The undead that followed their vehicle quickly lost interest as Judy sped off, leaving them far city streets were littered with bodies and debris, making the drive a challenge. Judy focused what attention she had on the road while her thoughts raced. Nick lost his train of thought as well. His head still pounded from the recovering hangover, and the loud shots from his firearm didn't help much in the way of rehabilitation. He glanced down at the phone in his paw, noticing the messages finally stopped.

'41 New Texts, 17 missed calls, 8 new voice-mails' , The notification bubble read. Nick glanced over at Judy, who was occupied avoiding obstacles. He flicked open the text app, revealing the same pleas from their co-workers that Nick had received, along with twelve texts from "Mom". Nick got a cold chill reading that word. Nick lost his mother years ago to cancer, and his father before that to a stroke. He missed them dearly, but didn't envy Judy's worry for her parents. He hesitated for a moment, then opened the messages. The newest one read

" HIGH SCHOOL. B SAFE. LOVE U" 7:17am

Nick glanced at the clock on the dashboard radio, '7:57'

"Judy", Nick stated with a bit of hope in his voice, "your mom texted you not long ago, said she was at the high school safe space". Judy gave a sigh of relief and smiled.

"Thank god", she stated, almost laughing, "I was so worried if they had even made it out of the burrows!". Nick gave a smile, he was happy for her. Losing family was never something he wished on people. He knew how awful the nights were, wishing you had said something one more time, or the 'what if' questions that kept him up. Then it dawned on him. Judy was presumably all he had left. He had no family, and they already found most of his friends at the station. She was most likely the only person who cared about him left. And he was happy it was her.

Judy grabbed her phone, still in Nick's hand, and called her mother. The phone rang, indicating the service was still good. It rang a few more times and went to voice-male. Judy sighed.

"I just hope everyone else made it out with her, and didn't, well, turn into that", she said with concern, swerving to avoid a large panther turned undead in the road.

"What do we call those things anyways?" Nick asked, "Zombies sounds too.. Silly".

"What about.. 'The reanimated'" She said waving her fingers"

"Death eaters", Nick said making a scary face.

"Chompers"

"Walkers"

"Skinwalkers"

"Stumblers"

Judy opened her mouth to say another, but tilted her head a little.

"Ya know, I kinda like that. Stumblers" she said nodding in agreement.

Nick chuckled. It was nice to forget about all that had happened for a moment.

Judy's eyes widened, "No.." She said under her breath. She applied the brakes softly, slowing the vehicle as it approached the main bridge leading out of town. Nick Saw immediately what the problem was. The bridge, hanging over a nice two hundred foot cliffside, blocked by a wide range of vehicles, from smaller cars to larger trucks for all sizes of mammals. Judy's car came to a stop, and they surveyed the scene. Cars still running, doors wide open, spilled suitcases with clothing and belongings scattered about. There were dead passengers and dead pedestrians visible from where they were. Judy sunk a little in her seat with a defeated look. Nick looked around for an alternate route, noting the cliff was too steep to climb down. Judy tapped her phone and opened "moogle maps" to find an alternate route. Nick felt tense being stuck in the open like they were.

"Here", she pointed on her phone showing Nick, "we'll take the back roads", she said looking up at Nick. "Carrots, that's an extra seventy miles", he said glancing at the gas tank which was a little over half full. He had not traveled down that way before, and only assuming there was a filling station was extremely risky. He looked back down the road they had just traveled through. "I don't want to go back to town unless we need to" Nick said, knowing it was luck they made it this far. Judy put a paw over Nicks.

"What do we do?" she asked meeting his eyes. Nick stared into her bright violet eyes, getting lost for only a moment. Nick took Judy's phone from her other paw, and took a screenshot of the map. "Okay", Nick sighed, "let's hope for a stocked gas station in the middle of nowhere. I'm starving" he said giving a smile. Judy gave a light squeeze of his paw and put the car back in motion.

