Author's Notes: Hi, I'm back and welcome to somewhat last chapter of this story! I hope you will enjoy it because I tried to make it great because it's been a long while since I last updated and it's somewhat the last chapter. Slight forth wall breakage but meh, wyanut. So please enjoy! :D

"I know right! I thought I was the only one! I thought I was crazy!"

Rochelle laughed at the girl's reaction. "Oh please. What I'm really surprised is that the guys never notice it. Especially with Nick who is always concern for his suit and all."

"Aw, Colonel Sanders and his precious little suit. He is just like Francis and his vest. Being such big babies when their clothes getting a bit dirty and I still hear shit about me being a girl and all" Zoey replied with a bit of anger in her voice.

"But…" sounding a bit more relaxed, "how do they not notice that our clothes get clean. Well… cleaner than when we first get into the next safe room after fighting zombies all day."

"Yeah," nodding in agreement. "Reaching the safe house after fighting off zombies all day, we are covered in blood, brains, guts, and many other stuff I don't want to remember or know. And once we close our eyes for some rest… it's all gone!" After looking down at her somewhat clean clothes, Rochelle sighed and continued. "If only this unknown force that cleans the blood off our clothes can also get rid of the sweat and sewer stains." And after taking a whiff of the air, "Ugh, along with the smell. My clothes reek."

After smelling her own clothes, Zoey shared Rochelle's displeasure for the smell of her clothes as well. After a minute to clear their heads from the smell, the two continued their discussion.

"Unlimited ammo for our pistols, four convenient health kits waiting for us in the safe room, guns filled with ammo just lying around the place. I mean, come on! How can the guys not notice this stuff?"

"I know. Nothing in this world makes any sense. Hell, just a few days ago, my group just handed a pack of Cola hiding behind an alarmed supermarket and we get to keep the guns we got from his gun store, plus laser sights all for free!" Seeing Zoey's mouth was hanging wide up, she couldn't help but laugh a bit at her shocked expression.

But her laughter soon vanished as she started to become distraught with what's been on her mind. "And there has been one thing I have yet to understand yet… I don't know if you know what I'm talking about or I'm just starting to become crazy since this whole apocalypse thing has started…"

Capturing Zoey's attention, she stared at her, telling her to continue on with her thought.

"It's about those closets…"

Hearing that word "closet," Zoey understood what she was talking about immediately.

"I mean, I thought I was crazy. One minute, I thought one of our group members is dead and we had to accept it and move on. Next thing I know it, I hear their voice." Rochelle sighed as she continued. "I thought at first that my mind was playing tricks on me. I didn't understand why, though; we all just met and all. But then we find them in a closet, a bit beaten and bruised, but alive. The other guys didn't seem to care too much and the one in the closet just says that they were always in there, waiting for someone to open the door."

In response, Zoey nodded her head in agreement. "I know what you're talking about. We had our own shared experiences with it. Though I just don't understand how it happens or any of that stuff…"

Trying to find the right words, Rochelle said nervously, "Do you think… Bill... will appear in one of those closets?" She cringed and wished she could take it back knowing she was treading back into a comfortable subject with the young woman by bringing up his name.

Being unresponsive, not even flinching at the mention of his name, Rochelle became worried. As she reached out to start comforting her, she was startled by the other's sudden gaze staring straight at her face with a confident smile plaster on her face.

"I'm sure we will find him. I'm sure of it" Zoey confidently stated with a smile on her face while looking Rochelle straight in the eyes.

"I'm sure you will sweetie" Rochelle replied with not as much enthusiasm as the latter. But she could tell that Zoey was lying to herself. She could see behind Zoey's confidence, that deep down inside she knew Bill would never be found in the mysterious rescue closets.

Just as they were going to start another discussion, the sky above slowly became brighter, showing it was close to dawn.

"Well, I guess it's almost show time," Zoey said sadly watching the light slowly spread across the sky.

