II - Dead City

"This way, guys," said Lori, pointing at Building B.

Lynn, Francisco, and Benny stepped ahead. Lynn swung her wooden bat on the face of a zombie, crushing its face and brain. Francisco swung the iron golf club at another zombie, smashing his brains too. Benny swung his katana and sliced another rotter's head. Chaz, in the back of the group, swung his axe on the rotter that was sneaking up to the group. Benny opened the door and let the whole group in.

"That was easier than milking a cow," sighed Liam with relief.

"Yeah, that was surprisingly not difficult," said Ronnie Anne.

"Alright, Chaz, Bobby, Liam, and I will go upstairs to get our supplies," said Lori. "The rest of you, stay here. Liam, you said you and Sophie shared a room with Rusty and Zach's family right?"

"We sure did!" Liam responded.

"Alright, I want you to lead Bobby to your room. You will take whatever you think you and your friends need to survive back in Royal Woods. Bobby will help you out with carrying the supplies."

"Alright, ma'am!" Liam replied.

"Bobby, after you guys are done grabbing his stuff, you guys are going to come back here with the rest of the group. Chaz and I will look for his keys and return to the ground floor too. Got it?" Lori whispered.

"Yes, ma'am," snickered Bobby.

Lori smiled and walked towards Sam.

"Sam, can I borrow your ice pickaxe for a little? I'm not going to carry this gun upstairs. It's a little heavy, and I need to move fast."

"Sure thing, Lori," said Sam, handing over her ice pick while grabbing the AK-47.

Lori's grabbed the ice pickaxe and returned with Chaz, Liam, and Bobby. All four of them headed up the stairs. She turned on the flashlight, and the four of them saw how ashy the stairs looked like. The group looked around the ground floor and found the cafeteria. Some of the members entered the bathrooms.

"My room is on this floor," said Liam.

Bobby gave Lori a quick peck on the lips and careened inside the office room in the 5th floor with Liam. Lori and Chaz ran a little further upstairs and stopped at the 7th floor.

"Here… is… my… room," said Chaz, panting and sweating immensely.

"Okay, Chaz, where are your keys?" Lori asked, sweating a little.

"Just… give… me…. a moment," panted Chaz.

Meanwhile, Liam grabbed two backpacks, one which belonged to him and the other which belonged to Rusty, refusing to carry Rocky and Zach's backpacks due to their small size. Liam handed Rusty's backpack to Bobby. He then started grabbing a couple things for the group, such as Rusty's acne cream, combs for the guys, blankets, and more. Bobby put as much of the supplies as he could fit in his bag.

"If I ain't know any better, I say we just got a rightful amount of stuff. Let's book it," said Liam.

Chaz finally regained his stamina and looked for his keys. Lori paced around the room, moving hee hands through the mattesses, desks, floor in search of supplies that the group might need, but she found nothing. Chaz then grabbed one of his jeans that lay on the floor and checked both pockets. He grabbed the keys that were hiding in the left pocket.

"You found it? You found it!" Lori said.

"Yup. What a pair of sneaky keys."

"We move out?" asked Lori as she walked towards the exit.

Chaz nodded.

They headed down the stairs with the flashlight on, and met up with Bobby and Liam, who had their backpacks stuffed with supplies and personal belongings. They went downstairs and met up with the group.

"All right, let's go! Here you go, Sam," Lori said, handing back the ice pickaxe to her, and grabbing her gun.

"Wait, Lynn is using the ladies' room!" exclaimed Francisco.

"How long has she been there?" Lori asked.

"Umm, about— oh there she is!" replied Francisco before noticing Lynn coming out of the bathroom.

"Sorry, guys. Did I take too long?" Lynn asked bashfully. "No running water... heh, heh..."

"Not at all. Let's go now," said Lori.

The group dashed out of Building B, and headed for Building C. A rotter stumbled towards the group, reaching out its arms, though Luna quickly smacked the arms down with her crowbar before slamming the rotter across its face.

"Gotcha," said Luna.

Lori raised her eyes above her, noticing the gigantic hole in the top of the building, and many shattered windows. The door opened as the group entered the building, and found the cafeteria completely destroyed. There were many lamps and covers for the fluorescent lights scattered across the floor. The red tables were flipped upside down, some sideways with bullet holes in them. There were many bloody corpses on the floor, all of them shot through the head.

