II - Twelve O' Clock

-Twelve Hours Later-

Rays of sunlight shined through the curtains of Bobby's room. His eyes blinked open softly.

Bobby groaned as lifted his head, feeling his sticky neck drenched in sweat. He took a deep breath before flapping his tank top. He then looked at the watch. His eyes then shot open.

Immediately standing up, Bobby walked over to Ronnie Anne's room, opening the door. However, she wasn't inside. He then walked over to the living room and saw Ronnie Anne sitting on the couch holding a small handheld fan by her face. Her eyes were facing the apartment door.

"Sorry I woke up late," apologized Bobby.

Ronnie Anne's eyes did not budge. She continued to look at the door in front of her.

"I'm going to make something for you."

Ronnie Anne grabbed an empty metal can and placed it on the table.

"I already ate," said Ronnie Anne.

Bobby sighed regretfully and nodded.

"Where'd you get the fan?" asked Bobby.

"Sid's place."

"Oh. I should go there. Get myself a fan."

"This is the only one."

Bobby looked at Ronnie Anne, her eyes still remaining locked to the door. He nodded. He then walked over to the kitchen, leaving his sister alone.

The water in the river displayed one large glint as the sightseeing boat remained docked by a small shipyard.

The captives, however, were not at the shipyard. They were across the road, sitting inside a large house with multiple fans running in the dining room where they were eating. The curtains kept the room dim, but there were a few lamps that provided light to the captives sitting around the dining table.

Doug was upstairs keeping watch on the shipyard.

Bertie was pouring some hot water into cups of ramen noodles.

Gina was sitting by the front door, guarding the entrance.

Andrew was sitting by a radio, clipping his nails while doing so.

John was sitting on a chair away from the dining table, though just close enough to allow him to watch all the captives.

Sherry was in the kitchen, placing a strip of ham on sliced bread.

Lynn glared at John, who was glaring back at her. She then felt Missy pressing her hand on her shoulder.

"Don't stare," whispered Missy. "We don't want to provoke them any further."

Lynn looked at Missy and glared at her too, though unlike John, she looked back at her with compassionate eyes. She then noticed a hint of guilt, knowing that Missy tried everything she could to save the group members in Utica.

Lynn nodded and looked away from John.

Missy then turned to her right and placed her hand on Becky's shoulder.

"You too," she whispered.

"What?" said Becky.

"Stop staring."

Becky moved her shoulder away.

"You're not my mother," said Becky.

Missy gulped, feeling even more guilty about the fact that she could have done more in Albany to save the group members. However, she took her husband's advice, and in turn, allowed her group members to fight the Piranhas without her. Had she fought, she would have saved Tad.

Suddenly, Bertie came into the dining room, placing down bowls of noodles into the table.

Lucy looked inside the bowl and found only a few spoonful of noodles.

"Is this it?" asked Lucy.

"Yeah, we're rationing," said Bertie.

"Why?" asked Vonda.

"We might stay here longer than planned."

Bertie went back into the kitchen to get the remaining bowls.

Vonda looked at John.

"Why are we even here?" she asked.

"There were problems at the Dust Zone," answered John.

"What problems?"

"You don't have to worry about it."

Bertie came in with the rest of the bowls. Next to him was Sherry, holding two plates of sliced sandwiches. She placed the plates in front of Vonda and Lynn. The other group members looked at the sandwiches, noticing the difference in size between their meals.

"Bon appetit," said Sherry.

"What's this?" asked Vonda.

"Ham and cheese sandwich. With mayo."

Vonda poked the bread.

"What, you don't like mayo?"

"It's not spoiled," said Vonda.

"Indeed it's not."

"Fresh food isn't something that's easy to find in this world. I guess I'm just wondering why the bread in front of me is not spoiled."

"It's not spoiled because I just baked the bread."

Vonda leaned closer to the sandwich and smelled it. It did smell very fresh.

"I learned a lot of things when I was in the Coast Guard. This was one of them."

Vonda looked at her mother with curiosity.

"Maybe I can teach you some of these things."

Vonda grabbed the sandwich hesitantly and slowly leaned in to take a bite.

