Author's Note: On February 20th, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (journalist, novelist, and overall icon of innovative and progressive thinking) died in his home in Woody Creek, Colorado. He was only 67 years old. His works inspired many great minds such as Jimmy Carter and Johnny Depp. He also inspired little people such as yours truly. His extensive collection of phenomenal works includes "Hell's Angels", "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas" and the Gonzo Papers Collections. In memory of the man whose accomplishments inspired me to begin writing, I would like to dedicate "Odd of the Dead" in his memory. It may only be a wiseass little story about some kids and their guns, but I think it's the least I can do for a man who I considered a hero. Thank you dedicated reader for your time and enjoy the rest of "Odd of the Dead".

CHAPTER 5
Stuck Between a Cellphone and a Hard Place
Or
Operation: Blast Those Blood-Sucking Freaks Back to Hell!

"Are you out of your damn mind! You're going to get yourself killed!"

Sissy had been trying to talk Ulrich out of his rescue attempt for the past few minutes, but his will was unbending. The brief conversation he had with Milly just moments ago triggered some sort of defense mechanism in his subconscious. He was hell-bent on reaching the dormitories and saving those two girls. Neither Sissy nor hoards of bloodthirsty ghouls were going to change his mind. He simply drowned-out Sissy's berating while he tried to conceive a plan.

"Those babies aren't worth it!" Sissy screamed.

Ulrich just continued walking. Even though he was doing his best to ignore Sissy, her loud bickering was hindering on his concentration.

"A whole rescue team couldn't save us! What makes you think you can save two little girls!"

"I have to do it!" Ulrich shouted. Sissy froze into place. "I won't just stand idly by and let those two defenseless girls get torn to pieces!" Ulrich took his shotgun and held it firmly in his hands. "Look at this. I have the power to do something! I have the option of saving both Milly and Tamiya. I'm not some coward like Herb."

"What the Hell!" Herb shouted. He and the rest of the survivors were following Ulrich as well.

Ulrich turned his back and walked away. He then continued. "Besides, those cops were caught off guard. I'm going to make sure I succeed."

Ulrich walked down the hall to the stairs. He wasn't sure how he was going to make it to the dorms, but he figured that he would come up with a decent plan on the way to the exit. He had his shotgun and some shells. To him, that's all that mattered.

"You're one man Ulrich!" Sissy shouted back at him. "That shotgun and all the ammunition in the world isn't going to save you!"

Ulrich stopped in his tracks. Sissy had a point. He was just one man, a boy if anything. He was determined, but not stupid. If he was going to pull this rescue mission off, he was going to need support.

"I'll go." Jeremy said answering the call.

Everyone turned to Jeremy in surprise. Sissy looked only in disgust. She almost talked Ulrich out of his suicide mission and now here comes Jeremy, encouraging him. Ulrich turned around and faced Jeremy. He too, was surprised.

"Jeremy," he asked, "Why?"

Jeremy, with MP5K still in hand, walked past Sissy and approached Ulrich. He put his mouth to his ear and whispered quietly.

"I need to see Aelita." He answered softly, "If I can talk with her, I could find out if this is all XANA's doing."

Ulrich looked at Jeremy and nodded in approval. Sissy walked up and grabbed Jeremy by the arm, shouting at him.

"Got something you'd like to share?" she asked angrily.

Jeremy pondered for a moment, trying to think of an answer.

"I…" Jeremy struggled, "I was just telling Ulrich that I can't just stand by and let Milly and Tamiya die either." He was only telling a half-truth. Sure, Jeremy was worried about the two girls, but above all, it was a good excuse to go and see Aelita. Sissy saw right through it. She knew he was lying. There was something he was keeping them, but she didn't care. If Jeremy wanted to get himself killed, then so be it. It was his funeral.

"I'll go too." Yumi spoke up.

"Me too." Nicholas added.

Sissy glared at Nicholas in disbelief. She couldn't give a rat's ass about Yumi, but Nicholas was her running crew. Didn't she wield some sort of power over them? Was Nicholas actually disagreeing with her? She couldn't process what was happening. Her jaw trembled in anger and disbelief. She had been so used to being in charge, being the alpha, and now she was powerless. No one was listening to her or taking heed to her warnings.

"Get yourselves killed." She muttered under her breath.

"Excuse me?" Yumi asked. She had a pretty good impression of what she said, but she wanted to see if she would speak up and say it to her face. Rather, Sissy said nothing. She walked up to Herb and grabbed him by the arm.

