The 379th Hero: Did... you just go psychic?

Drunken Hamster: Usually, I try to make my chapters at least over a 1000 words long at the minimum. I may try to make the chapters longer, though.

Satsui no Hado Ryu: Thanks.

Miss Storyholic: It was mentioned that the zombies were always able to talk, just not perform cohesive sentences, at least, not to 'Freaks'. As for the emotions... no idea.

Antha1: You didn't know?

The Batista: Whoa, no need to strong language!

Gloyd Orangeboar: Prank the zombie who could rip your throat open?

I am a burglar: Go ahead.

Korrasami 88: Joy was based on a star. I've explained why I called Disgust Pixie already.

TheDisneyFan365: Okay then.

PotterPhantomKitten: Well, it'll be a long process.

Js: You'll find out.

Creamy Buttercup: Riley? She's already a zombie.


Father and mother and daughter looked at each other, all three trying to grasp their current situation. Riley had all but given up on her struggles; she knew that even if she escaped her bonds, the Freaks in front of her were bigger and stronger than she was, and she had no chance of leaving.

Jill knelt down in front of her daughter. "Riley, I'm your mamma," She pleaded, practically begging for Riley to recognize her. However, she could see in Riley's lifeless, clouded eyes that she wasn't the same loving little girl she had been nearly a year ago.

"Don't you remember me?" She asked, trying to keep herself together in front of her daughter. "Grandma?" She recalled the affectionate nickname Riley had called her sometimes, hoping that would jog memories. However, she still got no response.

Riley looked on the verge of tears, which Bill and Jill took to mean she was sad because she couldn't remember her past. They hadn't seen a zombie look so heartbroken, and they hadn't seen Riley look so heartbroken since the day she ran away. That was a memory all three of them wishes they could lock up.

"I don't know," Riley spat out indignantly. Jill held back tears, and Bill rested a hand on her shoulder and knelt down with her.

"Come on, you have to remember your own mom and dad," He begged to her. Riley shook her head, her cold eyes never leaving the two. After a few moments, Jill and Bill got to their feet.

"What do we do now?" Jill asked, whispering so Riley didn't overhear. "She doesn't remember us."

"Well we can't just let her leave," Bill whispered back. "She's in human territory by now, or at least what's left of it. If the others see her, they'll surely kill her. I don't think we have a choice but to leave her here."

"But... this doesn't feel right," Jill pointed out. "We're practically holding our daughter captive against her will."

"Hey, we're her parents," Bill replied. "That makes it better."


"How the *%& does that make it better?" Anger asked Joy, who had pressed the button in order to send out that response.

"Hey, come on, we've done a lot of things that didn't feel right this past year," Joy explained indignantly. "We've put a lot of bullets into those zombies. Way more than I'd have liked to, but Anger and Fear was driving those times."

"It was self-defense!" Fear defended, springing up. "Besides, those video-games made it look way easier than it really is."

"I know, right," Sadness said, stroking his mustache. "Honestly, how many bullets does it take to put down one of those walkers? Like, twenty-five?"

"We're getting sidetracked here!" Anger said, slamming his fist on the control panel. "Okay, we'll give Joy the benefit of the doubt here, but don't you ever use that language on our wife again, capiche?!"

"...Did you just say capiche?"


While Bill was zoning out, Jill looked at her bag on the dresser, and her eyes widened in shock.

"Oh my gosh, Bill, the meds!" She panicked briefly, snapping Bill out of his trance. Instantly, she grabbed the bag, saying, "We're late! We have to get back there now!"

"What about me?" Riley chimed.

"Stay put!" Bill demanded, and he and his wife left the apartment with the bags, leaving Riley still strapped to the bed.

In her mind, Nerve asked, "What do we do now? We're stuck, and they'll surely be back eventually!"

Brick ran to the control panel. "Maybe if we struggle more, we can get out of these bonds," He suggested. He began to work on the console, causing Yellowjacket to start pulling on the tape, struggling to break free. She growled out as the tape stuck to her skin. She thrashed and kicked and punched and bit, all to try and get free and then return home before the Freaks got back.

The tape began to tear a bit, even as Yellowjacket began to loose energy.

"You're doing it!" Nerve whispered hopefully, encouraging Brick to continue. His head lit up into a flame, roaring out as Yellowjacket used all her strength to fight back against her bonds.