Lynn watched as she left her sandwich untouched. Her stomach was growling, but she didn't trust any of the Piranhas.

Vonda chewed on her bite. Her eyes widened as the fresh flavor of bread washed over her mouth.

"This... this is good," said Vonda.

Lynn looked down at her sandwich. She then sighed and took a large bite out of it.

"Good, huh? Maybe next time I'll make it with eggs," said Sherry. "Need a new farm first."

"What happened to the old one?" asked Vonda.

"It's gone," said Sherry. "No need to worry about it, though."

"Can you at least tell us why we're here and not going to the Dust Zone?"

"You don't have to worry about that either."

"You said you wanted us to catch up... get to know each other again... but how can I get to know you when all you do is keep secrets from me?"

Sherry scoffed and nodded.

"Fuck. You make a good point," said Sherry.

Vonda smirked before taking another bite from her sandwich.

"There was a problem at Diamond Point. It's where we were supposed to meet up with your father originally."

D seemed surprised. Vonda's father was never mentioned to him.

"Diamond Point. I went there a few times with my dad," said Vonda.

"Not just with him," said Sherry. "It was our secret vacation spot. Beautiful lake... pristine boats... free of tourists... but now... it's all gone."

"What happened to it?"

"There are bad people out there. Really bad people."

Sherry looked at the captives.

"You think we're bad people?"

She looked at Benny and smiled.

"You haven't seen anything."

Missy looked at Sherry with an unconvinced expression.

"They call themselves the Barracudas. Heh, everybody wants to be us."

Becky shook her head softly.

"I believe they took over Diamond Point. None of our Piranhas have been responding back on the radio. And recently, our base in Hudson have been hit."

Missy nodded her head softly.

"We also lost contact with our people in the Dust Zone."

John was paying close attention to Sherry.

"So we're just waiting it out here."

"What if my dad's already at the Dust Zone?" asked Vonda. "What if... something happened to him?"

"It's possible. But we have to play it safe. Trust me. You don't ever want to meet the Barracudas. Any of you."

Vonda looked down at her sandwich. She almost finished it, but now suddenly lost her appetite.

"Hey, your father's a survivor. I'm sure he's fine."

"When do leave?" asked Vonda.

Sherry looked around. All the group members were curious too, except Benny, who simply sipped on his soup, uncaring.

-Twelve Hours Later-

The clouds covered the midnight moon, which would have made the farm field darker had it not been for the campfire set up in an empty spot between the dried field and the barn.

David sat on a log, his back facing the fire. He stared out into the darkness.

Sergei was stirring the canned soup around a pot as Lana helped him.

Lily was already asleep on Leni's arms.

Dana and Wavehead were both staring into the flame of the campfire, unable to shake off the images of the warehouse assault.

Darcy sat inside a tractor with Lisa, missing Bobby.

Luan sat alone, worried about Benny.

Luna and Sam sat on the back of Chunk's van, letting their legs hang out from the edge. They were distraught and traumatized, using each other as comfort.

George leaned against the barn, watching Richard pace around.

Carol opened Lori's bandage in her hand and placed it back in.

Lincoln, Clyde, Rusty, and Zach all sat next to each other in pained silence.

Tabby sat alone away from the campfire.

Lincoln stood up and walked over to Tabby. He sat down next to her.

"You don't have to sit here alone," said Lincoln. "You can join us. If you don't want to talk, that's fine. We're not saying much anyways. But... you don't have to suffer alone."

"Who said I wanted to be alone?" asked Tabby, her voice sounding stuffy. "Everyone's been avoiding me. You're the first person to say something to me."

"I guess everyone thought you wanted to be alone. It has been the case with Lynn, Lana, Leni, Lucy, and Ronnie Anne."

"Well, I'm not like any of them."

"I guess not. I'm sorry. We should have said something sooner."

"At least you said something. Though Liam would've reached out to me the moment he noticed something was wrong. It's like he understood me. But..."

Tabby sniffled.

"...something's been bothering me lately. It feels like the past few days... before Liam... you know..."

"Yeah."

"It feels like he didn't want to talk to me much. Like he was keeping his distance from me. He didn't want me on the roof of Ronnie Anne's building with him. He didn't want me joining him on the rescue mission. He didn't want me coming with him to put out the flare. Did he... not like me anymore?"

