A few hours later everyone was beginning to stir awake, some were able to get some much needed rest, while some barely slept a wink. Hopefully tonight they would get some rest, if they ever do find a place they could call safe from the walking dead. Over this time period Fox kept his eyes and his ears peeled, this part of the school had been deserted for the longest time now. Either the dead had gathered somewhere else, another place to hunt for those still alive, or all the zombies in this part of the school had been wiped out. Either by them, or someone else still alive.

"So how do we go about leaving?" Krystal asked out loud as everyone was putting on a backpack filled with supplies. Each bag had anything from rags and tape, to crowbars or the metal bats. Each one was given a small share of the load to keep everything from going to waste. The belts that Slippy, Amanda, and Luna had from the welding shop were now worn on Fox and Katt, while Luna still wore hers.

"Are we sure that's the best idea?" Katt asked aloud, looking to Fox for an answer.

"We can check out the front gate, see if it's still locked, but perhaps the best thing to do is to leave." Fox made sure all his supplies were in order, as he now wore a long sleeve red and black flannel shirt, rolling the sleeves up to his elbows. He looked back to his band of death defilers as he went on, "Perhaps a few of us should do a little scouting, and see if it is still latched."

"Yea, who's going to volunteer for that?" Falco asked rhetorically, obviously no one was jumping to volunteer for something so dangerous and suicidal. After a few moments of everyone looking around to each other, the pink feline stepped up.

"I'll go."

"Are you sure?" Fox turned toward her.

"You don't see anybody else volunteering do you?"

"No, thank you." They exchanged nods as Fox gave the plan before the two would depart.

"Katt and I will check out the front gate to see if staying is an option, while we do so you guys try and figure out a plan on getting everyone out of here. As well as a way we can transport Slippy safely."

"Okay." Amanda nodded as Fox and Katt turned toward one another.

"Are we going to tear down the barricade?"

"That or we could go through the window, and circle around to the other side of the building toward the front gate. We could take it slowly across the miniature walkway."

"That sounds stupid and dangerous."

"Let's look first." Falco peeked through the small crack available to see outside of their made up barricade. Surprisingly nothing was around. Nothing dead, and no one alive.

"The coast is clear."

"Alright, let's take down the barricade quietly. Just enough for Katt and I to slip by. We'll be sure to stay quiet and not take any unnecessary risks."

"Okay." Falco agreed as the others slowly yet quietly starting moving desks, tables, and chairs away from the door. They did so by moving everything toward the latched side of the door, and opened it just enough for Falco and Katt to slip through.

"Be careful out there." Falco gave his two friends the best of luck.

"We will." Fox whispered as he and the feline were on the other side, and the door closed while re-erecting the barricade. Fox whispered quietly to the feline.

"Follow me."

"I'm behind you." They walked quickly yet quietly through the school. Looking around every corner for who knows what. They headed towards the center part of the school, and although it was bound to have many of those freaks out there, it was also the quickest and shortest distance toward the front of the gates. Truth be told they only had to walk a few hundred feet, two hallways to reach a spot where you could look out toward the front part of the school and ultimately the gate. However with who knows how many zombies still wandering around the school, it could take some time. Fox and Katt made sure to check around every corner, every door a double take and every hallway a clear sight while also watching their tails. They communicated through head nods and hand signals, making sure to keep their ears open and their eyes peeled.

So far it was a pretty simple hike, there were bodies and blood scattered everywhere, but they didn't move. And there were no signs of the dead in sight, that is until Fox turned the corner, and immediately hid behind the halls keeping the feline behind him as well. He shook his head side-to-side quickly, as he told her to stay back. Fox slowly peaked his sights over the hallway, barely enough to see. But even with one eye he saw everything they feared.

The hallway was literally filled with dead wandering aimlessly around. Even though they were on the second floor dozens upon dozens of the dead filled this area. It seems as though they gathered around here for whatever reason and had yet to disperse. Whether they were chasing a sound, or fresh prey the vulpine didn't know. But there was no point in worrying why they were here, all that mattered as that they were in the way. And there was no way to get around them without surely meeting death.

"Now what?" Katt asked, trying to stay calm as she whispered barely audible to the vulpine, despite him being right next to her. Fox looked back toward the direction of his friends, they had gone about half the distance. They could just turn back, now seeing just how many were in this part of the school, how many of them surely could there be? Dozens? Hundreds? Or even more?

He tried to think quickly, they couldn't stay here in case they were discovered. That's when it hit him.

"Check to see if those bathrooms are clear." Fox told his feline friend as Katt did as she was told. After looking through both of the bathrooms, she came to her conclusion.

"Nothing."

"Okay. Get ready to run." Is all the vulpine said and that made the feline worry. Fox dug quickly through his bag as he grabbed one of the spare crowbars and approached where he once stood peering out to the unlively crowd. With as much force as he could, Fox chucked the crowbar through the air, its metal banging and ringing loudly against the tile floors below. Fox grabbed the feline's hand and ran for the nearby bathroom, as he could hear the dead starting to react.

Just like prey being stalked, the dozens upon dozens responded to the sudden intrusion of the loud ringing sound. And they all marched down toward it in the opposite direction that Fox and Katt ran to. They had no idea what they responded to, and no idea just how powerful each individual zombie was. It was clear they responded to sound, but whether or not they responded to sight was something yet to be tested. The vulpine had locked the two inside a small stall with sweat on the back of their necks. Their bodies touched due to the nature of the small space they both inhabited, as Katt could listen and hear the vulpine's heartbeat as her head was upon his chest. It was going insane, Fox didn't know if his move would cost them or save them, but it was another risk he was willing to take.

After several moments, the sound was completely gone, and the two let go of their stilled breaths.

"You know this close up, you're very attractive." Fox looked back to his friend as she whispered in his ear, playing games with the vulpine. Part of it was to calm his nerves, the other part of it was a subtle sign of fun.

"I would take it better if our lives weren't in constant danger of being torn apart."

"I know…" The two separated as Fox went first, looking forward just enough to see that the coast was clear.

"Keep close."

