Sorry for the wait on the update. I've just been trying to find motivation. That, and school. But I'm off now until September! YAY! Then I'm in my last year oH. I don't wanna be in my last year. Oh well.

Also, can people STOP begging me to update? I'm not a fucking magician. I can't click my fingers and BOOM there's a new chapter written just like that. It does take time you know. It's bad enough this chapter has taken me like a week to write. GOD. Stop. It's really pissing me off. It's mainly the guest accounts as well and it pisses me off because I can't say anything to them directly through DM's I have to do it here and look like a bitch to you all. Oh well.

Anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own R5, The Vamps or 5 Seconds Of Summer all rights go to Hollywood, Mercury/Island & Capitol Records.

Chapter 20
Little Ashton

To take Luke's mind off Ashton being killed, they decided to go camping some near by woods. Even though the last time they went camping it was with Ashton, but it wasn't in these woods. Where they went was somewhere near the National Park in Utah, where they were now was in some woods just outside of Los Angeles.

They walked through the woods, realising they had no idea where they were going. All they knew was that they were trying to find an empty space where they would set up camp for the night and do whatever. There wasn't exactly anywhere good to offer for them to set up either. Or do much. But hey, it's something and it stops Luke from over thinking, right?

As they were walking, Luke stopped when he realised that there was no way in hell they were going to find their way back out of the woods if they kept on going with out leaving some sort of trail behind them. He turned his head to the nearest tree and took off his backpack, going into it when he found a pocket knife. Without any of the other three in front noticing, Luke walked up to the tree and began to engrave into it.

Brad took a glance back when he saw Luke at a tree doing something, he stopped walking "Luke," Brad called "c'mon. Or you'll get lost."

"Yeah, yeah," Luke said, waving with his spare hand "that's why I'm drawing on the tree. So when we get lost we have this to follow. I've done about three others down there." he pointed to a couple of trees in different directions that weren't so far away.

The others sighed and looked at one another before dragging themselves over to where Luke was. "We don't need anything drawing for us to find our way back." Ross said.

Luke turned his head, giving Ross a look a 'I-don't-believe-you' look. Ross then gave in and nodded "Alright, I know we're going to end up lost," he walked closer to the tree to see what he was writing on it "just draw anything but BRRAL." he said, referring to how Luke had half of BRRAL engraved into the tree.

Luke shrugged "Why not?" Luke asked, beginning to engrave the 'A' into it "we know what it is. Nobody else does, I've done the same to some trees down there." he said, finishing the A and putting a line through it before going on to do the L quickly.

"What? You've written BRRAL and crossed out Ashton's name on them all?" Rocky asked, not realising how insensitive that came out.

"Except for one," Luke said, he pointed over in the direction of the BRRAL that had nobody's name crossed out "I left that one. But on the other two yes. Except I slipped and ended up crossing my own name off on one of them, and on the other one I accidentally crossed off Brad's name without thinking," luke turned around, being done with that BRRAL "so for the love of god, for some odd reason if we end up separated in the near future and you find these, don't go thinking me and Brad are dead and Ashton's really alive. Okay?"

Ross scoffed "Yeah, like that days going to come. Besides, that engraving on the tree's could be there for years. You know, until the trees are cut down."

"Brilliant," Luke sighed "so I wrote on the tree for nothing when they're just going to get cut down?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Everyone barely got any sleep that night. The floor in the apartment block was horrible to sleep on and they kept on hearing strange noises throughout the night. They heard zombie noises coming from outside, Rocky got up and had a look through the window to see a couple of zombies dragging themselves around so it wasn't anything major to worry about. Unless they found a way into the apartment, then they'd be screwed.

The closer they had been getting to Utah, the more zombies they would see or appear out of nowhere. They weren't surprised as Utah was the heart of where the apocalypse started, so god knows how many were going to be there when they arrived there. Probably hundreds.

That was the bit they were not looking forward too. Ross and Rocky thought about this before for a while. In the base, there were other people who knew about the options that they have to save the world from something like this – so wouldn't them people who survived had tried them options? Brad and Luke knew about them, and Ross knows for a fact that if they were still alive they would have tried to do one of them. But as for the other people who worked in the base who knew about them and tried... if they did try, why hasn't anything changed or happened yet? Maybe they did try but there were too many zombies for them to handle and they got killed. Maybe that's what happened to Brad and Luke if they did survive.

And if Brad and Luke did survive then jesus christ Ross and Rocky need to know how because they were both doomed back in the base when they last saw them. Especially Luke.

Riker was the first to wake up out of the five. When he did wake up everyone was still asleep, and Rydel was still in the other room asleep that she stormed into last night. It was a pain in the ass waiting for them all to wake up because he had been laid here for half an hour, at least he thinks it was half an hour, waiting for them all or one of them to wake up, but nothing was happening.

