AN: I seem to update once a week, but I have papers coming up so it might be longer before the next update. Hope you like this chapter? Yeah, tell what you thought at the end.

Chapter 12

One time, my father told me "If you ever get in a fight, you have to stay strong the entire time. If you begin to feel weak, try harder; let your pain be your motivation."

I never thought his words would come to use against rabid raccoons and cannibalistic humans. The pain in my back was killing me. I could feel my heart almost beat out of my chest as I slung the lamp at the crazed animals. They were hard to keep up with at first, jumping around me on the walls. The first name to come out of my mouth was my girlfriend's.

"Callie! CALLIE!" I didn't want to put her in danger, but I couldn't think of anyone else at the moment. One of the small animals leaped at me from the right. I swirled around and knocked it in the head, dropping it to the side. I'm wasn't sure if it was dead or not, but I just wanted it out of the way.

"Callie!" Finally, the door burst open as I swatted at another pest at my feet.

"What?! What is it?!" Callie backed up once she saw two, saliva-covered animals in the floor stalking me. "Oh my god. Arizona…"

"Just…get Jackson." I was beginning to feel dizzy from spinning around so much.

"Avery! Jackson, hurry!"

"Callie…" I was starting to feel weak, but I let it become my motivation. I bumped one of the two animals left, leaving one. This one was the fattest of them all though. It must have spent more time feasting on other animals or even people. I fell down onto my back and I knew I was done, that I did the best I could. The critter jumped into the air and I closed my eyes. I heard a swift slicing noise then a splatter come across my body and face. I opened one eye to see Callie standing over me with the hatchet in her hands, covered in blood. One half of the coon laid to my left and the other half to the right. I couldn't get up by myself so I continued to lay there.

Callie knelt beside me. "Arizona. Did you get any in your eyes or mouth?" She took off her shirt and wiped the blood from her hands and my face. I could hear footsteps running into the room.

"What's going on?!" Jackson raised his bat and looked around. I looked to him and noticed he had nothing on but his boxers.

"Dude, put some pants on." I mumbled.

"What happened? You okay, Robbins?" He knelt beside Callie. She could see my obvious pain so she filled him in.

"There were rabid animals in here. They almost got to her."

"I was just so out of it….I don't know how I couldn't hear you." Jackson helped Callie sit me on the bed.

"They came in through the window." I said. "If they were able to get here, others can too. We need to get the hell out of California." I rolled over on my stomach.

"Oh my god. Arizona…" Callie raised the back of my shirt.

"Damn Robbins, your back is bleeding." Jackson ripped my shirt the rest of the way so my entire bandaged back was revealed. Callie laid a new shirt on the nightstand beside my head.

Tim and Owen walked in. Tim immediately sat down beside me. "Hey, I heard some yelling…what's up? Ew, your back is bleeding through the wraps."

"Animals. They're coming in, and in numbers." Jackson informed them.

"Shit, I knew it. Owen and I have had trouble with birds on the roof."

"I'm telling the others and then we're packing up and getting the hell out." Callie blurted. She gave me a quick kiss on my head and fled out of the room.

"Damn, someone's pissed." Tim sat back.

"She's right; we probably won't make it here another night. Soon, there'll be too many for us to handle." Owen backed up Callie's outburst.

"Let's do it then." Jackson said as he left the room.

The living room began to fill with bags and some very tired teenagers.

"Why are even doing this now? Couldn't it wait 'til the morning?" Kepner yawned and tucked her pillow tighter under her pit.

"There are groups of animals that keep ambushing us. You want to wait to see what they have in store?" Owen said as he packed up the last of the supplies from the kitchen.

Kepner shut up. The amount of stuff in the room piled and was becoming overwhelming. There was no way we would be able to fit all of it in the three cars. The boxes of army supplies would fit in the bed of Owen's truck and the food containers, blankets, and clothes would fit in mine and Callie's trunks. There were still too many extra boxes.

"Those boxes with rags, the beer, and the extra pillows have to stay. We'll never get those to fit." Owen suggested. Aria and Jo made moaning noises.

"No rags?" Jo asked.

"You'll live Wilson."

"Wait." Derrick said as everyone was grabbing their bags. "Take the boxes though. We can fold them up to save space. We could use them for making fires."

"Good idea, Shepard." Owen praised.

The group made trips back and forth to the cars, loading our things. I stayed back resting against Callie on the couch. There was a noise coming from the game room. I thought the others might hear it, but it seemed as if I was the only one.

"Callie." I whimpered and cleared my throat some.

"Yeah?"

"You hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That noise, it's coming from the game room."

Callie stood up and looked behind the couch into the stairway leading down to the room. A sudden, loud thump echoed through the house. My girlfriend jumped back and almost fell onto the table.