"Okay." The two went back around the same hallway to now find it empty. As Fox very slowly and quietly looked over the edge to the main floor below. Most if not all of the dead went downstairs, as many of them gathered around the crowbar he chucked as he could see it surrounded by several lifeless beings. Fox kept low as he looked back toward his feline friend, and communicated for them to move forward.

They kept low, making sure to keep out of sight as they headed forward into the next hall. It too was empty of anything walking about. As Fox and Katt got to the center of the hallway, making sure nothing was moving and there was nothing around. Fox and Katt looked toward the front gate, to find both good and bad news.

"Well it isn't busted open…"

"Yea but…" Katt stopped as no words were needed for the scene. The northern part of the school. Where the gates stood tall and vast space where students used to hang out, was occupied by perhaps hundreds of dead students just wandering aimlessly. They completely filled the normally empty front part of the school, as their numbers seemed unending. And the hope slowly dying in the two teens' heart.

"There's no way we could fight this many." Katt whispered as she gave her opinion on the matter. "Even if we could secure the school, this many alone would completely overwhelm us."

"You're right." Fox came to the same conclusion. There were once a thousand young students that attended this school, and it was clear that the vast majority of them were dead and had not left the grounds. There was no way for them to. The gate was still locked, and it locked them inside as well.

"We can't stay here, not without real weapons, not just the 10 of us."

"So how do we leave?" Katt asked trying to keep her spirits up.

"Hopefully the others came up with a plan, let's head back."

"Okay." The two teens took no more than five steps back toward their friends, as an ear piercing scream went out through the halls they were in. The two turned toward the direction of the sound, as it was around the corner of the hallway starting to go into the western end of the school. Where Fox's group from P.E. had originally started.

"Fox wait." Katt stopped him in his tracks as he began to charge that way. "We can't help them."

"We can't leave them to die!" He tried to argue.

"We can't save everybody! We have no idea how many are in that part of the school or if they're still alive!"

"We can't just leave and do nothing!" Fox was done arguing as he took off. Katt only threw her head in a rage as she grudgingly went after him. They couldn't keep doing this, not charging in blindly against whatever odds were around the corner.

A group of dead were approaching the six teens, as three men held their grounds with whatever they could get ahold of, and three women stood behind their wall of protectors.

"Wolf." The girl spoke, clearly frightened as tears broke from her eyes.

"Shit, stay back." The lupine stood his ground, as about five beings approached them slowly. They had been fighting this entire time, with no break and no safe haven from the dead. Wolf raised the wooden bat he found on the floor as one of the zombies started getting closer. Before Fox charged in surprising them all, and batted two of them away with one stroke. Katt joined him on the opposite side as she took out the middle corpse. Wolf and Panther finally responded as they took out the last two on their right, and just like that the threat was eliminated.

"Fox." He turned toward the calling of his name, to see a brown vixen slowly crying.

"Jessie."

"You're alive." She ran into his arms as the vulpine didn't know how to respond. He just tried to comfort her any way he could, as Fox looked to this second group of survivors. Jessie and her friends, the black jungle cat Narine, and the white vixen Natasha had somehow grouped up with Wolf and his friends. Panther and Leon joined the two sides of the lupine as he looked to their vulpine hero.

Fox tried to comfort the vixen but didn't know what to say, he knew that Wolf and her were dating. Although Wolf was grateful for their aid, he couldn't help but be a little jealous.

"Thank you Fox." He genuinely gave to the vulpine to Fox's surprise. They didn't get along, but clearly the two had enough sense in them that grudges and immature rivalries did not have a place in this new world. If they were going to survive, they had to put differences aside and work together.

"No problem, looks like we got here just in time."

"Yea." Wolf admitted as he looked down. "There was more of us, I tried to lead them as best as I could but…Most wound up dead."

"You did your best, let's not join them."

"There's somewhere safe?" Narine asked through a broken voice, as she had not completely calmed down yet. Those things still littered the halls, she figured nowhere was safe.

"For now. Come back with us."

"Thank you so much." Panther tried to breathe easy as he surveyed the halls, it was still quiet and empty besides them. Fox started to smile as Katt yanked him away, her face angered and mistrustful.

"You aren't seriously going to bring them back with us. There's too many of us as it is."

"We can't just leave them to die Katt." Fox whispered to try and hide it from the second group of teens.

"How do you think the others are going to respond?"

"You're seriously going to leave us to die because of some fucking immature pranks!?" Jessie was saddened, angered, and hurt. The brown vixen knew she had treated Fox's friends poorly over the years, but leaving them to fend for themselves in a hopeless situation seemed like a bit too harsh. She saw it as unjust, Katt saw it as karma.

"Fox come on."

"We will deal with it when we get back, but we can't just leave them for dead. We have better odds i4f we stay together." Katt let go of her breath as she shook her head back and forth. As much as she didn't like Jessie, and as much as it went against her opinion. She knew Fox was right. Like it or not, leaving them to die in the school was inhumane, immoral, and wrong. Not when they had the means to possibly save them. The best odds of surviving was picking up who they could.

"Fine."

Fox nodded to his feline friend as he looked back to Wolf, who almost looked like he was going to cry if they were told they couldn't come along to the safe haven. He was strong, mentally tough, but men could be broken when death stared at them in the face like it had already before.

"Follow us."

"Thank you." Narine whispered as they all kept together, quickly yet quietly back toward their hideout.

X

"They've been gone a while now." Krystal let aloud, as she had kept time of when Fox and Katt left. It had been over an hour since they departed from the rest of the group.

"I wish we would have remembered to give them one of the talkies." Amanda admitted aloud as she looked over Slippy, still breathing yet still unconscious. "Do you think anything happened?"

"Whether it did or not. We can't send people out to look for them. We just have to wait and hope they come back." Falco tried to calm everyone's nerves, however Miyu didn't buy it.

"And if they don't come back?" She asked fearfully, the idea of Fox dead filled her mind as she tried not to cry.

"We'll wait, give it more time I'm sure they'll be back soon."

