I shrieked, half in fear and half in delight, as Lloyd and I raced for the door, Jay crawling after us like some deranged animal. The door banged against the wall as Lloyd threw it open, and we pelted wildly down the hall, feet pounding the floor. We were going so fast that we ran smack into Cole as he was coming around the corner. Lloyd hit him first, then I hit Lloyd, and the three of us almost went down. Thankfully, Cole managed to keep his balance, and he gave us bewildered looks as he asked, "Whoa! What's going on? Something on fire?"

"Lloyd started the zombie apocalypse!" I blurted out, grinning like a maniac as I pointed at the blond. Lloyd sputtered, giving me a look of utter betrayal, as Cole continued to look bemused.

"Okay..?" He said, his eyes flicking between us, "How did—?"

He was interrupted by a loud, strangled snarl from behind us, and Jay appeared, shuffling after us with his arms out, his head lolling to one side. Lloyd yelled, "He's coming!"

He grabbed my arm, and we ran, leaving Cole standing there in stunned silence. The two of us ran up to the deck, panting heavily as we made our way toward the tea shop.

"What do we do?" I gasped out as we hurried down the gangplank. Lloyd was much faster than me, and I stumbled, almost falling. Thankfully, the boy was kind enough to slow down as he replied.

"We have to warn the others!" He said in exaggerated distress, "Before the infection spreads!"

"What about Cole?"

"A necessary sacrifice for the greater good," He replied solemnly, and I snorted. I had never participated in something so chaotic.

We entered through the back door of the shop and found Kai and Zane playing a game of cards on one of the empty tea crates. They looked up as Lloyd and I burst in, staring in confusion as Lloyd slammed the door shut and started piling boxes in front of it.

"Lloyd…" Zane said, cocking his head at the younger ninja while I leaned against a shelf to catch my breath, "What are you doing?"

"Jay's a zombie," The blond answered as he slammed a crate down on the tower, "He's already gotten Cole. We have to barricade the entrances; block ourselves in. We'll have to live on tea for the rest of our lives, but it'll be worth it!"

Zane's eyebrows raised slightly, but he immediately stood up, abandoning the card game as he walked up beside Lloyd. Without a word, he began helping stack crates, while Kai slapped down his cards with a disgusted noise.

"Typical Jay," He said, shaking his head as he stood, "Even in death, we can't get rid of him."

He started sauntering toward the front, and I was surprised when he waved for me to follow.

"Come on, Abby," He said, "We've got to block off the front entrance."

I grinned and trotted to catch up. We emerged into the front part of the shop. There were a couple of empty tea crates stacked against the wall, and some of the decorum needed polishing. For some reason, I found the messiness of the tea shop oddly comforting. It was a reminder of how far off season five was, like as long as the shop wasn't ready for service, then Morro might never appear.

Kai led the way toward the front doors, but just as he reached for the door to close it, a blue blur tackled him to the ground with a roar. Kai yelled and lashed out, struggling with a growling, clawing Jay, but he was grinning the whole time.

"Abby, run!" He shouted, rolling over so he was pinning Jay down, "I'll hold them off!"

At that moment, Cole appeared, bowling Kai over and allowing Jay the chance to stand. The redhead came at me, moaning with his arms outstretched, and I screamed as I darted into the back room. Lloyd and Zane, warned by the commotion, were already hastily removing the crate barrier.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" I squealed, bouncing on my toes as I glanced back at the doorway, "Jay's comiiinng!"

Just as Jay appeared in the archway, the boys managed to remove the last box, and Lloyd barreled outside, Zane and I pelting behind him. Zane waited until I was out before he slammed the door shut and blasted it with ice, freezing it to the frame. Then the three of us ran toward the river.

"We'll cross the river and disappear into the forest!" Lloyd said excitedly as we ran down the hill, "Then we'll make our way to Ninjago City to warn the populace."

Before we could reach the river, however, a new competitor appeared. Nya came out of nowhere and grabbed onto Zane, letting out a triumphant howl as she dragged him to the ground. I shrieked, "They got Nya!"