"Yeah… I guess so." Rochelle shared Zoey's sorrow that in a few hours, they will both return to their now regular routine of shooting zombies and fighting for survival. But most of all; not being able to talk to another woman.

"I- I guess I better be heading back. You know. Check up on the guys and make sure that Louis is all right."

"Oh, right. You're right. I better… I better be heading back to. Make sure the guys are okay too. After all, I did kinda left my post," Rochelle replied with some guilt in her voice for being away from the safe house for so long. "And to, you know, get ready for our big fight with the zombies today." With a small sigh, she groaned, "Again…"

"Ah, yeah. Okay. Well." Zoey coughed trying to figure out how to say it formally. "Um, ah, w-well…" She followed with a groan; knowing she was never good with talking formally with others.

"It was really nice to meet you and to talk to you Rochelle. I never talked like this with anyone. It was great. I feel like a teenager again" Zoey laughed with a warm smile on her face.

Rochelle chuckled and replied, "Girl, you're still young, okay. It was me who should feel like a teenager. And I too enjoyed our talk. It's probably the best thing this whole zombie apocalypse has given to me so far."

A mischievous laugh and a smirk started to on her face. "So talking to me is better than meeting Francis huh?"

Rochelle immediately blush hearing her secret being said. "You better not tell him!" she blurted out. "I will tell him… Soon… but just not today" continuing her statement more calmly.

"So when? When are you going to tell him?"

A brief silence took over the two; Rochelle deep in her thoughts of how to answer the other's question and Zoey waiting in anticipation for the answer.

"I will tell him…" Rochelle said slowly. Zoey nodded wanting her to continue with her answer.

"… When our two groups will meet again…. When this whole zombie apocalypse is over…"

Zoey was deadpanned upon hearing the implausible answer. "You can't be serious right!" Zoey yelled. "Though you have been fighting these zombies the past few days, has all these things already messed up your head?"

"I have a feeling that this whole thing will blow over and things will return to normal," Rochelle answered with a hopeful smile.

Clenching her fist tightly, Zoey was almost had the urge to knock back some reality into Rochelle. This apocalypse blowing over! I've seen so much in the past week than her. I had major hopes that this would all end. That everything that has happened was just a dream. Or that the world will soon go back to normal… But no… it's nothing more than just a dream that will never come true.

Looking at her fist and then the smiling Rochelle in front of her, Zoey was preparing to release her full fury but something made her release all of her anger as she released her fist. She nodded and whispered. "Thank you."

Rochelle could tell that she wanted to punch her with her full might because of her hope of the world returning to normal and her smile. She knew any moment she would feel the full force of her fist hitting her somewhere on her already battered body and she was ready for it. I understand that you don't believe what I say will happen. And also you have lost more than me to this apocalypse. You didn't deserve to go through all of this. So I understand that you resent me for putting my faith in an impossible dream. Go ahead, punch me Zoey.

Opening her eyes she could see Zoey was ready to punch and to her surprise, she release her fist but she didn't let her guard down. Then she heard the young survivor whispered something like "Thank you." Unsure what it was for, all she could do was return the friendly gesture. "You're welcome?"

"So… You believe that we will meet again huh?" Zoey said flatly, still showing her disbelief in that happening.

"Yeah, I do. I feel like we will meet maybe right here in this town or somewhere else, in a couple of years from now. With smiles on our face and hopefully we are wearing a lot more cleaner and less smelly clothes."

"Yeah, haha, I hear ya. I'm just dying to find a washing machine someday along with a nice hot shower."

"It's every girls dream during an apocalypse."

"So… since I think we will meet again, let's make a deal right now. Between the two of us."

This captured Zoey's full attention. "Okay. What kind of deal are you proposing?" Curious to know where this is going.

"Since I think we are going to meet again and I'm going to admit my feelings to Francis, I want you to tell Ellis your feelings for him if I'm right."

After some thought, Zoey nodded in agreement. "All right then. But do I get if I'm right?"

Rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms across her chest. "Well, I guess…" Starting to count with her fingers. "You get to keep your feelings for Ellis to yourself, you don't get to see me embarrassed admitting my feelings to Francis, and mostly bragging rights."

Laughing, "All right, all right. I'll agree with the terms of this bet Rochelle."

"Make sure you hold on to that promise. Don't chicken out when I win."

"What makes you think you will win? But make sure I see some waterworks if do you win." Zoey looked to Rochelle with a smirk on her face earning a groan for the older survivor.

"Yeah, whatever. Well, I better be leaving now. See you a bit later."

"All right. Get some rest. You don't want me to constantly save your ass like I did earlier." Changing her gaze from Rochelle to the nearby bloody bodies.

Hanging her hands up in defeat as she climbed the stairs to go with Zoey, "I will, I will."

"You know you don't need to escort me. I can make it to the top by myself," showing some concern that Rochelle will need to go back down where anything can attack her.

"Well, I just want to make sure you're safe," she replied with a smile.

"Thanks. Now, get back to the safe house and get some sleep okay. Cause I can't constantly keep an eye on you and save you all the time."

"Phf-, whatever Zoey."

As she climbed down the stairs, Rochelle didn't notice the Hunter that was watching her. Just as he was within arm's reach of attacking her, Rochelle was too late to reach for her gun. All she could do is close her eyes and wait for the Hunter to attack.

The expected weight hitting her and the searing pain of clawing ripping her chest never came. Opening her eyes, she saw the limp body of her attacker with a bullet hole in his head. Looking up at the stairs, she saw Zoey with her Hunting Rifle placed over her shoulders. She could tell she had a smug look and wording the words "Saving your ass."

Rolling her eyes, Rochelle waved her hands in thanks and continued safely back to the safe house with faster pace.

Reaching the safe house, she slowly closed and locked the door behind her. Relief washed over her seeing that the three men were still sleep after her time talking with Zoey. Carefully and quietly, she walked around checking on them to see if they are okay and still breathing, while making a note to be extra careful when approaching Nick.

Checking each of the sleeping men, it was a challenge to not laugh at each of their sleeping habits. Everything was new to her because most of the time, they allow her to sleep most of the night and take watch in the early dawn.*

Ellis was very active, moving around and readjusting himself all while confessing his love for Zoey and telling her the plans he have made once they are married. With a small laugh, she thought to herself, I wonder how Zoey would react if she was here, watching him confess his love in his sleep.

Moving on to Coach, she wasn't all to surprise by his behavior. There was slight movement in his sleep but the small mumbling he made was expected from him. Rochelle sat by his side, holding back a laugh while counting the food he was ordering from some place called "Burger Tank." She almost let out a huge laugh as his words started to diminish and a small drool started to appear at the side of his mouth. Before she blew her cover, she cautiously walked up to Nick.

Though his gun was still nestled in his hand, she risked going closer to check on him, squatting down with her toes balancing her. At first everything was fine, with him silently breathing but for a brief second, he let out a bit of a loud snore. Catching her completely off guard, she almost landed on Nick's legs but luckily was able to regain her balance in the last second.

With a gasp and a sigh of relief, I think that's enough thrill for one night. Rochelle picked herself up and made a last check of her supplies and on the safe room door, she settled on a spot for some rest.

Being the first wake up as usual, Ellis stretched out his stiff limbs after another night of sleeping on objects that was not meant to be slept on. But he could help but have a smile on his face after dreaming about that girl all night.

"One of these days, that girl and I will get married and live in a zombie-free world and our kids will go to Whispering Oaks and have the best time of our lives," Ellis promised, gleaming with confidence that he will fulfill this promise. After seeing the older survivors still asleep, he quietly reloaded his guns and stepped outside for some fresh air.

Outside the safe house, he was greeted with some bodies lying on the ground, suspecting it was Rochelle's work. As he bent down a little closer, he couldn't help but smile that each had a bullet hole in the middle of their head.

