Author's Note: -faints- Oh my this is freakin' amazing! Holly shit I don't think I've ever received so many reviews in my life! I kindda skipped my gym class today so I had time to work on this chapter! Here you go!

The smoke and mirrors
The lies that wind your tongue
Is this oppression what we wanted or what we needed?
As we function on impatience
And our patience is wearing thin
And live a lie that will destroy us all

-Bullet Theory By: Funeral for a friend.

How long is the night?

Chapter 11

The little red book

His heart skipped a beat. His skin seemed to want to rip away from the cold of the gun that prodded his head. He put his gun away and held his hands up to show the owner of the gun that he meant no harm.

Leon was hoping that it was Ada. He couldn't tell though because he couldn't see the person, only shiny silver.

"Ada?"

"Who the hell is Ada?" came a feminine voice. The gun didn't move from his forehead. "What are you doing in my house?"

When Leon didn't answer the gun was pushed even further into his head. He was sure that by now there would be imprints of where the barrel had been.

"Don't make me shoot you."

Suddenly Leon fell to the floor. He brought his left leg up and kicked the gun away. It flew up in the air and landed on the floor beside him. Leon quickly picked it up and pointed it towards the stranger.

He lowered it just as soon as he had raised it, seeing no threat in the person that stood before him.

She looked like she was around fifteen. Her hair was light brown and extended down to her knees. She wore all black clothing and had piercing whitish-blue eyes.

She glared at Leon then looked at her gun. She slowly raised a hand towards a belt that was hanging loosely off of her waist, which looked much like Leon's. He quickly pointed the gun at her just incase she pulled anything funny.

She grabbed at something and smashed it on the floor. Bright, blinding light engulfed the tiny space. Leon looked around with sore eyes for the girl, but she wasn't there.

Something came from behind him. The girl took out a large dagger and held it to his neck.

Leon could feel her body go still.

"D-drop your knife!"

Ashley held the gun to the girl's head with shaky hands. She put her finger on the trigger and got ready to fire.

The knife made a clank noise as it dropped to the floor. The girl dropped to her knees and glared up at Ashley.

"Are you happy now? First you just barge into my house and now you've stripped me of all my weapons!"

"Is there anyone else here?" Leon asked.

The girl seemed to be taken by surprise by Leon's question. She looked suddenly distant and in deep thought. She stared at the bare walls and closed her eyes. Her hands balled up into fists as she opened them once more.

"No."

"So what's your name? I'm Ashley and this is Leon," she pointed towards him.

Leon handed the gun and dagger back to her.

"They're all gone. Turned into the living dead right before my eyes."

"What happed?" Ashley put an arm around her shoulder and sat down beside her. The girl pushed it off and continued to stare at the wall.

"There was this flew going around and everybody seemed to have it all except me and my little brother, Shaun. Then there was this warning issued during school about not drinking the water, that something was it in. We had no extra supplies so we had no choice. I refused to drink the water and found a tiny stream walking home from school one day, I tried and tried to get everyone to go there for water but nobody was listening to me, they were acting really weird." She finally tore her gaze from the wall to look at Leon and Ashley.

"Then these gray men showed up one day. They took a bunch of the really sick people saying that they were of a higher status than the others and should be treated like royalty not like a bunch of weak infants."

"So you mean there are a lot of them then?"

The girl looked at Ashley. "Yea, whole lotta them, they came in hoards to the sickly."

Leon sat down up against the wall away from the two girls. "Then what happened?"

"Everyone gathered at the town's park. Then all the gray men gathered around everybody, but they never harmed them. This tall guy that was with the gray men carved something into the center monument, I never got a chance to check it out, but I'm sure it might be of some interest to you guys."

"Sounds like some kind army of undead weirdoes," Ashley said.

(It's a CONSPERICY! –runs away screaming-)

"What ever happened to your brother? Is he still here?" Ashley looked at the girl, who seemed to be struggling with something deep inside her.

She got up and went down the stairs. Leon and Ashley followed silently behind her. She opened up a backdoor and went into the backyard. She stopped at the foot of a line of rock slabs.

She then pointed to the smallest.

"That's where my baby brother is. Dead." She looked at Leon and Ashley. "He was only six years old, he didn't deserve to die!"

"How did he die?" Ashley said in a somewhat kind voice.

A tear fell from her face. "I had to kill him." She heard a gasp come from Ashley. "I carry his blood on my hands. He was suffering and I didn't want to let the gray men take him away. He's safe now," she whispered.

Leon looked at the unmarked slab of rock that was the little boy's tombstone. He felt sorry for the girl.

"Are these your parents?" Ashley asked.

"No. They're my friends," she pointed to the other four that were beside her brother's. "I had to kill them too, you know. They were in a lot worse condition than my brother was. Their skin started to welt and these bug like things bulged out of their arms and legs, it was disturbing."

"Are you sure they're not still living?"

"Nope. I got them just in time. I read all about the parasite and the condition they had in this book that the tall guy had dropped."

"Did you get a good look at him?" This time it was Leon who spoke.

"Sorry. There were too much people."

"Do you have that book still?" he asked.

She went back in the house and came back out with a brick red book. She looked through the pages and then stared back up at Leon and Ashley.

"You're the president's daughter aren't you?" She looked at Ashley, who nodded in response. "And you are her protector, right?" Leon nodded also.

"Where'd you learn this from?" Ashley asked.

"It says all this stuff about you guys in it. There's all this information about the parasite and all this other stuff that happened." She handed the book to Leon. "Take as long as you want, the stuff in there bugs me."

Leon flipped through the pages until something caught his eye. He read the contents:

We have successfully evolved the plaga along with the T-virus. We took both of the best samples and combined them, making one powerful virus that we have not yet named. Scientists worked many long hours on testing the new virus on some volunteers and the results were excellent! There are some side effects though: the skin turns a pale gray color and there is loss of hair. The best result, and most pleasing is the increasing brainpower that the test subjects obtain. Their I.Q. goes up twenty times as more and they are capable of doing the unimaginable.

The entry ended due to something being spilt on it, smudging the rest of the words.

Leon closed the book and put it in one of his pockets.

"Hey, you never told us your name." Ashley looked a little displeased. (Nosey little thing)

"Vivica, that's my name. Why don't we go find something to eat?"

"Sounds good. Stale crackers really aren't my favorite," Leon said.

They walked down the barren town streets, talking about the events that had occurred. Leon and Ashley told the girl that they were headed to Washington, D.C. but Vivica had already known that from the book.

Silence now surrounded them. The neared the town's park that was a healthy green and had trees growing everywhere.

Crack.

Everyone whirled around and looked at the thing that stood out almost disturbingly in the greenery.

Reviewer responses:

-This is for the last couple of chapters and this one-

Tia- Yay! Thanks for reading my story and reviewing every chapter  So how's life been? I wish you never moved away, I miss you –tear- Well I updated aren't ya happy?

Luna-Starr- Sorry it wasn't Ada, but she's going to be in here soon, very soon. I've got an idea where I can fit her in and it works. Thanks for the review and I'm glad you like my creepy monster thingy!

Cyram- You'll find out what happens when they get to dc soon. Update your story soon… please? Thanks for the review!

Blaze the Bad- The empty towns and stuff creep me out too. I like putting in them because I've been to a lot of them and they're perfect story material. Mu hu ha ha!

Some quick little shout outs to Dualzero, LeonFan2k3, and Jediferret- thanks for reviewing!