A/N: Well, this is awkward. So sorry for the long hiatus, everyone! But I'm back, and my New Year's resolution should last long enough for me to finish this story at least, so please don't give up on me now.

By the time he made it to the school, Nate was practically praying that he could just erase the last few minutes from his mind. Zombies. Who in hell thought this one up? He had just killed what used to be people. It was practically murder. Nate Ford, a murderer. A thief for sure, but a killer?

Breathing much harder than he was willing to admit, blood and sweat staining his face, he crossed the last street- finally- and raced up to the school door, practically throwing himself against it as he heard the uneven footsteps behind him growing louder. It didn't budge. He drew back, preparing to fling himself at it again just as it was opened from the inside. He went sprawling across the tile floor as the girl relocked it.

"Are you Nathan Ford?" she asked softly. Her face was tear-stained, her blond hair messy. Nate felt his heart rip as he realized that the kid was barely 13. She should have been worrying about school and make up and boys, not how to survive the day. It was then that it truly hit home that entire countries had been dealing with this for years and years, trapped in bloody wars and disease and a thousand other horrible things. He silently swore to himself if he ever got out he was going to steal a bank and donate everything to charity. Then he swore that first, he was going to get this girl to her sister.

"I am," he said gently, ignoring the zombie throwing itself against the door. "What's your name?"

"Sammy," she answered. "Can we please go now?"

"Of course," he told her. "Close your eyes for one minute." Then he dispatched the body, took her hand, and led her out across the street.

"Where are we going?" she whispered. "What about the other people in the school?"

Nate realized with a pang that he hadn't even thought of them. "I can't get all of them out at once," he said at last, finding an explanation that alleviated his own guilt. "But I have people who can. I'll send them back once we get there."

"Where's there?"

"The grocery store on Main Street. I have people inside." Please let me have people inside. "Your sister's with them." And what do I do if she's not? "It's not far."

She simply nodded, clutching tightly at his fingers. He felt sick at the trust she was placing in him. He could place his own team's life in danger daily and not worry, so why did he want to die at the thought of this girl getting hurt?

Because she hadn't volunteered. Because she wasn't a criminal. Because she was old enough to know what was going on but too young to do anything about it. She was about the age his son would be right now...

And so he took her down the first street, the second, the third, hiding and running and hiding and running and only having to bash in one or two of them. "We're almost there," he kept telling her. And then they were almost there, finally, in one piece, but they had hit a very definite roadblock. Zombies.

Filling the road, surrounding the grocery store- apparently they had flocked to one of the places where there were still live people. Nate felt his stomach sink, just watching them. "Sophie," he whispered urgently, and now it was he gripping Sammy's hand far too tight. "Where are you?"

"Yo, Parker!" Elliot called as loudly as he dared, peering down the street anxiously. His heart knocked harder and harder against his rib cage with every second that passed without her emerging triumphantly from one of the little suburban houses, familiar loony grin plastered on. Where the hell was she? He was about to shout louder when she leapt lightly out of a nearby doorway, waving to him and rushing over. Behind her hurried a brown-haired, goateed young man who looked about their age.

"This is Parker 2," the thief told him brightly. "This is Elliot."

"What do I do with this?" Elliot asked gruffly, holding up the baby. "It was alone."

"His name is Monopoly," Parker said immediately. Both men stared at her. "Like the board game!"

Elliot shook his head, too tired to argue with her. "Here," he said, shoving the baby at Parker 2. "Make yourself useful. We're going to check the rest of the houses on this street for any other survivors, then drop you off at the grocery store on Main Street. We have friends inside."

"Whatever you need," the young man told him sincerely, taking Monopoly. "Hey there, little man." By the time the second Parker looked back up, he was already alone. Well, except for the growing horde of zombies moaning their way down the street towards him. "Oh, shit," he muttered, covered the baby's ears, and chased after the pair.

"Wait up!" he panted, but only Elliot turned around, seizing him by the collar and practically throwing him inside the nearest house.

"Stay here," he growled. "Take care of the kid. Don't get hurt." Then he slammed the door in the man's surprised face, leapt off the steps, and raced up to the next house. Parker was already three houses down, only a few following her. She waved cheerfully to him as she unleached a jet of flames at the nearest couple of zombies. Knowing that he would have nightmares about that alone later, he turned and crouched down, preparing to kick some ass.

He took a deep breath, able to calm himself even in this situation. Analyzed the opponents- aim for the heads, snap the necks. Then he ran. And attacked. Hard. One down. Two. Quick, one behind... that one down. It wasn't hard, evidentially they had lost the use of their fists and were simply lunging at him, mouths gaping, filled with broken bloody teeth. He didn't want those in him, that was for sure.

He wasn't having any problem getting rid of those closest to him, but there were an awful lot of them and after too much time, he might slip up just long enough for one of them to get through. And if even one of them got through... he didn't want to think about it. More worrisome was Parker- yeah, she was a feisty little thing, but she was small and really not all that battle trained. So he gave up trying to take them out for the sake of taking them out and started taking them out to try to get through the crowd to his friend. The trick in this case was not to see them as people, just to see them as obstacles. Those inflatable clown dolls, for existence.

Clown doll, he repeated silently, bashing his way through. The flame thrower had run out, evidently, and she was using it to strike back- at least she'd figured out to aim for their necks.

"Come on!" he bellowed over their roaring, reaching her side but not dropping his defense for a minute. "We need to get out of here!"

"What about the other people in the houses?" she demanded.

"There weren't any," he lied. If he was on his own, he wouldn't have given up. But he wasn't going to lose Parker. Besides, even if they got anyone else out, who could say that the new guy could keep up? He'd probably just get eaten trying to escape. That was Elliot's rationale, anyways. Maybe he was just scared. He hoped not. Parker excepted it at least- not that he hadn't expected her to. Yeah, she'd changed, but not that much.

"Where's Parker 2 and Monopoly?" she asked, casually bashing a head in.

"Next stop," he grunted, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her roughly down the street up to the house he had shut them in.

"Come on come on come ON!" he shouted as he threw open the door, letting go of Parker and grabbing Parker 2. "We have to move!"

"Moving!" he shouted back, racing after them. Thankfully he was fast- not Elliot fast or even Parker fast, but definitely faster than Hardison. He held Monopoly awkwardly as he tried to keep up. "Where are we going?"

"We're taking you to our friends," Parker answered.

"Sounds like a plan," he responded, and then there was no more talking.

A/N: Well, there you go. Not my longest, but hey, at least it's done, right? Right? I WILL update soon, that's a promise. But only if y'all review! Otherwise I may have to send Mushu the dragon after you...