"How can you know? Perhaps they're dead…" Fay let aloud as everyone began to panic. What if the poodle was right? What if Fox and Katt were now dead? Their leader let alone a fifth of their group gone. How would they get out alive? Who would lead this band of survivors? If that were the case, perhaps giving in and ending it yourself was the best option.

"Don't say that! They're alive." Falco tried to be optimistic as Fay looked to him.

"We don't know that. We don't know anything. All we know is that in time, we'll all die. What's the point of going on?" While others just listened to Fay, Luna had enough. She marched toward the white canine and smacked her a good one across the face.

"Luna what are you doing!?" Krystal tried to get the she-wolf off of Fay but was batted away.

"Look." She forced the poodle to stare directly into her eyes, as everyone just watched. "I am sorry for what happened to Bill. We all are, but he didn't give up his life so you could give up so easily! Don't let his sacrifice be in vain!"

And with those words, Luna stepped off and walked away. Fay took into her friends' comforting words, as she tried to regain her mental spirit. She was right, Bill paid the ultimate sacrifice to keep his friends, and his love for Fay alive. She couldn't just give in and take her own life, not with him being gone after saving hers. Fay said nothing, she simply nodded and wiped away the last of her tears.

Krystal changed the subject. "So what's the best way on getting out of here? If we decide we should leave."

"With as many of us as there is, I don't think any one of our cars can take everyone out of here." Falco gave the reasoning as they went on with the debate.

"And taking two cars and essentially separating us isn't a good idea." Fara spoke up.

"So what should we do?" That was the magical question they all needed to answer. Fox would come back sooner or later, and when he did the vulpine was expecting a plan to be thoroughly thought out. That's when Luna came up with the magical answer, and snapped her fingers.

"I got it!" The she-wolf had a lightbulb moment, "We should take the hovercraft the school uses for long distance sport games for the basket and baseball teams." Everyone around her began to smile slowly, as it was a genius idea. Not only would they get out of here, but they would be safe in the sky once they left. Now they only had to work out some of the more minor details…

"Okay. So how do we do that?" Falco pondered as Luna kept thinking, bringing mental images alive in her mind as she went on aloud.

"The hovercraft is under the basketball court of the new gym…They release it by using a key and timing two buttons together and the floor slowly separates…The roof then automatically divides as the platform of the hovercraft begins to rise toward the roof…" Luna paused for a moment as she looked to her group of friends for the answer.

"So what we need to do is find the key, go to the new gym, eliminate all the dead inside, and reach the platform ascending for the roof before it's out of reach. Then we just fire it up and take off."

"I don't suppose you know how to pilot it?" Krystal asked as she rolled her eyes.

"I do actually." Luna gave a sly smile as she surprised her blue vixen friend. "My dad has a hovercraft given to him from his job, he showed me how to pilot it on rare occasions."

"My mistake."

"There's only one flaw with that plan." Falco said aloud as he got the whole groups attention. "Well two actually. One, that plan is going to create so much noise, there's no telling how many of the zombies it's going to attract before we actually pull it off, and two. There's still the issue with Slippy." Falco looked to their toad friend as his eyes were still closed.

"We'll only have once chance to pull it off, it has to be absolutely flawless. And there's another problem." Luna stopped short of words as everyone looked to her again, to explain the rationale behind this plan.

"The key to open the platform is most likely the key to also pilot the hovercraft. We could set it so the platform is steady for a short time, but then we would have to run back to turn it back on for it to rise into the air again."

"So we really do have to catch the platform before it's out of reach."

"Yes. It's also going to take a while before it fires up ready for takeoff. We have to be absolutely on guard, protecting Slippy, the hovercraft, and ourselves until we have risen high enough into the air out of their reach."

"Is anyone else thinking about where we are going to get this key?" Fara said aloud as it stunned all of them. It was such a beautiful, surefire plan they hadn't even thought about where to acquire the key needed for it. "I mean where would we even begin to look for it?"

"We're in the teacher's lounge." Falco said as he and everyone else looked around for anything in the shape of a key. "Wouldn't it be in here?"

"No." Luna said as she thought again. "The teacher who pilots the hovercraft would have it…That was the welding teacher!" Luna looked back to Amanda as her face was full of exhilaration. "Amanda didn't we get a key ring from the welding shop!?"

"We got two actually." The pink frog dug through Slippy's bag, as he was the one who held onto such supplies. She gave them both to the she-wolf as Luna looked over them.

"This is it!" Luna said excitedly as she held the key to their future, and their very lives. It was a good thing they were taking anything and everything that they might have found useful. "This is the key to the hovercraft, and to the switchbox for the gym controls."

"And this is the best plan?" Krystal asked aloud to her friends. "Staying in the school, or perhaps another method of transportation isn't better?"

"This is the only plan that we can all escape together." Luna gave her two cents as they looked toward one another. "We know what to do and have what we needed. Now all that's left is to wait on Fox and Katt and come up with a strategy to get there. No other method is going to give us the highest probability of survival that I'm sure of."

"Alright." They were so distracted from their conversation that when the small knock to their door came it completely frightened all of the teens. Many of them reached for their weapons as Falco peaked out the crack.

"Falco, open up quickly those things are starting to come closer. I brought more survivors." Fox said through the door as quietly as he could. Falco motioned for his friends to help break down the barricade, and opened the door enough for everyone to slip through. Fox came in first and then Katt, then another and another until all eight of the beings now joined the rest of the group.

"Thank you so much." Jessie hugged the avian as Falco was completely stunned. He had never seen this side of the 'Mega Bitch' Jessie Grey and frankly never believed he would. He slowly hugged her back, trying to give comfort to somebody he never thought he would.

"You seriously brought them with you?" Krystal sounded offended as Fox turned to her with an angered look.

"Listen to me. This is not worth some stupid grudge okay, we are not going to leave people to die when we can save them, and use their help."

He then turned toward the brown vixen Jessie with the same harsh stare. "Put your differences aside and work together. You don't have to like each other, you just have to survive alongside one another."