"Tabby, of course he still liked you. He just didn't want to risk your life."

"But he was fine with risking his own? Did he not think about how I would feel? Maybe he didn't understand me as well as I thought he did. Or maybe... I just don't understand him."

The latter was correct and Lincoln felt guilty about it. He knew what Liam was keeping from Tabby. He knew why Liam was so insistent in being a hero. His family was gone, so he had nothing to lose. But that was wrong. He had Tabby. So why was he so insistent in joining the rescue mission?

Lincoln now felt like he didn't understand Liam either.

George walked over to the log where David was sitting before Lori called out to him.

"Hey, George," said Lori. "You mentioned you were held captive by the Piranhas before, right?"

George nodded.

"How was it like?"

"I'm not sure you'd wanna hear," said George.

"I have to. I can't stop thinking about my sisters."

"Trust me, it's just gonna freak you out."

"I'm already assuming the worst. My mind... it's thinking of everything. Maybe they're being tortured. Maybe they're being... raped. Maybe they're dead already."

George sighed.

"They can't be dead," said George. "Even in the worst case scenario, Sherry wouldn't end her caged victims that fast. If they're locked up, it's for a reason."

George sat down on the log where David was sitting. Some of the group members were listening closely.

"It was a solo mission gone wrong. I thought I had her. I really did. I was so stupid. I ignored my boss's order and went ahead to kill Sherry myself... and ended up getting captured myself. She took me in that cage under her base in Albany. But I wasn't alone. There was a girl- Cassandra. This was a few days before the world went to shit. We were ignorant to the news going on outside. But it already felt like the end for us. You see... Cassandra had HIV. And she was in that cage longer than me. She didn't have it before she was captured. One of the guys must have gave it to her."

Lori looked at George with fear.

"She was...?"

"Yeah," said George. "I wondered why she was kept that in that cage longer than she needed to. A young woman is easy to sell. A young woman with an STD? Much harder. But still doable. But then she told me. She wasn't theirs to sell. She was theirs."

Carol shook her head softly as she felt disgusted from what she heard.

"That was... until she was bitten by a roamer. A roamer that Sherry brought down there. She used Cassandra like a human test subject. And hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second, I watched her go from a scared young woman to one of them- a roamer."

George closed his eyes and shuddered.

"It was going to happen to me... until the FBI raided the warehouse. However, that's when the world ended... and the roamers flooded the warehouse too. I barely made it out with my life. I owe my boss my life... and I would repay her, if Sherry hadn't killed her."

Lori took a deep breath as she continued to fear the worst for her sisters.

"What happened to Cassandra?" asked Lori. "I mean, did she wander off?"

"I killed her," said George. "It's how I found out... that you have to destroy their brain. In a way... I used her as an experiment as well... on how to take down the roamers."

George opened his eyes.

"Sherry did nothing with me. All she made me do is watch. She could have tortured me. She could've experimented on me. I don't know why she hasn't."

David thought about it. However, he had nothing.

"She's just a twisted bitch," said Richard. "She wanted to break you first. She doesn't care who she hurts. That's evil right there."

Lori took a couple deep breaths.

George now felt guilty about telling her, even though he was pressed.

"Lori..." he whispered.

"I'm fine," said Lori. "Just worried about Bobby and Ronnie Anne too."

"We'll see them again," said Carol.

"You know that's not a guarantee."

Tabby stood up and walked over to Lori. Lincoln followed her, confused.

"Why do you want to see Bobby again?" asked Tabby. "Look at what his secrets have done. If we had just avoided Albany, none of this would have happened. Liam would still be alive."

Rusty nodded as Zach and Clyde looked at her worriedly.

"Chunk would still be alive."

Luna and Sam looked up at Tabby with solemn eyes.

"Tad would still be alive."

Dana closed her eyes as Carol looked away from Tabby.

"And we're missing even more of our people. Just how many more of us have to die to rescue them?"

The group members looked at each other.

"Ronnie Anne was right. Bobby was in the wrong to keep his secret from us. And here you are, not even feeling a bit angry towards him!"

Lori stood up.

