~ At Abbie's shack ~

Abbie- "Everything will be all right Kc. You'll see. We've just hit another bump in the road is all. Things will just fine."

Kc- "Hey, remember how we used to sit in the family room when we were younger, and we used to talk about what we would do when we got older. No matter how insane my ideas were, you believed in me. I never thanked you for listening to me and my crazy plans."

"Well, it's not like we had the best childhood, Kc. I mean, when Dad started to drink and became violent after Mom died. I felt like I had to be your motherly figure. I Promised Mom I would take care of you, before she died, and that I would do what was best for you. So I promised myself never to make you feel stupid or unloved. Anyway, I was just doing what any good sister would do. There is no thanks needed."

"Well, you did a great job. And I just wanted to thank you."

"Awww. Well, thank you for being nice enough to thank me. Hey, Kc?"

"Yea, sis.?"

"Sit down next to me. We can dream about our future. Not for long though, 'cause you must be going back to the mall soon."

"We haven't done that in forever."

"Fine then, I'll start. I'll be a famous singer, who has won a gold medal in the Olympics for being the best and fastest runner in the history of the entire world. You and I will live in a huge castle, and everyone works for us. We'll eat nothing but junk food until we have to be rolled out of our huge kitchen. Which, by the way, Has a never ending food supply! We'll be so stinking rich, that we'll have a pool filled with money, just so we can swim in all our money. And, well never die! No one will ever get any kind of sickness again!"

"Sounds nice."

"What's your future like?"

"I like your idea. Except for one thing."

"And what, pray tell, is that?"

"That Mom didn't really die, and she was living in a cave somewhere. And one day she came out to live with us, and never went away again! Also, that I'll be a huge rock star."

"Wow! That's a great future, but what about Dad?"

"Who cares about him?! He was a Abusive man when he drank! He hit us all the time, and you expect me to include him in my future!? You're off you nut! He totally deserved what he got!"

"Kc!!!!!!!! He was as nice as nice could be when he was sober. You know that!"

"Fine then, In our future, he'll never hit us again! And he'd be over his drinking problem."

"That's better."

"You're too nice, you know that!?"

"Yeah, I know. It's one of my faults. To hate father, would be like hating a part of us. And I choose not to hate anyone, except for those damn people who developed that virus in the 1st place!"

"Yea, well, we all can't be like you, you know."

"Believe me, I know."

~~~~~~~~ Back at the mall rats ~~~~~~~~

The Mall Rats were now being led by Lex through the maze of a forest. Only using the vague memory of where the shack was to guide him. They were tired of walking. They'd passed that boulder before. And they had a feeling Lex was getting them lost.

Bray- "Are you sure you know where you're going, Lex?"

"Of course I know where I'm going! Don't be a fool!"

Alice- "For all we know, our little Lex, here, could be leading us into a trap."

"Don't be such a idiot, Alice! I would never do that to this loving tribe… Here we go I went this way when I was following Kc. See, Look, There it is! Told you!"

Yep, there it was. The old looking, wooden house. The Mall Rats stopped dead in their tracks. They just stayed right there, looking at the shack.

Ellie- "How come we haven't seen this here before?"

Saline- " Well Ellie, It's not like we've had a reason to come this far from the mall before."

Patsey- "I don't believe how someone could live alone out here. It's so creepy."

Jack- "For some odd reason I agree with Pat.'s on this. Can we go back to the mall now?"

Tie- San- "Jack, Remember what I said before about abandonment? Well, that statement remains! We do not, shall not, and Will NOT ever abandon anyone!"

Ryan- "Can we go knock on the door now? I'm tired of just standing here, talking about abandonment."

Lex- "Let's go, already!"

~~~~~~~ Abbie and Kc ~~~~~~~

Abbie- "shhhhhhhh!"

Kc- "What? What's wrong?"

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what? You're starting to alarm me!"

"It sounds like people!"

"It's just the wind, sis. No one knows where this place is. Stop being so paranoid."

"It's not paranoia! I hear voices!"

"Okay! That's not the kind of thing you want to hear from you sickly sister."

~~~ Knock-Knock-Knock-Knock ~~~

Abbie- "HA HA! I told you!!!"

"Stay here, It's probably just someone who's lost, like last time."

"I hope you're right Kc. I hope you're right."