Darcy and Lola shrieked, and clung onto Lori's leg. The corpses that were not on the floor, but instead, walking, were the undead, and were slowly walking towards the group. Ronnie Anne and Lincoln stepped up, one with a small pickaxe, and the other with a sledgehammer.

"Don't forget about me, guys!" said Clyde as he stepped up.

Clyde held his golf club so the club faced upwards. He swung it at a zombie. He hit the zombie in the top of its head and smashed its skull. The zombie, slightly stunned, was struck again. This time, its brain poured out of its shattered skull.

Ronnie Anne struck another rotter, thrusting her pickaxe into its skull, and removing it violently, as the rotter fell to the floor.

Lincoln swung his sledgehammer, knocking a rotter down to the floor. He swung it again, this time to the floor, and smashed its head, causing the blood to squirt everywhere. Liam joined and swung his hammer on a crawler on the floor. Clyde swung his golf club again, this time hitting a rotter crawling due to missing legs.

Lincoln turned around.

"We got 'em," he said.

"Good job, guys. And here I was– worried that you guys were gonna be dead weight."

Liam raised his eyebrows in astonishment.

"I'm kidding," chuckled Lori. "Come on, get serious now. Bobby and I are going to take Darcy upstairs. You guys stay down here again."

"Grrr. I'm getting bored of staying in the ground floor," grumbled Lucy. "Oh, how nice it sounds to go back home and return to my secret hiding spot."

"It does, doesn't it? Well, not in a secret hiding spot. But we all do want to come back home. I feel your pain too Lucy."

Lori kneeled down, laying her gun on the floor. She looked at Darcy in the eyes and spoke in a soft tone.

"Do you remember where your room is?" Lori asked.

"Umm. Yeah. It's very close," Darcy said looking up and pointing at the ceiling.

"Okay, Darcy. You can hold my hands as we go upstairs."

"Okay..." Darcy said, avoiding eye contact.

Darcy held Lori's right hand and walked with her upstairs. Lori grabbed her gun and lifted the strap as she put it on, and moved the gun to the left side of her body. She also grabbed the flashlight and held it with her left hand. Bobby walked behind them, holding his Luger. They walked up one flight of stairs when Darcy suddenly tugged on Lori's cargo shorts.

"This is your room?" Lori asked.

"Yeah," replied Darcy.

"Why don't we come inside? While we're in there, can you grab some of your favorite things? We're going back home, but you can't take all of your belongings."

"Okay. Am I going back home to my mommy and daddy?"

Lori and Bobby looked at each other worriedly.

"Nah, not yet, because they are somewhere far away," answered Bobby. "But for now, my girlfriend, Lori, and I will take care of you like your mommy and daddy did."

"They are somewhere far away from this bad place, aren't they? Away from all these scary monsters?"

"Yes, exactly! For now, Lori and I will protect you and make sure those monsters don't get you."

"Okay!" Darcy said, smiling.

She grabbed her stuffed giraffe, Rafo, and her backpack which had a giant cookie inside. Beside the cookie was a rubber cup and extra clothes. Lori looked around the office. She saw a poster of Mick Swagger and a guitar sitting by a wall.

"Wait, Bobby. This is Chunk's room, too."

She looked inside each desk and each pair of clothes. She then lifted up a small mattress and found a pair of car keys. She grabbed it and noticed that Darcy finished packing up her belongings.

"That was… fast. Is there anything else you want to take?" Lori asked Darcy.

Darcy shook her head.

"Are you sure?" Bobby asked.

Darcy nodded her head.

"Okay, then let's go downstairs!" Lori said, smiling.

Bobby and Lori held Darcy's hands as she skipped down the stairs, her purple backpack moving up and down. The three of them met up with the group.

"That was fast!" Lynn said.

"Yeah, we can head to Building D now," said Lori, still holding Darcy's hand.

Benny pushed on the door handle and opened the door for the group to exit. Francisco and Lynn moved ahead of the group and swung their weapons at the rotters rapidly. They cleared a lot of space for the group by killing seven rotters, four killed by Lynn. However, more rotters were coming.

"Incoming!" shouted Tabby.

The group tried to disperse in order to avoid getting caught by the rotters, using their melee weapons to shove them away.

"Stay close to each other, everyone!" urged Lori. "Close!"

The group walked close to each other again, raising their legs above the rotten corpses and fresh bodies on the ground. Lana stepped on a puddle of blood, splashing it onto Lola's heels, sending chills through her arms. Bobby then ran ahead and pulled the door open up, holding it for the group members. The group of survivors ran inside the building as the rotters from the distance joined the rotters surrounding the group.