"That's because I kept it a secret too," said Lori. "So if you want to blame someone, blame me. But don't any of you dare blame him. What- you wanted him to destroy his sister by telling her something she didn't have to know? And excuse him for wanting to go to Albany anyways- his mother's still alive! What do you think they're doing there? He's been nothing but helpful towards you guys! He saved your butt back when the herd attacked us. He fought back against the Piranhas in Utica! It's enough that he blames himself, but now I gotta hear it from you?"

Tabby was on the verge of tears as she tightened her fists.

"Lori..." whispered Carol.

"I risked my life trying to save Liam. And for what? No one forced him to join. He wanted to be a hero. And that's what we're going to recognize him as. But don't you dare try to blame his death on Bobby."

"Lori, I think everyone gets it," said David.

"No, the Piranhas are causing all the problems, yet some of you want to be pointing fingers at us."

"I can't do this," said Tabby.

Tabby turned around and grabbed her backpack.

"I'm leaving this stupid group."

Lori scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Hey, come on, Tabby," said Lincoln.

"Rusty was right. Lori doesn't give a damn about us. Only her family matters to her. She even admitted it. So why the hell should I stay here?"

Rusty stood up and grabbed his backpack.

"Don't leave me behind," said Rusty.

"Bro..." said Zach.

"Kids, get the hell back here," said David. "It's the middle of the night. Don't be stupid."

"Yeah? Well, screw you too, David," said Tabby. "I think I'll take my chances out there. See y'all in Houlton. Assholes."

Lori crossed her arms as Carol sighed.

"You guys can't leave yet, it's too dark out there!" said Lincoln.

"Yeah, well, I can't spend another second with your asshole sister," hissed Tabby. "Never really liked her anyways."

"Ditto," said Rusty.

"Can't we talk about this first?"

"What is there to talk about?" asked Tabby. "I just want to see my parents. You guys are going on a goose chase. It will take you guys forever to find the others."

"You can't see your parents."

"Why the heck not?"

"Because they're not in Houlton!"

The group members all looked at Lincoln.

Tabby was enraged.

"What are you talking about?" growled Tabby.

"I found a logbook way back in Ketcham Park. It has all the names of the people that the rogues took with them. My parents' names are on it. Rusty's dad's name is on it. So is Carol's parents. But not yours. Not Dana's. Not Becky's. Not Tad's, nor Zach's, nor Francisco's, nor Chaz's, nor Liam's!"

Dana gasped as Zach looked down.

"You're lying," said Tabby.

Lincoln walked over to his backpack. He then took out a logbook and handed it to Tabby.

"Liam knew this," said Lincoln. "He kept it a secret from all of you because he thought you'd all wanna leave the group if you guys ever found out."

Tears ran down Tabby's face as she passed the logbook to Rusty.

"Well..." sniffled Tabby. "He was right. Why the hell should I stay here? Everyone's just a bunch of snakes and liars here anyways."

"That can't be the complete logbook, right?" asked Dana.

"It looks complete," said Rusty, looking over the logbook.

"Great. Just what I needed."

"Alright, everyone needs to calm down," said David. "This logbook could mean nothing."

"Could it? I mean, didn't he find it where you found the map of Houlton? Because if the logbook doesn't mean shit, then neither does the map!"

"So we may have just put ourselves in danger for nothing?" asked Zach.

"Everyone, calm down! We need to think this through."

Lincoln looked around as the group members all began to bicker amongst each other.

"Y'all can't leave yet!" said Richard. "We haven't my wife yet!"

"So you don't care about us?" said Zach.

"I'm not leaving without D," said Wavehead. "But once we get him, we out."

"Same," said Dana. "Becky needs to know we're going back to Royal Woods."

"No one is doing anything yet," said David. "You all just need to calm down."

"Yeah. Keep telling everyone to calm down," said a male voice.

David reached for his handgun but then froze as he saw a man holding a spiked mallet against Richard's head.

Richard raised his hands as Tabby and Rusty froze.

The group members all went quiet as they found themselves surrounded by four bandits. One was carrying a chainsaw. One was holding a spiked mallet above Richard's head. One was holding a hatchet.