"What is it?" I asked. I worked my way up until I was standing beside Callie. The loud noise came again and I could see the door budge. Whatever was in there was trying to get in here. Callie took my waist in her hand and we began to back up towards the front door.

"What are you guys doing?" Tim asked from behind us.

I slowly pointed to the game room door. Cracks formed in the middle and the bolts holding it to the wall were breaking off. Tim stepped in front of us and grabbed the last of our boxes then followed our motions backwards. Suddenly, the door burst. A huge, furry animal jumped out, leaping down the hall. It looked similar to a wolf, but was much larger, almost mutated. Blood whipped around its mouth and slung onto the walls. My brother backed up quickly, pushing Callie and I outside onto the lawn. The ground made contact with my back, and despite Miranda's try to bandage my back, I could still feel a major pain shoot up my spine.

"SHIT! Oh my…AHHHHH." I rolled onto my stomach and dug my face into the grass.

"Come on, babe. We have to go." Callie's voice was concerned and hurried. She tried to pick me up, but it took extra help from Tim. The front door started to budge from the animal running into it over and over. We made it to my car; Callie sat behind the passenger seat with my head in her lap as I curled up so my back was free of pain. Tim took the keys to the Tahoe..

My brother looked to Avery in the driver's seat. "Follow us." He motioned to Owen's truck and Callie's car.

Jo sat in the passenger's seat and kept looking back at Callie stroking her fingers through my hair. "Is Arizona okay? I heard her yell."

Callie could barely speak so she whispered a, "Yes."

Owen, Teddy, and April had the truck leaving my brother, Derrick, Meredith, Miranda, Maria, and Aria in the Tahoe. I could hear the cars start up followed by the feeling of us drive off. I closed my eyes and let the Callie's petting calm me down.

Saturday, January 4th

The car was no longer moving and a blanket had been placed over me. My head was surrounded by the sides of a fluffed pillow on top of Callie's lap. I sat up some to see we were parked under a bridge on a highway. The stars were shinning around the moon; I must have slept the entire day. Even though I haven't had much to drink in…I don't know how long, the contents of my bladder needed to be released.

My girlfriend's head was leaned against a pack of marshmallows on the window. Jo had the driver's seat leaned back and laid long ways upfront. I couldn't see Jackson or anyone walking around.

"Callie…" I tapped her on the shoulder. "Callie…I need to use the bathroom."

"Huh? Huh…what? What's going on?" She shot up from the window and patted her lap, looking for me.

"Nothing, nothing's going on Callie. I just need to pee." I took her arm in my hand.

"You're awake."

"Yeah. Is one of the guys outside?"

"Jackson and Derrick are out there. I'll come with you."

"I can go by myself. It's not my first time taking a wiz in the grass." Callie gave me a smile. It was small, but present.

"I have to go too."

"Oh…okay then." I offered her a tiny grin back.

We opened our doors and slowly walked towards a pacing Jackson.

"You've driven all day, you not tired?" I asked

"We took a break half way through the day and I slept until we got here so….I'm good. I mean, I didn't get to sleep all day like someone…" The quarterback gave me a glare.

"Sorry." I gave him a cheesy smile. "How's Shepard?" I said towards the dark-haired nerd.

"I'm doing good." He gave me a thumbs up as he patrolled the highway.

"We're going over here to use the bathroom. Keep to yourself." I pointed to Avery.

"I can do that. Call if you need anything though." When he realized what he said, Jackson rephrased. "I mean…if you get in trouble…to call…I wasn't trying to…"

"It's okay, Avery." Callie patted his shoulder and followed me into some tall grass.

After I finished my business, I waited for Callie and kept a look out for anything unusual. I lifted my shirt off of my back and let some cool air seep into the worn bandages. There was a slight sting, but it felt good.

"It feels nice out here." I said as Callie pulled her jeans up. "And it's beautiful; the stars and the moon…it's so beautiful." I continued.

"Like you?" She stepped in front of me and placed a hand on the side of my neck.

"AH." I jerked back from her hand. There were some small burns on my neck that were still sore.

"I'm sorry." Callie turned away and held her hands to herself. I reached for her hand and placed it over my cheek, leaving my hand over hers.

"I love you." I whispered.

"I love you too." We leaned in and met the other's lips. It was nice to stand in the cool night and have Callie in my arms. I still couldn't help to think about her father and how it was my fault.

"Callie….I…I don't know what to say…about your father. I don't even see how you can still look at me, kiss me."

"Arizona…"

"You look at me with no disgust or disappointment."

"Because I'm not disgusted or disappointed. We're in the middle of what could be the end of the world! I understand that my father chose to go with you and there was a high risk of something going wrong. I don't blame you."She took my face in both of her hands. "Can we just….just not talk about it right now?"