Just a few days ago you were nervous to fire a pistol, let alone hold it. Letting out a small laugh, now look at ya. Shooting all these headshots, scanning the bodies again. You really are turning into an Annie Oakley.

Suddenly the nearby staircase captured his attention. A blush started to grow on his face knowing at the top is the girl he dreamed about. Though he knows he should go too far from the safe house, he continued on to the steps.

Almost reaching the last few sets of stairs, Ellis paused to think of what to say if she happened to be there. He ran through a list of things to say but all that came out were both a jumbled mess of words and embarrassment.

Shaking his head vigorously, Come on man, Coach is right. You have been fighting them zombies for the past few days. Talking to this girl should be easy. A blush started to appear again. Though she is the prettiest thing I've ever seen. And he soon became defeated. And I might not even have a chance with her.

Though he was depressed with the thought of rejection and decided to return to the safe house, a breeze passed by, pointing towards the bridge. Turning his sights to the top of the stairs, he continued up the rest of the stairs, with both determination and confidence.

Come on. I can do this.

A mixture of relief and sadness took over as he fell backwards on to the ground.

No one was there.

"I should have known," gazing up at the sky above while letting a small forced laugh out. "Should have known she wouldn't be here. I shouldn't be surprised really." Sighing, "I just wish… I could just…"

Groaning louder than he expected as he lay on the ground, "I wish I could just see her and possibly talk to her. Maybe get to know her a bit. And maybe… " Cushioning his head with his hands while watching the sky change color, "even know her name."

After a moment of staring at the sky, Ellis picked himself off the floor and stared at the building where the other group is in; hoping that she would come outside. She never showed up.

Walking down the stairs, looking back every few steps to see if she would happen to make a sudden appearance, he only ended up climbing down the stairs in despair.

Unknowing to him, his angel was there watching and listening to him in the shadows of the building. She had a small smile on her face and a blush painted on her face.

After everyone woke up, all them stretched out and started their routine prayer for their protection and safety and scavenging any food they can call breakfast.

"Make sure you have everything you need" Coach commanded while everyone was rechecking their supply and ammunition. "Something tells me that it's not gonna be easy."After a third look over, all four continued out the red door and left it unlock for anyone who will need it.

Reaching the top of the stairs, they were greeted by Francis, Zoey and a young man wearing a now dirty white long sleeve collared shirt with an equally dirty red tie sitting on the bridge. And as usual, Nick started off the day with a sore note and a complaint.

"Thanks for telling us about the goddamn sewer," he stated with a heavy glare towards the biker.

"WITCH!" Francis yelled following with a smirk. "Oh sorry, got confused by all your crying. Heheh."

"Yeah. He does go on," Ellis said softly behind Nick.

Closing in the gap between the two, Nick's glare was now accompanied with a growl. "What did you just say you greasy pi-"

"Hey, calm down you two," the man with the red tie chimed in. "Main thing is that they made it here and we are going to help them get their car across." The two men continued their little showdown before looking the other way.

Relief there was a voice of reason after their rough start; Rochelle tried to lighten the mood between the two groups.

"Hey! I didn't see you from the other side" Rochelle cheerful said towards the man.

"Yeah, I stayed here," he replied with less enthusiasm, earning a concern look from Rochelle. Noticing, he tried to brighten the mood. "I'm okay, just a little banged up. It wasn't easy getting up here, we-…' He suddenly stopped with Zoey and Francis staring at him. Though no words were spoken amongst themselves, he knew that they don't want him bringing up what happened to the other four. He just nodded slightly in agreement.

Returning his sights to the new survivors, the men were questioning why he stopped his thought while Rochelle had a different expression; something like understanding why he did. He decide not to think too much of it and declared it's probably an example a "woman's intuition."

"Oh, I'm Louis by the way," Louis cheerfully stated wishing to change the subject. Then pointed to Francis. "I'm guessing you already met Francis," and continue to point to Zoey, "and you probably already met Zo-"

"Zoey. My name's Zoey. Nice to meet you," stepping forward. She did a quick look at the young mechanic to see that a big smile was plastered on his face and that he was wording her name a couple of times.