Suddenly, an arm grabbed Bobby's shoulder and pulled him back. He screamed out in terror as he grabbed the arm and tried to crouch into the ground.

"Bobby!" yelled Lori.

She raised her AK-47 and fired it at the rotter, quickly putting him down. She then grabbed Bobby's hand and dragged him inside the building as the rotters reached out for his shirt. Lincoln then slammed the door shut and locked it. The rotters swung their fists and palms at the door, trying to shove it open.

"Bobby, are you okay?" whispered Lori, kneeling down.

Bobby's breaths were heavy as he turned over and looked at his shoulder. There were still brain matter sitting on top of it, causing him to panic.

"Agh! What is this? What is this?"

"Bobby, calm down!" exclaimed Ronnie Anne. "It's just brain leftovers from the lamebrains out there. You're fine... right?"

Bobby took a deep breath and grabbed Lori's arm, helping himself up. He then pulled down his shirt and looked at his shoulder, finding a lack of marks.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I'm fine."

Lola looked at the slamming doors and walked back, holding onto Lana's arms.

"Uh oh. We definitely have a problem."

"Yeah," sighed Lori. "We'll worry about it in a minute. For now... we need to get Francisco's belongings, Tabby's belongings, and… Carol's belongings."

"Uh oh. We have a muddier problem," said Lana, looking at the rotters coming out of the cafeteria. "There are about a dozen rotters in this place."

Large broken blocks of debris lay on the floor, lights were hanging from the ceiling, dust pouring down the air. The rotters walked around a wall of debris, revealing themselves from the cafeteria.

As Lynn spun her baseball bat, Lana ran ahead and stood before a rotter before jumping and bludgeoning it in the skull with her heavy wrench.

"Damn!" gasped Lynn, feeling a little proud.

Lana got a hold of herself and ran back as the rotters started piling up by the debris wall. Benny moved ahead with his katana, along with Francisco, Lynn, Luna, Sam, Chaz, and Lucy.

"We got this," said Luna.

Luna swung her crowbar at a rotter just as Sam stabbed a rotter in the skull with her ice pickaxe. Lynn whacked two rotters in the head, and Francisco swung his golf club on a rotter that crept up to him. Lucy thrusted her shovel on a rotter without hesitation, and did not flinch at the sight of the rotter falling down, flesh splattering everywhere. Chaz swung his axe on a rotter, and chopped off the head of another. Benny thrusted his katana on the stomach of two rotters that were lined up, like a shish kabob. He quickly removed the katana from their stomach and sliced their heads off. He then thrusted his sword on their brains when he saw that they were still moving.

"That is so gross! I don't even know why I'm here!" Lola exclaimed, moving her face away from the rotters being killed.

Lori examined the blood on the surface of her fingers. She pressed her thumb and index fingers against each other before opening them up– realizing just how sticky the rotten blood was.

"Well," she said, "you gotta learn how to survive in this world, Lola. I believe in your fierceness. Actually, I literally need you to depend on that to help you survive."

Lola looked at her and then at Lana. Lana was nodding her head. Lola sighed and smashed an already dead rotter lying on the floor with her golf club. The blood splattered to her dress, and she frowned angrily.

"All right, listen everyone!" exclaimed Lori. "Lynn, Francisco, and Benny will go to Francisco's room to get anything he needs! Liam, Lincoln, and I will find Tabby's room and get her belongings. The rest of you will stay here. If any of the rotters enter– kill them and do not hesitate to run upstairs. Understand, everyone? We'll be back soon."

The group shouted agreements and words of obedience. Lori turned on the flashlight and went up the stairs with Lynn, Lincoln, Francisco, Liam, and Benny following her. Benny put the katana back into his scabbard, and prepared to move up the stairs.

"My room is in the sixth floor," said Francisco.

"Tabby told me her room was in the seventh floor," Liam said.

"What about Carol?" Lincoln asked as they were moving upstairs.

"What about her?" Lori asked, clearly growing annoyed.

"Aren't we going to get her stuff? Come on, Lori!"

Lori sighed.

"Yes, we're going to get her stuff. What floor is her room?"

"The 17th floor, right below the rooftop."

"Of course. Anything that involves her has to give me HELL!"