"You know, you supposed to stay quiet- else the dead ones will hear ya'," said the man behind David, a man with long hair and holding a blood-stained axe. "Could hear ya squabbling over a mile away, like a bunch of chickens. But look at what we found instead. No chickens in this farm, no sir. Just people."

Lori took slow breaths as she looked at the midnight bandits. They were walking around, including the leader with the blood-stained axe. Only the man with the mallet stayed still, in order to keep Richard hostage.

As they walked around, their torn purses and small pink backpacks made noises, as if it were holding metallic objects inside. Lori noticed that the purses and backpacks were stained with blood.

Darcy clutched onto Lisa, who kept the two of them quiet as they hid beneath the windows of the tractor.

"Look at what we have here," said the bandit with the hatchet.

The bandit placed his fingers on Leni's hair and caressed it, licking his lips as he revealed his he rubbed Leni's hair. Leni whimpered softly as Lily remained asleep in her arms.

"Is that yours?"

Leni trembled as she continued to look at Lori. The bandit placed his hand on her shoulder and knelt down.

"Of course she is. She has your beautiful hair."

Lori broke eye contact from Leni and looked at the bandit behind her. She felt a surge of anger in her heart just looking at the bandit creep closer to Leni.

The two other bandits continued to circle around the group with their weapons in hand. One of the bandits stood behind Richard and Carol, with a mallet in his hands. He wore a gray cap and a brown shirt. The other bandit stood behind George and Sergei, holding his chainsaw with his hairy and muscular arms.

"So, what are you guys cooking?" asked the leader of the bandits.

David remained silent.

The hairy and muscular bandit with the chainsaw walked towards Sergei and looked at the pot.

"Looks like soup," said the bandit with the chainsaw.

The campfire crackled, but it began to die.

The bandit with the hatchet looked at his leader. The leader sighed.

"If it's enough to feed all of you, it's enough to feed us," said the leader. "Just to be clear, we are only going to take your stuff. If you try to fight back in any way, we'll kill you all."

"You're not going to harm us?" asked George.

The leader smiled and shook his head.

"No, not at all," said the leader.

"Then tell your friend over there to take his hands off my sister," hissed Lori.

The leader chuckled as he turned towards Lori. He looked towards the bandit behind Leni and nodded. The man with the hatchet released his grip on Leni's shoulder.

"You... have to forgive my friend," said the leader. "We haven't seen a woman in a long time. What's your name?"

"Just take our stuff and go," said David.

"Hey! Shut up! I'm talking to this nice young woman here!"

"It's Lori!" said Lori, her voice trembling.

"Ah. Lori? What a beautiful name. Now, you said that woman over there is your sister?"

Lori looked at Leni and nodded hesitantly.

"That makes that baby your niece, doesn't it?"

Lori turned towards the leader.

"When was the last time you talked to a woman?" she asked.

"It's been a while," said the leader.

"Don't you know... what you're doing is creepy?"

"Huh?"

Carol felt a hand touch her leg, causing her to stiffen immediately as she turned to see who it was. She then saw Richard moving his hand up her leg. She was confused, but eased up as she noticed he was looking at Lori.

"Did you just call me creepy?" asked the leader.

"Yeah. That's what you and your friends are."

"You... you don't know the first thing about me..."

The leader looked at the bandit with the chainsaw and nodded. The man began to burn fuel in his chainsaw.

David looked at Richard and nodded softly.

"Lori," said Richard. "Relax on the asshole. Focus on the one feeling up your sister instead."

"Okay," said Lori.

"Did you just call me an asshole?" asked the leader.

"Now!" yelled Richard.

Richard pulled the knife out of Carol's sheath while shoving her away at the same time. Almost immediately, he turned around and dodged the mallet as it came down. He then shoved the knife into his throat, causing him to drop the hatchet as he coughed out blood.

Lori lunged towards the man with the hatchet with her knife, stabbing him in the shoulder. The man screamed as he dropped his hatchet.

The leader raised his axe and moved towards Lori before David tackled him into the ground.

The man with the chainsaw jogged towards David, though George quickly kicked the back of his leg, causing him to fall forward.

The group members were shouting as they moved away from the campfire. Some pulled out their weapons while others ran towards the safety of the barn.