"Herb," she pleaded desperately, "You're not going out there to get yourself killed, are you?"

Herb was terrified. Sissy was borderline psychotic right now. Herb wanted to say 'Hell no'! There was no way he was going to set foot out there. Not for no one, not for no thing. However, Sissy's ecstatic nature had rendered him speechless. Staring into her wild eyes was just like looking into those of another zombie. All Herb could process was a trembling shimmying of his head.

"Good." Sissy said, calming down, "At least you're not a complete retard."

Sissy, still grabbing Herb by the arm dragged him out of the hallway and back to the roof. After they left, Ulrich turned to Odd.

"Odd, can you give us cover fire from the roof?"

"Will do!" Odd replied smiling. He was gleeful over the idea of being able to blast open a few more zombie heads.

"Alright, so how exactly are we going to make it over there?" Nicholas asked.

"If we just walk out there, we'll be seen." Yumi added.

"Perhaps we can go in covertly?" Jeremy asked.

"Yeah!" Nicholas commented, "Ninja-style! I like that!"

"But how?" Ulrich asked, "It's not like that truck downstairs came with some Predator-style year-3000 stealth camouflage."

"How about sneaking around the back?" Yumi asked.

"Well," Jeremy answered, "We could exit out the back though this building, but like all the back exits on campus, they're locked from the outside and Milly and Tamiya are not in any position to open the back exits for us. We'll still have to resort to entering the dorms through the front entrance."

The group pondered for a moment, trying to think of a way around the problem.

"Perhaps there's a way we can distract them?" Odd asked.

"Yeah!" Jeremy replied, "We can sneak around the back of this building and Odd can distract them from the roof, buying us enough time to make a dash for the dorms. Once there, we can lock ourselves inside and rescue the girls."

"Sounds like a plan." Ulrich agreed, "Any other ideas or objections?"

Everyone remained silent.

"Then it's official. We'll sneak out through the back." Ulrich turned to Odd, "Odd, when we leave, wait for about five minutes and start distracting them. Then we'll make a dash for it."

"Will do." Odd responded, "We still have that megaphone up on the roof, that may work."

"What if we need to abort the mission?" Yumi asked.

"Yeah," Jeremy added, "It probably won't be a good idea to just prop the door open. Those things could just stroll right back in."

"Then we'll have Herb guard the back door for us." Ulrich answered, "As long as he's going to stay here, we might as well put him to some use."

"Heard that." Odd replied slinging his rifle over his shoulder, "I'll go and tell him." Odd turned around and headed back to the roof. He stopped halfway and turned back to the group and asked another question.

"Hey! While we're still on the topic of me and Herb, are you guys coming back for us, or are you all leaving me here with these two losers?" Odd was clearly concerned about being left with the whiney Herb and commanding Sissy. Going toe to toe with an army of the undead was starting to seem like a cakewalk.

"We'll worry about that after we rescue Milly and Tamiya." Ulrich answered, "Until further notice, you're going to have to hold the fort down here. We'll contact you via cellphone when we find the girls."

"So you are leaving me here with them?" Odd replied with a hint of disgust, "Dude, you're so going to owe more for this one." Odd turned his back and headed back up the stairs to retrieve Herb.

"You have to be honest Ulrich. That is pretty cruel." Jeremy said trying to be funny.

"Yeah," Yumi added, "I couldn't stand being alone with Sissy for more than a few minutes."

"Odd's just going to have to manage." Ulrich responded. He was in no mood for jokes. "Let's make it to the back."

"They're fools! Straight up fools!"

Sissy had been pacing back and forth furiously for the past few minutes, complaining about Ulrich and his rescue mission. Herb simply stood by and stared at her while she vented her frustration. The sun was setting in the distance, shedding its orange glow on her. Her shadow cast itself on Herb. He knew better than to say anything right now.

He wasn't even really listening to her. Instead, he was thinking of what he could be saying; what he should be saying. Should he comfort her? Perhaps he should agree? Maybe it would be best to encourage her anger? Perhaps he should take side with Ulrich? Sure, it was dangerous, but it was the right thing to do. This is what went through his head the whole time. However, it was a waste of his time and energy. He would never say what he felt. He would never even say what he didn't feel. No talk, no action. It was safer that way.

The iron door cracked open slowly. Sissy stopped in her tracks and Herb turned around to see who it was. Odd emerged from the building, rifle in hand.