Surprisingly there wasn't much of a debate about the matter. Krystal looked toward the recently sobbing eyes of Jessie Grey, someone she could fully said she disliked, distrusted, and borderline hated. But she knew that it wasn't right to leave someone to die, especially in such a horrible way. Jessie and Krystal stood up to one another, and shook hands as the two exchanged gentle nods.

Fox looked toward Falco as he held the same distrustful look. "Wolf and his friends agreed to cooperate and help us. We have a bigger group, a stronger party. Make up."

"Okay." Was all Falco said as he and Wolf stepped up next to one another. The lupine was the first to offer his hand, as Falco unwillingly brought his arm up, and the two met in the middle. Fox looked to Panther as he caught the jungle cat's attention, and looked toward one another. The vulpine and the jungle cat were next to shake hands, and a unilateral agreement, a pack among survivors had been made.

"Fox." The vulpine turned toward Luna who approached his opposite side. "We came up with a plan on how to get out of here."

"Great, now let's figure out a strategy on how to execute it."

"What did you find out at the gate?" Krystal asked, trying to be hopeful that Fox would give her some kind of life-granting answer. But to no avail.

"Trust us, we can't stay here much longer." Fox looked outside as Sol was starting to descend, it was getting later and later in the day. And they definitely needed to leave and come up with a plan before night fell upon them.

"So what's the plan?" Wolf stepped up as the large group of teens gathered around in a circle. Wolf and his friends didn't like bringing Slippy along, they didn't find the sanity in bringing along someone who had been bit. But it was Fox and his groups call, and at the moment they had to do what they said if everyone wanted to get out of here alive.

Fox went through the supplies: Six nail bombs, four Molotov cocktails, two nail guns, more than enough crowbars and metal bats for everyone, rope, five empty water bottles, a few pieces of clothing, a few smaller more miscellaneous supplies, and of course the big boy weapons that Fox and Falco each carried…leaving those out of the loop from Wolf and his friends.

"This is what we'll do." Fox laid out his plan as everyone gathered around to listen. "We will leave for the new gym as one giant group. I will tie Slippy to me and carry us both. We'll handcuff his arm and gag his mouth just in case." Fox peered all through the teens as they were scared, not just for themselves, but what could happen their vulpine leader as well if Slippy woke up not himself.

"Wolf, Katt, Luna, and I will lead the front of the group." Fox began to lay out the formation. "We will move as three groups staying close in a tight formation. The middle will be held by Krystal, Fara, Amanda, Natasha, Narine, and Jessie. The rear guard will be held by Panther, Leon, Falco, Miyu, and Fay. Everyone will take a bat or a crowbar. Falco will take charge of Slippy's nail gun. My group will carry the supplies on our back, with Wolf carrying my bag."

"Okay." Wolf simply coed.

"We need to be as conservative of our supplies as possible. Once we get to the new gym and start the process, we're going to need everything to keep them at bay long enough to get out of here."

"Are you sure about tying Slippy to you?" Falco questioned this part of the plan as Fox looked to him.

"It's a risk I'm willing to take. If I don't someone else will have to carry him and we need everybody to fight."

"Alright, let's hope this works."

"Suit up." Everyone quickly scrambled in formation, as Falco and Wolf helped keep Slippy glued to Fox with literal glue of their two shirts. They tied the rope tightly around as Fox positioned the toad in a way that gravity would pull the rope upward against his chest to keep him balanced. They used another shirt to tie his upper back against Fox's chest, keeping Slippy stable and motionless, so long as Fox didn't react too suddenly. They used the handcuffs to cuff his left hand to through the loop in Fox's shorts, and only covered Slippy's mouth with a type of bandana with a minor gag so he could still breathe through his mouth if need be.

The vulpine would have taken two bats in his hands, but figured he would need a single arm to support Slippy just in case. Instead Wolf took a second bat as the two would primarily be the ones clearing the way, along with Katt's single bat, and Luna's fireman's axe. Fox took one last look back to all his friends in the large three part group. They were about to brave the unknown, face certain death right in the eyes. This could very well be the last moment he would see some of them alive, for any of them. If they failed there would be no escape.

"Let's go." Fox gave the order as Falco opened the door completely unblocked from their barricade. A few zombies stood outside as the front guard went out and went to work. Wolf, Katt, and Luna each took care of one as Fox motioned the rest of them to move through.

"I'm scared." Natasha gave in a meek tone.

"I saw you on the softball team." Krystal tried to compliment the white furred vixen. "Just think of these things as another ball needing to be smacked."

"Thanks…I'll try."

"Cut the chatter, we need to move quickly and quietly." Fox interrupted as he joined the rest of the teens in the front guard. They headed through the hallway Fox and Katt originally saw the large group of zombies as another half dozen occupied the area. They moved to eliminate the threat, each of the teens bringing down another one of these monsters as they went through the area as quickly as they could. So far so good.

The teens turned the corner into the hallway Fox and Katt saw the area of the gate. The vulpine looking to his right noticing it was still packed full of those things walking about. So long as they don't attract a large group of dead before they reached the gym, they figured they would be fine. Fox stopped in place as he saw about four beings walking in the direction perpendicular to where they were headed. They weren't going after them, they were going after…

"Let's go!" Fox figured another group of survivors was around the corner as he brought down another zombie, Wolf doing the same using each bat to smash the skull in of a former student of Shooting Star High. They turned to the corner to see four adults about to be swarmed by the dead. The Great Dane gym teacher Coach Hedrick held the English teacher, a white vixen Mrs. Laister as the other two adults tried to keep the zombies off of them. Sly Cyphers, the raccoon school counselor and Mr. Jay a black feline chemistry teacher batted the zombies off, but there would soon be too many of them.

"Falco, Amanda fire!" Their leader ordered as the two took aim and fired at will. Bringing down the zombies closest to the teachers as everyone else charged. They must have smacked around a dozen skulls in as blood gushed from their broken heads, and the bodies slumped to the ground. Before the teachers knew it all the zombies had been eliminated, and looked up to see kids as their savior.

"Fox." Coach Hedrick was in disbelief that the teen was still alive. As Fox kneeled down to see Amanda Laister bit, wounded, and in pain.