Francisco grabbed Lynn's shoulder and smiled at her as they both came to a stop and dashed inside the room. Benny removed the katana from his scabbard.

"Be careful, guys," warned Lori. "Just wait for us in your room until we come back from Carol's and Tabby's room."

Benny nodded and entered the room, standing guard for any rotter, while Lynn and Francisco looked for the latter's belongings.

Lori, Lincoln, and Liam moved up one floor and entered the room. Liam grabbed Tabby's belongings, some which included CDs and a portable CD player. He stuffed them in a backpack and put it on.

"Boy, am I glad that I left my backpack down the bottom with them folks down there," said Liam as they left the room.

Lori, Lincoln, and Liam moved down to the sixth floor and entered Francisco's room.

"Liam," said Lincoln.

"Lincoln."

"Yes, that's me. Look, you're going to stay with Lynn, Francisco, and Benny while we come back. My sister and I will go to Carol's room."

"Alright, lad and lassie! Have fun!" Liam replied.

Lori and Lincoln turned around and placed a foot on the steps, beginning their long and terrifying climb upstairs. Lori shone the flashlight upstairs and found that some pieces of the stairway are missing.

"Maybe it's not the best idea to loot such an unstable building," said Lincoln.

"Alright, let's leave then."

"Lori. Be nice to Carol."

"Fine."

After a few minutes of climbing, they both reached the tenth floor. In the stairwell, a couple stairs were missing, some very close together, making a jump impossible.

"Well, Lincoln. There are two flights of stairs that are missing. And there is a hole in this side of the building."

Lincoln looked out of the hole and saw warehouses five blocks from where they were.

"We cannot retrieve Carol's belongings if we can't climb these stairs. Let's leave, Linc."

"Wait! Not so fast, Lori. Don't forget about the fire escape."

"Ugh. Fine."

Lori walked into the office in the tenth floor with her fists clenched. There were backpacks and mattresses scattered across the floor. She knelt down and reached for a yellow backpack.

"You're not going to take anything from there, right?" asked Lincoln.

"W-Well..."

"I think you shouldn't take anything. That'd be stealing."

"We might need it. It's not stealing if no one's coming back, right?" said Lori, appearing nervous.

"I think it's best to leave every stone unturned. If we're still alive, chances are, others will be too."

"You're right, you're right."

Lori stepped away from the yellow backpack and walked towards a window, which Lincoln opened. He climbed onto the fire escape. Lori turned off her flashlight and put it on her right pocket as she climbed out into the fire escape. She then looked down and swallowed hard.

For minutes after minutes, they climbed six flights of stairs in the fire escape before finally arriving at the top.

"UGH. Lincoln! The window won't budge. And we can't enter through the roof because it is missing! Even the flight of stairs that lead to the roof are missing!"

"Alright, go down the stairs. Not too far, but not too close either. I'm going to swing my sledgehammer on the window and break it."

"Sure. You can try, but I don't think these windows are going to break like that."

Lincoln swung the sledgehammer upwards at the window, and did not shatter it. In fact, he only scratched it.

"Ha! See, I told you Lincoln!"

Lincoln swung it again, but this time more to the center, and he shattered the entire window. Lori's mouth dropped, but she quickly shook her head and just ignored the fact that she was wrong about Lincoln's strength.

They both climbed inside the room and saw the destruction inside. It was not noticeable from the outside, since there were curtains, but now that they were inside, they saw what happened to the room. There were bullet holes everywhere in the room, most noticeably on two corpses.

"Lincoln, close your eyes–"

"I'm not a little kid. I... I can handle it. It's just gross to see."

Upon closer inspection, Lori noticed that they were not Carol's parents. While Lori was distracted, Lincoln swung his sledgehammer on the rotters killing them both, which snapped Lori out of her daze.

"Lori? Is there something wrong?"

Lori kept her eyes closed before blinking them open, wiping the blood off her face. She then looked at Lincoln with angry eyes.

"Oh God, don't tell me I just killed Carol's parents," shuddered Lincoln.

"No, you just got blood all over my face!"

"Oh, sorry. These aren't her parents?"

"No, no. They aren't her parents. It's just a random man and random woman. Or were they so random?"

She noticed a cassette tape, titled 'PARTNER (4/21/90)' lying on the floor. She looked around the room, feeling uneasy as she noticed spots of blood in every piece of furniture. Then, below one of the bodies, she found a small cassette player, the size of her hand. She lifted the man's arm, feeling a chill up her spine, and grabbed the cassette player.