"Please tell me that he decided not to go through with it." Sissy asked with a hint of desperation.

"Nope." Odd answered, completely unafraid of anything Sissy would have said in response, "We're still going through with the plan. I just came up here to fetch Herb."

Herb froze in place. 'Fetch me' he thought. What's the meaning of this? What do they want with me? Bait? Oh God no! Say it's not true!

"What in the Hell is that supposed to mean!" Sissy shouted, "He said he wasn't going!"

"And he's not." Odd answered, still immune to Sissy's defensive attitude, "We just need him to guard the door downstairs. That way, if we need to abort the mission, he can open it up for us and let us back in."

Herb relaxed. Good. He didn't have to go outside. What relief. Odd turned to face him and pointed to the door.

"Today Herb." Odd said. Herb complied, walking to the door and down the stairs, letting the iron door shut itself behind him. Odd then turned and faced the courtyard, walking over to the balcony.

"What about you tough guy?" Sissy asked, "You're not going?"

Odd set his rifle up on the balcony and then went for the megaphone.

"I'm going to give them cover fire from the roof."

Sissy looked at the megaphone in Odd's hands while he tested it out.

"What are you going to use?" Sissy asked sarcastically, "Offensive language?"

"Real cute." Odd replied, "I'm going to distract the few zombies I can in the courtyard while the team makes a dash for the dorms. We don't want to have to kill more than we need to." Odd walked over to his rifle and sat down next to it.

"I bet that really disappoints you." Sissy added trying her best to get under Odd's skin, "Being how much of a sadomasochist you are. I bet you were really looking forward to killing your fellow classmates, eh?"

Odd reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a lukewarm juice box he got from the cafeteria. He put a straw into the top of the box and took a sip. "Well, technically, they're already dead, so it's not a big deal when I put a bullet or two in them." Odd then pivoted his head, looking over his shoulder at Sissy, smiling, "But if some blood and guts is what you're looking for, there's always a chance something could go wrong. Want to stick around and watch?"

Sissy glared at Odd is disgust. "I'm not going to watch this disgusting display unfold. You want me, I'll be over here." Sissy turned her back and walked over to the opposite side of the roof, where the back door was. Odd laughed slightly and took another sip from his juice box.

"What a whiner."

Herb reached the bottom of the stairs, setting foot on the soaked tile floor. The basement was completely flooded and it turned most of the first floor into a wadding pool. In order to keep himself from slipping, falling and breaking his back, he was going to have to watch his step. It would be pretty embarrassing to die of a nasty fall on a wet tile floor in the midst of this zombie nightmare.

Keeping an eye on where his feet were wasn't going to be too big of an issue though. He hung his head low the whole trip down. He was ashamed and he couldn't hide it. This whole day was nothing more than an exhibition of his sheer worthlessness. He constantly angered the group with his whining and insubordination. Now he was being forced into having to help the team with the rescue mission and he was moping about it. It wasn't even a hard job. He was just supposed to guard the door in case they aborted the mission, and judging by how hell bent Ulrich was, that most likely wasn't going to happen.

"So you finally decided to join us, 'eh Herb?" Yumi asked.

Herb was about to say something along the lines of 'Well, it's not like it I wanted to', but then he realized how much of a cosmic ass he would be making out of himself by saying that so he decided to just keep his mouth shut.

"Did Odd fill you in on the plan?" Ulrich asked.

"Yeah, he said to guard the door in case you need to abort the mission."

"Good enough." Jeremy replied, "Let's get this over with."

Yumi pressed herself up against the iron door, peeking outside for zombies. The rest of the group formed behind her. Nicholas turned to get a good look at Herb before he left. Herb was still staring at the floor. His Berettas were still tucked in his belt. He had hardly touched them since Odd gave them to him earlier. Nicholas felt sorry for Herb because he could see how downtrodden he was. Of course, it wasn't him that was putting his life on the line, so it was strange that it was he was feeling sorry for Herb.

"You coming Nick?" Ulrich said breaking Nicholas' meditation.

Nich turned and faced Ulrich who was already out the door with the rest of the team. Nicholas nodded and walked out the door. As the door closed, Nicholas turned and looked at Herb one last time. Just before the door closed on them, he could see Herb lift his head slightly, facing him, scowling. They both knew that they weren't going to abort this mission; they weren't coming back to the classrooms. From here, it was the dormitories or bust.

