Hey, there! Mr. Potassium here. Biweekly publishing turned into monthly ones, which is something I really don't like. I would like to get these chapters out fast, but well… life can make you busy! Anyways, here is an extended chapter that I will now write once every volume! Extended chapters are chapters with 25k words as opposed to the regular ones, where they are simply 15k words. Extended chapters also have parts that extend from I - VI, as opposed to I - IV in regular chapters. Next extended chapter is Chapter 33, so I should be able to publish the next couple chapters faster than usual. Just something to be aware of!

Also another thing I want to address are OCs. I know this is obvious to all you readers, but the guy who last left a review really didn't know. How? Idk, but it's fine. I just want to state that David Jones is an OC, and is not the same David from TLH (Lisa's crush). Missy is also an OC. As well as many other characters in the story. But just in case you don't know what an OC is, it means original character.

Well, here it is! The White House will be featured as the main setting, so in order to better visualize the interior rooms, I recommend using whitehousemuseum dot org. Also, there are some songs featured in the story, so to enhance your experience, I recommend using an app like Soundcloud to play them as you read (some of you may have done this already, but I just felt like telling you all).

Anyways, that's all I needed to say. Enjoy!

-Day 6-

As the rotor blades spun on the wings of the gunship, the jet engine roared across the night sky. The gunship circled around Washington D.C. raining down fire and destruction as part of a wide-scale invasion of the capital. Buildings across the capital were burning in flames. Smoke hovered in the air. Bullets were fired across roads. Missiles were fired into the sky. Flares were set off by aircraft. Artillery and mortar rounds blew structures into rubble.

A middle-aged woman with light curly hair hiding behind her van scribbled on her notepad, jotting down her observations. Blown mailboxes and abandoned cars filled the street. She grabbed her microphone and looked up.

"Hey," she called out. "Hey! Moose!"

A bald man with a brown horseshoe mustache and an anchor tattoo turned around, placing down his large camera.

"What?" he answered.

"What are you doing? Our job isn't over!"

"Our job isn't–? Look around! It ain't safe out here!"

"Journalism isn't safe at times, you know. It's just riskier today."

The reporter crawled to the front of her van and looked ahead, finding the luminous White House glowing in the distance.

"This is more than risky," said Moose. "There's a damn war out there! Let's just follow the soldiers over there. They're goin' somewhere safe."

"We're here because we take risks more than anyone back in Michigan. That Mulligan bitch will never head straight to danger like I do."

"Because she's not tryna' die!"

The reporter shook her head and motioned her cameraman to follow her as she crossed the street.

"Where are you– Nora!" called out Moose.

The reporter held her notepad close to her chest until a shout stopped her in her tracks.

"Don't move!" yelled an enemy soldier.

Nora stared at the enemy soldier in black camo holding a G36 with a laser sight in his hands. She shivered as she looked at Moose, who raised his hands as another enemy soldier held him at gunpoint. A trio of enemy soldiers walked from the intersection, aiming their guns at the two civilians.

"I need you to get on your knees, lady!"

"I know who you people are," said Nora, shivering softly. "KHA Nationalists. The suspects in the nuclear explosion from yesterday in New York, right?"

"Shut up and on your knees!"

"Modern day terrorists. Heard about your leader's manifesto."

The laser moved between Nora's eyes as she looked into the invader's eyes. She opened up her arms and continued to hold her notepad.

"Tango on the left!" shouted a soldier from behind the enemy soldiers.

Rounds of gunfire were fired at the enemy soldiers, killing all five in the area. Nora flinched and walked back as she rubbed her finger against her pencil skirt, feeling the damp blood.

"Hey, you alright, ma'am?" called out a soldier.

Nora looked up as Moose walked over to her.

"Sorry we went kinetic on 'em," said the soldier. "They had guns on you. They weren't one of us."

"It's fine," said Nora. "Thank you…"

"Sergeant Hernandez. It ain't safe for you two out here. Why don't my men and I take you somewhere safe? There's a hospital less than a klick away from here."

Nora nodded.

"Okay. So am I like… embedded to you guys?"

The cannon from the gunship fired near the White House, tossing a large ball of fire and dirt into the air. The soldiers remained low behind cover.