It was like he was at a sleepover when you're the first to wake up and everyone else is till comatose and you have to wait for hours and hours because you can't get to sleep. It felt like a sleepover. That was the feeling he hadn't had in a long time because the last time he had a sleepover was when he was like fifteen years old with some friends. He wasn't very big on sleepovers, even though when you're a teenager that's all you ever do with friends on weekends most times.

He laid on his side, staring at the burnt out fire in the middle that he, Ellington, Ross and Rocky were all surrounding. Riker looked over to Ellington when he saw him moving around, thinking he was waking up but he wasn't. He just moved round a little bit and stopped. Brilliant.

Then he heard a noise that sounded like a footstep.

He looked into the room where Rydel was and saw she was still in there on the floor sound asleep too. Which only meant one thing.

The noise came from out in the hallway.

Slowly, Riker turned his head and looked out into the hallway through the broken door where he thought he saw someone looking from behind the opposite side of the wall and hiding behind it as soon as Riker looked at them.

And that them was a boy.

Well at least he knows it isn't a zombie. It is an actual person. Thank god for that Riker thought in relief.

From what Riker got from looking at the boy before he hid behind the wall, he had brown hair and was small. So either he was a little kid or he is just a really small adult or teenager. Then it hit him. Rydel said she saw a little kid out in the hallway last night and she wasn't sure if it was a boy or girl, and everyone told her she was crazy and just seeing things. Well now Riker's saw them and she most definitely was not seeing things.

Riker got up from where he was quietly and made his way into the room where Rydel was laying "Rydel..." Riker whispered. No answer. "Rydel," he said a little louder "wake up. It's about that little kid you saw last night."

Rydel sighed, sitting up from the floor and looking at Riker. She looked like she had been up for just as long as Riker had. "What about her?" she asked.

"Okay, firstly... she is a he," Riker said, as Rydel got up from the floor "and secondly... they're out in the hallway again hiding behind the wall. But I can't tell if it's a little kid or somebody Ross or Rocky's age."

Rydel moved Riker out of her way and walked through the room where the other three were sleeping and walked over to the door, looking out of it towards where she had seen the boy too. She turned her head back round to Riker "What if it is somebody Ross and Rocky's age? They might hit me thinking I'm a zombie if I go have a look," She whispered, Riker shrugged. "What did the boy look like?" she asked.

"From what I saw, he had brown hair, brown eyes – I think? - and he was small. I couldn't tell if it was a little kid or a teenager on their knees. They moved five seconds after I saw them."

"Brown hair? Brown eyes? Small?" Rydel questioned, thinking about where she had heard that description of someone before.

"So, these friends of yours," Rydel said, looking at Ross "what did they look like? Were they good looking?"

"I-I don't think I can answer that without sounding... gay." Ross said, confused as to why Rydel was asking him this question. Although, she is a girl and probably hasn't seen a good looking guy ever since the apocalypse started or ever since someone she knew that was good looking died.

Rydel shrugged "You look gay. It wouldn't make a difference if you said so," she said, making Ross feel offended "seriously, what did they look like. C'mon, I haven't seen a good looking guy in forever. At least let me imagine."

The four boys looked at Rydel unimpressed and slightly offended. Rydel knew she had offended them but all she could do was shrug at them. "Alright, Luke was blondish, he had a quiff that Rocky always threatened cut off with a pair of scissors-"

Rydel groaned "I don't like quiffs... What about Ashton?" he asked.

"He had brown hair, like mine a little bit, and he kinda reminds you of a better looking Shaggy off the real life version of the Scooby Doo movies, he was a little smaller than Luke. Brown eyes, soft face and most of the girls called him adorable."

Rydel nodded "I can see that," she said, seeing to like the way Ashton looked in her head "what about Brad?"

"He had brown hair, slightly curly, and brown eyes also. Also a soft looking face. He was the smallest out of us all," Ross then let out a small laugh "it was so funny the amount of height jokes we all had about him. They varied from him looking like a little kid to a munchkin."

Rydel let out a small gasp "Ross wake up!" Rydle said, loudly.

Ross groaned, moving around on the floor "Go away, Rydel." he turned over, with his back facing Rydel.

"Ross wake up now it's important."

Ellington and Rocky opened up their eyes, being woke up from Rydel's voice. "No." Ross groaned "I don't care."

Rydel sighed, getting frustrated "I think Brad's outside hiding in the hallway."

Ross's eyes flung open and he got up from the floor, almost flying through the ceiling he got up that fast "Are you fucking with me?" Ross asked.

"Well Riker just told me he saw someone outside in the hallway with brown hair and eyes and he couldn't tell if they were a little kid or a teenager on their knees because he was small! That's the description you gave me of what Brad looked like last night!"