Zane yelled, flailing his limbs wildly as Nya crawled on top of him, snarling.

"It is too late for me, friends!" The Nindroid exclaimed dramatically, "Save yourselves!"

"Zane, noooooo!" Lloyd wailed, but it was too late. As the Ice Ninja's struggles began to weaken, I grabbed Lloyd's hand and dragged him toward the river.

"There's no time to mourn," I reminded him as we hurried down the hill, "We have a duty to warn Ninjago. Ninja never quit, remember?"

The boy gave me a startled grin, no doubt surprised by my use of their catchphrase, but he nodded.

"Right," He said, turning his gaze forward, "Ninja never quit."

Behind us, I could hear Nya and Zane chasing as we ran. It sounded like Nya was trying to give convincing moans, but she kept collapsing into short bursts of giggles. I glanced back once over my shoulder and saw why; Zane was shuffling down the hill in a perfect zombie imitation, feet dragging, head lolling, one arm groping in our direction. He was even emitting grunting noises that sounded suspiciously like a Minecraft zombie, though I didn't know how that was possible. I grinned… and immediately stumbled over a protruding root.

I yelped as my foot caught and my arm jerked as Lloyd ran past me, my hand still in his. I managed to keep my footing, but the delay cost us. Nya, sensing weak prey, darted forward, her eyes gleaming. Lloyd let out an offended cry as he sidestepped her attack, letting her momentum carry her down the hill.

"No fair!" He shot at her as she staggered to recover, "Zombies can't move that fast."

"This zombie can!" Nya responded, her face split in a wide grin as she made another lunge. Lloyd dodged to the side, and the pair lapsed into what looked to be a series of sparring maneuvers. Meanwhile, Zane was drawing closer, dutifully shuffling along like a good zombie. I watched him warily as I stood a distance away, waiting anxiously for Lloyd to break away from Nya. Things escalated to the point where Nya made a lunge forward, and Lloyd backflipped, effortlessly landing on his hands and springing back again to land on his feet. Unfortunately, this gave Nya the opening she needed.

I squealed and ran as the girl suddenly changed course, barreling after me. I heard Lloyd yell, but I couldn't look back as I scrambled up the hill back toward the tea shop. I could hear twigs snapping as Nya ran after me, laughing breathlessly. By some miracle, I made it to level ground without her catching me. At this point, my lungs were close to bursting, and I considered giving myself up. As I started to stumble to a halt, however, I heard a thud, followed by an indignant, "Hey!" from Nya. Glancing back, I saw that Lloyd had caught up and tackled the girl to the ground, pinning her to the dirt despite her annoyed protests.

"Run, Abby!" The blond exclaimed as Nya growled, trying to get a grip to throw him off. I hesitated, debating whether or not I should try and help the boy. However, I decided survival was more ideal. Summoning up my strength, I took off at a sprint toward the Bounty. As I was reaching the gangplank, Kai appeared from the courtyard, groaning dramatically. My heart lurched as Jay and Cole came behind him, and I shrieked as I darted up the gangplank. Thankfully, it seemed the boys were better at sticking to the zombie shuffles than Nya was, otherwise I would have been caught for sure. As it was, I managed to make it belowdecks just as the boys were starting up the gangplank.

My breath came out in heavy pants, and my face hurt from grinning as I hurried through the halls of the Bounty, searching for a place to hide. My heart was pounding, and my senses were on high alert. I was the sole survivor now; I doubted Lloyd had managed to escape.

Even in joking, Lloyd and Zane are self-sacrificial idiots, I thought musingly as I moved. I tried the first door I came across and found it unlocked. Pushing it open, I found myself in a large room stacked with bunkbeds; the boys' sleeping quarters. My eyes raked the room quickly, searching for a good hiding place, but I was dissatisfied. The area was too open. I was about to duck out of the room to find something else when I heard footsteps coming down the hall, accompanied by Jay's loud, impatient moans. My stomach lurched; there was no time. They were here!