"How the hell did they get an AC-130?" yelled one of the soldiers.

Sgt. Hernandez turned around and motioned his men to follow him. He then looked at Nora and Moose.

"We gotta go now. C'mon, journalist. We gotta keep you safe."

"I'm with her too," said Moose. "Though, I'm no journalist…"

The blades of a smoking Apache spun around as it hovered above the Watergate Complex. The helicopter fired a few missiles near the entrance, killing a couple soldiers in black with the KHAN flag patch.

"Shit, what do we do, Sergeant? Lang ain't respondin'," said one of the enemy soldiers.

The sergeant, who went by 'TEPPER' in his name tape, remained crouched and placed his finger over his mouth, hushing the soldiers.

"Just… be… patient…" said Tepper.

Suddenly, a missile struck the helicopter, blowing it up into flames as it spun down uncontrollably. The building that the soldiers were in shook.

"Nice one, Lang," said Tepper as he pressed against his earpiece. "Meet up at the rendezvous now."

Tepper turned to his squadmates, Corporal Schultz, Specialist Ilona, Private Farber, and the frightened Private Perkins. He motioned them to move out of the Watergate Complex.

Flares sparked across the sky as the tail rotor of a Hind, belonging to the Nationalists, was set ablaze, before it crash-landed near the Capitol Building. Mines went off in the distance as other Nationalists moved closer to the White House. More buildings were set ablaze, and more roads were being bombed by jets, mortar, and artillery. The Nationalists kept on moving ahead towards a nearby hospital.

Inside the hospital, Nora took out her notepad and began to talk to the injured soldiers. Sergeant Hernandez talked to a medic, Staff Sergeant Lenus.

"Listen, doc," sighed Hernandez. "I know that we're running low on medicine. But more of our guys are out there, getting their six handed to them, and we gotta help 'em out here!"

"You bring them in, there'd be nothing to help them with," said Lenus. "I need you to stay here and protect these soldiers, or else we're fucked!"

"Contact! Front!" yelled one of the soldiers through Hernandez's earpiece. "Sir, they're flooding in! Sir, help us! Help–!"

"Shit," muttered Hernandez. "I need all able-bodied men in the front doors! Now! Doc, keep these people safe."

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Nora.

"I gotta defend you people. Stay put!"

Gunshots roared near the front entrance. Hernandez ran to the main hall of the emergency room where he saw doctors and nurses running for their lives. Roamers wandered the halls as Hernandez fired his rifle at the dead. The bullets struck their heads, knocking them dead to the ground. Then, the Nationalists popped out of hiding and fired at the U.S. soldiers. Hernandez crouched and shot one of the Nationalist soldiers in his jaw. Farber dropped dead.

"Flashbang!" yelled one of the soldiers.

The flashbang blinded Hernandez as he ducked to the ground. He groaned as a few bullets struck his chest. The lights in the hospital flickered as Hernandez struggled to get his vision back. In the blurriness of his vision, he was able to see the barrel of a rifle. Tepper aimed the laser of his FN FAL between Hernandez's eyes and pulled the trigger.

"Sounds like they're comin' closer," said Moose.

"That's because they are," said Lenus, walking up to the door.

Perkins was on the other side of the door, kicking it open, when Lenus tackled him back against a wall. Perkins shoved him away and aimed his pistol at Lenus before the medic smacked the gun away, the bullet hitting the floor below him. The medic knuckle-punched Perkins's neck, causing him to release the pistol, which Lenus grabbed. Lenus quickly aimed the pistol at Perkins's body and fired off a couple shots.

Nora and Moose gasped in surprise as Lenus stood up, looking down at the dying body. He then turned to his left and was immediately shot in the head by Tepper, turning Nora and Moose's gasps into shocked ones as he fell to the floor. Tepper and other Nationalist soldiers revealed themselves as they walked inside the room. Illona knelt down to feel Perkins's pulse.

"Is there anyone in this room who can help Perkins?" asked Tepper, holding his rifle.

Nora stood up, gulping as she held her notepad.

"No one's helping that son of a bitch," she said.

"His pulse is gone," said Illona. "Perkins's dead."