"Lori? What is that?" Lincoln asked.

"I... I think it's a cassette player. I think this can give us an idea of why the soldiers… massacred the adults."

Lori inserted the cassette tape into the recorder and played it. A voice was heard.

"Hellooo, this is Tim Crowley here, with my best buddy here, Gerald Brooker," said the voice in the recorder.

"Hey, dudes. You're gonna love the hell out of his facts and conspiracy theories. This guy is so damn smart," said Brooker.

"Ha, thanks dude. And no I'm not going to do that yet. I'm just going to introduce you, man."

"Me? What do you mean?"

"This tape is just for me. This is actually not going to be heard by anyone else."

"Oh, nice! Well just in case you need a lil' jog in ya' head, future you, 20-year old you knew you were going to crack that Enigma Code."

"Yeah. I already cracked it."

"Dude, really?"

"Yeah."

Laughter was heard through the tape.

"Oh my God. I'm two years older than you and I still can't crack it."

"We're getting off topic here. Anyways, you got a taste of my buddy here. It will be nice reminder—"

"—that's what she said."

"Also, lay off the fatty foods, dude."

"You're really giving your future-self advice?"

"I'm talking to you, Jerry. Bill ain't built like that, so I know it's not the damn genes."

More laughter erupted before the tape ended.

Lori looked around the room and looked back at Lincoln, finding the same surprised reaction that she had on herself.

"That was..." whispered Lincoln.

"...Brooker," said Lori. "There's gotta be more tapes."

Lori frantically looked around for more tapes. She reached for the backpacks as Lincoln shook his head.

"I'm not looting," she said. "I'm just trying to find more of these tapes."

Lori then grabbed another backpack before hearing items clatter with each other inside. Opening it up, she found about a dozen tapes in it.

"Bingo."

She grabbed one of the tapes which was titled 'The Truth about the Safe-Zone (5/29/16)'. It started with Brooker introducing himself and talking about the safe-zone.

"This is from the video we saw yesterday," said Lori. "It's like an audio version."

Lori then paused the cassette recorder and stuck her inside the backpack, grabbing another tape.

"Lori, we can't listen to it all right now. Later— when we're with the group. Right now, we have a job to do."

"You're right. But one thing is bothering me. These people— the ones dead on the floor— they weren't associated with this Tim Crowley guy. A-At least I don't think so. But they were killed because they lived in the same room as him? That's just... wow."

"I guess so. It would explain the bloodbath in this place."

Lori looked down in shame as she realized how close to death Carol was. Luckily, she was already downstairs when these people were killed, Lori thought to herself.

"Where's Tim Crowley then? How does he even look like…" Lori asked before noticing a photo in the backpack.

It was a photo of a Filipino man with natural male bangs. He was wearing a green polo shirt and gray jeans. He was carrying a small girl, about three years old, in his back. The little girl had red-orange hair, and was smiling. In the background, there was a castle that Lori has seen so many times in the internet, but has not seen in real life. It was the Cinderella Castle of the famous Disney World in Florida. There were many people walking by and the sky was perfectly clear. On the back of the photo, it said, 'VACATION WITH VONDA' with bright blue letters. She then read the date imprinted in the left side of the photo. It was very faint, but she was able to make it out: 10/14/06.

"Look, Lincoln. This photo was taken ten years ago. What do you think happened to… I'm assuming this is his daughter… Vonda? She's Lynn's age right now. She should've been noticeable in the bunker with her bright red-orange hair."

"I don't know. She probably didn't come. She might've been Tim's niece. It's best not to think about it. We gotta go down now."

"No, what if she can help us figure out everything that Tim has been saying? What if she knows why the soldiers killed all the adults? And to think about it, how come we haven't seen all of the parents? What if they're still alive and the soldiers took them somewhere? We gotta hear the tapes!"

"Lori! Calm down. Take a deep breath. I told you, you can hear them when we're back in Vanzilla. For now we gotta get Carol's stuff and then return to the group to go to our building. Understand?"

Lori nodded her head and placed the photo back into the backpack. She carried the surprisingly light backpack and searched around the room once more, feeling herself getting more uneasy.

She opened up a drawer and found rows of purple button shirts, white blouses, tan skirts, and purple socks.

"Is this all she wears?" asked Lori.

"I mean— don't we all wear the same clothes every day?" asked Lincoln.

