III - Ready or Not

-Two Months Later-

Vanzilla arrived at a Canadian town, ten miles east of Houlton, driven by Bobby and carrying Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, Tabby, Zach, Liam, and Clyde. They all exited the van and set their eyes at an abandoned supermarket.

"Sucks that Rusty couldn't come," said Clyde.

"It is very dangerous," said Bobby. "I don't blame his father."

"Oh come on!" groaned Ronnie Anne. "Rusty went on a boat and battled the Piranhas!"

"Yeah, and you know who else went? Liam. Chunk. Lori could barely walk for a week. Liam couldn't use his hand for weeks. And Chunk was lucky to just get some cuts and bruises."

"Liam is a farm boy! I'm a tough city girl as Lincoln would put it."

"You don't have to say it like I can't handle myself," muttered Liam.

"Alright, we're going back home."

The kids shouted in protest. Ronnie Anne groaned.

"Fine, sorry, sorry."

"Remember, this is not a game!" warned Bobby. "There is a clear chain of command! Understand?"

Ronnie Anne and Clyde nodded.

"Lincoln and Tabby have been on supply runs since last winter," said Bobby as he turned towards them. "You can guide them. Help 'em out a little. Now, Lincoln, wanna repeat the plan?"

"With pleasure."

Lincoln turned towards Tabby, Ronnie Anne, Zach, Liam, and Clyde.

"I shall call this, Operation Looting A Store For Food Water Medicine Other Necessities And To Think Of A Shorter Name For This Operation!"

Tabby, Liam, Zach, and Clyde giggled quietly while Ronnie Anne rolled her eyes. Lincoln explained the plan.

"First, we scan the perimeter! We're looking for any lurkers, holes in the buildings, possibly an exit!"

Ronnie Anne, Liam, Zach, and Clyde faced the store and took a step.

"Wait! I didn't tell you to go yet! After you're done doing that, we'll all meet up at the window over there! I'll tell you more when we meet up!"

Lincoln pointed his fingers at the group.

"Tabby, you're going with Ronnie Anne and Zach. I'm going with Liam and Clyde. Bobby, I suggest going with your sister."

"Of course," said Bobby. "Let's go."

Tabby, Zach, and Ronnie Anne headed left and walked away from the walls. They turned around the corner and met up with a roamer.

Tabby let Ronnie Anne take the kill. She placed the golf club behind her back and swung it, beating off some flesh from its head. The roamer fell and the group continued.

Clyde saw a roamer approaching from the back door of the supermarket. Lincoln motioned him to kill it. He raised his baseball bat and swung it down. The bat crushed the skull of the roamer, dropping it to the ground.

Lincoln closed the back door and made a mental note of it.The children saw each other, though Bobby told them to keep walking. Eventually, they met up again by the front windows of the supermarket.

"There's a back door," said Lincoln. "If anything happens, you go out through that door. Now, the next step. Know what you're going for."

"Food, water, anything of nutritional value," said Clyde.

"Anything else is a lower priority," said Ronnie Anne.

"Good," said Lincoln. "We usually have someone who hangs out here, guarding us, but in this case, we'll need all the manpower we could have."

"Alright, same partners?" asked Clyde.

Lincoln nodded.

"Next step, make some noise."

Lincoln banged his elbow on the window of the supermarket and turned on his flashlight.

"So, we're good now?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"Give it a second," said Lincoln.

A roamer sprung into the window, gazing its eyes on the children. Lincoln opened the door and signaled the group to move inside.

Lincoln shone his flashlight around the roamer before thumping it with his mallet. The rats in the floor scurried away as the roamer dropped to the ground, its head leaking with roamer blood.

"Clyde, Liam, and I'll take left," said Lincoln. "Remember where to meet up. Here, take this."

Lincoln handed Ronnie Anne his walkie-talkie that he uses to communicate with Clyde.

The two groups split up, leaving Bobby to follow Ronnie Anne, Zach, and Tabby. Bobby allowed both of them to stick tight while he circled behind them.

Clyde shivered as the roamers growled at the ray of light. He swung his bat at their legs, causing them to topple down. Then, he raised it his bat and struck them with slow but mighty blows on their skulls.

"Good job, buddy."

"Thanks, Lincoln. I see some water bottles over there!"

Lincoln walked towards the water bottles, moving his flashlight around. He spotted three roamers lurking around the water bottles.

"Clyde, take out the one to my right. Liam your with me."

Clyde and Liam nodded. Each of his footsteps were light and quick, and before he knew it, he was in front of the roamer, knocking it to the ground with his bat before killing it.

Lincoln moved his mallet to the left with force, then gathered momentum to move it back to the right, killing both roamers.