At the top of the stairs, Sissy stood, watching everyone leave. She was too proud to approach them herself.

The sound of a hollowed-out juice box came from Odd's straw as he polished-off what little was left of his drink. He then took one good look at the empty box and tossed it off the roof. The paper box bounced off of the head of one of the ghouls below, who only moaned lightly in response. Odd pulled up his left sleeve and checked his watch. 'Five minutes' he thought to himself, 'They should be outside waiting by now'. He stood up from his seat with bullhorn in hand and proceeded to egg on the zombies below.

The courtyard below had become increasingly more populated in the past couple hours. This was due to the many other zombies that made the pilgrimage there from wherever they came from. Some of them seemed slightly familiar. Many of them seemed like the parents of the children from the school. Perhaps they were running on some sort of subconscious that were influencing them to come here. Still, it didn't completely explain why they were there and it did excuse them from ass-whooping that was going to commence shortly.

A good number of the soulless dregs caught on and moved towards the entrance. There were still a number of camps gathered around the wrecks of the rescue vehicles and dead bodies of the police officers. Still, it was enough to buy Ulrich and co. enough space to safely make it to the dorms. They were going to have to take a few of them out first, but by the time the others caught on, the entire crew would be at the dorms and out of harms way.

There wasn't much left that Tamiya and Milly could do. They had barricaded the door with all of the furniture in the room they had the strength to move. Still, they didn't feel safe though. Maybe it was the sounds or the feeling of helplessness, but things seemed grim for the both of them.

Both girls were seated near the back of the room with their arms tied around their ankles. There was nothing left to do but wait. Wait to be rescued? Wait for the zombies outside to break the door down? Wait to starve to death? Neither of them knew, but waiting was all that was left to do, and it wasn't as easy as it may sound.

Suddenly, Milly stood up and walked towards the dresser. Tamiya stopped her.

"Milly," she asked, "What are doing?" Tamiya had this fear in the back of her mind that somehow Milly had snapped and was going to open their floodgate of furniture in order to end their grief once and for all.

"I have an idea." Milly said. She headed towards the dresser and opened the top drawer. She rummaged through her clothes, looking hastily for whatever it was that she just remembered she had.

"It's here somewhere." She added. Suddenly, she stopped and pulled out an AC adapter from her drawer. "Here it is!"

"What's that?" Tamiya asked.

"It came with my cellphone, but I rarely use it so I had forgotten about it completely!" Milly seemed to be smiling in the first time in a long time. She knelt down and reached for her phone. "With this, we'll be able to get back in touch with Ulrich!"

Ulrich peered around the corner to check the courtyard. What he saw was a reasonably safe stretch from where they were to the entrance to the dormitory. There was still a small black hill of smoke rising from the smoldering remains of burnt zombie bodies, slightly clouding their path, but Ulrich had planned everything out meticulously beforehand to keep them from walking into a potential death trap. In the distance, Odd's voice could he heard over the megaphone on the roof. He was just about done and it seemed that he had attracted about all the attention that he was going to.

Ulrich stepped out from behind the corner and onto the courtyard. His team followed behind him, still slightly frightened. Yet, they were inspired by Ulrich's determination and they were too far in now to turn back. Once Odd stopped yelling over the megaphone, Ulrich turned to the team, now able to actually hear himself thinking.

"Okay everyone," he started, "Just like we planned: from here, we make a dash for the dorms. Shoot only if you think it's necessary. Once we get in there, me and Yumi will take the front. Nicholas, Jeremy, bring up the rear and make sure you lock those doors once we're inside. After that, we'll clean the place out and find the girls. Does everyone copy that?"

The entire team nodded. Ulrich went over the plan with them earlier and they were familiar enough with it to go forward with it.

"Good. Now let's…"

...♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪...

The moment of silence was broken by the sound of music coming from Ulrich's waist. Everyone's blood went cold in complete surprise. Here they were at the edge of executing their rescue plan only to have their rescue botched by Ulrich's carelessness. Yumi took a good stare at Ulrich's phone and then proceeded to look back up at Ulrich.

"Ulrich," she asked, "I know full goddamned well that's not you."

"Uh, Yumi?" Jeremy interrupted.

"What?" Yumi replied glaring at Jeremy.

"We've got problems." Jeremy pointed at the courtyard. Almost every single zombie stopped to stare at the team with wild and crazy eyes. Their cover was definitely blown. Nicholas broke the silence.