I nodded my head in her palms and then gave her another kiss. Callie gave me a sad smile, but again, a smile is a smile.

We walked back to where the guys were taking watch.

"You guys took a long time, I didn't know if I should come check on you guys or mind my business. I thought you guys might have gotten freaky in the grass or such." Avery's response was predictable.

"Well, you would have come anyways because you're such a perv." I said.

"I'm not." He pretended to look past us down the road.

"Where are we at anyways?"

"Nevada. Owen said the only way he knows to get to Arizona is through Las Vegas, we're pretty close. He also suspected the city of sin will have plenty of dead. It's going to be rough, but we have to get through as fast as we can."

"Wow. Las Vegas? I hate that the only time we get to travel the states, is when it's infested with dead people and wild animals." I looked to Callie who was about to nod off to sleep standing up.

"I guess we'll talk more in the morning. Wake me up before we go?"

"Can do, Robbins. How's that back?"

"It's still a little sore, but the cool air helps."

"Good, see ya in the morning."

Sunday, January 5th

We've been driving for a long time now and I thought for sure, we would have reached Vegas by now. We only stopped once for a bathroom break and once because Kepner got car sick. I even took a shift driving to let Avery get an efficient amount of rest. It was awkward driving as I tried to keep my back from touching the seat.

"Are we sure Owen knows where he's going?" I asked.

"Give the man a break, he probably just made a mistake and we took the wrong road." Jackson mumbled form under his blanket.

"Shit." I looked ahead of us and saw the road blocked by abandoned cars. We've seen one or two on the highway or even a few groups on the back roads, but this part of the road was completely blocked with transfer trucks and SUVs. "Now what are we going to do?"

"Damn." Avery noticed the amount of cars flooding the road.

I saw my brother pull over behind Owen and I followed. We all grouped up outside the cars.

"What happened Owen? I thought you said we could get there today?" I was angry, probably from my scabbing and itching back, but I was ready to rest, to be able to lay back and allow others to keep the dead out.

"It's not too far. I…"

"No. You said it's not too far yesterday!"

"Arizona…" Callie tapped me on my arm with the back of her hand as a sign to calm down.

"Look, that one road we took earlier this morning took us a little off track and I'm sorry. I know we're close." He turned around and pointed to the traffic sign reading, "Las Vegas: 130 miles to exit."

I sighed. "Well how are we going to get through this?" I motioned to the cars.

"You ladies take a lunch break and us guys will try to…clear a path or something. How does that sound?" I could see he was trying to compromise.

"Yeah, that works." The women of the group followed me to the trunk of my car to sort out food.

I handed Bailey a sandwich and some food for the baby. "How's your back?" she asked.

"It's healing. It might need some more bandages though."

"We're running out, I'm not sure if we have enough to cover it again." She sounded concerned.

"It's okay, these will do for now." I smiled and handed her a carrot we had from the garden.

After we finished eating, we went to savage anything usable from the cars. Callie found some condoms in one glove department and gave them to Avery as a joke. It was nice to be at the point where we're laughing and playing jokes again. I saw a huge RV parked down the road. There has to be something good in there. I told Callie and Jo to follow me. Up close, the vehicle looked even nicer. We all stepped inside with weapons raised just in case. Once I walked all the way through, I gave them the go ahead and we swept the cabinets and bedroom. Jo found some rice and canned food in the cabinet along with small pots and pans we could use to cook.

"Think the stove works?" she asked.

"Let's try it." I turned the knob on the stove and heat came out. "The gas still works!" I smiled and gave Jo a high five.

"What's going on in here?" Callie asked.

"The stove works! We could have a hot meal." I said excitedly.

"Is that your way of asking me to cook?"

I shrugged my shoulders and she gave me a quick kiss on my cheek then went to my ear. "And there's a really nice bed back there." She whispered seductively.

"You know I can hear you, right?" Jo said, continuing to inspect the RV.

I gave Callie a kiss on the lips and then left to tell the guys. The sun was starting to go down, but it was still early. I wouldn't mind staying the night where there's an actual bathroom and stove and bed, especially if Callie was in that bed with me. The guys were working their way through, moving cars to the left and right of the road. I saw another truck with a camper and decided to check it out for myself. Inside, it had two sets of bunks and a pull out couch with a small fridge. In the fridge was three bottles of wine, a jug of milk, and some pudding. This family must have been weird. I took one of the bottles of wine and went to inform the guys.

"Hey!" I waved them to come to me.

"Look, we're trying to move as fast as we can…" Owen defended, before I could even speak.

"What about staying here tonight?" I asked

"What? Why would we stay here?" Avery asked.

