Sorry for a wait on this update, I went away for a couple days. But now I'm back, so no worries! :)

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Jenkins16: Their ship names "Rad" not Bross. & there's no romance between them in this story... if you want that kind of romance between them go ready "My English Love Affair" :)

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

Chapter 25
Luke

"LUKE?!" Ross shouted, in shock and confusement.

Luke quickly pulled down his hood and looked at everyone who were standing in front of him, with shock and confusement. Rocky, Brad and two other strangers. Then he looked down where he saw Ross, who he still had his arm round his neck. He looked back to the others "Brad?!" Luke asked.

"Choking!" Ross said, struggling for breath.

Luke let go of Ross "Sorry."

Ross breathed heavily, trying to regain his breath from Luke's tight grip around his neck. If he wasn't going to get shot by Luke, then he would have died from suffication. Ross rubbed his neck and when he stopped he slapped Luke around the head "Luke, what the fuck are you playing at?!"

"Ow!" Luke cried out, rubbing his head.

Ellington sighed heavily, pacing round a little "God, this is like some kind of fucking reunion for you guys the closer we get to the base. Who's gonna show up next? Ashton? Cos right now I wouldn't be surprised, regardless if he was shot to death."

Ross shut his eyes, shaking his head in disbelief at Ellington's little comment there. After everything Ross had told him about Luke and Ashton, you would have thought he would be a little bit more sensitive about it with Luke in the room. He re-opened his eyes, seeing the look on Luke's face that said 'I'm going to kill him' "That's Ellington," Ross said "he's a little insensitive. Doesn't quite know what he's saying or doing most of the time, but we let him off anyway."

"I can tell. Just keep him away from me or he'll find a bullet through his skull." Luke said harshly, sending a death glare over to Ellington for the comment he made with Ashton.

"Oh, nice." Ellington said sarcastically, and a little intimidated.

"W-what are you even doing here?" Rocky asked "we thought you were dead!"

Luke shrugged "I got lucky. Very, very fucking lucky. I guess all those months working in the Armory at the base really paid off in that moment," he said, directing it at Brad. He then sat down on a chair that was against the wall "once I escaped, I searched the base to see if you were all still there but you were gone. So I left. Ended up in this nice little hut. Then about two or three months ago I decided to go on a little journey to LA but stopped when I got to Lincoln. There were a lot of zombies and the chances were I'd get mauled if I continued. So, I got a piece of random paper on the floor and drew a map on it that was an easier and safer way to get to Utah – you know, just incase someone – aka you guys – decided to come and do what I think you're going to do."

"It was you," Ross said, going into his back pocket and Luke gave him a confused look. Ross pulled out a piece of paper which had the 'map' on it "you drew this."

Luke stood up and grabbed it, taking a closer look at it. He nodded "Yeah. I didn't think you would find it though. In all honesty, I thought you were all dead."

Rocky shrugged "It's okay, we thought you and Brad were dead too, but we found you guys. Now, Luke, if you excuse us we have some serious stuff to get to, as you would know. And like you just said, the more the better to do this, so are you going to come with us? Or stay in your hut like a whiny bitch?" he asked.

Luke exchanged a look with Rocky, as well as looking over at everybody else in the room. He sighed and shook his head "You have not changed one bit have you Rocky?"

"Nope," Rocky said, shaking his head "but you have. I was expecting you to be dead. Either, as you said, mauled by zombies or finally killed yourself over certain things and a certain person."

"Rocky," Brad warned, not wanting to go down this path again. The last time they went down this path and Rocky said something along the lines of those words to Luke was a couple of days after Ashton died – even though it was what he was referring to now – and Luke didn't take it very well. Especially in the emotional state he was in at the time. Now he seems like he's capable of everything including murder, given he was about to blow Ross's head off his shoulders with a gun until he realised who he was "don't. Leave him alone. We're not going through this again."

"Now," Rocky said, ignoring what Brad had said to him "are you coming with us? Or are you staying?" He asked.

Luke let his eyes wander over in Brad's direction and back to Rocky "Sure. Why not? Unlike the rest of the idiots who have came by to attempt this from the base, I actually think we could do it."

Luke

"I'M NOT GONNA MAKE IT!" Luke shouted, as he was nearing the door and it was shutting.

"YES YOU ARE! I BELIEVE IN YOU! WE ARE GOING TO SURVIVE THIS EVEN IF I HAVE TO COME THROUGH THIS DOOR FOR YOU RIGHT NOW. SO COME ON!"

Luke felt a rush of adrenaline run through him and suddenly he was taking off like a cheetah chasing a deer and he was almost at the door. Now that he was Brad was confident that he was going to make it so pulled his arm back through. The door continued to close.

