The group walked for what felt like days. Perhaps it was days- who even knew anymore? In any case, Barney was deeply upset at the sudden, forceful evacuation that had occurred, and the more he thought about it, the less necessary he realized it was. But James had decided on that- he had made the prior choice- and Barney had, since childhood, been under the impression that James always knew what was right, so he didn't question it this time. He simply complied and followed along.

It had been about day two of their journey back out into the streets that they discovered just what exactly had changed with the zombies. Unfortunately, Ted was the one left to experience it firsthand…

Wandering through the deepest bowels of the city was, unexpectedly, dangerous. Gigantic crumbling towers loomed overhead, like enormous shadowy giants, and overturned cars still littered the streets. Oddly, stray cats were abundant, and the vast majority of the animals were doing strangely well.

"They're cats," Marshall had said. "If there's an animal that's made a deal with the devil, it's them." No one could argue with that logic.

This area of the city, however, was particularly unsettling.

"Guys, stay together," Tracy ordered the others, somewhat languidly but with a fair amount of sternness in her voice. "Remember- the closer we stay, the less chance of us getting killed."

"As if," Barney remarked under his breath.

"You know, maybe we've finally gotten to that safe point," Ted stated out of nowhere. Barney turned around, and Ted restated himself. "Yeah, I mean the zombies can't be everywhere, right? Look around us- they're not anywhere near us, are they? I'd hate to say I told you so, but I think we beat them."

As he spoke, something crouched above him on a nearby rooftop. And then it lunged. The thing dove headfirst with a loud screech, intending to launch itself onto a victims' helpless body, but fortunately Cindy, who was, as always, prepared, fired her gun and whatever it was was dead before it landed- on top of Ted, knocking him to the ground.

Barney had his hands over his mouth in shock, and Tracy quickly escorted Ted up, using James' help to remove the creature from his body.

Ted was panting uncontrollably, unable to catch his breath after the sudden and unforeseen attack.

"You okay there, buddy?" James asked him.

"What the hell was that?" Ted exclaimed, a hand over his heart.

"Asks the guy who says we beat them," Barney quipped, earning an agreeing nod from Robin,

Lily gave the creature a good, long look, and gently nudged it with the tip of her boot, eliciting a leak of blood.

"Eww," she said in disgust. She brushed the hair out of her eyes. "Guys, um...this isn't one of the regular zombies."

"Then what is it?" Robin questioned.

"We'll call it a screecher," Cindy told them. "Ran into one of these guys last night myself."

"Great," Marshall remarked. "Just great. A zombie that flies. As if- AS IF- I wasn't already fearing for my life."

"Marshall, you know how to shoot, you'll live," Lily said dismissively.

"Yeah, shoot, sure, not kill something flying at me at five hundred million miles an hour!" Marshall exaggerated. Lily rolled her eyes.

"And they don't fly," Cindy corrected. "They leap."

There was a long, awkward pause of silence.

"So...we're all gonna die?" Barney assumed. "Cuz I mean if that's what we're up against, then we should probably get started on our eulogies. Oh, for mine, make sure to write "Barney Stinson- an awesome friend, innovator, life coach-"

"Barney," Robin cut in.

"Hmm?"

"Zip it."

"Well..." Cindy paused. "I mean, 'die' seems like kind of a strong word."

"Basically then, we may live?" Lily guessed.

"That's- yeah, actually."

Robin punched James on the arm with an enormous amount of force.

"Ow! Robin!" he whined.

"That's for forcing us to evacuate when we didn't need to!" she hissed at him. "James, we were fine back there for six months, what kind of faulty logic made you believe that things were suddenly different?"

"Hey, Lily almost got killed there," James retorted defensively. "I couldn't risk that! I mean if Lily died under my watch, then you know that her zombie would kill me first."

"Oh you know it, baby," Lily agreed sassily.

Ted, meanwhile, was still shaken from the screecher's attempted attack.

"Hey, I almost got killed just five minutes ago, and I don't see anyone fussing over what would happen to my zombie form!" he interjected.

"He actually does have a point," Marshall added.

"Guys, let's just quit the arguing, okay?" Tracy spoke up. "Yes, James made us all evacuate, yes that's a bad thing, but we're going to be okay. Trust me. Okay?"

The tensions between them eased a little bit. That was the effect that Tracy had on the group. Ted realized that, especially at this time, he could not have chosen a better girlfriend.

"So, with that being said, we're gonna show we can make it out here," she continued. "And I think everyone's a little hungry, which I'm going to assume is what's causing all of the anger. Ted and I are going to search for some food that's not rotted beyond all belief, and Barney and Robin, Marshall and Lily, you all can help. James, Cindy, take Dagger with you and please try to find a place to set up camp that's as far from those demons as possible. Got it?"

"Crystal- wait for it- clear," Barney answered eagerly. He grabbed Robin's hand. "The saga of Barnblazer and Machete Scherbatsky continues!" he declared triumphantly as he headed off with her. And she herself could not help but to smile a little. The struggle of pregnancy was truly peaking now, wearing on her with every step she took. But she was with Barney- and though she doubted his ability to protect her exceptionally well, she did not doubt the fact that he really did care. For now, that was good enough- even at eight months pregnant, Robin Scherbatsky could protect herself better than anyone.

At mid-afternoon, the sun was at its highest point in the sky, but the temperature paid no heed to that and was just as bitterly cold as it had been that morning.

Crows cawed overhead, landing swiftly atop the frayed telephone wires that, every few seconds, would spark a random jolt of electricity. Some birds had been smart to acknowledge this, but others perched there anyway, and were soon fried to death by the sudden burst. One fell from above just as Barney walked by, and he screamed girlishly, grabbing onto Robin before realizing what it was.

"What? I thought it was a screecher," he defended himself, brushing off his shirt.

"You know, that could be our food right there," Robin commented, cocking her gun.

Barney stared at her, one eyebrow lifted, as if she were crazy.

"Dude, it's not that weird," she said. "My dad habitually fed me ptarmigan and claimed it was chicken, and I literally never noticed until he slipped up one day and said 'chicken ptarmigan' instead of 'chicken parmesan."

"Right, Barney responded. "I forgot that wild birds are the Canadian equivalent to normal poultry. Like, what else do you guys eat? Let me guess, Canada goose?"

"Hey, Canada goose is delicious."

"Says the Canadian."

"Shut up."

"Canadian says what?"

"What?"

"Haha, gotcha!" Barney was grinning so widely at his own joke, that devilishly mischievous look of his spreading noticeably across his face as he realized he had truly gotten Robin there.

In response, she punched him on the shoulder. "We can fight too," she said smugly.

"Right, probably from the years of vigorous grizzly bear battle training you guys undergo," Barney remarked, and Robin raised her arm to smack him again, to which he responded to by quickly covering his face and pleading, "Aah, don't hit me again!"

Suddenly, a loud crackling sound from not far away interrupted their playful banter. Robin gently pushed Barney off of her and raised her gun. Then it happened again. And it came to her attention that, just feet away, there was a clearing where perhaps a small building once stood, now covered by two small fallen trees with trunks crisscrossed. In between those trees, however, was a hole in the ground, just large enough to someone as big as Barney to squeeze through- or her, in a time when her belly was not as big around as a watermelon.

Barney opened his mouth to say something, but she stopped him. This was almost certainly a trap of some sort. But Barney, in his naturally curious way, was in awe.

"Wow," he gasped. "I'm totally gonna go check that out!" Before Robin could stop him, he sped off to investigate.

"Barney!" she called after him.

He was standing over the hole, looking down into it. "So do you think-"

And then, as expected, the ground collapsed below his feet.