She grabbed some of Carol's clothes and stuffed it into Tim's backpack, which she now has taken ownership of. Lincoln grabbed Carol's cobalt blue backpack and found a polaroid camera inside and a hairbrush. He then grabbed her blankets, feeling a radiating softness to them, before turning around slowly, watching Lori put some of the clothes into Tim's backpack. He then faced the blankets again and leaned close to it, pausing for a little before placing his nose against it.

"What are you doing?" asked Lori.

Lincoln quickly lowered the blanket and turned around, his face flushing.

"I... uh... it felt soft."

"Were you smelling it?"

"I w-wasn't—"

"You were smelling it! I heard you, you perv!"

"What? It smelled good! It's not like I was smelling her underwear or something!"

"Still? How could it smell good? Do you see perfume anywhere?"

Lincoln pointed at the pillow at the end of the mattress. Lori walked over to it and grabbed it, spraying a little bit of it into her wrists.

"Well... it does smell good..."

"Let's just go," said Lincoln. "We can return to the group and head to Building A."

"Alright. You head outside first. I'll follow."

Lincoln walked towards the window as Lori quickly stuffed the perfume into Tim's backpack. She then followed Lincoln as they both climbed out of the window, where they saw smoke. This time however, the smoke was not coming from faraway cities and towns, but rather nearby.

They climbed down the fire escape down to the tenth floor. where Lincoln and Lori entered the room and exited it quickly, for they only had a half hour left before the people left behind in Vanzilla start to worry.

"Sorry, we're a little late. We ran into some… strange obstacles," apologized Lori to Liam, Benny, Lynn, and Francisco.

"It's alright, lassie. As long as you fellers are back, there's nothing to worry about," replied Liam.

"Let's regroup with the others."

"What's taking so long?" groaned Lynn.

"It is a lot of stairs to climb up," said Luan.

"I don't know about you dudes, but I have a bad vibe about this," said Luna.

"Maybe they fell to their impending doom," said Lucy. "Or perhaps they are tired from all the running we did."

"Uhhhh, dudes? What do you think we should do?"

"We stay put," said Bobby. "Don't worry, guys. I trust Lori and her leadership. When she says she will be back, she'll be back. We don't do anything yet. We trust her first."

"What if they don't come back in the next few minutes?" Luna asked.

"Then… I guess we go upstairs and look for them. You know what, why wait? You're right. I can't hide it anymore! I'm worried sick about them!"

"Guys! I think the door is about to give out!" Chaz yelled.

And sure enough, it did. After the door collapsed, Chaz threw his axe at the rotter that knocked down the door. The axe missed and hit the wall. One rotter, two rotters, four rotters, and more flooded inside the building. Luna and Sam came to the group's defense and started smashing zombie brains. However, there were a lot more rotters flooding in, too many for Luna and Sam to handle.

Chaz darted off to the stairwell as well as Lola and Lana, as the group all yelled. Bobby ran to Luna and Sam and grabbed their shoulders, telling them to follow him. Ronnie Anne and Clyde ran with Bobby along with Darcy too. Luan ran to Lucy who was fighting off the rotters with her shovel by the corner of the building, next to a dying fern.

"Lucy! Lucy! Stop! We gotta get out! Lucy! Can you hear me?!"

Luan shrieked when two zombies closed in on her, attempting to grab her. She grabbed Lucy's hand and attempted to escape through the stairwell. However, she realized that they were trapped, and Lucy had a few dozen zombies to fight off in order to clear an entrance for them.

"Oh no!" gasped Luan before screaming. "HELP! HELP! SOMEONE, PLEASE!"

Lucy grabbed a nearby table and flipped it sideways facing the small herd of rotters. She then thrusted her shovel as quickly as she can, picking off the rotters that were getting too close. This proved to be too much for Lucy to handle, and the rotters began to climb over the table. For the first time ever, Lucy was frightened, not by the rotters, but instead for Luan.

Suddenly, they saw Benny slice his way to the corner. The rotters were barely given any time to turn around before their bodies dropped to the floor, blood flowing out of their heads.

After clearing out a large portion of the group of rotters, Benny grabbed Luan's hand, who grabbed Lucy's hand. The girls leaped over the table before sprinting towards the stairs and upwards. The other rotters then followed them to the stairs, though they had difficulty getting upstairs.

Benny faced the girls.

"Are you okay? Did they scratch you, bite you, anything?"

"No, we're fine," sighed Lucy, not out of despair, but out of relief.