"Oh…CRAP!"

"No one's answering." Milly said with her phone pressed to her ear. It was strange. When she called Ulrich the first time, it didn't take him long to pick up. One would assume after their conversation earlier, that Ulrich would be camping by his phone waiting to see if they would call back. But alas, nothing. It kept on ringing with no response. Milly began fearing the worst. Did Ulrich get killed sometime between their last conversation? Milly didn't want to think about it, Ulrich getting his flesh stripped from him body, screaming in agony. Still, Milly was feeling so pessimistically at the moment, that she knew that it was a possibly and wouldn't put the thought past her.

"I'm sure everything's okay Milly." Tamiya said, reaching out to put her hand on Milly's shoulder.

"I hope so too." Milly responded. She then canceled the call and curled back-up into her fetal position. She was hoping to be able to talk to Ulrich so that she could have a new kind of noise to drown out the sound of the ghouls outside. But alas, she was just going to have to sit here and deal with it. She didn't like it, but what could she do?

"You have to have faith Milly." Tamiya added, "You have to…"

Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat…

Tamiya's eyes widened and Milly looked up to stare back at her.

"Did you just hear that?" Tamiya asked.

Both girls got to their feet and looked outside to find four figures in the distance opening fire on an entire plethora of the undead.

"What's that?" Milly asked, "Another rescue team?"

"I don't know." Tamiya responded, "I don't think so. They don't have matching uniforms, and I don't see any vehicles or anything."

Milly squinted and took a good look at the figures below in the courtyard. First she recognized a figure in all black with a machine gun or something. She looked familiar. It soon came apparent to them that it was Yumi.

"Yumi!" Milly shouted ecstatically, "That's Yumi!"

"Is Ulrich with her?"

"I don't know." Milly squinted some more. It was hard to distinguish who was who through the black smoke, but it soon became apparent that the three people with her were indeed Jeremy, Nicholas, and Ulrich.

"He is!" Milly shouted smiling, "Ulrich's with her! What are they doing out there?" Tamiya figured it out right away.

"They've come to save us."

"No! Up here! Back up here!" Odd shouted back into the megaphone trying to recapture the ghoul's attention, but it was no good. They saw what was clearly an easier meal and they were going to have none of Odd's shenanigans.

"Son of a BITCH!" Odd dropped the megaphone, "It's not working!" Odd knelt down in front of his rifle and took aim. He lined his shots to a female zombie approaching the team from behind. Then gnashed his teeth and squeezed the trigger.

Klam!

A shot rang out. The round sped downwards and pierced the ghoul's skull from behind, exiting the front. The wound from behind was relatively clean, with just a little bit of blood exiting from it, but the exit wound in the front was nasty. Part of her face exploded as the bullet exited out through her left eye, popping it like a water balloon on contact. The entire front side of her skull blew out in graphic geyser of blood and brains.

"What the Hell just happened!" Sissy came running up the stairs after hearing the shots from outside. She ran up the edge of the roof and looked out on the battle being waged below.

"Ulrich screwed-up." Odd answered, discharging another round. "His friggin' phone went off and now they're doomed."

Sissy took a good look below at Ulrich, who was clearly having trouble fighting the swarm below. She then turned her back and ran back downstairs.

"Running away are we?" Odd said to himself, gnashing his teeth, "Pathetic."

They just seemed to keep coming. By this time, the rescue crew would have already have reached the dormitories and have rescued Milly and Tamiya. However, Ulrich's carelessness stalled them and put them into an increasingly dangerous situation. Yumi, Nicholas, and Jeremy seemed to be doing all right with their ammo and Odd was picking them off too fast to keep score. Ulrich, on the other hand didn't exactly prepare for this scenario and it almost seemed as if his recklessness was coming back to bite him in the ass.

Yumi and the rest of the team had already made it near the dormitory entrance, but Ulrich was stalling behind and he was down to his last few shells.

Klam! Cha-chick. Klam! Cha-chick. Klam! Cha-chick.

Ulrich was leaving a trail of bodies behind him. The ones who didn't get their heads evaporated at close range were blasted in the chest and were sent back a good few feet. At a distance, one would almost be convinced that Ulrich was doing an excellent job. But he was running out of ammo and at this rate he wasn't going to make it to the dormitories before he was swamped by the blood-sucking freaks.

Klam! Cha-chick. Klam! Cha-chick. Klam! Cha-chick.