I ducked into the room and quietly shut the door behind me. For good measure, I locked it before I whirled around and frantically scanned the room. Where to hide, where to hide..? Under the bed would be too obvious, and there wouldn't be any good hiding places in the adjacent bathroom. Unless..?

Curious, I trotted to the bathroom and peeked inside. It was bigger than I imagined, with a wide countertop, big enough to hold two sinks. There was only one shower, but plenty of room for four boys and a Nindroid. My eyes were drawn to the cabinet beneath the sink, and I smirked; jackpot.

I nearly jumped out of my skin in panic when I heard the doorknob jiggle, and Jay let out a muffled, triumphant noise. With no time to lose, I hurried into the bathroom, opened one of the cabinet doors, and inspected the space. There were a lot of cologne, shampoo, and hair gel bottles that I had to move in order to create room, but once I had pushed them aside as quietly as possible, I shimmied into the cabinet under the sink. It was a tight squeeze, but I managed to fit by curling my legs up to my chest. Once I was situated, I eased the cabinet door shut.

And not a moment too soon. The second the door was shut, I heard the door to the room creak open. Jay must have found a way to unlock it. The blood roared in my ears as I struggled to keep my breathing silent, listening to the boy shuffling around in the room. He started with zombie-like groans and growls, but the noises quickly gave way to confused muttering the longer he searched and didn't find me.

"Is she not here?" I heard him murmur, followed by something banging around, "The door was locked, so she has to be here… Unless she locked it just to throw us off? But there's no way she's that smart, she's not a ninja…"

I almost felt like calling him out for that comment, but I stayed silent. Anxiety rose in my chest as the boy's mumbling grew closer and closer… I nearly had a heart attack when I heard him yank the shower curtain aside, shouting, "AHA!"

When he didn't find me in the shower, he let out a frustrated noise, "Okay, come on, Abby, I know you're in here! You're the last one left, so just give it up! You will join us… It is inevitable…"

I had to bite my lip to stifle my giggles as he hissed evilly, throwing in a devilish cackle at the end. His footsteps tapped across the floor… and stopped right in front of me. I could see his shadow through the crack of the cabinet doors. He stood there for what felt like ages, not saying a word. I didn't twitch, didn't move a muscle, didn't dare to breathe as I watched him through the crack, waiting to see what he would do.

BAM!

The cabinet door yanked open, and I was met with the sight of Jay's triumphant expression. He crowed, "Found yoooouuu!"

My rushing adrenaline hit the roof, and I panicked. My arm shot out of its own accord, batting at the Lightning Ninja's face as I let out a violent, cat-like hiss. Jay lurched back with a yell of shock, landing on his butt. He stared at me with wide eyes, his mouth opening and closing like a fish as I glared at him, my curled hands drawn up to my chest like paws. Slowly, the boy raised a shaking finger to point at me.

"I… You… What..!" He sputtered, "Wha… What the heck?! The heck was that?!"

As Kai and Cole came creeping in through the open doorway of the bunkroom, I started laughing hysterically. Jay was still gaping at me, his expression one of complete disbelief as I dragged myself out from under the sink and collapsed on the floor in a fit of giggles. I was delirious with adrenaline-high, but I couldn't get myself to stop. And honestly, I didn't entirely care. I was having a blast, and for the first time since moving in, I felt actually connected with the Ninja. They had no idea how much this bit of goofing-off meant to me.

I didn't realize it until later that night as we were sitting around dinner, but it suddenly struck me that after today, there was no way I could continue on knowing what lay in store for the Ninja. There was no way I could watch their future adventures play out, knowing what pain it would cause them, knowing that slowly but surely, they could lose this carefree nature. I couldn't save them from everything. I couldn't stop them from growing up. But I couldn't ignore my part in this either.

My decision was made.

It was time.


AN: This has been your daily dose of chaotic, lovable teenagers. We now return to our regularly-scheduled program. :)

On another topic, I started classes this week (eep!). I should still be posting regularly for a while since I have a bunch already prewritten (I'm working on chapter 25 right now), but writing is probably going to slow down in the near future. I'll make sure I'm still giving you guys content, but your prayers and encouragements would be much appreciated. Thanks!