Rochelle was watching how Ellis was now lost in his own world and that Zoey was watching him. She slightly nudged Ellis to snap him back to reality.

"Huh?" He turned to look at Zoey to see her staring at him. "Ah-." He could feel his face starting to turn red and he soon became flustered. Checking to see Zoey was staring at him still was a bad idea as he soon was caught staring to her eyes.

"Ah, no, I mean.-"he stuttered starting to wave his hands in front of him. Ellis finally turned around, pulling the bill of his hat down to hide his embarrassment and letting out a huge sigh.

After his little show, Zoey could help but smile at how embarrassed he is because of her. He really does have his cute moments, Zoey thought as she returned her attention to the situation at hand only be become dumbfounded by another.

"Hey, 'Dee-Pec Mode.' Classy. Nice shirt Rochelle," Francis said smoothly with a smile.

Looking at her shirt, "Thanks, Francis." Returning a smile to him to return the compliment, "Nice vest."

Still amazed of Rochelle's crush, she could help but still poke fun at the older female survivor.
"Francis? Really? Tell me you're joking."

"What? Obviously she's a woman of taste."

"Yeah, Thanks." feeling a bit happy by his praise of her good taste. "But in the meantime, we should get to work on that generator…"

"Playing hard to get? I can respect that," Francis replied while eying Rochelle with a kind smile as Rochelle turned her head away with a small smile and a blush slowly appearing.

Growing tired of what is occurring in front of him; he slowly made his way towards the elevator.

"I'm tired of all this bullshit," he said behind for those behind him. "I'll be waiting in the elevator."

"Don't forget Suit!" Francis shouted at Nick. "Don't start crying in there! It's e-lec-tri-cal!"

Just as he turned to see if Zoey and Louis were laughing with him with his remark, a bullet flew by him, a mere inch away from his face. After getting over the shock, he soon found that it came from Nick as he caught a view of the white-suited man reloading his pistol.

"Just remember greaseball," he said as he re-holstered his gun and continued with a deadly glare. "Don't. Mess. With. Me." Nick said stating each with word with malice. He then continued his trip to the awaiting elevator.

Taking the warning shot as a sign of his limited patience, Ellis and Coach started to follow Nick to the elevator.

"I'll be with you guys in a minute. I need to ask Zoey something."

Zoey looking at Francis and Louis, "You guys get ready; Rochelle wants to have a talk with me." Both nodded and Francis went to help Louis off the floor to get themselves ready to aid the other group.

"So…" Looking to Rochelle just as she did the previous night. "This it before we start fighting zombies and you guys are on your way to New Orleans," she said plainly.

"Yeah," Rochelle groaned. "By the way, what was that all about? Are you trying to embarrass me? Rochelle demanded through her embarrassment.

Laughing with a smirk, "Let's just say it's in a way revenge and a bit of one last poke of fun at you before it's too late."

"Why you little-"

"Ro! Come on! Let's go!" Ellis yelled outside of the elevator. "Nick isn't too happy waiting around here." Then started to say his thoughts out loud, 'Well, he's never happy, never seen him once smile," nodding to himself.

A smack sound was heard along with a small yell of pain.

Groaning out of frustration and hold her head, "I guess I better be going." Nodding a small farewell, she made her way towards the elevator.

"Good luck to you guys down there," Zoey called out as the elevator started to lower down to ground floor.

Reaching the ground, they followed their plan, Nick and Rochelle was to search the bridge half of the town for gas, while Coach and Ellis search the other half. It was decided that they will search the around the bridge to keep Ellis focus at the task at hand. The last thing they wanted was them being killed because Ellis was distracted by a girl.

"Come on. Let's check if there is any gas in this building" Nick yelled as he started his search.