"Is she…"

"She's still alive." She could see the two beings talking about her fate, her very life. "I just couldn't leave her to be torn apart."

"It's okay, we'll see what we can do." Coach and student both stood up at the same time, as he carried the wounded vixen in his arms. "What happened to the students from gym?"

"They're all dead…" Hedrick let out slowly, as the vulpine could tell the adult was having a hard time not blaming himself for the death of so many young ones under his watchful eye. "We were heading to our evacuation point when we were suddenly swarmed. Everyone was dying, being torn apart around me left and right." He looked to the younger vulpine in the eyes as a tear started to bead down his face.

"I ran like a coward, I knew I couldn't do anything so I just left them for dead."

"It's okay coach." Fox tried to comfort his teacher, as the burdens of his sin's weighed heavy on his still average sized heart. "We're going to leave the school, we have a plan, come with us."

"Of course."

"Stay in the middle of the group. Mr. Cyphers, Mr. Jay, watch the rear guard."

"Okay Fox." Sly and Mr. Jay both went to the back as Fox continued to lead on, their group now even bigger. They continued to march through the school as the rest of the way was mostly cleared. Fox let Wolf, Falco, and Luna take lead as they descended downstairs and toward the stairs that would lead them toward the gym via a secluded pathway. After the coast was clear everyone marched down the two sets of stairs one after another, with Falco being the last closing the door behind him.

"Go." Everyone listened to the vulpine's command as they all gathered at the end of the secluded hallway, after opening the door all they would need to do is run up the stairs and clear any zombies that are around the opening toward the gym.

"Get ready." Fox said as he looked to Wolf, who was at the front of the group ready to open the door whenever told, as he grasped the nob tightly the sweat beating down his neck. "Go!"

On command Wolf opened the door, to see about a dozen zombies turn their heads toward the sound, and start approaching the group. The large group of survivors formed a curved wall of defense, as they batted all the zombies down one by one that approached, until none was left standing.

"Falco, Amanda, take lead with the front guard and keep those pathways cleared."

"Right." The two followed Fox's orders as they went with the front guard and opened the doors into the large gym and auditorium for school assemblies, as well as home games for basketball. There weren't many zombies all around them as the group split into two, going down both sets of stairs on the left and right side of the building. Only about a dozen beings throughout the entire building were wandering around, and were quickly beaten and taken care of as the large group gathered around on the left side, where the switch box for the hovercraft was left unscathed. Of course it was empty, Coach Hedrick gave the call for the students to leave the gym, only for most of them to die. It seemed as though Falco was initially right, a smaller group was the key to their survival.

"How long does this thing take coach?" Fox asked the adult as he carefully set down Mrs. Laister, and looked to the vulpine.

"It takes a good couple of minutes Fox. The platform doesn't rise up that fast so that isn't the problem. The problem is going to be defending the area long enough for us to be out of reach of those things."

"We have enough supplies, trust us." Fox tried to smile as his teacher did as well.

"Of course Fox, I trust your judgment. So how should we do this?"

"You and Luna should activate the switch box, and as soon as the hovercraft shows itself we all run for it. Luna will unlock the ship and begin firing it up while everyone gets on the platform and takes a stance all around, to defend the ship while it warms up."

"We have no idea how many of these thing are going to pour into the building…Or if there are even some in the locker rooms."

"It's a risk we have to take." Fox gave the adult a stern look, they had made it this far. It was time to initiate the final stages of the plan.

"Okay, we can do this." Luna took the keys as she quickly unlocked the switch box. By the primary switch box being unlocked, the secondary switch box automatically unlocks as well. Hedrick ran for the secondary box, his finger hovering over the blinking green button as she looked to Luna. She in turned looked to Fox, on his order.

"I got you Amanda." Sly picked up the wounded teacher as she gave a half-hearted smile through the pain, and the infection eating away at her.

"Thank you hon."

"Fara, Krystal, once we get to the platform help take Slippy off of me so I can help defend the hovercraft. Amanda your main focus is going to be using the Molotov and nail bombs, give your nail gun over to Coach Hedrick or Krystal. Everyone remembers their stance on the platform correct?"

"Wolf's group on the left side, Fox's group on the right and center sides. Move according to where the threat is coming from."

"Correct. Everyone, get ready." Fox said aloud as everyone calmed their nerves, and prepared for the worst. This is it, everything has led up to this moment. All those who had died, and the atrocities the survivors had to commit to keep on living. This was the moment of the hour, and this very moment would define their young lives. Would they live, or would they die? Who would fly out of here alive, and who would be left for dead?

"Go!" The plan was now executed, and there was no going back. Hedrick and Luna pressed their buttons at the same time as the gym began to break apart, and the floor slowly retreating back under the bleachers. The very loud sound of machinery went off as Hedrick quickly ran back toward the group, now they played the waiting game impatiently.

"Come on come on!"

"We got company from the locker rooms!" Falco yelled as he and Amanda took stance and fired on the zombies running from the locker rooms on the opposite side of the gym. Some went down to the nails while others went down to the floor splitting. Amanda reloaded her clip as Falco finished the rest off and the remainder of his clip. Finally the platform began to show itself, as well as the beautiful, sleek, silver chromed hovercraft. It was bigger than your average passenger class ship, about two and a half times the size. It was the flying equivalent to the ground leveled bus. Four wings arched downward, with one mighty fan-propelled engine in the back side. It had its black and golden colors to match those of the theme colors for the school. Most hovercrafts were not actually used for long distance travel, but this model was a brand new eco-friendly ship that the school only acquired from the last few years. It had other unique features to it as well.

"Everyone go!" Fox yelled as all 20 beings ran for the platform slowly raising into the air. Luna was the first to reach the platform as she used the key to enter the hovercraft immediately, and went to the pilot's seat firing up all the main systems. Krystal and Fara helped take the toad off of Fox's back as he set him down on the stairs leading up into the hovercraft, and handcuffing him to the rail just in case. Sly set Mrs. Laister down on the ground as he took his bat again, and Amanda threw her nail gun to Krystal taking stance with the nail bombs. Now that Hedrick was free of carrying the vixen teacher, he grabbed two metal bats, the same with Fox as they stood in a defensive stance side by side. Student and teacher stood alike, and then joined by Katt.