That was the last one. The shell purged itself from Ulrich's Remington along with his hopes of reaching Milly and Tamiya. Ulrich edged himself against the wall, treading though the pool of cold blood he had drawn around him.

'Damn,' he thought to himself, 'I guess I should have saved that last one for myself.' The creatures dragged themselves, moving in on him. He suddenly began thinking of thoughts of the ghouls tackling him to the ground, ripping the flesh from his bones with their jagged, stained teeth like some vicious jungle creature. A chill ran though Ulrich's veins, his blood running cold. In a moment, he was about to get used to it. He fell to the ground, looking up at the ominous creatures.

Klam! Cha-chick. Klam! Cha-chick. Klam! Cha-chick.

Three of the zombie's heads surrounding Ulrich suddenly evaporated in a combustion of cranium, blood, and brain tissue. Standing behind them was Sissy. She was holding her M3T like she was born with it. The look in her eyes was sharper and more intimidating than any knife. At her feet rested three smoking shell cases. This was definitely her doing; she had just saved Ulrich, his knight in shining armor.

"Y'know what Ulrich," Sissy said, reaching into her pocket, "You really suck at this." She pulled out a box of shells and tossed it too Ulrich. Fixating his sights on Sissy, the box bounced off of Ulrich's forehead and hit the ground.

Ulrich still couldn't believe it. The same prissy, self-centered girl who had been terrorizing him with her meddling and flirting ever since he arrived at this boarding school was now standing boldly in front of him, weapon in hand, saving him from a rather gruesome and anticlimactic demise.

"Are you just going to sit there and stare at me," Sissy said still looking sharply at Ulrich, "Or are you going to cover my back?"

Pow! Odd fired off another round. The bullet whizzed behind Sissy, striking another zombie behind her in the back of its neck, exiting out through the throat, leaving a geyser of dark, stagnant blood. Ulrich reached for the box of shells and fed them into his Remington. Sissy turned her back to him and backed him up while he reloaded. Odd too provided them assistance from the classrooms.

Cha-chick! Ulrich was ready. "Let's move."

Both he and Sissy made a run for it. Jeremy and the others noticed that Ulrich had fallen behind and decided to wait for him near the entrance, given the circumstances that he didn't get the flesh stripped from his bones before then. With Odd giving them backup, both Sissy and Ulrich tore through their adversaries effortlessly, each one falling to the ground in an explosion of fluid and viscera.

Eventually, they both reached the rest of the rescues crew.

"Sorry for the hold-up Yumi." Ulrich gasped. He was still short of breath, a mixture of exhaustion and fear.

"That's fine Ulrich. I'm just glad you're…" Yumi stopped from her firing to notice Sissy, "Why is she here?"

Sissy raised her M3T and pointed it in Yumi's general direction. Yumi's hair stood on end. 'Maybe I should have just kept that to myself.' She though.

"Get down." Sissy had a pretty serious tone in her voice. Yumi quickly ducked. Klam! Sissy shot the creature standing right behind Yumi. It hit the ground, leaving remains of what was the top half of it's cranium on the ground. Terrified, Yumi turned to survey the damage and back to Sissy.

"It's nice to see that you're okay too Yumi."

"Touché" Yumi replied. She reached for her FAMAS and signaled to Nicholas and Jeremy. "Ulrich just showed-up guys! Let's move out!"

Both Jeremy and Nicholas edged backwards towards the entrance as Yumi, Jeremy, and Sissy went for the front door. They quickly nudged both doors open as Jeremy and Nicholas slipped in, then they quickly shut the doors. Ulrich went for the locks as the swarm outside pounded on the glass. The rest of the group headed down the hall, Ulrich right behind him.

"Nice to see you could join us." Jeremy said addressing Sissy.

"I had a feeling that you all weren't going to be able to pull it off without me."

The pounding still wouldn't stop. The creatures outside continued to hammer away at the door and the noise outside seemed to be further agitating the zombies. Tamiya and Milly weren't going to be able to stand this for much longer and their furniture wasn't going to be able to protect them for much longer either. There were cracks on the top of the door from where the creatures had attempted to break through the wooden door. There were splinters of wood gathering on the floor from where the wood was giving way.

"Ulrich," Milly said to herself quietly, "Please hurry."

Parts of the wood gave way to cold, grey fingers, clawing away from just beyond the door.

