There was still nothing moving out there. Nothing. Not anywhere in sight, and quite probably, not anywhere out of sight either. It wasn't good to make such assumptions, but it was difficult not to as there just didn't seem to be anything out there. Living or otherwise. And if it was, it had better make itself known soon, or Chad Richards was liable to go completely and utterly insane.

Perhaps it was the whole 'dead rising up and killing the living' part, or maybe it was being crammed in a room with a certain blond girl who couldn'tve been more anti-social at this juncture if she tried, or maybe it was any other of the millions of variables of the day, all of the above included, that were helping Chad be more on edge than normal. Either way, nothing was helping, and the sixteen year old was getting jittery.

Chad continued staring out the window, the sounds of the news barely penetrating into his head, as he stared down an empty street filled with the potential for disaster. At any fucking moment the waves of the undead could funnel right down that street to this house, break in, and rip the current residents to shreds. God, Chad hated waiting for shit like that, especially if Nick wasn't here to keep Chad somewhat occupied with their usual entertaining conversations. But Chad knew that Nick was downstairs and his mind was mind was even farther away than that. Nick had been handed the responsibility of six other lives besides his own, and Chad could only guess what his best friend could be feeling at this moment.

Chad looked around the street again; still nothing. Now time to move to one of the other rooms to take a glance into the backyard, see if any of the fuckers had gotten in back there. He had to walk past Ashley, who sat on the end of the bed glued to the T.V., a look and tone of pure defeat and hopelessness was her personal wallpaper as she sat and stared at the news reports, which, if at all possible, were still getting worse (and less hopeful). Chad had to give some credit to the reporters and staff, still diligently doing their jobs as the world collapsed around them. Just like the band on the Titanic, these people would play until the ship was completely under the waves.

Chad didn't say a word to Ashley as he walked right in front of her. He doubted she even noticed. hell, he barely noticed her, or anything else around him as he made his way to one of the rooms that had a window overlooking the backyard. It was a guest bedroom perhaps, but Chad didn't notice that, either. All he noticed, as he approached the room's window, was the weapon in his hands (The M1 Carbine) and the fact that there was absolutely no movement in the backyard.

What the fuck?

The world was ending all around them, so where were the world enders? Shouldn't they be all over the fucking place, fuckin' the world up even more?

Chad wondered these things to himself, as he sat on the bed (Oh, it was a bedroom, Chad finally realized to himself) and he thought about all that had happened on this day of days. It was one thing for the Apocalypse to transpire, but it was another matter entirely to ride it like a wave, while completely conscience of it. And that was what Chad was doing. That was what Nick was doing. That was what Mike, Molly, Tracy, Ashely, and Ali were all doing. That's what any survivor left on Earth was doing; they were riding the Apocalypse like surfing a wave; no idea where they'll end up or if they'll survive the trip at all. Chad was glad he had sat down, because he now felt like falling down.

Chad took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, leaning his head back, and taking in every thought he could about this day, this day of days, and the start of some kind of biblical quest that he might even survive; that no one in this house might survive. It was like being hit with a brick, these thoughts. Chad exhaled, and forced himself to stand. He had to get back, check on Ashley and be the lookout. That's what lookouts do; they lookout, and Chad was damn sure going to do his job. Though, he realized, he much rather go to sleep for two or three hundred years to see if maybe then humanity had sorted all of this bullshit out. Chad really wasn't looking forward to the days ahead. If Nick stayed as sharp as he was, and if thus group stayed as awake and alert as they all had thus far, the group might just be privileged (cursed?) enough to survive, and be the few left to attempt to restart humanity.

God, what a crappy day.

Chad found himself once again in the master bedroom, where Ashley still appeared to be made of some sort of stone. She hadn't said anything since Nick and the four others had gone downstairs to confirm everyone's safety in the house, and she didn't look to be on pace to say anything in the near future.

Unless Chad had a say in it. He thought back on the day once again; all the moments with Ashley, more specifically, and he figured he hadn't been quite as warm to her as he would have liked, so he decided to start this conversation with some sort of apology or something. Especially for pinning her in the bus earlier.