They drove on the very outskirts of town, luckily to mostly empty streets until they turned down a narrow road, leading into the lush countryside. They started to pass road signs and 'mile per hour' markers. "30" one read. "45" the next. Judy increased her speed to match each one. "65" the last one read. Judy laughed and shook her head. 'Why am I following a speed limit?' she asked herself. Nick took notice of her driving habit as well, and chuckled.

"We should keep it slower, though" He stated, "We'll get better gas milage in case we can't find any fuel". Judy nodded, clutching the wheel a bit tighter. She didn't want to think about that. She just wanted to think about being with her family again. She paused her thoughts, glancing at Nick, who was observing the passing wheat fields. 'Poor Nick', she thought. 'To be all alone during whatever this disaster is'. She felt sad for Nick. She would do anything to make sure he was happy. She focused back on the long narrow road ahead. The image of faded paint on top of neglected roads, and overgrown grass creeping up the sides was going to be burned into her mind before the trip was over.

The trip so far had been pretty quiet, aside from the bumps of the unkempt road. They had only driven forty-four miles before noting an orange motorcycle parked on the dusty shoulder lane of the road. They both turned their heads in unison as they drove past. Nick turned to Judy with a puzzled look.

"Do you think.." Nick started but thought better then to think the worst. He peaked over to the fuel gauge, which read about a quarter left. Nick guessed that gave them about seventy more miles.

"Maybe he just stopped to pee", Judy offered her insight. Nick chuckled. "Probably".

'He ran out of gas like we're going to' Nick's head screamed as anxiety filled his body. He looked out of the window again, trying to drown out the negative thoughts when Judy interrupted.

"Nick, look ahead", she said starting to slow the car. A lone figure appeared down the road. "Do you think it's a.. Umm… whatever we decided to call them", she asked, still slowing. "Uhh.. Stumblers!", Nick said, proud of himself remembering, "And i'm not sure". Nick gripped the shotgun and unbuckled his seat belt. They were approaching the unknown figure slowly, which had noticed and turned around. Judy stopped the car about fifty yards from where it was standing, and Nick opened the door, pulling the butt of the shotgun to his shoulder. The figure, now made out to be a Gray wolf, quickly raised his own weapon. He had what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle. Nick and the wolf locked eyes, waiting for the one to make a move. Nick had his finger on the trigger, ready to fire at the first twitch the wolf made. A bead of sweat from the hot noon sun formed on Nick's brow. The soft wind brushed across the tall grass quietly, being the only relief from the heat.

"What do you want?" the wolf called out.

The voice startled Nick. "N.. Nothing!" Nick called back.

The wolf slowly lowered his rifle, which inclined Nick to do the same. The wolf walked slowly up the the vehicle and stopped a few feet from the front. The wolf was wearing a backpack, a "Clawasaki" t-shirt, and jeans. Judy opened her door and leaned out.

"Was that your bike back there?" she asked pointing her thumb over her shoulder.

"Yeah", the wolf said ashamed. "I might have ran out of gas". The wolf looked down and kicked at a few pebbles and rubbed the back of his neck. "James" he said with a slight smile, looking back up.

"Oh, Nick. "I'm Nick, and this is Judy".

"So.. Where are ya'll headed?" the wolf asked, shifting his eyes from Nick to Judy.

"The burrows" Judy spoke up, "Going to the safe space. What about you?"

"I uhh.. I'm looking for someone" The wolf started, looking down the long road. "I'd.. umm.. I'd appreciate a ride to a gas station, if you've got room". Nick and Judy exchanged looks briefly.

"That's gonna be a no, James-y " Nick said shaking his head slowly.

The wolf's ears dropped a bit.

"Oh, no it's all good man I-"

"Nick!" Judy yelled, staring at Nick.