Just as Luke was about three metres from the door, it came to the point where only one person would be able to fit through it. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" Luke shouted, hearing the zombies behind him and seeing the door closing and only being able to just see Brad.

"LUKE!" Brad shouted.

For Luke it was too late.

The door shut as he finally got to it.

"NO!" Luke shouted, hitting the door that was now shut "DAMN IT!" he shouted in frustration, smacking it with his fist. "DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT!" Luke kept on repeating, kicking and punching the metal door – even though it was painful. But he didn't care he was about to die now anyway.

He pressed himself against the metal door cowering, and preparing himself to be eaten alive by the zombies behind him and to go join Ashton up in the sky. Luke shut his eyes tightly, wincing as he could feel them getting closer but something strange happened. Luke opened up his eyes and saw the zombies standing at least 2 metres away from him, standing there and not doing anything.

He stood up straight, coming off the metal door and limping over to the piece of wood he had dropped a couple centi-metres away from him just in case they came close to him. He knows he doesn't stand a chance against seven zombies, but what the heck right?

Luke didn't know what to do. They were stood there like statues, the only movement they were making was breathing. That was it. He didn't know that if he made any sudden movements of they'd come at him or stay where they were. He was starting to feel dizzy and light headed too as some sort of weird light grey gas started forming in the air. He coughed, putting his hand over his mouth.

He gripped tighter on the piece of wood, deciding that if the zombies were just going to stand there he was going to find a way out and find Rocky, Ross and Brad. After working in the armory for god knows how long now, maybe some of those techniques could maybe come in handy right now given they weren't much help in Afghanistan.

Luke spun the lump of wood in his hand a couple times as he walked towards the zombies and smacked the closest one to him in the head, causing skin, blood and god knows what else to fly all over the place and that zombie collapsed onto the floor dead. He looked back up to see the other six zombies still stood there and suddenly they all started moving quickly towards him.

Luke started moving backwards towards the metal door again "Oh no you don't!" Luke swung the wood in front of him as they got closer and closer. And some how, as he moved his hands lower down the wood, he ended up hitting two of the zombies in a row across the head. He laughed, as what he had told Brad earlier actually worked.

Hitting zombies in the head killed them.

But he still had four zombies to take care of and that was when Luke went crazy and began smacking the piece of wood all over the place, hitting the zombies anywhere and everywhere, knocking limbs off, getting the wood stood in their chest a couple times and god knows how many times.

Eventually he ended up on the other side of the zombies where he could run away from them and find safety. That was when he found that the piece of wood was pitted in blood and zombie guts, making it no longer usable. He dropped it and turned around, running down the hallway like his life depended on it, totally forgetting about his ankle. And the fact three zombies were now chasing him, given he knocked the legs off the other one so it was crawling on the floor behind them.

When Luke got to the end of the hallway, he found himself in the dorm hallway where his, Rocky, Ross and Brad's rooms were. Quickly he made a dash for his, Rocky and Ashton's room as he felt the zombies right behind him. He swung the door open and slammed it shut behind him, taking a deep breath as he slid down the door until he hit the floor.

He tried to control his heavy breathing as he heard footsteps, the zombies, going by the room. He didn't feel comfortable getting away from the door until they were all gone. Then he would grab what he needed from the room and go find everyone.

Slowly he got up from the floor and peaked his head out the door, seeing the hallway was empty. He shut the door again and looked back into the room, grabbing a backpack he'd left behind and started throwing what he would need to survive this if it was going where he thinks it was going.

Once the bag had what he needed in it, he threw it on his back and the wall above his bed caught his eye. It had a lot of photo's on it. When Luke first arrived in this room from Australia that wall was so plain and had cracks from the paint on it so he needed something to cover it all up, Ashton gave him the suggestion to put posters or photo's over it. So he chose photo's. He jumped on the bed and looked over the photo's, taking the two down that caught his eye.

One of him, Ross, Rocky, Ash and Brad at some place they went too on their week off a couple months ago.

And the other one being of just him and Ashton.

He stuffed them both in the front pocket of his backpack and took one last look around the room before leaving it for the final time.

They were there.

After a year and a half of being away from the base, they had finally made it back. And what Luke said about it all being surrounded by zombies was true. They stood a fair distance away from them, still of course, looking over to them not knowing what to do. There were six of them, and about six hundred zombies dragging themselves about in front of them.

Riker sighed, looking around as he felt the uncertainty building up inside him "How the hell are we supposed to get in there?" Riker asked.

Rocky shrugged "I have no idea. But we can't give in now. We're here. It could all be over and done with, within half an hour once we reach the gate. As for how we actually get to the gate... I don't know. Luke, what were you saying before? About people not coming back from trying to get in?" he asked.

"Exactly this," Luke said, holding out his arms "they'd get mauled to death by the zombies because they thought running through them would work. Even for the people who made it to the gate still died because they had nobody to hold the gate shut once they were through it."