Tepper gulped and sniffled as he licked his lips. He then raised his rifle and shot his gun at every injured soldier in their beds, as Nora screamed in protest.

"If it were up to me, you'd be dead on the floor," said Tepper, sniffling. "But it's against my orders to execute someone like you. Consider yourself unlucky. These people are going to eat you soon."

Tepper and the other Nationalists left the room, leaving Nora standing alone in the room, with Moose kneeling down in shock. She covered her mouth as she dropped to her knees, placing her hands over one of the soldiers. She tossed away her notepad and cried on the dead soldier's chest.

Chapter 26: Anarchy

I - Washington

-Present Day-

A white pupil clouded by the outer golden shell– its eyeball– contracted as the roamer softly limped around. Saliva dripped from the end of each individual tooth, sometimes sticking to the other parts of its teeth and gum. The roamer's lips were absent. Its facial tissues were gray and was decayed as stains of blood and dirt marked the skin.

The roamer dragged its feet on top of a cracked road, rolling and stepping on tiny pebbles. It continued to limp parallel to a line of barbed wire. It passed decayed corpses with uniforms, some with an American flag patch on its sleeve, and others a flag patch of the only nation standing.

The overcast sky and the burnt buildings and the rubble didn't bother the roamer. Not one bit. It only wanted something or someone to eat. The pupils looked around. And something caught its attention. The yell of an attacker.

A hatchet hacked through the roamer's face, between the eyes. Blood seeped out of the blade as Lori pulled it out of its skull. She held her hatchet next to her cargo shorts where the holster for her Colt Python was attached to. She placed her hatchet in between her belt and shorts, and grabbed a couple bullets from a pocket on her cargo vest that covered her blue T-shirt. As the wind blew her shoulder-length golden hair, Lori loaded the bullets into the chambers of the revolver and walked behind her fiancé.

"Good formation, guys," she said.

Bobby clenched his teeth as he swung his machete on the roamer in front of him. He removed his machete and held it up next to his white tank top. Blood dripped past his green flannel shirt tied around his waist where the holster for his Glock 17 was located, his blue jeans, and brown sneakers. He unclenched his teeth and sighed, moving his oily hair further back behind his ears.

"I think there's more coming," he warned.

Carol placed her back against Lori's as she stepped backwards with her purple sneakers, holding a trench knife with a knuckle guard on one hand and an LCR-22 on the other. Two holsters were attached to her skinny khaki pants. Her golden hair, which reached the lower back of her dark purple tank top, was tied into a rope braid. She watched a couple roamers stumble towards the group.

"Some coming from the back too," she said.

Becky stood alongside with Lori and Carol, holding a machete and a Glock 17, while her ACE-23 remained behind her back, the strap running across her chest of her dark green tank top. A roamer crawled towards her, struggling to reach her black jeans before she stomped her with brown boots.

"We got this," she grinned.

Hana walked along the overgrown sidewalk, holding her sword out. Her black bra was partially revealed by her white open-side shirt. Strings of cobweb touched her skin not covered by her gray sweat shorts, and dirt stained the sole of her white shoes and parts of her black trouser socks. Her black hair was tied in a spiky down-ponytail and flicked around as she looked ahead at the bombed road and back at her group.

Luan and Benny walked past an M1 Abrams tank with pierced wheels and dented armor. Luan walked in front while Benny remained behind her, his back against hers, his buttoned T-shirt against her white shirt, which had an image of a colon and right parenthesis sign, and his blue skinny jeans against her yellow skirt with a pink belt. His white sneakers moved forward and her brown combat moved back. A roamer in a U.S. military uniform crushed on its back reached its arms out, until Benny stabbed it with his katana. Another roamer came from under the tank, which Luan took out with her katana as her flower necklace and ponytail swung around.

"Got it," she said.

Benny nodded and continued to follow the group. They came across electrical cables blocking the road, along with utility poles down in the ground, some on top of cars. Ahead was the wreckage of a Hind.

Luna and Sam, holding each other's hands, peered through the group members before looking back at the approaching roamers. One held her crowbar and the other her ice axe. Bandages covered Sam's determined face and prepared hands and Luna's ready leg. Sam's white shirt and deep burgundy jeans covered her bruises just as Luna's purple flannel shirt above her purple sleeveless top and leather pants did. Their boots stepped on puddles of blood as they tapped their other group mates.