"Okay." Rochelle took a slower pace, carefully searching the area for gas and anything that will be useful for later. Seeing nothing on the ground floor of the building, she decided to try the outside of the building to see if there's anything.

Outside, she saw the other group shooting zombies in the distance. After scan, she could tell that the generator nearby is where they need to put the gas in.

Shooting some commons around the generators, a shiny object caught her eye. Upon closer inspection, it was a small silver lighter; it was slightly beaten and there was a strong presence of blood. Looking around to see where did it came from, she came across a gruesome sight.

In front of the turbine in the building was a corpse of a man wearing military attire. Recalling her talk with Zoey, she fell to her knees in front of the body. "You're… you're Bill…"

She felt her stomach drop seeing how much damage was done to him by the three Tanks Zoey talked about. Sitting there, she tried to organize her thoughts. How am I going tell the others about this? Deep in her inner turmoil, Rochelle didn't notice Nick walking up to her from behind.

"Well," looking at his lone gas can with disappointment, "I could find one so far in this damn building. I hope you and the others found something." Changing his view from his gas can to Rochelle; he was surprise to see her kneeling on the ground with a few tears starting to appear.

Running and crouching beside her, Nick started to gently shake her. "Hey! Ro! You okay! Hey! Snap out of it!"

Seeing Nick, she turned her head away and pointed her shaky hand towards the body.

Looking at the body, he returned with an unsure expression. "What? The body? Come on Ro… We've seen plenty of these. Why are you stressing over this one?"

Not wanting to bring up her talk with Zoey, Rochelle just kept her mouth shut and avoided Nick's stare.

Sighing as he got up, "Whatever." Just as he was about to leave the room, Nick saw the assault rifle on Bill's body. "Hey an assault rifle. I could you use this."

Just as he began to cock the weapon, he was startled by a sudden loud voice."Put that gun down!"

He found that it came from Rochelle. "What? What is it now?" Nick groaned.

"You have no right to take his weapon, especially if his body is right there holding the gun," she replied angrily while glaring at him.

"Look Rochelle. All we did so far is take weapons. They probably belong to someone and their owners' body was probably not too far from it either. Why are you over reacting about this right now?"

Holding her ground, she replied as calmly as possible. "Look, I'm not over reaction. Can you just… Can you just please put the gun back to how you found it?"

Looking at Rochelle in the eyes, Nick shrugged and gently put the rifle back. "Thanks Nick."

Rolling his eyes, "Yeah whatever. That gun was out of ammo and it's broken anyway." Looking at Bill, "That man must have been terrible with a gun if he forgot to reload his gun." Chucking, "Old people are completely useless especially during a zombie apocalypse. Probably the main reason why he died in the first place."

Anger started to build as she started to quench her fist tightly. Her fist starting to turn white didn't go unnoticed by the conman.

"Hey, what's your problem Ro?" staring at her.

"How can you be so disrespectful to this man! How dare you say such things about him!" Rochelle yelled, staring straight at Nick in the eyes with her venomous glare.

"Wait, hold on a minute," raising his hands in front of him in defense. "I can guarantee that you know this man personally and here you are defending him. Would you like to share why you are so protective of him?" Nick asked with his arms crossed.

Recoiling from his question, she carefully thought of her next few words. Dammit! How can I talk my way out of this one? Especially when it's Nick.

A smirk started to appear on his face. "Does it have something to do with your late night chat with that Zoey girl?"

Just from that statement, Rochelle could feel her stomach drop. "How did you-, I- I- I mean, I don't know what you are talking about," she stuttered though she tried her best to sound convincing.

"Ro, I wasn't born yesterday and, to be honest, you are not the best liar. You know what I'm talking about. I saw you leave the safe house and you talking to her last night."

She could feel his gaze burning her. All she wish she could do was crawl to the nearest corner under his gaze.

"I also heard you guys talk about you and the greasy ball biker." Her eyes widen significantly. Oh no. Don't tell me…

With a smirk, "To think that you are in love with-"

Next thing Rochelle knew was that her hand was now sore and Nick had his hand on his face covering a red mark.