"Whatever happens Fox, I'm proud of you." Hedrick gave a look of anger toward all the beings coming down the stairs. He had so much pent up rage that the canine needed to get out. It was time to make the bastards pay.

"Thanks coach." Is all Fox gave back as they braced for the attack. Wolf's group was on the left while Fox's, the larger group faced the right toward the stairs. With Falco and Krystal placed on the two centers of the platform rising into the air, and Amanda in back ready to chuck grenades when needed. Teen zombies came down the stairs in large packs, as they ran for the platform.

"Pick them off, buy some time for the platform to raise!" Fox yelled his battle cry as everyone went to work. However the platform was only raising a few inches every 30 seconds. Falco and Krystal picked the zombies off as best as they could, taking a few down before they could reach the platform.

"Bomb out!" Amanda shouted as she tossed a nail bomb with perfect proximity, it blowing up a second after landing, completely shredding all the zombies hit by it in its wake of destruction and death. A few zombies were reaching the platform as the rest of the teens batted and swat them away, crushing their skulls and destroying the brain as they fell over limp. Fox let out his rage on an incoming zombie as he nearly cleaved its head straight off. Hedrick did the same, he was so angry as he used all his might, all his empowering hatred out these bastards that took his students to a horrible end. Wolf's side was mostly cleared, as the only zombies that came from that side were from the locker rooms.

"Keep watching this side, I'm going to help the front!" Wolf yelled to his friends as he ran to the opposite side that was clearly dealing with a large threat. Sunlight from Sol began to pour into the gym as the platform was getting higher and higher, however still not high enough to block the zombies from reaching them.

"Luna how much longer!?" Fox didn't know if the she-wolf could hear him while Luna fiddled around with the mechanics of the craft.

"A few more minutes, hold on!"

"Augh!" Fox let out his hatred and rage as he continued to swat the zombies away one by one. They used everything and anything as the dead kept pouring in, and the body count continued to pile up. Falco and Krystal were nearly out of nails while Amanda was chucking the last of her bombs, but they still kept coming.

"Shit this isn't looking good!" Hedrick kept swinging away, his muscles screaming for him to halt but to stop would mean being grabbed by death. Amanda then got clever, she used her last two Molotov cocktails to create a wall of fire to try and halter the dead's advance on their position. Just as a huge group of zombies were coming down the stairs, she tossed the last nail bomb straight in the center, as blood, limbs, and bodies were exploded from the inside out all around.

"Here!" Falco tossed her the nail gun as it was on its last strip of nails. The avian drew his concealed gun, remembering to switch off the safety as he fired. It was so loud ringing inside the gym it gave a massive startle to everyone around, even himself. They had forgotten he had the gun as Fox made sure not to show his unless absolutely necessary. Falco kept firing off rounds one by one, trying to make every shot count.

"A few more moments that's all!" Luna yelled from the pilot's seat as they could all hear the roar of the hovercraft coming to life. At this point the platform was mostly out of reach, just the last few beings who managed to get through to deal with along with those that could climb up the not so high wall of bodies to reach the students. The blood bath was immense, blood was shooting everywhere all over the front line as the rest of Wolf's group came to join them.

"Back off!" Fox yelled as everyone took a step back, there were far too many of them to deal with now to be right on the edge of the platform. However they would not leave completely unscathed, as the vixen Natasha stood to close to the edge, and a corpse pulled her off of her feet to her backside. She tried to squirm and retreat, however they were much too strong as they all pulled her to the floor, now feasting on her body as she let out a loud and pain-filled scream.

Narine also stood to close to the edge as she was being pulled by the zombies. She held onto Jessie as the two tried to fight to bring her back toward them, while the dead feasted on her calf and she let out a similar scream to Natasha. She held on to dear life as Wolf enveloped Jessie, and Fox ran to their aid. Even with all their strength however, the grasp of death was to strong.

"There's nothing we can do!" Wolf forcibly removed the jungle cat's grip from Jessie, as she was cast away for the dead to feast on as she too screamed in immense pain being torn and eaten alive. After dealing with the last of the zombies that had managed to climb onto the platform, they were finally high enough into the air to be out of reach from the dead.

"Everything's ready!" Luna yelled as most of them heard and looked to each other with huge smiles.

"Sly-" Mrs. Laister tried to get out, before being stabbed in the throat by Mr. Jay, who only held a wicked smile as he yanked the blade out, letting her body fall limp and waiting to die, to drown in her own blood. The raccoon counselor tried to react as he charged the traitor feline teacher. However he ducked under the strike, and also slashed Sly's jugular veins, and smashed his head against plating of the ship.

The entire group was caught completely off guard, they would never guess that someone still alive would commit such crimes against the living. However in situations of extreme circumstances, some people go mad, completely insane as they aren't able to grasp or the reality at hand. He quickly went for Falco who held the gun, and backhanded the avian to the ground, kicking him in the gut and taking the gun. Just as he pulled it up to fire Fox drew his own concealed weapon, and the two entered a standoff.

"I always knew you were smart Mr. McCloud, rather ingenious plan of escape. But I'm not about to babysit a bunch of kids in this new world." He reached for Falco as he pointed the gun to Falco's head, completely at the mercy of what Fox would do next.

"Back off, or he dies as well." The feline killer put pressure against the avian's head, as Fox didn't know what he could do. Everyone gave ground except the vulpine, as his hand only itched wanting to fire and blast this son of a bitch into oblivion.

"I killed two already, don't test me."

"Okay okay!" Fox held up his hands in defense, as he planted the gun on the ground while the teacher gave an evil smirk. In one swift motion he changed the positioning of the gun and fired it straight at Coach Hedrick, right where his heart would be on the upper left side of his chest.

"No!" Fox ran to the Great Dane's side as he held the wound, this wasn't the first time he had been shot, but it was definitely the worst. Mr. Jay walked toward the ramp to the hovercraft as he met eyes with the young teen.