"We did it!" exclaimed Clyde.

"Not so loud. But yeah, we did it!"

"This is a lotta water."

Ronnie Anne and Tabby looked around the wine aisle.

"Do you think we're going to need this when we're twenty-one years old?" asked Tabby.

"Uh, I guess," replied Ronnie Anne.

Tabby and Ronnie Anne moved to a different aisle, where they found Bobby and Zach. He pointed his flashlight at a container of ground coffee before noticing the two girls staring at him.

"Keep going," said Bobby. "I'm just looking for something. Stick with me Zach. "

"Alright," said Zach.

Ronnie Anne and Tabby headed for the canned food aisle. Bobby grabbed the ground coffee and placed it on his backpack before he looked for more items for Lori. Zach grabbed some water bottles and placed them in his backpack.

"Oh, look, canned food," said Ronnie Anne. "This wasn't that hard."

"Wait, Ronnie!" exclaimed Tabby.

Ronnie Anne ran to the shelf with the canned food and grabbed it. She then looked back at Tabby.

"What?" she asked.

"Always gotta check for the roamers," said Tabby. "Specially since they like to lurk in the dark."

"Oh, come on, you guys seriously can't be that paranoid!" she chuckled. "Can't blame Lincoln. He would only want you around all the time."

Tabby rubbed her head as her eyes turned wide. She gasped and reached her hands out to Ronnie Anne before her hoodie was grabbed by a roamer. Her golf club was on top of the shelf, out of reach.

Bobby moved the flashlight around and found a group of roamers at the end of the aisle. He dropped the formula milk and reached for his knife.

"Nah, too many," said Bobby before reaching for his pistol.

He shot the roamers as he moved back, careful to not corner himself.

Zach grabbed his knife ran to the closest roamer. The roamer lounged at Zach but he ducked and rolled between the roamer's legs, he turned around and kicked roamer's legs causing it to fall, Zach quickly got up and jammed his knife in the back of it's head.

Ronnie Anne kicked the roamer behind her with her right foot, hitting it in its knee. The roamer dropped to the ground, holding its grip on her hoodie. She dropped to her knee as well, struggling to remove her hoodie.

Tabby ran towards her. She then saw the flash of the gun and heard a loud bang echo off of the supermarket walls. She slipped on an empty can of beans, tossing her knife near Ronnie Anne.

The roamer pulled back her hoodie, almost strangling her, making it impossible to remove the sweater. She tried grabbing the knife, but the more she leaned forward, the stronger the hoodie strangled her. She clenched her teeth as she leaned forward, turning red as her hoodie wrapped around her throat.

A roamer fell on top of Tabby, grabbing at her leather jacket. Lucky for her, the roamer's nails weren't sharp enough to rip through the leather. She grabbed a nearby can and smacked it on the roamer's head.

Ronnie Anne gasped as she moved back closer to the roamer. It growled, chomping its teeth as her head got closer to it. She then placed her hands on the floor and stretched her legs outwards. She stomped on the handle of the knife with her left foot and slid it closer to her back.

She grabbed the knife and tried to reach for its head. However, her arms weren't long enough to hit its skull. She then grabbed the roamers' wrist and began cutting it.

Tabby sat on top of the roamer and smashed its skull with the can over and over. Eventually, the roamer's skull shattered and the can pushed blood out of the wound.

She stood up and looked at her friend. Ronnie Anne sliced the roamer's second hand off and slid away before it had the chance to lunge at her. She turned around and swung the knife down at the roamer.

"Oh my god," gasped Tabby. "Are you alright?"

Bobby and Zach arrived at the aisle with Lincoln, Liam, and Clyde. Ronnie Anne blew a strand of hair out of her face.

"I was going to ask you guys that," she chuckled.

Ronnie Anne handed the knife back to Tabby.

A roar in the road that led to the front gates of Houlton led Luna to aim her scope at the hill outside of the town. She then removed her eye out of the scope and smiled.

"Jace."

The motorcycle moved closer to the gates, catching Lori's attention in the middle of her conversation with Luan, Benny, and Hana. She grabbed her AK-47 from across her chest and ran to the gates.

Buck and Pike ordered Jace to stop before the gates.

"Chill," said Jace. "Don't remember me? I told you dudes I would be back before winter."

"We remember," said George. "Doesn't mean I can't pat you down. Sorry, part of the job."

"You think you're still TSA?"

"FBI. And no, that was before. Before shit hit the fan. Still, better safe than sorry."

"Sorry man, but people can change in a short period of time you never know," said Jason.

Lori walked out of the gates, her eyebrows pointing downwards. Jace smiled and waved at her.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Lori.

"W-What do you mean?" asked Jace. "Does no one remember me?"

