"Twerp!"

"Seriously, just once, call me Timmy, I don't think it's a lot to ask..."

"Not in front of the riff-raff." she gestured to the various soldiers around the ship's control room.

"Hmph... what do you need?"

"One of the scouts saw Tootie."

"Wha?! She's still alive?! I thought she was dead! When I didn't see her on the ship..."

"I offered to let her on, just like you. She refused, obviously."

"We can't just leave her out there! We have to-"

"Quiet!" her voice echoed through the chamber, causing all her soldiers to cower in fear. She looked at Timmy apologetically and whispered to him now. "Sorry, I have to keep up appearances with these idiots. I know we can't leave her out there, it isn't about what she wants now, we have to bring her here, it's the only safe place, I don't care what she wants."

"Okay so?"

"That's why I called you, you're the only one I can trust with this, these morons would just screw up and get killed, and possibly get her killed."

"You want me to go out there? I don't have any special training..."

"You played video games! You'll be fine! I'll send my two best guys with you. Wolfe! Jenkins! Get your shit in gear!"

"Yes ma'am!" the two soldiers stood in front of Vicky and saluted.

Wolfe was a fairly well built looking soldier, though he didn't seem to care all that much about anything, to be honest. Jenkins... wasn't much to look at, he was scrawnier than Timmy was at ten, nevermind now.

Timmy looked at Wolfe, then Jenkins. "Jenkins? Your first name wouldn't happen to be Leeroy, would it?"

"Yes sir! Very good guess sir! Leeroy Jenkins, reporting for duty!"

"Thought so. Would you excuse me for a second?" he walked over to Vicky and put his arm around her before pulling her aside. "He's gonna get fucking killed."

"Why do you say that? I told you, he's one of my best!"

"Your best is an idiot! Look at him! He couldn't fight off a small dog! Nevermind whatever those things out there are!"

"Well if he does die, that's one less mouth to feed."

"Fine. I'll get suited up and find Tootie, she is my friend after all."

"Great! Thank you, really! I'll reward you when you get back..."

Timmy knew that sultry tone. "You don't have to bribe me with sex..."

"Maybe I want to bribe you with sex, I stand to gain something here too, after all."

"Alright, where's the armory?"

"Oh! This way, follow me sir!" Jenkins quickly sped off in the direction of the armory.

Timmy stood next to Wolfe and glanced at him. "He's gonna get killed, isn't he?"

Wolfe looked at him and took out a cigarette and lit it, then took out another and offered it to him, which Timmy politely refused. "Suit yourself, yeah, I don't expect him to come back, what about you?"

"I doubt he'll survive long..."

"No, I meant you. You think you'll make it back?"

"Nothing's gonna stop me from saving Tootie and coming back here."

"So as long as we watch out for nothings, we should be fine."

"Heh, let's hope so."

Back in the ruined city...

CLICK

Tootie knelt on the floor in shock, her eyes squeezed shut, still breathing heavily. "Figures I'd forget to reload the damn thing, now I have to leave, someone or something will have heard that scream..." she gathered up her dufflebag and filled it with food and guns and ammo, then looked at the pink hat. "Hmph..." she put it on her head.

She opened the hatch and looked around. "Coast is clear... for now." she climbed out of the hole and didn't bother shutting it. "Guess I'll try Timmy's house again." If the soldiers were still there, well, that's what the guns were for.

She made her way through the rubble and broken houses, stopping a few times for supplies and to hide from the creatures, they were stirred up for some reason. "Probably these idiot soldiers... they always make too much noise..."