"Look, we just found an RV with a working stove, food, and a bed. I also checked that camper over there and it has five more beds. We could all get a good night's rest on a bed, and the ones who don't get a bed would have enough room to stretch out in the cars. We could have a nice hot meal….booze…" I held up the bottle of wine in my hand.

Owen wiped the sweat form his forehead. "A bed does sound nice right about now."

Derrick leaned against a car. "Let's do it. I would mind laying those back seats down in the Tahoe and having it all for Meredith and me."

"Sounds good, Robbins." Owen looked at me and then my brother. "Little Robbins?"

"Oh, don't even… Could we try to hot wire them or something, get them running?"

"You want to take these two massive vehicles through these big cities? We're lucky if we even get through here. Let's keep it small so we can maneuver around in certain areas."

"I guess that's a good point. I'll going to tell the girls the news." I stepped away and jogged towards the girls.

Callie prepared a nice bean meal with the food we found. We all sat in a circle and talked about what we would have done if we ever went to Las Vegas before this. Aria had already been to Vegas, of course. She boasted about winning a couple thousand dollars then spending it all on a new outfit. Bailey decided it was time to change my bandages and we would have to find more later in case someone else needed them.

I leaned into Callie's shoulder as she started to unwrapped them. "HMMMM." I squeezed my girlfriend's hands and dug my face into her neck. She moved our hands to where they were resting on her shoulder blades.

"This looks…good for what it is. I can tell there is some healing going on and the cream is really helping." The doctor diagnosed.

"Just get it over with, please." Her hand began to rub my back with the ointment and I cried out into the night air. "AHHH huh…ah…ERRR….hurry up." I demanded between gritted teeth. Soon, she was finished and she put fresh gauze on.

It was getting really late so we all decided to separate into our places.

Derrick had already called the back of the Tahoe for him and Meredith, Callie and I took the full sized bed in the RV, and Jo took the couch in the kitchen area. Owen and Teddy took one set of bunks in the camper because they deserved it and Miranda laid with Maria on one bunk and Aria on the other. Avery and Kepner shared the pull out couch together. April refused at first, but it was that or sleep in the car with my brother who has a tendency to let one rip in his sleep.

I was laying on Callie's side, our legs wrapped together and my head resting in the crook between her shoulder and breast. Her hand was brushing through my hair as always, and for once in the past couple of days, I felt completely free of pain and content. My hand ran up and down her side under her shirt, offering me warmth and comfort.

"I like your haircut." she said.

I looked up at her. "What?"

"The end of her hair was burnt off, but I like it. You look like you got a haircut; the ends are less curly, not that I didn't like it curly, it's just a small thing I think only I noticed." Her voice got softer until I thought she might start to cry.

I smiled against her chest and smiled. "Well thank you for noticing my new hairdo, Calliope."

"Arizona." She whispered through a gasp of air. Now I knew something was up.

"What?" I pulled my head back and sat up on my side.

"I just…I don't know what I would have done…if I lost you too. I…my father…he's…he's dead and I don't know what I would have done if you died too." She began to cry aloud. "I miss him and if you weren't here…I wouldn't want to be here…I just…"

I took her face into my hand and stroked away her tears with my thumb. "I know, I know. I did something stupid and you hate me for it."

"I don't want you risking your life like that and not think about what it would do to me."

"Are you kidding? You were the only thing on my mind as I pressed that button. Of course I thought about how much you were going to hurt if I died. It hurt me too…way more than the burns my back."

She huffed and rid her face of the few tears left on her cheeks. "I miss my dad."

"I know. I'm sorry." I returned the favor of brushing her hair out of the way. I leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her lips. Callie's hands rested behind my ears and she pulled me down for another. She tried to deepen the kiss but I left her face and moved my body down the bed. I lifted the rest of her shirt and started under the bottom of her bra, leaving a trail of light kisses to the top of her pants. I pecked one more under her bellybutton before resting my head on her exposed stomach and letting my leg straddle hers. The warmth immediately took over me and I fell asleep.

Monday, January 6th

A banging on the bedroom door jarred me and Callie awake at the same time. I leaped out of bed and grabbed the hatchet from the corner. I raised it over my shoulder as Callie did the same with her bat.

"Arizona…Callie…we got a path cleared and we're all packed. Let's go to Vegas!" My brother finished with one final knock on the door before I heard him leave through the RV's door.

I sighed and threw the hatchet in the floor. "Five more minutes." I crawled back into bed and cuddled my pillow. I felt Callie lay back in bed and snuggle up beside me.

Vegas! So I've never been to the west coast at all but I'm good with directions so if I say anything wrong about the places I mention, don't hate. This chapter was to try and lighten things up some so….I hoped it worked. Review!