"You almost got away, but only I will live."

"Guess…again." Slippy let out in a weak tone of voice as he had enough strength to trip teacher off balance, as Fox didn't hesitate. The vulpine and the black feline wrestled for dominance over the gun, as Fox managed to swat it out of his hands now on top of him. The teacher may have been older and bigger, but Fox was driven by something other than just the will to live. He was filled with absolute hatred for this being still alive, still untouched by death. He had committed crimes Fox never would have imagined would happen in this new world. He gladly took the lives of those who had managed to escape the bite of death, and he did it with a smile on his face. Fox wasn't about to let him get away with it, he wasn't about to let him live.

The vulpine kneed the teacher in the gut and the crotch so hard he could have sworn ribs had been cracked. While Mr. Jay tended to his wounds the vulpine reached for the gun as he fired it into of his knee caps, the teacher reacting immediately as he let out a massive roar of pain. Fox dragged the teacher of the edge, only about 20 feet up above the zombie beings reaching out for them. Mr. Jay looked back to the vulpine who only gave him hateful eyes, completely void of mercy.

"Please don't, please don't let them kill me!" He begged for his life.

"The fall won't kill you, they will." Fox tossed his body over the edge as he screamed from the fall, immediately after impact was he swarmed by the dead as they feasted upon his flesh. Fox breathed heavy as he turned back to his friends, all of them wearing a horrified look to witness what he just did. He just threw someone still alive for the dead to convert. Amanda tended toward Slippy as she helped him up to his feet, and into the hovercraft.

"Go!" Fox barked and the rest went inside. Falco went for the two weapons and all the supplies that had been dropped during the battle with the dead, and with Mr. Jay. Fox looked toward the three teachers all lying on the ground of the platform still rising into the air. Mr. Cypher and Mrs. Laister were completely motionless, they had bled out and died as Coach Hedrick was holding on to life. Fox dragged the teacher to his feet and into the hovercraft as he laid the Great Dane teacher, the only one left onto the metallic floors of the ship as Fox looked to Luna. They had just about broken the caving of the rooftop.

"Get us out of here."

"Hold on!" Luna took control as their lives were now in her hands. She carefully and skillfully piloted the hovercraft as it came off the platform into the air, and went into the sky higher and higher. She punched it forward as the craft took off into the sky, leaving the few zombies on the roof in the dust. She took off with such velocity that the teens were pushed back into their seats. After a few moments of flying, everyone began to come to mind.

"We did it." Fox couldn't believe it, as he and Luna looked to one another.

"We did."

"We got out alive, thank the Makers." Krystal let go of her breath as she too was astonished. They all were, it was a long shot, taking every risk possible to get out alive. But they managed to do it, however…It wasn't quite time for a celebration.

"How many did we lose?" Fox asked aloud as he took a look around the ship.

"Natasha…and Narine…" Jessie cried as Wolf took her into his arms. "They were just…pulled straight from me." She lost it as her friends were now gone, and she was all alone perhaps in this new world.

"Mr. Cypher and Mrs. Laister didn't make it." Fara let out loud as everyone bowed their heads. They didn't make it, but it wasn't because of the dead. "I can't believe that freak killed them in cold blood."

"Slippy!" Krystal ran to the side of the toad. They were so distraught of everything that happened they didn't even realize he had awakened. Slippy was alive, and smiling. His arm hurt like hell, and he could feel an illness coming of the flu, but he was alive and that's all that mattered. At least for now. While a few of his friends crowded the toad, Fox kneeled down to the teacher as he was trying to control his breathing. They looked toward one another as Fox took the hand Coach Hedrick was struggling to keep up.

"Fox…I'm not going to make it."

"No you will coach." Fox couldn't go through this again, not after Bill, not after everything that had happen in their past. Coach Hedrick was a role model to the vulpine growing up, and he was proud that Fox turned out so well. He knew he would do everything to keep people alive, to inspire hope toward a new day.

"I'm…proud of you Fox. Keep doing…what you're doing. I know you'll get everyone out…alive…"

"Coach?" Fox asked as the Great Dane became unresponsive. With his final breath let go, and his head slumped. Fox look into his blue eyes as the life slowly left them. It was clear that Hedrick was now gone, taken to a place far away, a place peaceful from this new reality of their lives. Everyone was in a stunned horror as Fox bowed his head, letting a few tears fall as he closed the teacher's eyes. A brave soul who gave up everything for the teens, taken from them from the will of a wicked man now dead.

"We lost six people." Falco let out aloud for everyone to hear. All four teachers, as well as Natasha and Narine were gone. The group of 20 beings were down to 14. Slippy managed to pull through, but death certainly left its mark on the group of teens. Fox grabbed a nearby jacket as he placed it over the deceased teacher's face.

"We got out alive, but we lost a lot of people along the way." Fox finally stood back up as he looked to his band of survivors. Their faces showed so many mixed emotions. Happiness for still living, sadness for those who died, guilt for being alive while so many others were dead, and fear of what was coming next.

"Now what?" Katt asked aloud.

"Now we go to my house." Fox gave the answer, it was what they discussed before after all.

"Wait what?" Wolf interjected as he gave Fox a confused look. "Why would we go to your house? What makes your house any better than anyone else's?"

"It's what we agreed on before you joined us Wolf."

"Well now we're here!" He began to argue as the two sides began to form. "Shouldn't we have a democracy and debate whose house is the best to go to!? You're family isn't any more important than the rest of ours!"

"Wolf!" Fox called out the lupine's name as he began to lose his temper. "It's what we agreed on before you joined! Either deal with it, or leave."

"Fox you helped us get out, and I thank you for that. But we can't just go to your home when everyone else's families are also in danger."

"If you don't like it than you can go Wolf."

"I might just do that." The two glared at one another, as Wolf and his friends took his side, and the vulpine's group all to his own. The lupine knew they were outnumbered, they could argue but they wouldn't' be able to fight them all off.

"Take us to our homes."

"Back off Wolf!" Falco pulled the gun onto the lupine to everyone's shock as the opposite group immediately gave ground. "After witnessing what that teacher did I'm not about to stand for another one of those mutiny's!"