"I- I-…" Rochelle stuttered. She soon made a break for it to get away from everything, away from Bill's body; away from Nick; and away from Francis's voice as he called out for her as she ran to a back alleyway.

Slowly following Rochelle, Nick ignored the shouts from Francis and Zoey, asking questions of what happened and the reason why she ran away. Remembering his experience with women, he had to give her some time to herself, to let her collect and sort out her thoughts, but he had to watch out for her in case she get attacked.

He finally found her hiding under construction scaffolding, crying to herself. He silently waited behind the corner till he could hear her no longer hear her crying.

When she ran out of tears to shed, she calmly wiped her tears with her hand and tried to breathe normally. "All right Nick. You can come out now."

Nick silently walked out of his hiding spot and slowly made his way towards her. "Heh, you could tell I was hiding?"

"No, I just had a feeling that you were there." Looking at Nick, she gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry for slapping you. I'm just..."

"What? This?" Cupping his hand where he was slapped. "This was nothing. It's not the worst I ever got, but its pretty close." He earned a small shy laugh from the reporter. "Look Rochelle. I'll keep your little crush with grease ball a secret, so don't worry." Offering his hand, "Why don't we just go look for the rest of gas cans and get out of here, okay?"

Accepting his hand, she got up and both continued their search for the gas cans.

Filling her can into the generator, Zoey called out to her. "Rochelle! I think you'll need this!"

Walking onto the street, she caught a bottle of pain pills from the college student. "Thanks Zoey!"

Just as she was about to go off in search for more cans, "Um, Rochelle?"

"Yeah?" looking above.

"I was wondering if you found something in that building. Anything unusual, I mean," she asked uneasily.

Unsure if she should tell her about Bill's body, her hand brushed against the lighter she found earlier. Hopefully this will do."Um, yeah. I found this lighter. I don't think it's anything important."

Seeing the lighter, Zoey's facial expression changed dramatically. "Is it okay if I can have it?" Unsure why she wanted it, she shrugged and replied. "Sure. I'll give it to you inside."

After meeting in the club, Rochelle handed the lighter to Zoey. "Thanks Rochelle," Zoey said peacefully while cradling the lighter.

"No problem. And thanks for the pills and protecting our group."

"No problem at all. Just as long as you guys shoot your fair share of the zombies."

Laughing, "Yeah, we'll make sure to do our fair share." The two were going to talking a little more until one word changed everything.

"TANK!"

Rochelle ran outside while Zoey returned to the balcony. The Tank was coming down the street with Coach and Ellis, holding their gas can, running as fast as they can with Nick giving them cover with his AK. To her amazement, Ellis was laughing and yelling "Oh ho man! I'm going to kill a Tank in her honor. Oh! And I'll name it after her! She's gonna have ta to love me!"

She couldn't help but smack her forehead by Ellis's ability to still think about Zoey though he is facing possible death before helping giving them cover fire.

After half an hour of non-stop zombie waves coming at them, the four managed to fill up the generator.

"All right, generators filled! Let's go!" Coach yelled as he started running to the bridge.

Everyone started to relax that it's almost over, but suddenly Louis yelled the unthinkable. "There's three Tanks coming! You guys hurry up to your car!"

But the bridge was in no real hurry to come down. All the survivors started to fire at the Tanks. Francis, Zoey, and Louis soon became frustrated.

Looking to Francis and Zoey to see if they have the same problem, they returned with the same frustrated expression. "Sorry guys!" Louis called out. "We ran out of ammo!" With an apologetic look, "You guys are on your own!"

"Well, shit." Nick grumbled to himself as he reloaded his gun. The four kept shooting and to their relief, their bridge was here.

They started running but looking back, the Tanks were closing the distance. The three survivors on the balcony couldn't help but feel helpless watching the Tanks going after them.

"Oh," Ellis said to himself as he stopped and crouched down to keep firing.