"The hell are you talking about?" hissed Lori.

"No, Jace," said George. "SHE doesn't remember you because SHE never met you."

"That's no reason for the aggressiveness– oh wait! You're the– you were missing! You're Lauren?"

"Lori," corrected George. "We never told you her name."

"I did," said Luna. "Lori, that's our friend, Jace. It's a long story, but we'll tell you when we go back inside the fences."

"Not yet he won't," said Lori. "Look, things have changed in the past six months, and I'm the one in charge around here."

"What happened to Dave?" asked Jace.

"It's David," corrected George.

"Long story as well," said Lori.

Luna, Jason, and George pulled Lori behind. Luna turned around and talked to Lori.

"Don't be a party pooper, you can trust this guy," said Luna. "The past six months? He was searchin' for his folks, including his older sister. He was even tryin' to look for you, Leni, Luan, Lucy, Lola, and… Mom and Dad."

"Then, I can go straight to the questions," said Lori.

Luna sighed and turned around. Lori walked towards Jace.

"How many roamers have you killed?" asked Lori.

"These questions again?" groaned Jace.

"Good. You should have no problem answering them."

"About forty now."

"How many people have you killed?"

"None. Same as last time."

"Why?"

"Killing is still bad, last time I checked."

"Care to explain?" asked Lori.

"Woah, that sounds like more than three questions," said George.

"I trust you, Jace. I just want to know if you're useful."

"We don't need to kill people, dude. If we got problems, we'll just leave each other alone. Simple as that."

"How are you still alive?" asked Lori. "Come in."

Jace's lizards crawled to his shoulders. Lori couldn't help but laugh to herself.

"Oh, Lana is going to love you," she said.

"I know, looking forward to see her again."

George, Jason, and Luna walked inside the gates. Jace returned to his motorcycle and walked it inside the town. Lori tried to get ahead of the group, but it seemed as if they knew where to go.

"Sorry if my sis acted like a total hardass," said Luna. "Stuff happened while she was gone."

"It's alright," said Jace. "I'm just glad you were there for me."

Luna smiled. Jace flicked his hair, which reached his jaw. His face beamed with joy as he walked next to Luna.

The group arrived at Jace's home and walked inside. He yawned and lied on his couch, as Lori took a chair from the dining room.

"So, tell me your story," said Lori.

James and three other Houlton civilians walked outside the gates in the woods. They each held hunting rifles and were looking for wild deer, meese, or any other game.

"Alright, Mr. Coleman, show us the way," said James.

"The deer really are here, son. Just gotta be patient."

"Patient. I can do that."

A bullet flew out of the branches of the tree and struck the cap of one of the civilians, spewing his flesh onto the ground. Another civilian was shot on his chest, then his arms, then his neck. Both men fell to the ground.

A bald rogue with shades and a circle beard walked out of the bushes with an FN SCAR. In his uniform, he had two connected silver bars as his insignia and a name tag labeled, MOSS. Next to him was the rogue with the glasses, known by the survivors as Lieutenant Lead.

"Go back home and tell your leader to surrender herself," said Lt. Lead.

"She ain't surrendering to no one," said Mr. Coleman. "'Specially since y'all killed her folks in the–"

Captain Moss shot Mr. Coleman's leg with his SCAR, causing him to drop to his knees. He groaned in agony as Lt. Lead walked towards James. He handed him a note and patted him.

"For the leader's eyes only," he said. "Now, take his ass back to Dr. White and his whore."

Lt. Lead and Capt. Moss returned to the shadows in the woods.James picked up Mr. Coleman and walked back to Houlton.

Jace wrapped up his story, with Lori and Luna being attentive.

"Figured I was gonna do no good finding them with snow all over the road, and then I found myself returning here," said Jace. "That's it. I rambled my damn mouth, right?"

Lori exhaled and blew all the dust out of the table. Jace ate a cookie from a cabinet and offered one to Luna. She politely declined while keeping a gaze at Jace.

"Now, enough about me," he said. "Let's hear a story from you, moonrock. Bet you got plenty of them."

Luna giggled.

"Nah, greaser, I don't got a story to tell. But she does."

Lori crossed her arms. Jace and Luna smiled and looked at her.

"You're not going to hear it," said Lori.

"Hear it? Luan EXPLAINED what happened while she was stuck in that prison and junkyard. Why can't you?"

"You wanna hear it?" asked Jace. "Then yeah, I wanna hear it as well. Your side, Lori?"

"You don't talk too much about it," said George. "Hardly at all."

"Fine…" said Lori. "Maybe if Lynn were here, so I wouldn't have to repeat myself."

"I can get her!" said Luna.

"I can come with her!" said Jace.