"Dudes, the biters are comin'!" exclaimed Luna.

"It's too dangerous to cross the cables, isn't it?" asked Sam.

Kotaro nodded as he walked away from the electric cables, grabbing his Remington 700. He flicked his hair to the side of his face, revealing the stitches under his eyes, and pulled his open buttoned-shirt with rolled up sleeves and walked towards a roamer wearing a green uniform. He smacked it with the butt of his gun, knocking it to the ground where he slammed its skull against the pavement, splattering its blood on his jeans and black sneakers.

"A whole lotta army guys," he said. "What happened here?"

David looked closely at a roamer in green, finding gunshot wounds on its leg. He looked at a crawling roamer then a roamer with partially hacked feet. He rubbed his hands over his stubble as he grabbed his Remington Model 870. His M16A4, which belonged to Reggie, hung from the back of his navy blue shirt while his M9 pistol remained in a holster in a black belt above gray cargo pants. He kicked the closest roamers in the legs with his black military boots, knocking it to the ground. He then slammed the butt of the shotgun on the roamer's skull.

"These are the slow ones," he warned. "There are more coming. Get your guns out when they do."

Jeffrey stayed back near the electric cable as the group remained in circle formation. He held a small switchblade in his left hand where his watch was, and rubbed his other hand against his blue jeans, wiping the sweat off his palm. He then fixed the collar of his blue button shirt with rolled up sleeves as he watched the group melee the roamers. His lips quivered along with his stubble as he looked back.

"You all, there's more roamers coming!" he called out. "They're running!"

Preston lunged his pocket knife into a roamer's eyes as sweat formed in his green shirt with rolled up sleeves. Splatters of dark blood stained his striped shorts and sneakers as he continued slicing the roamers. He then looked back and found the approaching roamers.

"Stay back, Uncle Jeff!" he exclaimed.

Jeffrey moved closer to the center of the circle where Luna and Sam were. Jace held two butterfly knives up, wiping the sweat on his hair that hung above his blue headband. The sleeves for his flannel shirt were rolled up as he held his arms up and his blue skinny jeans, which held a Px4 in its pockets, were clean from blood. But his skate shoes moved back. And he found himself back with Jeffrey, Luna, and Sam.

"Will electricity hurt the roamers?" he asked, wiping his growing mustache.

An arrow flew across the cables, killing a running roamer next to the Hind. Jace turned towards Lynn, who pulled an arrow on a string back with her red recurve bow. The arrow was next to her bruised and cut face, with a couple bandages here and there. Her fresh basketball jersey showed off her toned arms while covering the top part of her running shorts with capri leggings underneath it. Her red running shoes allowed her to bounce around the group formation before stopping near the electric cables. She released the arrow, flying against the breeze blowing her longer ponytail back. She smirked as the arrow hit another roamer.

"As long as I keep hitting these morons, we won't find out," she snarked.

Next to her was Vonda, her red-orange hair glowing in a low side ponytail that sat on top of her sleeveless V-neck top. She wore skinny jeans and brown hiking shoes. Her homemade archery gloves made it more comfortable for her to shoot her arrows at the runners ahead of her.

"Yeah, they're still getting closer!" exclaimed Vonda.

One of the runners got caught by the electric cables and tripped, as it flailed its arms at George. He thrust the stock of his Mossberg 590 pump shotgun into the back of the runner's skull, breaking it, before slamming it again, splattering the brain. He wiped chunks of flesh off his gray shirt and jeans before shaking his wavy hair that covered his ears and his back neck. His Glock 19 remained inside his holster, not being needed as he aimed his shotgun at another roamer getting tangled in the cables.

"Looks like they can't be electrocuted," he remarked. "We gotta use our guns."

As he fired his shotgun at the approaching roamers, Ronnie Anne loaded her bolts into a crossbow and moved away from the electric cables, making her way to the other side where runners began to pass by the M1 Abrams tank as they approached the group. Her longer ponytail slowly moved towards her face as the breeze caused her crossbow to rock slightly. The wind also blew against her loose T-shirt and loose denim jeans, though the SIG Sauer P220 in her holster remained still. She stood still with her black sneakers as she shot her crossbow at the runners.