"Ellis! Come on! We need to get to the car!" Rochelle yelled stopping Nick and Coach to see what was happening.

"No way Ro. I'm gonna kill these Tanks," Ellis replied as he kept his hand on the trigger finger.

Grunting, "Come on Ellis! If this is to impress Zoey, this is the worst idea ever!" Turning to look at Rochelle for a second as he was reloading his gun, "Ro. I have to do this. I can't just leave these Tanks behind with those three when they got nothin' to defend themselves with. Especially we have to go that direction and we might get killed by them overturning our car. This isn't just because of Zoey, I'm doing what's best for everyone!"

Surprised by his words, the three readied their guns and joined Ellis in killing the Tanks. The sound of gunfire lasted for what seemed like an eternity.

Luckily, they managed to kill the Tanks without any major damage. The survivors shouted their final farewells and Nick took the opportunity to shout out an apology to the three. The four entered the car and zoomed down the street before any more zombies showed up.

Just before the car was out of their sight, something echoed throughout the abandoned town.

"See you guys later! And thanks!"

As the car disappeared into the horizon, Zoey couldn't help but feel sad that it may be the last time she will ever see that group.

I hope you guys will be okay, Zoey thought. I really wish and hope we can see you guys again soon. And I am so sorry Rochelle. Of all the things I told you earlier, I didn't tell you one important thing. I hope my selfishness didn't endanger all of your lives. But… She looked down at her feet and noticed the CEDA flyer under her foot. After staring at the flyer in her hands for a few seconds, she crushed the flyer in her hand, displacing her anger towards the organization that was suppose to save them at the innocent piece of paper.

Throwing her arms at her side, she slightly touched the lighter she put in her pocket. Taking it out of her pocket, she closed her eyes as the memories of its original owner flooded her head. Bill.

After a few unsuccessful attempts to make the small flame, she lit the flyer on fire, capturing the attention of the other two men.

Small tears started to roll down her face once again, showing no concern anyone who was watching. The three watched the piece of paper fly high into the morning sky above, like a small phoenix flying to the heavens above.

While the other two bowed their heads for the small vigil for their fallen comrade, leader, and friend, Zoey already started to make her way down the stairs. As she took one last glance where the car disappeared before heading towards their waiting boat, she whispered to herself the words he left behind.

"We look after our own."

A/N:

*I don't know if it needs to be explained or not but wynaut. Sleep is different as time goes on; in the late night/early morning, we are in a deep sleep and random sleep behaviors and as dawn approaches, we are more easily to awake. So that's why Rochelle was surprised at the men's sleep behavior. This is what I think/remember from my AP Psychology class in high school. :L

Well, ain't that a load of horseshit! I finished this story!

Thank you so much for your patience over the past months. Though I guess this is a fast update in some classes or the slowest. Whatever you want it to be, it's fine with me.

I'm glad this story was well liked and I'm thankful for the two people who reviewed my story: Evelyn Carroll and kkann! I'm glad I got to know you guys a tiny bit. Now go read their stories! It's really good, in fact it's awesome! :O

If you noticed that this story isn't classified as complete, yup! There will be one more chapter after this. But that won't happen till muuuuch later. And now I would like to take the time to say that I will now continue writing my first FanFic, "Three Years Later." Also, there will be a side story based off this story. Can you guess what's its going to be about? I put some subtle hints in the past few chapters. That will I am going to start on in a bit after I upload this one (this statement was written on March 12: story was still a WIP).

Plans for the future besides continuing the planned stories, quite a bit of one-shots from L4D1/2 and maybe some other games (maybe some LA Noire, KH, Dead Rising; who knows, who cares. Ideas are running low. :C )

Anyway! Thanks again and please review on what you liked (cuz I know a lot of you alerted this story but you're too shy to review. But if you don't want to, that's cool too. =] ) See you guys later.

(On my Word Doc, This was a total of 15 pages. The same amount that my Final Paper needs to be. Why can't my paper be as fun as this? =[ ]