Luna smiled and poked his nose.

"Stay. I can get her myself."

"I'm going to get Lisa," said Lori. "Maybe she could figure out what Black's intent–"

Pike busted through the house door. He slammed it shut and walked to the dining room, searching for the leader.

"Lori," he said. "We got a situation."

Lori groaned and stood up. Jace, Luna, Jason, and George followed her out of the house.

Sergei helped James carry Mr. Coleman to the infirmary. They met Lori outside of the building.

"Oh my god," said Lori. "What happened?"

"The soldiers, they did this!" exclaimed James as Pike ran to the wounded man. "They got two others as well!"

"Where are they?"

"In the woods by the hill!"

Lori nodded. Luna, Jason, and George grabbed their weapons while Jace and James followed them unarmed. They ran to the front gates, finding Buck guarding the gates.

"Did you see them?" asked Lori."Nah, but I heard 'em!" said Buck. "We gotta get our defenses ready!"

"On it!"

Lori turned on her walkie-talkie and contacted the usual defenders of the town. Luna ran to the front guard tower on Prison A. Jace followed her.

"Did you see their name tags?" Lori asked James.

"Uh huh. Lead and Moss!"

"Fuck, one of them's a lieutenant of Black. Alright, Buck, stay here and guard this gate! I need to gather everyone together so contact me if you see anything outside!"

"Wait, they told me to give you this!"James handed Lori the note. She opened it up and read the malicious words that tarnished the paper with ink.

'Lori Loud. Surrender now or siege will be laid upon Houlton. Wave the white flag on top of the gates.'

Lori turned on her walkie-talkie.

"Pike! Guard the northwest gate! Luna, scan the east! Becky, keep an eye out for the northern highway! Everyone else, meet up in the center of town! Go ahead, spread the word!"

Luna placed her helmet on while Jace scanned the area with a pair of binoculars.

"Jace, you should really go. I got this."

"Just wanted to wish you good luck, moonrock."

Luna smiled with her eyes and nodded. Jace climbed down the guard tower, following Lori's order to meet up at the center of town.

Lori stood in front of the civilians in the park at the center of town, looking into the frightened and skeptical crowd. She realized that Dr. White, being the other leader of Houlton, couldn't appear due to Mr. Coleman's gunshot wound.

"Everyone, please calm down," reassured Lori. "We'll have the situation handled only with your help. You all hear me?"

Lynn and Vonda met up with Hana, Benny, and Luan.

"Now, I'm gonna be honest with you. I expected an attack like this– we all did. You all trained with guns, learned how to fend off the roamers, and seen what our attackers are capable of."

Dana and Wavehead stood along with Jace, listening to their leader.

"But we– the town of Houlton– are not prepared to defend ourselves against the menace of the rogues. I've been sending our best trained people on a hunt that literally ends up nowhere. It's time to change that."

Sergei, Kotaro, and Ted continued to hear a strong-willed woman younger than half their age.

"Back in Royal Woods– the hometown of the few of you– David created a militia to take down the rogues. It ultimately failed. But not this time around. We will train and we will FIGHT against them!"

Lori found Carol and Leni approaching from the distance.

"I would like to ask you to volunteer to join our militia. It's not for everyone. It is very dangerous… but I see it in your eyes… and some of you already made up your mind."

Lori heard Becky talk in the walkie-talkie.

"Lori, I see a van coming this way! I think– oh, it's just Bobby and the others. That's a relief."

Lori nodded and looked into the crowd again.

"If you're joining… talk to Dr. White or me whenever you see us."

Lori raised her left palm and waved softly before leaving. She headed for the north gate of the town.

Bobby drove Vanzilla closer to the north gates. Becky opened the gates and allowed Bobby to drive inside.

Lori waved while keeping a grave face. Bobby parked the van and exited the vehicle with Lincoln, Clyde, Liam, Zach, Ronnie Anne, and Tabby. They all had small dots of roamer blood on their clothes and large stains on their weapons. Bobby held the top strap to his backpack while he paced his steps slowly towards Lori.

"Sup, babe. Something wrong?"

"Yeah, two of our own were killed just twenty minutes ago. Mr. Coleman was shot, so Dr. White's treating him."

"What? Is everyone else alright?"

"It happened outside the fences."

Lori signaled the children to come closer.

"We don't know for sure when the rogues are gonna attack again or if they're even still out there," said Lori. "But we're working on forming a militia to defend this town."

"Why can't they just leave us alone?" groaned Lincoln. "You don't think they're picking us off one by one, right?"

"Don't know. All I know is we're going after them."

The rogues in the woods walked away from the hill. Moss and Lead gave each other a fist bump as they led their soldiers to their camp.