"I'm too damn slow, aren't I?" growled Ronnie Anne.

Clyde nodded as he held his baseball bat. Sweat formed below his curly hair, on his short mustache, below his glasses, in the armpits of his striped polo shirt, and the skin below his bush pants. He stepped over puddles of blood with his boat shoes as he went for the roamers in the sides. He smacked one of the roamers and shoved it away with his bat, before Ronnie Anne shot him with her pistol.

"I had it but thank you," sighed Clyde, his voice sounding deeper.

Lincoln wiped the blood of his combat knife against his jeans before placing it in his own sheath. He then grabbed the strap running across his orange tank top and pulled out his MP5 from his back, aiming at the roamers. He slowly moved his sneakers back with his group members as he fired his submachine gun at the runners tripping over the potholes and bomb craters.

"How do we get past the electric cables?" asked Lincoln. "The roamers are gonna overwhelm us soon!"

Lisa stayed in the middle of the circle formation as the group continued firing their guns at the roamers. She adjusted her glasses, rubbed the sweat on her palms against her green sleeved shirt, and grabbed rubber gloves from the pockets of her baggy jeans. She placed them on and grabbed a copper wire and a lightbulb in her other pockets, moving towards the electric cables. As her group covered her, she placed the copper wire against the open cable wires, and tapped it against the bottom of the lightbulb.

"There's no power," she said, shocked. "It's safe to pass through!"

Lana continued firing her AKS-74U at the shorter roamers, the ones more at eye level. Her bullet casings flew off her gun, dropping past her red cap placed on backwards, braided pigtails, dark green jeans, tool belt on her dark blue jeans, and work boots. As the gun ran out of ammunition, she placed the gun on her back held by a strap across her chest and reached into her tool belt, taking out wire cutters. She grabbed Lisa's rubber gloves and grabbed the electric cables.

"Just to be safe," she said as she began cutting the wires.

The group passed through the electric cables, keeping their circular formations. Lily stayed in the middle, walking with Kimi. Her black shirt, lavender skirt, and pink flats continued to stain itself as she walked around the bloody corpses. Though covered by shade, she found herself sweating since barely any breeze grazed her face and short pigtails. Her hand with the pearl bracelet held Lana's hands as they approached the Hind.

"Look! Someone!" she exclaimed, pointing at the helicopter.

A roamer inside the Hind was torn in half as it reached out is arms away from the pilot seat. There were bullet holes on its uniform, which was black, and had a patch indicating it didn't belong to the U.S. military. Suddenly, with her hands, Lynn drove her arrow into the roamer's eye before pulling it out.

"Just keep moving along," said Lynn. "Ain't anything special."

Lori looked at the patch and recognized it from the soldiers she saw in Augusta. She looked at the chest area of the uniform and found a familiar name. The roamer was a soldier for KHAN.

The runners continued chasing after the group from behind them. George fired his shotgun at the close roamers while Kotaro continued firing at the roamers in the distance, missing a couple shots.

"Don't worry about it," said George. "I can teach you how to sharpen your skills later."

"You see it too, huh?" said Kotaro. "Alright, guys. Someone take over."

Bobby, Becky, and Sam took out their Glocks and fired at the roamers with George. A bang after another in an improper pattern.

"We're moving ahead!" declared Lori.

The group remained in their tight formation as they moved up the road. They continued to move past the corpses and debris around them. Dozens of bags, weapons, and ammunition crates were scattered around them. Running closer, some of the runners bumped and tripped and stumbled over these objects, creating noise that result in a few of the survivors instantly aiming their guns at them and shooting them. Such as a roamer approaching from the left, before tripping into a box of MREs. Ronnie Anne instantly turned towards it and fired her pistol at it.

"Nice one," commented Becky.

"Look over there!" said Lana, pointing at a tall white tower. "Isn't that the Washington Monument?"

Lori fired her revolver at a crawler in the ground before stepping over its open skull.

"Focus," said Lori. "There's a bus ahead. We need to move it."

"Can't we just go around?" asked Lynn.

