Before Raine knew it, they had arrived at the doorway of the high, bell tower. They found the others bustling around like little ants as Melody lamented that she probably had a splinter in every finger. Marie, the girl with auburn hair from earlier, just laughed as she tugged at her leather jacket heard, and as her usual teasing self, she replied, "Oh, it's probably not splinters, but spider bites on each fingers."
"Hey!" whimpered Melody, who picked at her flesh frightfully, and shivering from the cold due to her rock-star outfit that wasn't designed for the chilly weather.
Raine observed that Marie had kept her bantering self still, but she did seem a bit upset without her usual buddy, Candi to tease. Raine winced at the thought of Candi's name, but Talia snapped both of the girls out of fooling around, before turning towards Devin and her.
"Aren't you two going to help?" she questioned sternly with a gun pointing at them.
"Whoa! Talia... put the gun down..." Raine persuaded sheepishly.
"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to point that at you guys," Talia replied, as she put Devin in charge of the wood planks, rather than Marie.
"Ha!" cried Marie, shooting Melody a pretentious look.
As the two bickered and complained, Raine thought, "Wow, well Talia has definitely resumed her rightful position like a general once more. Eh, I do miss it."
Talia focused on Raine, and let her in on their plans, "Look, we've got a matter in our hands. We've decided to move to this cupcake shop before nightfall..."
"A cupcake shop? Gee, I didn't know that you liked sweets."
Rather than disputing, Talia ended up smirking and continuing, "Hah, but we need more space, so we're going to build another landing on that place, higher than those creepy zombies can reach. Cyndi has also been sleepwalking randomly lately, and I doubt that the railing can save her from... well, her fall. We're hoping for some more food there, rather than those apples that Ani brought us!" Talia glared at Ani, who just burst into laughter and shook her battered costume miserably.
"Hey, they kept on respawning every time I took one," cried Ani cheerfully as if nothing was wrong.
"Heh," commented Marie, "Plus, if an apple a day can keep a doctor away, and an orange a day can keep a therapist away, then I'm sure that a pear a day could keep a zombie away."
"Say what?" laughed Raine.
"We'll need a lot of pears than if we want to keep every zombie away," joked Talia.
Fern and Melody just fell to the floor with roars of laughter, as Eve patted Marie and smiled weakly. The others just smirked or broke into a grin to see the rest in a good mood.
Raine was glad to see everyone happy for a moment after their devastation, and then to keep their good mood up, as they began reaching for their assigned luggage, she asked as they began to get on the move, "Hey, what's the opposite of an apple? A pear or an orange?"
"Pear," Melody, her cousin, immediately answered.
"No, an orange! That's the complete opposite," Marie argued and attempted to get Melody to relent.
"Hmm, good question. I think an orange," Devin replied, as Cyndi nodded in agreement.
Eve just remained silent as she winced in pain from her injuries earlier until Talia released her smart answer, "No, the opposite of Apple is Microsoft."
"Oh my... er, goodness gracious!" cried Melody, shaking her head in a 'you blew my mind way'.
"You turned the tides of my question now!" lamented Raine.
After their awe ended at Talia's clever answer, they broke into a different subject... or well, a debate. Raine was staring defiantly at Marie for both of them seemed to disagree at one another's opinions besides the fact that they both adored children. Eve kept continuously denying Fern's offers for assistance as Cyndi's eyes dashed over their surroundings unnervingly.
Everyone froze as an almost joyful shriek pierced the air, followed by giggles, that shook Raine's observations as she kept dragging her ropes.
"Why are you skipping now?!" questioned a masculine voice frantically, "We're not in 'The Wizard of Oz'! Can't we just run?!"
"Well, I forgot how to run… Ooo, a Ferris wheel! C'mon Tai, can't you get rid of them any quicker?"
"I'm trying," answered a young voice over gunshots, "But these zombies won't stop trying to block the Ferris wheel."
"Aww, they're going to ruin your suit! Well, when I get down from here, I'm going to finish it off by tie-dying your tie afterward, Tai."
"...But I don't have one."
"Then I'll buy you one, and then I'll ruin it."
"You're a good artist, but do you know how to tie-dye?"
"No, I'm not good, I'm trash! And, um... no, I don't have the slightest clue."
"Then how are you going to tie-dye my non-existent tie?" he laughed.
"CANDI! TAI!" shouted everyone in unison, as they came out of the clearing and confirmed that it was Candi.
Overjoy instantly filled Raine as she forgot herself and dashed. Talia sprinted along beside her, and Raine's eyes turned to her and said, "Race me." Raine had forgotten about being a cripple, and suddenly running, before someone cried "Look at her go!" as Talia fell behind, grumbling about her ankle.
As they neared Tai, Devin came forth and patted his sharp-minded looking brother who greeted him, "Hey, Devin! You want a noogie like the good, old times?"
"What's a noogie?" asked Raine.
"Raine, no!" shouted Devin frantically.
"Well then, I'll show you," cackled Tai, who grabbed Devin by the head and put his hand into a fist, before rubbing his knuckles against Devin's hair, who gave a laugh, but also in a bit of pain with a mixture of relief for his brother was safe.
Raine just smiled and reached out to embrace her old pal, Candi, just as she felt the dried, caked mud on her crackle. "Aw, I need a shower," she fretted.
The others suddenly broke into a smug look all together and eyed each others.
"What?" she asked, and she found out all too soon.