He sat down next to the blond girl, maybe eight or nine inches away from her on her left. He leaned the M1 against the bed on his left, and started talking, "Hey, you alright?"

She jumped a fucking mile, and if the situation wasn't so morbid, Chad probably would've laughed. Ashely didn't bother do hide her surprise or her embarrassment at being surprised, "Not so good, actually," she said, gesturing to the T.V. "Thanks for asking, though."

She did not sound happy, and Chad couldn't blame her one bit.

"Oh, well that's good. Honesty is always good," Chad said, smiling weakly.

Ashley turned away from the T.V. again and flashed a look of pure anger, "So, how the fuck are you, then?" she demanded, "What kind of question is that?! How do you think I am? Everyone I know is fucking dead, and the whole fucking world is ending! How do you think I am?!"

Ashley's eyes began to water, and her voice got weaker as she continued her rant, cracking near the end. Chad had just stepped on a mine. Oops. Not quite what he wanted.

But how to defuse a bomb that had already gone off? Chad was willing to try, "Hey, hey, hey," he said softly, "Everything's gonna be okay, alright?"

Tears streamed down Ashley's face as she nodded weakly, "I just don't know," she said, "But what happens after all of this? What's the future gonna be like?"

"I don't know that, either," Chad honestly replied, "All I know is I'm gonna keep going, so I can see the future for myself. Who knows what'll happen? It could be anything, good or bad, but that's why we have to keep going. We have to see what it's going to be like for ourselves. We can't just assume it won't be good."

Chad didn't know who he was talking to, Ashley or himself.

Ashley just regarded Chad for a few moments, her face lined with tears, before she quietly moved to him and hugged him as tightly as she good, as she started to sob. Chad reflexively returned the hug, as the sobbing girl clutched him tightly, her body racking violently with each sob.

Well, fuck, Chad thought, this wasn't what he had envisioned at all for this conversation. But, it would have to do, and Ashley was probably due for a good cry and would hopefully feel better once she had vented some pent up negative emotions.

At least Chad hoped she'd feel better. Given time, she hopefully would. And Chad hopefully would, as well.

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Nick and Ali didn't have a very long way to go to get to the dining room, and as usual, Ali wasn't saying much. This left Nick to his own thoughts once again, as he planned what would happen next. They would meet Mike, Molly and Tracy in the kitchen, grab any food they wanted, get upstairs and chill out for a few. That was the plan as far as Nick could tell. That was this group's entire plan for the time being. Nothing about what would happen tonight, tomorrow, a day from now, a week, a month, a year, etc. was in the plan at all. Nick promised himself that once he could sit down and think, which would likely happen tonight, that he would come up with some kind of plan.

Nick smiled slightly to himself. Forming a plan was now part of the plan.

The odd pair made it without incident to the dining room, and Nick, with his weapon readied slightly, was first in. The mammoth windows of the dining room would've provided a wonderful view of the neighborhood if not for the school bus which blocked over half of it. Nick could see about two and a half houses from where he was in the threshold of the dining room. He moved in, right to the dining room table, and grabbed a chair with his left, while holding on to his M4 with his right. Nick made a promise to himself to annoy Molly as much as possible for this. He and Ali were only here at all to get a chair for her comfort so she could sit down while the group was in the kitchen. In fact, Nick berated himself, they probably shouldn't be going this far out of their way for something so minor. But Nick wanted comfort for everyone here, even if comfort in this situation seemed unlikely. Every little bit helped.

Nick turned to Ali, "Got it. Let's go."

The red head nodded, and turned to leave. She was out of the dining room before Nick could say anything else. Nick reached the threshold of the dining room once again, and turned to view the room, and the houses beyond once more before leaving. He was just scanning through each of the two houses and the road when he saw something that made him nearly jump, and drop everything he currently carried. He somehow froze instead of freaking out and simply looked at the reason for his surprise, with a look not hiding it.

There was someone standing in a lower window of a house across the street, and they were looking back.