"Look around."

Lynn and the rest of the group saw roamers struggling to get through the barbed wires, mesh fences, and Czech hedgehogs placed in the sidewalks. She then looked back at the damaged Circulator bus ahead, finding it blocking the group from entering the intersection.

"Right," said Lynn. "How do we move it?"

"We can't," said David. "It's too heavy, but Lori– we gotta get through that thing! There are too many roamers behind us!"

"Or maybe…" said Lincoln, walking out of formation. "We can just go over it. There's a dumpster over here. Let's roll it next to the bus and climb over it."

Lori grabbed her AK-47 and aimed it at the roamers inside the bus.

"Excellent idea," she said. "David, George, Lynn, Hana– push the dumpster. All the rest– cover 'em!"

She fired her rifle at the roamers inside the bus, killing all of the ones she could see. She approached the bus before an explosion at the park on the other side of the fence caught her attention.

"It was a mine!" exclaimed David. "Must still be some around here. Watch your step!"

"No doubt roamers far away heard that shit," said Becky.

Lori watched as the runners approached from the roads they passed. Some were wearing ragged civilian clothing while others were wearing military uniforms. One was wearing a suit. Another wore a dress. Another wore school uniform.

"Fire!" yelled Lori.

Becky fired her ACE 23 at the roamers, gunning down as many roamers as she could, though most of the bullets were fired right through their body. Some were shot in the skull and fell down and tripped their cold friends. Benny grabbed an M4A1 from his back and helped Becky as the others shot their pistols or semi-auto rifles.

A few bullets flew past Lynn as she groaned from pushing the dumpster.

"Careful, guys!" said Lori. "Dumpster coming through!"

A runner managed to dodge the bullets as it approached Lynn. She tried kicking it away, though it grabbed her sneakers and dropped her down to the ground. As George grabbed his pistol, the roamer quickly crawled closer to Lynn's legs and rapidly lunged its jaws towards her flesh. Then, a bullet struck through its eyes, spilling brain matter into Lynn's leggings. She looked up and saw smoke flowing off of Lori's revolver.

"Ah, fucking gross," she cringed.

She stood up and patted George in the back, who placed his sidearm back into his holster. She then returned to pushing the dumpster next to the bus.

"Damn, that was heavy," said Lynn. "What's in here? Rocks?"

She opened the dumpster and found limbs and body parts. Then the smell of hot decaying flesh mixed with the odor of garbage blasted into her face as she quickly closed it. Gagging, she moved away from the group and fell to her knees, vomiting into the ground.

"Jesus," panted David. "Smells worse than shit."

Lori nodded as the roamers approached closer.

"Hana, go first and make sure the other side is clear."

Hana quickly climbed to the top of the dumpster and reached her arms on the roof of the bus before jumping and placing her leg over it. She lifted the rest of her body into the roof and stood up on the flat roof.

"Clear," said Hana. "But destroyed."

Lori nodded as members of the group began helping themselves up to the roof of the bus. The small ones, like Lana and Lily, were lifted up onto the top of the dumpster before being lifted up onto the train roof by Hana. David carefully lifted them down to the road where the intersection met.

"Let's go, guys!" exclaimed Lincoln from the roof of the bus.

Lori and Benny nodded as they continued fighting off the roamers. Benny shook the blood off his katana and placed it back into his scabbard as he jumped on top of the dumpster. Lori walked back to the dumpster as she continued firing her rifle at the approaching roamers, letting off a few bursts of gunfire.

Benny jumped, landing both of his arms and one of his legs onto the roof of the bus. Then, an undead hand grabbed his hanging leg and squeezed, pulling him down. He gasped and struggled to hold onto the roof.

"Guys! Help! Help!" he yelled.

He moved his leg back and forth in an effort to kick the roamer in the bus away from the windows. The roamer only held on as it slowly rose its head, approaching his jaws to the teen's clothing.

Lori grabbed her hatchet and chopped of the roamer's hand off, allowing the survivors to help Benny up the bus.

"Oh my freaking god!" exclaimed Benny as he looked at his leg, the roamer hand still squeezing on.

He slowly opened up the hands and tossed it away as Luan pulled up his jeans.

