the only group in Royal Woods, I thought we would never find anyone." He turned to Jay. "You three did good in finding them."

He handed the bag to a kid next to him. "Take this to the Med bay hopefully, Eve will know what to do with it." he turned back towards the group. "I can't thank you guys enough for this. Would you like me to give you a tour around the school?"

"Actually," Said Lynn. "We'd rather get back-"

But Stan cuts her off.

"Sure man, would love a tour around the place." The dark-haired teen interrupted.

"Hey, I was talking here!" Lynn said but Stan ignored her.

"I don't mind a tour." Came Luna's voice.

"Same." Said Luan, Jeremy, and Jake also voiced their agreement.

Lynn pursed her lips and sighed as she walked alongside the group enthusiastically. "Whatever."

Unknown to them, a teen was watching the elementary group from afar and had her eyes mostly on Luna, at the same time another teen was watching the group from another direction and had his eyes on Luan.

After his little talk with Tucker, Lincoln returned to the gym and find Clyde and Chloe playing with Lily who was smiling and giggling from Chloe's tickles. Lincoln was saddened at the thought of Lily having to grow up in this new world, being only 2 she would have no recollection of her 2 sisters nor have any recollections of her parents. It was sad but he promised he would be there for her. Over to Lincoln's left, he saw Cookie with bandaged still attached on her cheek. Mollie and Girl Jordan were sitting on each of her sides.

"It will be fine, Cookie." He heard Girl Jordan spoke.

"Lincoln!" A voice called out.

Lincoln blinked before turning to see a familiar red-haired boy with many freckles on his face. "Oh, hey Rusty." His voice was tired and dull.

"Do you and Clyde wanna go play a board game with me, and the gang." He turned his head back and pointed towards a group of kids who were setting up a game on a table. Lincoln looked and saw Liam, Chandler, and Rusty. Chandler with a snarky grin on his face.

"Sup, Lincoln-Lame." The red-haired boy snarled.

"Oh, great," Lincoln muttered irritably. It was bad enough her sisters had to be dragged out into the world where they might get eaten by those sickos, now he has to play a board game with Chandler. He turned to Clyde who nodded his head.

"Sure, I'm down, how about you Chloe?" Clyde asked.

"No thanks, I'd rather watch over Lily," Chloe answered then turned to Lincoln. "If that's okay with you."

"Not at all," He answered before joining in with the other kids.

"Well, the more the merrier," Liam said cheerfully as he gestured on some empty seats.

"So what game are we playing?"

"It's called Pardon." Said Rusty, "It's like chess meets shoots and ladders,"

"I think I remember playing it with my sisters at one time but Lynn ruined it for us," Lincoln said as he and Clyde sat down.

"Choose your piece." Said Rusty.

Lincoln opted for the orange one. After Rusty explained the rules they made their rolls.

Rusty went first and moved three lines but moved up 4. Liam came next and moved only one line which annoyed the farm boy and delighted the freckled-faced boy.

Clyde rolled his dice and moved his dice up one side, Rusty rolled his with five sides much to the annoyance of the other kids.

"No fair, I saw you moved an extra line." Said Rusty.

"Oh, like you?" Said Liam.

"Touche."

Chandler kept giving Lincoln mocking glances. Lincoln tried his best to ignore it.

"Hey, Lincoln-Lame are you playing or what?" Said Chandler.

Lincoln rolled his dice and went for a 5, Chandler came in next only to land on lose a turning space much to Lincoln's delight but he kept it hidden.

"Looks like you lose." Rusty smiled.

"Fuck off," Chandler muttered.

Lincoln almost finds it hard to suppress a laugh. Maybe this wasn't such a bad thing.

Across the home economics room, Lola sat with Eleanor stitching some pillows and create nice floral patterns in the fabrics. Eleanor along with a few other kids sat around at each different table focusing on their own creation.

"How are you doing with yours?" Asked Eleanor and when Lola showed it to her she smiled in admiration. "That's really pretty, Lola."

"Thanks," The young girl said with a faint smile on her face and continued stitching up another pillow. As she was stitching, she thought of her sisters and wondered what's been taking so long for them to come back, they did say they went to the middle school, hopefully, they were other survivors. Although, one part of Lola's mind suggested something bad happened. She quickly shrugged that thought off and continued stitching.

The inside of the Middle School was again almost like a replica of the Elementary School, Luna just couldn't get over the fact that it just looks so similar; Teens were patrolling the candle-lit halls and others had reinforced some of the windows with steel bars. Vegetables being planted in the courtyard possibly more, and kids were preparing food in the cafeteria.

Luna could smell the scent of chicken soup being cooked in the kitchen. Brock let them sit and have a quick meal.

"I gotta say, you really made this middle school one hell of a place to live in," said Stan. "Way better than what we got in the elementary school.

"Well, when you grow up in a military family you know how to be organized and plan," said Brock.

Luna thought back of Lincoln, being dubbed the man with the plan. She wondered if he could join in a military or something.

"I'm guessing most of your family was in the US Army?" Stan asked, just as two teens came out from the kitchen and prepare their meals.

"That's right, it's pretty much a tradition, my ancestors came here in the 1700s and fought in the American Revolution."