"So, all we need is someone to hold the gate shut?"

Luke nodded "Yeah, but I'd say about two. Have you seen that thing?" he asked. Though the fence was just a simple metal thing, it was still heavy and hard to keep shut with your bare hands. Even with someone holding the gate shut it was inevitable that after a long amount of time there would that many zombies putting pressure on the fence that they would break through it and the person, or people, holding the fence shut would die.

It's just having someone holding the fence shut gives you more of a chance to succeed doing what you wanted to do and save everyone.

"We could do what Ross did in White Pine." Ellington said "that was working until I accidentally kicked something."

that was when a light bulb went off in Ross, Rocky and Riker's head – making Luke and Brad confused. They looked at each other from where they were stood and at the other four. "What was that?" Brad asked.

"Walk very, very slowly," Ross said, turning his head to Brad "make no sudden movement. Walk as slow as you possibly can and you won't get noticed by the zombies. They'll just assume you're one of them and leave you alone."

Luke raised his eye brows at Ross "Shaun of the Dead?"

Ross nodded "Yeah."

"Thought so."

"Everybody ready?" Rocky asked "cos this might not work. We might have to go one at a time ahead of each other."

everybody nodded or chorused 'yeah'. Rocky nodded "Right, okay. Ross you go first." He said.

Ross obeyed Rocky and slowly made his way down the little hill and across the sand of the desert over to where the big crowd of zombies were, feeling really nervous. But he passed at least three zombies that never even noticed him so he felt okay.

Rocky turned to Riker and nodded for him to go and he did. Rocky moved closer to Brad "How's your arm?" He asked.

"Hurts," Brad said, feeling the pain in his arm still and slightly light headed "but I'll be fine."

He put his hand on Brad's back and pushed him gently "Go follow Riker."

Brad followed Riker.

Rocky looked between Luke and Ellington "After earlier in the hut, I don't know if I trust you both without pushing one another into a zombies path and getting eaten," he said, remembering the look on Luke's face that told them all he was going to rip out Ellington's throat "but we need to get there quickly, so I need you two to stick together until you get to the gate, because Ross is practically there. Can you both do it?"

Luke and Ellington looked at one another and at Rocky nodding. Rocky made sure they stood together before they started making their way towards the zombies slowly and headed for the gate. He waited till he saw Ross at the gate and saw Riker just about getting there before he set off himself.

All of them walked cautiously across the desert floor, going past the zombies, in and out of them, as they approached the gate. Trying to be as careful as they could to not get noticed or make one faulty move against them. They knew that once they all attempted to climb the gate they would get noticed straight away. It's bad enough they have to decide on who's staying behind to keep the gate shut.

Luke and Ellington breathed with relief when they made it to the gate where Ross, Riker and Brad were. They turned around and saw Rocky coming over to them, also relieved they had made it.

They made it.

All of them turned around and faced the gate, looking over to the base "This is it... it ends here." Ross said.

Ellington took a deep breath "Well then, better not waste anymore time." He said, getting ready to climb the fence but was stopped by Ross "what?" he asked.

"We need to get Brad over first, he's the weakest." Ross said.

Ellington shrugged "And? I'm sure if one of us climbs over first the rest of you can help him climb over and the one on the otherside can catch him as he falls. It's not hard. He's small, I'm sure he's light."

Brad rolled his eyes. Ellington has only known him for half a day and the height jokes start. It doesn't matter how long someone knows Brad for, the first thing they joke about is his height. Without fail. "That's not a bad idea," Ross said "alright, Luke. Get over the fence, your strong."

Luke nodded, gripping onto the fence and beginning to climb it as quietly as he could. He sat on top of the fence and got ready to jump down the other side when Riker spoke up "I thought you said the gate needed to be held shut?" Riker asked.

Luke looked down at the lock on the fence and sighed heavily, looking up at the sky "God damn it. I forgot." he then jumped down to the other side.

Ross gently pushed the gate slowly so it would open and squeezed through the gap as he didn't want it to make a big noise and attract the zombies. Next Ellington squeezed through, then Brad and then Rocky. Riker took one last look behind him and when he looked back to the gate it had shut, so he pushed it open slowly but unfortunately it made a huge creak sound that made it feellike the whole world had stopped. "Shit." Was all Riker managed to mutter under his breath.

Ross pulled Riker through the gate and slammed the gate shut, letting Riker himself keep it shut as suddenly the zombies all noticed the loud creak. He turned to everyone "Alright, now we all need to make a quick decision on who's keeping the gate shut now." Ross said.

"As long as it's not you, Rocky, Luke or Brad it doesn't matter because you all know how to work the machine, or have a fair idea," Ellington said "just as long as we've got one, two or three of you."