Luan was still catching her breath. She was sweating intensely, which showed as her protruding hairs were drooping downwards.

"Luan!" exclaimed Benny. "Did anything happen to you? Please tell me you didn't get bit!"

"I… didn't… get… bit," panted Luan. "I'm just… catching my breath… whew!"

Benny sighed in relief. He looked down the stairs and saw the rotters filling up the floor, pushing against each other, rubbing pieces of their own flesh against the walls as more and more overwhelmed the small stairwell. He then looked inside the first room and walked inside.

"Over here," he said. "Get in."

Lori looked at Benny, Luan, and Lucy, breathing a sigh of relief before moving her eyes back to the rest of the group.

"We gotta escape through the fire escape again? I don't want to walk around the city again!" Lola complained.

"No, Lola! That was only for Building A! This one leads us to an alleyway pointing towards the alleyway we escaped through earlier!" Lincoln said.

"Alright, let's drop by Building A and quickly grab our last belongings!" said Lori. "Then, we loot the warehouses. Finally, we escape this city and head back to Royal Woods!"

Lori and Lincoln careened to the fire escape, while the rest of the group followed. After climbing through the window, they quickly made their way downstairs while the rotters were still inside the building. Each of them jumped down to the alleyway, finding a straight path to Building A.

"Go, go, go!" Lori whispered loudly.

The group ran ahead. The streets were clear for the time being, so it was very easy for the group to make their way inside.

After, the last group members made their way inside, Benny locked the doors and walked straight to the stairways, ignoring the remains of the bloody massacre that happened the day earlier.

"Benny, slow down!" Lori ordered.

Benny stopped at the stairways and put his katana back into his scabbard. He sat down in one of the stairs and held his head with his hands.

"Alright, everyone is going upstairs."

Some members of the group groaned.

"No ifs and buts," said Lori. "Francisco, you go with Sam to her room. Chaz and Liam, you are going with Benny to his room to help him grab his stuff. The rest of us are going upstairs to the 14th floor. Sam, what floor is your room at?"

"The seventh floor," replied Sam.

"Benny, what floor is your room at?" Lori asked.

"The second floor," replied Benny with his eyes closed.

"Alright, those who are going with Sam and Benny are going to stay in their rooms until we come back downstairs to retrieve you guys. Remember, there is only one flashlight to go around with."

Benny stood up and climbed up the stairs. The group lifted their foot and stepped on every single step. Chaz, Liam, and Benny stopped after climbing two flights of stairs. They darted inside the room.

"Alright, I want you guys to grab my father's backpack and put the blankets in there," said Benny as he grabbed some of his clothing and stuffed them in his backpack.

"Yes sir!" Liam and Chaz said in unison.

"What's with the—"

A Fizz soda can then spurted all over him.

"Oh crap! My pop! Damn it!"

The soda can remained open as fizz splashed everywhere in his shirt and started dripping to the floor. Benny took a sip and set the soda down.

"Dudes. Can you look away? I gotta put on a new shirt," said Benny sheeply.

Meanwhile, the group arrived at the seventh floor where Francisco and Sam stopped. They opened the entrance to the office room as they stepped inside. Sam then felt her heart drop as Francisco grabbed her arms and pulled her back, causing her to fall back on her sides while her legs hung above the missing floor. Her wide eyes stared at a piece of rubble falling down to fifth floor to the tilted floors. Then, the rubble piece rolled down to the edge before sliding off the building, hitting one of the rotters in the head.

"Y-You almost—" stammered Luna.

"I... I know," sighed Sam. "M-My stuff..."

The group looked inside the room only to see outside the building. The room only had a few meters of flooring left at the entrance of the room. The ceiling was missing and the floor was missing as well.

"Did ya' lose anything important?" Luna asked while helping Sam to her feet.

"No, it's okay, I really didn't have anything important with me besides my guitar. All my belongings are still in Royal Woods."

The breeze blew softly on Sam's face as she stared at the city intensely. The rotters were wandering around in the city. Then, she got a closer look at the neighboring buildings where the rotters were coming out into the sunlight to wander the streets of Detroit.

She sighed and went back with the group. They continued their climb upstairs to the 14th floor.

"Huh. That was fast," said Lynn breathing quickly.

The others were sweating intensely. Heat was trapped in the stairwell, draining their energy.

"Yeah... fast... for you!" groaned Lincoln.