While the other emotions focused on freeing Yellowjacket, Star noticed the core memories start to glimmer softly. Star stared at them, not remembering the last time she had seen the core memories actually glow. They had turned gray a long time ago, and they'd only gotten grayer since then.

Cautiously, Star approached them. The core memories were glimmering ever so slightly, but not by much. It was only a flicker, but it was enough to catch Star's attention.

Star tapped onto tray, releasing the memories. She grabbed hold of one of them, and stared at it as it interchanged between gold and gray. She stared into it hard, trying to see if she could catch any motion within it.

Star thought she could make out three figures within the memories, the three in close contact with each other, but her attention was diverted by Yellowjacket struggling against her bonds. Her screams of anguish caused her to lose focus.

"Guys, quiet down!" She snapped, turning to face them. The emotions stopped struggling, causing Yellowjacket to slump onto the bed.

"Come here," Star urged them. "It's a core memory. It's glowing."

"It is?" Teardrop asked hopefully, and the emotions immediately ran towards Star to see it. If a memory was actually glowing, this was big news.

The emotions circled around Star as she tried to replay the memory. In the center of it, she could see the three figures, but it was so dark that she couldn't make out who they were. She replayed it repeatedly, trying to see if she recognized anything from Yellowjacket's past. Outside the mind, Yellowjacket herself was seeing flickers of her past, but not enough to make out anything spectacular.

"It's fading!" Nerve pointed out. Indeed, the memory was starting to turn gray again.

"She's losing focus!" Star said, repaying the memory more urgently now. "Come on, we have to make sure to remember this."

The emotions urged Star to keep replaying the memory, all of them trying to pinpoint something from Yellowjacket's past. However, despite their efforts, the memory continued to fade.

"No, no, no, no no..." They all chanted until the memory finally turned gray again, prompting an extended, "Nooooooo..." From all five of them.

"We were so close," Teardrop lamented. "That's sad."

Star's hopeful smile was replaced with a gloomy frown. She trembled as she set the memory back into the tray, wondering how they could have been so close to discovering Yellowjacket's past, and yet so far away.

"Come on, let's see if we can break those bonds," Brick said as the emotions returned to the console, leaving Joy by the tray. She continued to stare at the core memories.

She wondered if this would truly be the last time they saw them glow. As she did, her own glow began to fade.


While Yellowjacket had been attempting to unlock her past, Bill and Jill had sneaked downstairs and opened the door to where the infected were wondering about. To divert their attention, Bill flicked on a flashlight and aimed its light down the street. The zombies had immediately followed the direction of the light, allowing Bill and Jill to sneak past them.

After darting into the hotel, the two walked over the dozens of corpses laying on the floor, and took off upstairs. They hoped that the sooner they arrived, the less angry the rest of the group would be.

When they finally made it back, They were met with Sir's stony face, his gray eyes staring into theirs.

"Oh, hey sir?" Bill said, chuckling nervously and scratching the back of his head. "We, uh, got the supplies." He handed out the bag, which Sir snatched away.

"And where the Hell were you this whole time?" He asked. Bill and Jill realized that all eyes were on him and his wife.

"Oh, you know, places," He murmured, and looked to his wife for support. "Me and my wife just needed some... alone time with each other?" Jill nodded in agreement.

Sir put his hands on his hips. "Oh, didn't know it was Wednesday already, Bill," He retorted.

"Oh ha-ha," Bill said sarcastically. "Next time you want to to complain, why don't you drag your lazy butt across the city to look for supplies in the middle of a zombie apocalypse."

Jill grabbed Bill's wrist. "Come on, we'll sleep in the next room," She told everyone else, and she dragged Bill outside into the hallway.

When they were down the end of the hall, she whispered, "Well, we nearly blew that one. How are we supposed to keep our zombie daughter a secret from everyone else? And how do we keep her from lunching on our brains?"

"Did you see her back there?" Bill asked. "She looked like she didn't want to kill us. She spoke to us, Jill. Do you really think she remembers us?"

"Not enough, I guess," Jill murmured. "We lost her once, we can't lose her again."

"And we're not going to, honey," Bill said determined, and shared a kiss with his wife. The two embraced each other tightly, holding back tears.


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