Upon arriving at Timmy's house, she was surprised to find it mostly undamaged, she thought Vicky had been destroying things indiscriminately and had simply missed the house. "I wonder if he..." hope began to grow within her, maybe he was still here after all? She broke into a run towards the house, not caring who or what heard her, and burst through the door, then moved the couch in the living room in front of the door. She expected to hear banging or growling, but it never came. "Guess I'm safe in here for now... Timmy?" she whispered to avoid drawing more attention. "Timmy? Are you in here?" she went upstairs toward where she remembered his room being and stopped at the first door. "This one?" she opened the door to find a bathroom, she went in and grabbed what she could salvage from the medicine cabinet. "Painkillers, bandages, alcohol... better than nothing. Door number two?" she opened the next door and was hit with an overwhelming scent of death. "Christ!" she held her nose and walked in to find the bodies of Timmy's parents, both had gunshot wounds in their heads, Timmy's father still held the gun. "Guess they... opted out..." Tootie walked over and grabbed the gun from his hand. "I think I'll get more use out of this than you will..." she left the room and shut the door behind her.

"Last door." she opened the door to find the room was still the same as she remembered it, same bed, same dresser, same end table, but the fishbowl that sat on it was knocked over, it had shattered on the floor, the sand and castle lying amid broken glass. "Guess the fish died... not surprising, goldfish aren't exactly long lived..." she moved over to the bed and looked under it. "I wonder if..." she felt around and grabbed what she was looking for, a dusty pair of glasses that she had lost when she had come over once, Timmy promised her he'd find them, but it seemed he didn't think to look under his bed. She put the glasses in her dufflebag where they wouldn't break. "Timmy... where are you?"

Elsewhere in the ruined city...

"Damn, damn, damn, damn! How are we even supposed to find her?! Those idiots didn't even remember where they saw her! What are we supposed to do?! Search the whole city?!"

"Calm down kid, we'll look in the most likely places she'd be. We'll find her."

"LEEROY!" Jenkins had picked up the odd habit of kicking in any closed door he found a shouting 'Leeroy' as he did so.

"Jenkins! Would you stop doing that?! Last thing we need is to attract those damn things to us! We're alone out here, no other soldiers! You heard what the commander said, we're scorching Dimmsdale in a few hours, and I don't plan on being here any longer than is necessary!"

"Aw c'mon Wolfe! We haven't seen hide nor hair of those freaks! Loosen up! I'm sure we can take any we encounter!"

"Shut up!" Timmy looked around, trying to discern where the sound he heard had come from.

"What's up captain?"

"I heard a scream... and stop calling me captain! I'm not your captain, just an idiot in a shitty situation..."

"A scream?! That has to be the target! Which way?!"

"Uh... from that way, I think..." Timmy pointed toward a burned out house several hundred meters away.

"Right then! JENKINS!" the soldier went running in the opposite direction that Timmy pointed.

"Goddammit Jenkins! You're gonna get us all killed!" Wolfe shouted to the other soldier, but he had already run off. "Kid? Can we just leave him?"

"I'm not leaving anybody behind."

"People like that only slow you down."

"Maybe, but we can't leave him behind."

"There's gonna be a time when you may not have a choice..."

"Would you leave me behind if it meant saving yourself?"

"Damn right I would. I don't know you, and I don't want to be out here, I'm only following orders, and the commander didn't tell me to sacrifice myself for you, we get in a shitty situation and I see a way out? I'm gone."

"I'll keep that in mind."

The two went in the direction Jenkins had gone, listening for the telltale 'Leeroy!' that they had become a little too familiar with.

Jenkins kicked in another door and headed inside. "Leeroy Jenkins! Is here to save you! Miss Tootie?" he looked around the room he was in and saw a cracked picture frame, the top of the picture was burned, obscuring the faces above the one he recognized, it was the commander, Vicky, she was scowling and looking away from the camera, next to her stood a little black haired girl, she was smiling and had her arms wrapped around Vicky. "Huh... captain?"

Timmy entered the house, followed by Wolfe. "I told you, I'm not your frickin' captain! What did you find?"

"Just this picture..." he handed the warped picture frame to Timmy.

"Hm?" Timmy looked at the frame and pulled it apart, being careful not to harm the picture inside, when he finally freed it from the frame, he tossed the frame aside and looked at the picture, rubbing the ashes away from the faces of the two most important women left in his life. "Thanks..." He stuck the picture in his pocket.

"Of course capta- sir."

"It seems in your bumbling, you found the commander's old house. Nice job, Jenkins."

