Disclaimer: I do not own House M.D.

Chapter 5

A blanket of stars sparkled across the now dark sky that seemed to be still brightly lit by the many flames that were burning throughout the city. House and the rest of the gang continued to trudge on towards the empty daycare centre now less than 20 meters away, walking as fast as they could with the limping House. House's mind was reeling with questions about what was happening, where the police were, did anyone know they had survived? Over the course of a couple hours the city seemed to be completely abandoned. Wilson sighed in relief when he turned the handle of the daycare door and it opened easily. Everyone piled into the cold dampness that would likely be their home for the next few days. They walked into what seemed to be the centre of the building, a meeting centre for all the classes that had once attended there, and collapsed onto the carpeted floor exhausted. Dust covered every available surface but that didn't bother the doctors, who were just happy to be safe for the time being. As everyone else curled up on the soft mats on the floor which had probably been used during nap times, House wandered over to the fridge and opened the door. It contained 2 bottles of water, a juice box, and an obviously expired yogurt. He turned to the 6 people resting behind him and then back to the contents in the fridge, survival with this few of supplies was going to be quite a problem. He grabbed one of the water bottles and shoved it into the depths of his coat pocket before shutting the door and selecting a mat for himself. This water was his, it was a dog eat dog world now, every man for himself.

Two days had passed and already the bottle of water and juice box had been drunk. Cameron sat against the wall as her stomach began to growl yet again and was followed in chorus by many of the rumbling stomachs around her. "We need to find food and water," Cameron mentioned for at least the third time in the past hour. Sounds of destruction could still be heard coming from outside the building, but as the days had passed the sounds had spread out from every 10 minutes to now about every two hours or so. "Well if you want to go outside and search the city, risk being killed, then be my guest. In fact don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out." House deadpanned. Cameron sighed in annoyance and leaned her head back against the wall, closing her eyes to prevent her already throbbing headache from getting worse.

"I'll go look for food," Heather said as she stood from her mat and walked towards the door.

"You're not going anywhere, sit down," Cuddy ordered.

"Someone has to do it," Heather said before turning and exiting through the door against Cuddy's wishes.

"I'll go with her," Thirteen said as she stood and disappeared with Heather. Everyone gasped in amazement as Thirteen spoke, for those were the first words that had escaped her lips since leaving the hospital. Cuddy sighed in annoyance, but was too tired to stop Heather from leaving, so instead rested her head back onto the mat and closed her eyes wishing for sleep to overtake her.

"I'm surprised you came with," Heather said attempting at conversation as Thirteen and herself walked from classroom to classroom in search of food.

"Can't stay cooped up in that room forever," Thirteen explained as if that cleared up everything.
"Hey I found a half a box of crackers," Heather stated as she placed one in her mouth before a look of disgust inhabited her face. "They're stale as hell though," she continued as she dropped another one into her mouth.

"Then why keep eating them?" Thirteen questioned.

"Got to eat something," Heather stated with a shrug. Thirteen accepted this answer and they continued their search in silence. When they came across the metal door that led to outside Thirteen stopped dead in her tracks and motioned her hand towards the handle about to push it open before it was ripped from the handle by some interfering force.

"Are you insane, you could be killed if you go out there," Heather hissed.

"We have to get food from somewhere; we can't live very long on stale crackers and expired yogurt. It's either starve to death or find food by chancing a look outside." With that she returned her hand to the handle, pushing it open easily with no interruptions from Heather this time. Heather watched nervously as Thirteen stepped across the threshold into the fresh air. She watched as Thirteen breathed in the freshness of the day, instantly jealous, Heather followed her into the cloudy day. The air smelled of fresh rain that had depleted the smell of burnt flesh considerably. They looked around for any sign of food or water, but most of the surrounding buildings had been destroyed. Turning back towards the building disappointed at their lack of findings Heather stepped aside allowing for Thirteen to enter the building first. Without realizing it Heather sidestepped into a newly formed puddle where a fallen hydro wire had landed sometime in the past few days. She felt her body jolt unexpectedly and her muscles contract before she fell to the ground and everything went black. Thirteen starred wide eyed unsure of what to do. Touching Heather would obviously illicit another electric shock, but she couldn't just leave her body in a puddle outside the daycare, could she? With no other option coming to mind, she called out to the other doctors remaining inside. "Help, Wilson, House! Need Help," Thirteen yelled towards the centre of the building. What was mere seconds seemed like hours passing before Wilson and Chase appeared in the hall followed closely behind by Cameron, Cuddy and House. Wilson knelt down immediately next to Heather's body now covered in burns, careful not to touch her or the surrounding area. Cuddy ran to the other side, tears running freely down her cheeks at the sight of her only daughter.

"What happened?" House asked clearly confused as to how Heather had been electrocuted.

"We stepped outside to look for food, we were only out here for a couple seconds and, and," Thirteen failed to continue her sentence as she was now crying too hard to get another word out of her mouth.

"Why the hell would you come outside, you knew it was dangerous." House was yelling now as he stared at Thirteen angrily. Thirteen wiped her tears away with her arm, replacing them with the dirt smudges that her shirt had accumulated over the past few days.

"House, leave her alone that's not important right now," Wilson said as he nodded towards a crying Cuddy. House ignored him and continued to berate Thirteen.

"Do you think that because you're dying that taking stupid risks doesn't matter. You figure everyone has to die sometime so why not make it now." House stepped towards Thirteen angrily as she stepped back keeping the distance between them.

"House please," Cuddy pleaded through sobs. House looked at her, his heart breaking and nodded before kneeling painfully beside Cuddy and his daughter. It was too late there was nothing they could do; even if Heather had somehow managed to survive it was impossible to remove her body from the puddle without killing someone else in the process.

Heather knew she was dead; there was no other justifiable reason as to how she should be able to be staring at her body while her family and friends kneeled around it. Her thoughts drifted to those who had died before her and wondering what was to come after she closed her eyes for that last time. As she closed her eyes to avoid the scene in front of her, the image was replaced by one of herself standing in front of golden gates, awaiting entrance into the kingdom of eternity. She smiled at the fact that she knew there was something after this, that she knew before House did. She wasn't sure whether it existed or if her mind was just forming pictures, but it provided her with some comfort. Her mind returned to the present time as she watched her parents, Wilson, and even the ducklings cry over her loss. She wished she could hug them one more time, tell them she loved them, but all of that was impossible now. She let her eyes close for the last time, with the comfort of knowing she was and always would be loved.

A/N: I know I haven't updated in forever, I have been super busy with school. Thank you for reading and please review