"Cool." Replied Jake while taking a spoonful of his soup and cringed slightly in disgust. "Needs salt."

Stan and Jeremy looked completely enthralled with Brock's stories. Luna and Luan were slightly interested; however, they were more interested in Brock himself. He wasn't really what they considered to be their type. But, that didn't mean they didn't find him attractive. They really wished they'd ended up here with him instead of at the elementary school with Duke. Luna wasn't sure she'd be able to drag her siblings away from the elementary school to come here because that meant they'd have to brave the streets.

Lynn wasn't interested in Brock at all. All she cared about was getting back to her sisters. She didn't even care that Cooper kept glancing at her and smiling.

After they were done eating, Brock led them to a room that was well stashed with supplies and weapons.

"For your contribution of medical supplies. I'll give you food and weapons in return."

"Awesome," Stan cheered.

They wandered into the room admiring all the food and melee weapons.

"We got the food from the grocery store across the way. We were able to fill a small delivery truck with non-perishables and water. And as for the weapons we snatched them from a nearby flea market. I knew a guy who had space where he'd sell all kinds of random weapons such as knives, swords, spears, axes, hammers, clubs, and maces. So that was the first booth I went to. Luckily it was well stacked since we were the only ones brave enough to go out and explore."

"Were you able to find any firearms?" Stan asked.

Brock sucked air through his teeth.

"Unfortunately, no. We tried that one hunting shop nearby. Garter's Guns, but the shop was completely locked up, gutter down and everything."

"Damn," Stan muttered.

"Well anyway, I'll let you all take what you can carry. And then you can all be on your way."

The elementary school kids packed on what they could carry with them then selected new weapons. Stan getting a four-flanges mace that curved down. Jeremy went for a halberd. Cooper went for a double-edged knightly sword. Jake went for a long-bladed machete. Luna went for a woodcutting axe. It reminded her of her own axe guitar. Luan chooses a curved sword called a scimitar. It what the pirates use she thought. And Lynn chose a spiked club called a morning star.

"Sure you don't wanna stay a little longer?" asked Brock.

"We're sure all right," Stan answered. "Some of us have families back in the elementary school and we wouldn't wanna let them think we got killed or something."

"Can't argue with that."

They leave and passed the gym. Right before a familiar girl walked out from the doors and stopped to see the group.

"Uh, can we help you?" Said Stan.

"Uh.." Said the girl then had her eyes fixed on Luna.

Luna, hitherto, was talking to Lynn when the girl walked up and the young rocker froze upon looking at her. Blonde with a blue streak.

"Luna?"

"Sam?"

Chris bit down at the arm of the kid he just beat the living shit at. He savoured every chew he could bite down on as he closed his eyes. He still couldn't get over the fact that he just beat up a kid. Eh, he got what's coming for him. In front of him lay a pile of about 20 to 30 dead kids. All of them had been hunted down by other adults.

Chris thought that It was heaven for him to be able to eat kids without anyone judging him. As a matter of fact, he was already suspected of being a child kidnapper for a while, he was always labelled as "that strange guy from the department store who looks at kids funny" And they were not wrong. Had it not been for the green mist, he would have found himself sharing a cell with Papa Bear and get raped in the shower after dropping the soap to the ground.

The only downside was that he'd be forced to share the spoils with other adults who were getting weak and savage from not having enough food to eat. He picked up a piece of an arm and threw it on the ground for the adults to fight over it. Dumbass, he laughed knowing that they must have heard him, he didn't give a shit he was their leader if anyone was gonna call them a dumbass it would be him.

One adult walked up to Chris, and looked as though he felt great sorrow, Chris had to cover his nose due to this adult smelling like he bathed in a pool of dead rats. We've scoured every inch of this neighbourhood and we found no kids in sight.

Chris stared at the ground with slightly furrowed brows then looked at the adult once more. "Very well," He spoke, sounds of flesh being chewed reverberated from his mouth and then he swallowed. "As soon as we've finished consuming all of these kids, we'll continue to hunt on other nearby towns. I'm certain some kids are still alive."

The adult just nodded.

Chris turned to second in command Crony who was munching down on a severed leg.

"I gotta ask you something, is there a way to cure you guys?"

No, and I'm certain there are survivors out there hopelessly trying to, and if they did somehow find one, it wouldn't do anything much now that this world is now irreparable. Crony answered.

"Great to hear," Said Chris as he took another bite from the arm. He had another answer crossed in his mind.

"Hey, you said you encountered a few people who give off the same vibe as I did, care to explain that?"

Crony's lips curled up into that same creepy smile from before.

Let's just say, you're not the only one who wasn't infected by the virus.

Chris just nodded slowly and began to process on what that meant. If he isn't the only one then that means there are people who are just like him who commit cannibalism. He thought back to that fat man he encountered on the road he could have asked Crony what the people he met before him looked like but he decided to save that for some other time. So instead he asked him something else.

"What happens if we eat all the kids."

We'll make sure that won't be the case. All we need to do is use kids like a cattle.

Chris gulped, he was more used to eating kids, he never had the thought of wanting to fuck one let alone even tried, he thought it was too much even for him. "Leave me out of that, I'd rather force two kids doing it."

Meh, it could work, so as long as that baby doesn't die.

Chris did not speak any further and continued eating his meal.