"Thank you Wolfe! It was my pleasure!"

Wolfe facepalmed.

Timmy walked around the house, hoping to find something to indicate Tootie had been there recently. The house was in poor shape, there were holes in the floor and ceiling, and burn marks from where embers had fallen. He ascended the stairs, leaving Wolfe and Jenkins to argue, and opened the first door he saw, the room beyond was completely empty, nothing but bare floor. "Vicky's room..." he left the room and walked to the next door, it was slightly ajar, there were handprints on it, bloody handprints. "No..." he wrapped his fingers around the doorknob and slowly pulled the door open. The room was covered in blood, it had obviously been the site of a massacre. He walked around the room, looking for any evidence that might tell him who was killed here. He found one of the creatures on the other side of the bed, it had been shot twice in the head, rupturing one of it's massive black eyes. He found the gun not far away, still clutched in the owner's hand. "Where's the rest of the owner?" The hand was male, that, or a very hairy woman's hand.

"Hey kid, you find anything-" Wolfe entered and looked around. "Jesus..."

"What is it?" Jenkins burst through the door and looked around, then immediately vomited.

"Good thing you don't wear a helmet, jackass." Wolfe continued smoking his cigarette, not as perturbed as Timmy expected him to be.

"Tootie isn't here..."

"You... you sure captain?"

"No, I'm not. There isn't enough left to identify who these people are, though I assume they are Vicky's parents."

"Shit... you gonna tell her?"

"I'm gonna have to. Though I doubt she'll care, they always hated her..."

"What?"

"I've already said too much, let's go. We need to investigate that scream, and stay close, those things likely aren't far..."

"Yes sir!"

Timmy's house...

"Well, at least nobody looted the booze..." Tootie held a glass bottle of amber liquid, occasionally taking a sip from it, she did her best to ignore the burn she felt from it. "Wonder what mom and dad are doing in Heaven..." she looked at the gun she took with her again. "Suppose I could always join them..." she grabbed the gun and removed the clip. "Except I haven't reloaded it yet..." she began laughing at herself, though nothing in particular was funny.

"LEEROY!"

"The fuck?" the soldiers never gave away their positions like that, though it did sound far off... and the mutants didn't speak. "Either I'm hallucinating... or some idiot's out there looking to get killed..." Tootie began pushing more furniture against the windows and doors. "Nobody is getting in here... I'm not sharing my tomb..."

"Jenkins! Shut the hell up!" that voice sounded gruffer, definitely a soldier.

"How about you both shut up and help me find Tootie?!"

"What?" the voice caused Tootie to briefly sober up. She recognized it, it was definitely Timmy. "Timmy?" she looked at the bottle in her hand. "No... just my mind playing tricks again..." she took another swig from the bottle. "Timmy's gone... soon, I'll be gone too..." she looked at the gun again.

Back outside...

"Captain! I found something!" Jenkins stood next to a burned couch, next to that was a slightly ajar hatch in the ground.

"Good work." Timmy stood next to Jenkins, looking down at the hatch, then slapped him in the back of the head. "Keep it down!"

"Right, sorry captain."

Timmy lifted the door. "Tootie? You down there?" No answer. "We gotta go down there, she might be inside, this is right around where the cream came from, I suggest-"

"JENKINS!" he jumped into the hole, not bothering to use the ladder. "Oof!"

"You alright?"

"Yeah! I'm good captain! You might wanna use the ladder, it's kind of a big drop."

"Is it clear?" Wolfe stood next to Timmy and flicked some cigarette ash into the hole.

"Oh! Right, yep... It looks like someone was here recently, but I think they left in a hurry."

Timmy climbed down the ladder. "Wolfe stay here and cover us."

"Whatever."

Timmy looked around the small space and his eyes fell on Jenkins, who proceeded to wave at him enthusiastically, from two feet away. "Anything to report?"

"Uh... I found these." he handed Timmy a pair of broken glasses.

"These... these are hers!"

"Really captain?!"

"Definitely! Nice job Jenkins!"