Ross jumped over the burnt out fire and went over to the doorway where Rydel and Riker were stood. He looked out of it "Where?" Ross asked. Rydel pointed over to the wall and when she did Ross zoomed out and round that corner with Rydel and Riker following, having Rocky and Ellington getting up from the floor and trailing behind.

Ross turned round the corner where all he saw were a couple more doors that were either still intact or broken and a window. A dead end. There were no stairs or anything. He turned round and faced Rydel and Riker who were behind him "You two were seeing things. Again!" Ross said, getting annoyed that they had brought his hopes up like that.

Soon Rocky and Ellington came round the corner "Was it him?" Ellington asked, but then he saw the dead end "Oh, no. it wasn't. You were both seeing things! AGAIN! Thanks for waking me up you fucking ass holes."

As Riker went to go comment on that statement, they heard the door at the end of the corridor where Ross had his back too shut. Or at least it sounded like it shut. They all turned round to face it. "Told you." Rydel said.

Ross made his way slowly towards the door incase it came open and anybody walked out of it. When he got to it, he pressed his ear to the door and listened for anybody else in there apart from who else Rydel and Riker were claiming to be in there. They didn't even know what Brad really looked like. It could be anybody in the room. But he's kind of hoping that it is Brad.

Once he heard nothing on the other side of the door, he put his hand on the door handle and pushed it down, opening up the door slowly where he saw into the apartment room. It looked near enough the same as the one they had slept in, except there was no burnt out fire in the middle of the room. He walked further into the room "Brad?" Ross called, nervously.

The others came into the room a couple seconds afterwards, looking round themselves. They stood there for a small while, turning their heads. Rocky sighed "Nothing," he turned to Rydel and Riker "can you two stop getting his hopes up please? Because he really needs to get it through his head that Brad. Is. Not. Alive. He. Died. Because he practically watched him with his own eyes." he said, directing the last part as Ross as he turned round and looked at him.

Thud.

"In there." Ellington said, pointing to the door which led to another room which was more than likely the bathroom or bedroom.

Rydel was the closest to the door, so she walked over to it and flung the door open to the room, making the door smash off the wall. Ross came up behind her and walked into the room. "Is it him?" Rocky asked.

"No." Ross said, with a sigh.

"Who is it then?" Riker asked.

"It's a little kid," Rydel said, feeling bad for getting Ross's hopes up like that and moving closer towards the little boy that was sat in the corner of the room looking petrified "hey, sweetie," she said, kneeling down in front of the small boy "what are you doing here all alone?" she asked, the boy wouldn't talk "where are you parents?" she asked, the kid shrugged "how long have you been here alone for?"

"About two days." The boy answered.

"Whoa. Where did your parents go?" Ross asked, not sure if he should ask him whether his parents are dead or if they ran out on him.

"Looking for food."

"Well, how long are they normally gone for looking for food?"

"A day."

Now either his parents had completely abandoned him or they had died going looking for food. "Oh, er," Rydel said, not being quite sure what to say "Um... how old are you?" she asked.

"Five."

Rydel smiled "Awe! That's awesome. You know my daug—never mind." She stopped herself, letting her smile drop, forgetting that Ross was behind her and no doubt the other three were in the door way or close behind.

Ross sighed, frowning also as he was starting to wish Rydel would come clean and talk to him or the rest of them about what happened in her past because it was getting painful now watching her having to secretly suffer. He put his hand on Rydel's shoulder and tapped it "What's your name?" Ross asked, giving the boy a small smile.

"Ashton." he answered.

At that moment there Ross felt his heart sink from his chest all the down that he was surprised it never came out the other end. He nodded, giving the boy a weak smile "Great name." his voice cracked as he spoke. He turned around and walked back over to the doorway, wiping his face with his hand as he sighed.

It was bad enough he resembled Ashton a little bit with his eyes, and he resembled Brad with his brown hair. God this little Ashton kid was like Ashton and Brad's love child. Ross felt like he was going to lose it and break. He hadn't thought about Brad, Ashton and Luke this much during the apocalypse before. Why is he now? After this and Rocky trying to drill it into his head about them all being dead, he was starting to believe they were. He knows Ashton's definitely dead, but Brad and Luke.

Up until now he has always believed they were still out there somewhere, regardless if they were both in an impossible situation where there was no way they were going to live. But now... they're dead. To Ross, Luke Hemmings and Bradley Simpson are no longer alive. They went up to go join Ashton a long time ago.

I think I might have got your hopes up in this chapter a little too much, but if you read the title of this chapter you probably guessed it wasn't Ashton haha.

I really want to end this story soon cause it's gone on for longer than I planned and I feel I'm just dragging it out now. That much I'm actually thinking about scrapping Riker & Ell's flashbacks bc they're not even that important and you can pretty much guess what happened anyway near enough. And it can easily be explained by them talking about it rather than showing it. But idk.

I hope I have this & Somebody To You done by the end of the summer holidays.

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