They entered the room, a fresh gust of air hitting their overheated bodies. They walked inside and noticed that the windows were shattered.

"Grab your stuff and wait until everyone is done," ordered Lori. "Sam, Francisco, and Darcy. You guys can just relax and cool down."

Everyone packed up their clothes, blankets, and towels and at least one item that meant something special to them.

"What are those?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"Ace Savvy comics to pass the time," said Lincoln.

"Don't forget about the comics featuring One-Eyed Jack!" Clyde added.

"Ugh. You guys are nerds," said Ronnie Anne as she stuffed her favorite sweater inside her backpack.

"I know, right? Honestly, Lincoln and Clyde, I don't see how you guys read those things," said Lynn as she stuffed a jock strap inside her backpack.

"Hey, don't be so mean on the bros. I'm sure reading comics is fun!" Bobby said while putting a blue hat inside his backpack.

"If it is so fun, then why don't you try reading some comics?" Lori giggled, as she stuffed her phone on her backpack and a hairbrush in Leni's backpack.

"I might! Chaz reads Ace Savvy, doesn't he? And I just remembered— Becky and Joey do too!"

"Comics make me hurl!" Lola said as she put a tiara in her small backpack.

"Mmm. Hurl," said Lana as she stuffed her lucky booger inside her bag.

"Why not read poetry instead? My poems specifically," suggested Lucy, showing off her poetry book before she slid it carefully inside her backpack.

"Comics are bad, but poems are verse! Hahaha! Get it?" laughed Luan while putting notebook filled with jokes inside her backpack.

Lucy stared at Luan with a deadpan expression.

"Ha, ha. Ha. Uh, Lucy, I'm only joking, heh."

"Better be... clown."

"I agree with Bobby. I mean, come on! Comics can't be that terrible," said Luna, carrying her acoustic guitar and Lisa's backpack.

"Thank you, Luna. I think we're all done," said Lincoln.

"Indeed we are. It's time to head to the warehouses," said Lori, peeking outside the window to find a military vehicle, then taking out Carol's camera. "Wait. Just one more thing."

Lori placed the viewfinder of Carol's Polaroid Land Camera 1000 close to her eye and pointed the camera at the faraway distance, covering most of the city. She snapped a picture of the city and grabbed the photo. She stuffed it on her pocket quickly and stuffed the camera in Carol's backpack.

"Sam, can you carry this?" Lori asked, holding Carol's backpack.

"Sure thing," replied Sam, grabbing Carol's backpack.

"And Francisco, can you do me a favor and carry Leni's backpack?" Lori asked.

"Yeah," replied Francisco, grabbing Leni's backpack. "Kinda light..."

"So is no one going to ask where Lori got that camera?" Lana blurted out.

"Or why she took a random picture at a random time?" Lola added.

"I've seen that camera somewhere before," said Bobby.

"Oh, you did?" scoffed Lori. "Tell me more about it in the van."

After a few minutes, the group walked downstairs. Lori turned on the flashlight and pointed at the ceiling. The flashlight was very strong, so even though Lori was not pointing it ahead, the light was strong enough to light the way and hurt the eyes of some of the people behind her. They walked downstairs quickly, trying to escape the heat.

"There you guys are," said Chaz. "We're heading to the warehouses now?"

"Yes. I have a plan," said Lori. "But let's leave the stairwells first. I'm literally dying here."

"Hmm, are they back yet?" Leni asked.

"Negative. They claimed they shouldn't take more than an hour, and it's only been 52 minutes and 9 seconds. I suggest being patient," responded Lisa.

"Being patient? Are we going to the doctor's?" Leni asked.

"What?" Carol asked with a confused look.

"Don't ask. Just don't," Lisa said.

"Wow, Benny what a nice shirt. I thought you wore nothing else other than button shirts," giggled Luan.

Benny smiled and looked once again at his gray t-shirt with white stripes on the shoulder-level part of his shirt.

"Eh, I spilled some pop on the other shirt," said Benny. "Kinda had to wear this."

"Okay, so here is the plan," said Lori. "Bobby, Darcy, Ronnie Anne, and I are going on one of the military vehicle— a properly working one. The rest of you are going to follow Benny's lead to the warehouse, grab whatever you think is necessary, and stuff it in the vehicle. Whenever you guys are done, you will— once again— follow Benny's lead back to Vanzilla, where we will meet you guys. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am!" everyone replied.

"Ugh, how pretentious. Just go."