"What?" He started, "I was just kidding! Nahh come on wolf guy, let's go" Nick said, waving for the wolf to get in. Judy rolled her eyes and got back into the driver's seat. The wolf laughed, "oh god man I didn't want to impose or anything but it's really freaking hot out here and I didn't know how much farther it was. I was just thinking like 'how is this dude gonna leave me out here like this'". He shook his head and opened the back door, and squeezed into the car. He was bigger than Nick and it was easy to see he wasn't made for this type of vehicle. He didn't complain, though. He was just happy to have air conditioning.

The trio started off again, down the familiar narrow road.

"So.." The wolf asked, "a bunny and a fox? Kinda like those officers in Zootopia, right?" He laughed a bit. "What made ya'll travel together?".

Nick and Judy looked at eachother, then at the wolf in the back seat.

"Oh shit! Ya'll are those cops?" He asked dumbfounded. "Umm.. yeah." Nick said, chuckling to himself. "That's awesome! Yeah i've read about ya'll in the paper a few times, but I figured you'd be back in the city trying to save who you could" he said, not trying to sound demeaning. Judy's heart sunk to the bottom of her chest. She had abandoned her city. All of the other officers gave their lives trying to protect the civilians and there they were, running from it. Judy blinked slowly, forcing a tear to fall that was building up.

"Do you live in the city?" Nick asked trying to hide the hurt he also felt.

"No, I live outside city limits. I didn't even realize anything was happening until I tried to go to work this morning. I stopped to fill up in the city and some old guy was yelling about how everyone was evacuated and "savage animals on the loose. You know, motorcycle doesn't really have a radio" he chuckled. "I don't really know exactly what's going on to be honest. I just went home and grabbed some gear and went off. Figured some hero cops like yourselves would fix it like ya'll did a few years ago.. Is it really that bad?".

"Oh bud, have I got some bad news for you".

After some quick explaining, the wolf was visibly worried. He didn't say much after that. The fuel warning light popped on with a 'ding' notifying Judy that they needed it soon. They had only driven about twenty miles before they saw a sign that read 'only gas for 100 miles' . Judy sighed relief and looked at Nick, who was still unsure. He didn't say anything and just kept his fingers crossed it had fuel. They quickly came up to an older building, and pulled onto the dirt. The station looked like it was around before cars had been invented and only had two fuel pumps, which were blocked by two separate trio looked around for signs of life before exiting the vehicle. The wolf exited first, raising his rifle to his shoulder and scanning around. Nick and Judy walked behind before catching glimpse of a deer, stumbling around the left side. The wolf caught glance and stared. His rifle lowered a bit and he looked scared.

"Jeez.. You weren't kidding" the wolf said quietly, looking back at Nick.

Nick took a step forward, shouldered the shotgun and took aim at the deer. He took a breath, and pulled the trigger.

'Blam'

Ears ringing, they barely heard the sudden shuffling coming from inside the building. The wolf raised his rifle to the sight of a lynx, pawing at the door. From the right side, another lynx, a female, approached. The lynx's arm was hanging by a thread, caked with dry blood. This sight sent a chill down Judy's spine.

'Blam'

Glass shattered and the lynx behind the door fell to the ground with a 'thud'. Nick pumped the shotgun, loading a new round into the chamber, and ejecting the old one. He took aim at the female lynx, and fired.

'Blam'

Each shot fired caused their ears to ring louder and louder. Nick looked around and saw no more. "Think it's clear?" Nick called out to Judy, cocking the shotgun.

"Judy?"

He looked over at Judy, who was pointing her handgun to the left side of the building. She was shaking, her eyes fixated. 'What are you doing, Fluff? Are you scared?' Nick thought to himself. Then, stumbling from the side of the building into his view, came a shorter lynx.

A child.

Nick knew she couldn't pull the trigger. He wasn't ready to have that on himself either, though. He looked at James, who had the same look Nick did.

"Jud-"

'Blam'

Nick's heart skipped a beat, and the child fell limp. Judy lowered her firearm.