Jenkins' eyes began to water.

"Jenkins? You alright?"

"It just... means so much to me for you to say that! Thank you captain!" he jumped forward to hug Timmy, but was stopped when Timmy brought a pistol up under his chin.

"No hugging."

"Right... sorry captain, I got carried away there..."

"As you were." Timmy looked at the remaining weapons in the small bunker, most had been stripped for parts, some were just broken, but none worked. The bunker contained a small cot, and a table, likely used for meals and weapon repair. Hm... if we factor in that there's no blood, and we heard the scream a little while ago... we must've just missed her. Alright, there's still time, c'mon."

They climbed back up the ladder to find Wolfe lounging on the couch. "Find anything?"

"We just missed her... but there's one more place I wanna check."

"Well alright, let's head out." he stood and dropped his cigarette, then stomped it out.

"Yeahah! Hoo-rah!" again Jenkins was too loud, and this time, he would pay for it.

The things they had avoided for so long suddenly sprang up from under the rubble and out of the sewers. There were at least a dozen of them, and they were heading straight for the three. "Dammit, Jenkins! I told you! I told you this would happen!"

Jenkins rushed forward toward the horde of reptilian freaks. "Finally! The moment I've been waiting for! "LEEROY-" he was interrupted as the creatures pounced on him, knocking him into the bunker hole.

Timmy heard the creatures growling and tearing at the soldier, then a distinct beeping sound. "Shit! Go! He armed his grenades!"

"That idiot!"

"Go toward that house!" Timmy pointed to a house a few hundred feet away, it was his own house.

Both began running toward the house and heard the blood-curdling sound once more: "JENKINS!" followed by a huge explosion. They stopped and looked back at where the bunker had been, now reduced to a smoldering crater.

"That dumb bastard..." Wolfe looked with genuine sorrow visible on his face.

"He saved us though..."

"No, he didn't..." more creatures began to emerge from the sewers and ruins around them.

"No rest for the wicked! Run!" Timmy grabbed Wolfe's shoulder and spun him around so he'd follow him.

Even more of the creatures began pouring out of the buildings they passed.

Timmy and Wolfe began running even faster in response, the house became closer and closer until they hit the front door, it didn't budge. "Shit!" Wolfe turned around and began firing at the approaching horde. "Better think of something quick, Captain!"

Timmy looked around the outside of the house, most of the windows were boarded up, but the living room window hadn't, he looked in and thought he saw movement inside, though it could've just been the adrenaline addling his mind. He turned to look at the still approaching horde, Wolfe was making a valiant effort, but there were just too many. "This is gonna suck... Wolfe! C'mon!"

"Come where?!"

He was answered by Timmy throwing himself through the large picture window.

"Oh, you idiot!" he jumped in after him.

A few minutes earlier...

"Hmph... damn soldiers, thinking they'll have me?! Not likely! I'll shoot myself first!" she heard an explosion from outside, it sounded close, so it was likely more soldiers being stupid. Then she heard those things, the clicking and grunting had become horribly loud, she knew there must be a massive group nearby, likely roused by the explosion. She had begun pushing furniture, boards, and whatever else she could find against the doors and windows, all while still holding onto her new favorite drink. "I'll be the one who decides how I die! No one else!" she began pushing the last piece of furniture, a wardrobe, over to the large picture window when she heard a crash. She grabbed her gun from her belt and came out from behind the wardrobe, pointing it at the two soldiers before her. "Get out of my house!"

"Tootie?!" he recognized her voice immediately and his blue eyes met her violet ones.

"Timmy?!"

A/N: So here's chapter 2, the third and final is already done, it'll be up after some editing, so... probably tomorrow. Let me know what you guys think of this so far, I'm sure you all want me to continue my main stories, but I had to get this out of my head so I could focus on them, and for those waiting on that sequel to The Price You Pay, don't worry, It'll happen soon, I just need to figure out some things like which OCs to use, and where exactly I want the story to go. Feel free to suggest characters or OCs... though I can't put Wolfe in it, for obvious reasons.