The creepy bandit tried to grab Lori's face, though Lori kept her hands wrapped around his neck, choking him. However, the bandit was then able to poke one of Lori's eye, causing her to flinch.

David punched the leader in the face with his hard knuckles, cracking his nose open. The leader tried to use his arms to block the punches to no avail.

George tried to get on top of the chainsaw bandit, but the bandit quickly turned around and kicked him away. The bandit then lunged towards George and placed him in a chokehold. George groaned as he felt the bandit's large arms suffocating him.

Lori gasped as the creepy bandit reached for his hatchet. She tried to stand up before feeling a surge of pain rush up her wounded foot. She fell on top of the bandit, causing him to stumble. She then grabbed the hatchet herself, though the bandit's hands were on the handle as well. She began to hit the top of his head with her fists, each blow causing the bandit immense pain.

Carol gasped as the bandit with the knife in his throat tried to reach for her. However, Richard elbowed him in the face, preventing him from touching her even once.

George struggled to release himself from the burly man's grip. Suddenly, the man gasped as Sergei shoved the knife into his lower back. The chainsaw bandit released George as Sergei twisted the knife, causing the bandit to scream in pain.

The leader was gagging in his own blood as his face was broken beyond repair. David then took out his knife and lunged it down to his chest, causing a large spit of blood to come out of the leader.

Lana covered her own eyes as she hid behind the simmering pot. Lincoln then ran up to her and attempted to grab her hand before being frozen at the sight of Lori. Fear grew in his eyes as he saw what his sister was about to do.

Lori grabbed the hatchet as the bandit struggled to pick himself up. She then swung the hatchet down at his head, cutting his skull open. The bandit tried yelling, though the only noise that would come out of him was a pained groan.

"N-No..." groaned the bandit, turning around and raising his hand. "P-Plea-"

Lori swung the hatchet at the man's face over and over. Her heart was pounding against her chest, allowing her smoldering blood to flow throughout her body. The bandit's eyes splattered in the brutal beatdown, his nose slashed apart, and his cheeks torn open. She kept swinging the hatchet, letting out a yell with each swing. Blood sprayed onto her face after each swing. All she could see was red. She then let out a final yell in her final swing, before panting heavily.

Her heart continued to race. She looked at the mangled body in the ground and felt a dissonance in her vision and what was actually there. Almost as if she couldn't believe what she had just done. But her double-vision was not lying to her. Her vision and reality matched up.

Lori stood up, heaving, still holding onto the hatchet. She looked around and saw the group members staring at her.

David was panting heavily, though he wasn't horrified like Lincoln.

George sighed, knowing just how much of Lori's innocence was just taken away.

Leni looked at the bodies in the floor as she approached Lori. She felt like crying.

Dana and Wavehead looked around, keeping their flashlights and pistols up. However, as soon as they noticed no one else was around, they turned their flashlights off.

"God..." groaned Rusty as he looked at the face of the bandit that had the hatchet.

"I'm sorry," said Lori, looking at Leni.

Leni shook her head and hugged Lori, not caring about the blood on her face, shirt, and arms.

"For what?" asked Leni, keeping her arms tightly around Lori.

Lori took a deep breath of relief and hugged Leni back.

Lincoln helped Lana up as the two walked away from the bodies.

Lori continued to hold Leni tight as she closed her eyes. Her tears ran down her cheeks, becoming red as they fell on Leni's shoulders.

Lisa raised her head and saw what the campfire light was revealing.

"Keep your eyes closed, Darcy," said Lisa.

David walked around, looking at the bodies in the ground.

"We have to burn them," said David.

"We're not leaving 'em here?" asked Richard.

"Nah. We're not ruining a perfectly good spot to sleep the night out."

"Gotcha."

Lori released Leni and looked at David.

David gave a small nod.

Lori wiped her tears and nodded back. She looked at the hatchet in her hand and knelt down, wiping it with one of the bandit's shirt.

Tabby was speechless. She stared at the bodies. She then looked away and saw Richard approach her.

"Still wanna leave on your own?" asked Richard, walking past her.

Tabby looked back at him, before realizing just how dark her surroundings were.