"Get that gun out of my face!" Wolf almost screamed, though he did it more with fear instead of intimidation.

"Falco enough!" Fox lowered the avian's arm as the two met one another. Falco didn't know what came over him. After seeing what Mr. Jay did to the three other teachers, and he did it so willingly and with pleasure. It scared the avian, it gave him the shivers and would most likely terrorize him at night when or if he slept. That was a normal being, driven mad by what is happening. There were bound to be more lunatics out there in this new apocalyptic society.

"Look Wolf, if you don't want to go with us then that's fine. But if you don't, you're on your own." Fox warned the lupine one last time.

"I'm sorry Fox, but I can't just forsake my family while we go save someone else's." Wolf made up his mind, shockingly to his own friends and Jessie. "Drop me off as close as you can to my house, and I'll go on my own."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Wolf are you crazy!?" Leon shook the lupine's shirt as they met eyes. "You're going to leave the safety of a large group to go search for your family you don't even know is still around!?"

"Yes. My mom is all I got left." Wolf admitted as he let down his head, and held a hurtful gaze. "If something happened to her…"

"I'm going too." Panther came to his friend's side as they met eyes. "My old man is all alone, and he's old. I'm sorry, thank you for your help. But I can't justify going after someone else's parents while mine are still out there."

"I understand." Fox walked away as Wolf and his group did the same. They would only have about 15 minutes before reaching Fox's home to make up a decision.

"Are you sure we shouldn't mention the supplies at your home to them? That's the entire reason we are going there." Krystal whispered to the vulpine away from Wolf's group. She wasn't comfortable leaving them out of the loop before they committed to their decision. The news of life saving supplies could make all the difference.

"Let them go." Falco argued on Fox's opposite side. "If they want to leave then let them, I don't trust them anyway. Besides there is a limited amount of supplies in that basement, and once its' gone it's gone. Splitting them for more people means less for us."

"Still that doesn't mean we should justify keeping them in the dark, they helped us get away just as much as anybody else did."

"Wolf." Fox called out to the lupine one more time as they looked to one another. "There are supplies at my parent's house, that's why we decided to go there."

"That doesn't interest me Fox." Wolf kept his decision. "We're all going to die eventually, but when I do I want to be with my mom."

"Alright, Luna." Fox called out to their she-wolf pilot. "Take us to Wolf's coordinates."

"Okay, tell him to give them to me." Fox nodded as he looked back to the lupine, and Wolf went to the front to tell Luna where he wanted to go. Fox called out to the rest of Wolf's friends that sat on the floor of the hovercraft.

"We aren't making multiple stops. If you want to stay you can, but if you want to leave you have to go with Wolf."

While Panther only nodded, Leon gave a look of disbelief. He couldn't believe his two friends were willing to go off on their own, with practically nothing for the chance to find their loved ones again.

"Panther come on let's be serious."

"Leon, if you want to stay then stay. But I'm with Wolf. I want to see my dad again before I die." The jungle cat looked away as Leon only let his head sink

"Well…you two are the only friends I've ever had. I guess we stay together and die together."

Panther only smiled as they tried to brighten each other up. Wolf came back from giving the information to Luna and the hovercraft turned around, heading toward his destination only a few minutes away. Wolf went to the brown vixen as they looked to one another, perhaps for the last time.

"So…You're leaving?" Jessie asked as Wolf gave a small smile.

"I am, I need to see my mom and make sure she's alright."

"I understand."

"I wouldn't hold it against you if you wanted to stay with them, probably safer."

"I don't know…I think I'll join you." Wolf's face changed as he was completely shocked.

"Really?"

"Yea, you don't live that far away from my own home. Besides…" Jessie stood up as she looked to the rest of the teens in their large group, talking, and even some were smiling. "I don't belong with them, they wouldn't trust me."

"Alright, if you're sure."

"I'm sure." She gave Wolf a small smile. "We'll stay together."

"Thank you." Is all the two shared words for now. Minutes later they neared Wolf's destination as Luna called out to them.

"Alright, this is our stop." She kept the hovercraft airborne, completely still as Wolf and his friends prepared to exit.

"Wolf." Fox stood to him carrying three bags, as well as one of the guns. "You'll need this. Careful when you use it, the only bullets left are in the clip."

"Thank you Fox." Wolf took the bags as he handed one to each of his friends, and took the gun from the vulpine. Fox was surprised that Jessie was leaving with them.

"You're not going to stay?"

"I'm not Fox." She admitted, as they spoke for perhaps the last time in this world. "I know your friends don't trust me, and I don't blame them. I have to go where I feel like I'm most safe, and that's with Wolf. Good luck…"

"Good luck to you as well Jessie…" Fox was a bit sad, it was hard to say goodbye to someone when you didn't know when you would next see them, or if you would ever see him again. She took his hand in her own, giving the vulpine comfort thoughts as she gave him a small peck on his cheek, wiping away some of the blood.

"You're a strong leader, I know you'll keep everyone safe. Goodbye Fox." She let go of his hand as the door hung open, and Wolf and his friends jumped out. Jessie looked to the vulpine one last time with a small smile, before she turned around and also jumped out of the hovercraft. Fox watched all four of them go and headed into Wolf's home, just before the hovercraft's door swung closed again and took to the skies.

"You gave away half of our supplies." Falco said aloud in an annoyed tone.

"Not nearly half." Fox looked back to his friend. "The gun had four bullets in it, you think that's going to matter in the long run? I gave them two empty water bottles and a few of the crowbars and metal bats. Now that our group is cut in half, we don't need that many."

"Anything could be the difference in a survival situation Fox."

"We couldn't send them on their way with nothing. We had to give them something as their share of getting out alive."

"Well what's done is done. Let's go." Falco called out to their pilot as Luna nodded.

"It won't take long." Luna took to the skies once more as she headed for their original destination of Fox's home, into the flourishing rays of Sol as it was descending to head into the night.

Author's Notes

I'm going to take a break from Hit The Mark for a while and work on these side projects.

Take it Easy

Zythxx