"Clear over here", she said with a crack in her voice, walking towards the back of the building.

"I wasn't sure I could do that, man", the wolf whispered to Nick. Before Nick could say anything, Judy came around the other side. "No one out here, let's check inside". The wolf nodded and slowly reached for the door. Bits of glass fell as the door crept open. "Mind your paws", James whispered before entering. A quick scan revealed the place to be empty. The trio relaxed a bit.

"Okay, let's move one of those cars out of the way", Nick said, stretching. Judy grabbed a rug and laid it over the broken glass before stepping over. The two followed behind. Judy looked it the first car, a yellow car, searching for keys. She really didn't want to look for a set on the bodies.

"Nothing", she sighed to herself.

Nick went to the second car, blue, and searched as well.

"Same" he called out.

"Nick, do you know how to hotwire a car?" Judy asked, looking through the car's window.

"What, because I'm a fox I know how to hotwire cars?" he jokingly scoffed. "How unbecoming, Carrots".

She rolled her eyes, "dumb fox".

"I know how" James said, walking up the the first vehicle. Judy raised an eyebrow.

The wolf got on his knees and reached under the steering wheel. He pulled at the plastic cover until it snapped off, revealing a bundle of wires. Nick walked over, impressed. The wolf started pulling at a few of the wires and then looking up at the two.

"I have no idea what i'm doing" He explained.

Nick and Judy looked at each other and rolled their eyes. "TV made it look way more simple! Touch the two wires together and it starts!" The wolf said, trying to better his case.

Nick walked over the the male lynx, lying in broken glass from the door. Nick stopped at his side and looked back, before crouching down.

"Please don't haunt me for this.." he mumbled before reaching into the lynx's left pocket. He pulled out a phone, which a homescreen picture of the three lynxes. He let out a deep breath, and returned the phone, Then reached into the other pocket.

"Bingo", he said, pulling out a set of keys.

He clicked the car located button, which caused the blue car to beep. He walked over to the slightly larger vehicle. He put the keys in the ignition, and drove the car out of the way. Judy had already gotten into her car and was pulling up to the pump. She hopped out and walked to the very old pump, which still used the 'fill it up, then pay' method. She hooked the nozzle to her tank and started filling. Nick and James walked into the store to scavenge for food. James reached behind the counter and grabbed a few grocery bags, handing some to Nick. At first, they picked a few things out, not wanting to spend too much on overpriced gas station food. Then remembered it was the beginning of the apocalypse and loaded up. Bread, crackers, cereal, ramen; they grabbed it all. Nick walked out to the car with a full load, dumped it in, and returned. Walking back, the wolf walked out, and loaded the blue car up.

"Too cramped so you gotta ride in your own?" Nick snickered. The wolf smiled and shook his head. "It was nice meeting ya'll, but the burrows isn't where i'm headed", he said tossing in the last bag of food he was carrying into the blue car. The wolf smiled and returned to the store. Nick followed, making sure to grab the last of the blueberry muffins. They took quite a bit, but left enough for others. Nick and the wolf drug the four bodies to the back. They felt like they needed to bury them, but didn't have the tools, nor time. They stood silently for a brief minute, then returned to Judy, who took it upon herself to fill up the wolf's new car with fuel. Nick dusted off his hands on his hoodie.

"Well guy, thanks for not shooting us", Nick said sarcastically, extending out his paw.

"Same, Nick." James replied with a chuckle, shaking Nick's paw. The wolf gave a more serious face, "Be careful out there". Nick nodded, "I hope you find what you're looking for". The wolf smiled and knelt down to hug Judy. He stood up and walked towards the blue car.

"Do you think we'll see him again?" Judy asked. "Oh, probably, when this whole thing blows over", he said, waving at the wolf driving off.

'But Nick, WILL this blow over? Will this nightmare come to an end?' She thought, looking over to the bodies behind the store, noting the small lynx.