Jeremy and Nicholas quickly locked the doors behind them as the team poured into the dorms. The creatures slammed themselves against the glass doors, slime and blood drooling from their mouths as they smothered the glass outside with their bloody handprints.

As planned, Yumi and Ulrich took point in the front and held off the few zombies that were on the first floor, Sissy giving them back-up. Jeremy approached Ulrich from behind.

"Where did Tamiya and Milly say they were hiding out?" he asked.

"Their room." Ulrich responded. Be discharged another shell into a zombie wallowing out from around the corner, blasting his stomach open as his intestines fell to the floor.

"Where's that?" Yumi asked.

"The second floor," Ulrich answered, "Follow me."

Again, Yumi and Ulrich took point as the rest of the entourage followed them from behind. They met little resistance from the few ghouls they encountered on the way to the second floor. Ulrich and Yumi knocked them down, and everyone following behind finished them off. After climbing the blood-stained stairs, Ulrich turned to his right to see a large number of zombies accumulated outside a single room.

"Am I to safely assume that's their room?" Sissy asked.

Ulrich nodded. "Let's get 'em!"

The team lined themselves up in front of the crowd. Yumi and Ulrich knelt down while the rest of the team stood behind them.

"Open fire!" Ulrich commanded.

With that said, a hailstorm of bullets and buckshot swept itself over the gathering of zombies. Gallons of cold blood poured out all over the floor as heads we exploded, stomachs were blew open, and limbs were shot off. The gruesome display lasted only for a moment. The sheer amount of ammunition that was being dumped upon the ghouls quickly decimated them into a slimy pile of blood and viscera. All that was left was a single zombie with part of her head stuck in a hole in the door. Ulrich, signaling for the shooting to stop, got up, approached the zombie and kicked her out of the hole. She landed in the gruesome pile of dead that the rescue team just recently made out of the competition. She then hissed at Ulrich as he pointed the barrel of his shotgun at her forehead.

"Get away from her you bitch!" Ulrich pulled the trigger as her head exploded like a ripe melon. Pieces of brain and skull splattered all over the wall and on Ulrich himself, only adding to the disgusting mess on the floor.

Ulrich then turned and looked through the hole in the door to see if Tamiya and Milly were there. Judging by the size of the hole, he was worried that one of those things had gotten inside and killed them both. He then looked inside and scanned the room.

"Tamiya? Milly? Are you in here?"

Both girls looked-up from their fetal positions and took a good, long look at Ulrich, staring back at them through the hole in the door. It seemed to good to be true, but it was true. They weren't going insane. Ulrich was standing right there in front of them with shotgun in hand.

"Ulrich!" Milly got to her feet and quickly began moving the furniture in front of the door. Ulrich took the butt of his gun and broke through the door, trying to get to the girls quicker. Eventually, both girls quickly moved the furniture, not even worrying about rearranging them in any neat manner and open the door. Milly dove at Ulrich and hugged him. Ulrich knelt down and returned the gesture. Milly didn't care if he was covered in sweat and blood. She was too happy to see him. She didn't care in the least. Everyone simply stood back and watched the whole touching display unfold. They lowered their weapons in relief that the rescue was fully successful, regardless of the unfortunate setback.

Yumi approached Ulrich and snatched his phone from his waist. "Since you bothered to bring it with you." She said cynically, "We might as well put it to some use."

Ulrich didn't care if Yumi was still mad at his carelessness. He was happy everything was alright and nobody was hurt.

Odd looked out onto the damage below as he loaded more rounds into his empty clips. Everything seemed to be going wrong. First Ulrich's phone goes off and Sissy interferes. He was worried about everyone at the dorms and was eagerly awaiting news from the rescue team.

Just then, his phone went off. Odd quickly set his clip on the ground and went for the phone. He recognized Ulrich's number on the caller ID and answered hastily.

"What the Hell happened down there!" he shouted just as he turned the phone.

"Ulrich screwed-up." Yumi answered.

"Gee, you think!" Odd responded angrily, not giving Yumi enough time to finish her sentence. She sighed in response.

"Forget it Odd. We're here now and everyone's alright. Go and fetch Herb and tell him that it was a success. We're going to clean-up what's left here and then see if we can find anything to eat."

Odd sighed too. He was relieved to hear that everyone was alright. "Okay. I'll go get him. Be safe over there."

"Gotcha. Yumi out."

The call ended. Odd got up from his seat and put his phone into his pocket. He looked at the setting sun in the distance and sighed in relief.