"So are you saying you're gonna keep the gate shut?"

Ellington shrugged "I'm not bothered. I'll do it."

"I'll do it," Riker said, having his hands pressing both fences together "I'm already keeping it shut now, there's no point in me letting go of it but I can't do it on my own. I need someone else."

Ellington nodded "Me and Riker will do it then." he said, going to walk over it.

Rocky put his hand on Ellington's shoulder and stopped him "No, I will. I'm stronger than you. I think the gate might stay shut a little longer that way if I do it as well." he said, going over to the gate.

Ross slowly turned around to where Rocky was "What?" He asked, feeling like he had mis-heard that completely "y-you're not coming into the base..?"

Rocky shook his head, looking at Ross "Nope. I'm staying out here protecting you guys."

"B-but you know there's going to be zombies in the base so what's the point? You might as well come in too."

Rocky sighed "Ross..."

"No, if you stay out here you're gonna die. The zombies are gonna bust their way through that fence and you know it. Once they do you and Riker don't stand a chance!"

Rocky shrugged "So? You know we'll come back. Please Ross, just go in there. You've got Brad and Luke. They know how to work the machine as well, and I'm sure if you tell Ellington what to do he'll follow."

Ross shook his head "No way! I almost lost you before, I'm definitely not losing you now," he said as his voice cracked "c'mon. We're at the end. We've made it to the end. This is it. Once we get in there it's over. All of it. Don't you want to see it end and be over finally?" he asked.

Rocky let a small smile form on his lips "I don't have to. Just knowing that it's going to end and be over with is enough. I believe that you, Luke and Brad can do this – and Ell too – without me. You don't need me every step of the way. You can do something like this for yourself without me guiding you along the way. Knowing I'm protecting you in order for you to do this is enough, knowing the apocalypse is going to end whether I die or not before it actually does end is enough. And even though I won't remember the apocalypse I will. Because it'll just be a vague dream I can't remember when I wake up wherever I am to the date you set it too. Heck, maybe one of us who doesn't remember will have inspiration to write a story – I don't know. But the only way i'll know if you succeed or not is if I die and wake up in my bed and every thing is fine. No doubt Rydel and Will have already woken up in their beds thinking 'what the hell was that dream I had'. I'll be the same. Maybe even Ashton will, or did, as well as soon as he was shot dead. Ross, c'mon. Just do this one thing without me. You don't need me anymore. None of you need me anymore."

Luke put his hand on Ross's arm and slowly began to pull him "C'mon, Ross. He's right. The sooner we do this, the sooner we can get back to our life's before this all happened. We'll be with Ashton again, we'll be with Will and whoever this Rydel girl is, I'm sure you'll see her again. We're all doing this because there's somebody that's dead that we all want to see again, as well as just wanting this to end in general. You want to see Rydel and Will again, Rocky wants to see Will again as well as that girl in the shop from LA, Riker wants to see whoever's dead in his life that died, same goes for Ellington, Brad wants to see Will and also whoever else and I want to see Ashton again. Ross, if you can't do it for yourself then do it for Ashton, Will, Rydel and everyone else in our life's that died. Listen to Rocky. You will see him again. You don't have to watch him die. Now... come. On."

Ross turned his head to Luke who was stood next to him, looking at him dead in the eyes thinking about all the people in his mind that had died and that he wanted to see again. Will, Rydel, Ashton. Soon to be Riker and Rocky. He sighed before jumping forwards and crushing Rocky in a hug. He would have thought that it was their last hug, but it wasn't.

Rocky hugged back and after a couple of seconds, pulled away "Good luck. You can do it. All of you can do it." he walked away from Ross and over next to Riker "C'mon then. Lets do this thing."

"Goodbye Riker." Ellington said.

Riker looked over his shoulder to Ellington and nodded "See ya. Don't get hit by a car this time coming to see me."

Ellington let out a soft laugh "Screw off."

"C'mon," Brad said, feeling more light headed then before "we need to go." he saw how more zombies were beginning to notice them and make their way towards the gate.

Luke grabbed Ross by the arm "C'mon, Ross!" he said, dragging him along as they began making their way to find an entrance to the base. Ellington made sure Brad was okay by staying by him as they followed Luke dragging Ross by his arm.

Ross kept on looking behind him where Riker and Rocky were both keeping the gate shut and the zombies were coming over to it to get through the fence. They looked like they were managing but Ross knew that they wouldn't be able to manage for much longer and they would be dead, joining Ashton, Will and Rydel up in the sky.

But now all that mattered was all of them getting to the Epoch.

Though not all of them were guaranteed to even make it there.

I'm gonna say 4 chapters left of this story... MAYBE. & Maybe if I stop being lazy I can get the next few chapters of this story written so it's completely finished. WOO.

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