"Please tell me you're alright!" frantically exclaimed Luan. "Oh. You almost became dead meat."

"I get it," smiled Benny.

Lori looked at the roamer in the bus and grabbed her revolver until she was met with hesitation.

"Lori! Watch out!" exclaimed Lincoln.

With the swarm of roamers approaching her, Lori quickly jumped up the dumpster, the cut limb from the bus roamer waving close to her face. As the roamers approached Lori, the survivors on top of the bus loaded their guns and fired down at the roamers. Space was made for Lori as she was helped up to the bus roof. Then, the gunfire stopped.

All the survivors jumped down to the ground. The bus roamer turned around and growled, though Lori already reached for her revolver. She aimed the revolver at the roamer and shot it, the bullet striking its skull and the chest of a roamer on the other side. As she lowered her sidearm, she continued looking at the roamers slamming themselves against the bus.

"Capital of America is disappointing," said Hana. "No one here."

"This can't be right, dudes," said Luna. "The doc said there'd be soldiers and scientists here…"

"Maybe we're not looking hard enough," said Sam.

"It was only a possibility," said Lisa. "But with the power out… that possibility may not exist anymore."

"It doesn't look like any city we came across," said George. "This place is just… destroyed!"

The group walked over a shattered fire hydrant and around heaps of metal. Sand bags and empty boxes were stacked by buildings. Lori grabbed a pair of binoculars from her backpack and looked up at the Washington Monument. There were signs of bombings.

"A whole battle took place here," said David. "Something tells me it wasn't just the dead that the soldiers were fighting against."

"No," said Lori. "I recognized some of the uniform that we passed by. The black ones. On their arms was the flag of the KHAN. They destroyed this place."

"So that means there's no one here?" asked Lana. "Everything that happened to us could've been avoided if we just went home instead of here!"

"It's not a total loss," said Lincoln. "This place could be promising. I mean, weapons, walls, fences– this could be our new home!"

"It's not a home we were looking for," said Becky. "It was a place to distribute a cure. But there's no one to distribute it to. This place probably doesn't even have the things needed to finish making the cure anymore!"

The group walked into the Ellipse, seeing armored vehicles, tanks, and helicopters clustered on the large field.

"Wait, if the KHAN destroyed this place, wouldn't White know about it?" questioned Ronnie Anne. "He knew about the nuke in New York City! Wouldn't he have known this happened too?"

"Wouldn't make sense for him to come here if he knew there would be nothing for him," said Benny. "Something's not right here."

"The fact that it was KHAN who caused this mess– raises a lot more questions," said Kotaro.

"So what the hell do we now?" asked Lynn.

Lori looked into her binoculars again, looking at the White House. The United States flag on the roof was flown at half-staff and appeared undamaged. The White House had scorch marks and blown pieces, but looked unscathed in a lot of areas. She removed it and sighed before squinting, growing a worried look on her face. She looked through the binoculars again, before she quickly removed it.

"Take cover!" shouted Lori.

David grabbed Carol, who was exposed in the open, and moved her behind a fighter jet. The whizzing of the bullet flew past them, right before gunshot cracked across the air around them. The group members grabbed their guns and reloaded them, preparing for another fight.

"Lisa, I thought this place was empty!" exclaimed Becky.

"I said there was a low probability of government presence!" exclaimed Lisa.

David took out his knife and held it out in the cover, before a bullet quickly struck the knife off of his hands. He shook his hands as he hid them back behind cover.

"We got a trigger-happy person on the White House roof!" exclaimed George. "What do we do?"

"David," called out Lori. "Do you think you can hit him from that far?"

"I would only have a chance after he lets off another sniper shot, but I only got a small window of time," said David. "I can't hit him without my sniper rifle."

"Then, what if we all try to shoot at the same spot at the same time?" asked Lori.

"Risky, but what other choice do we got?"

Lori grabbed her hatchet and was ready to hold it out, when suddenly she saw movement behind a crate of weapons. She fired her AK-47 at the crates, prompting two survivors behind it to leap out, both of them falling to the ground with bullet holes in their jeans.

"Ah, dammit!" yelled one of the survivors.

Lori and David walked up to a survivor and dragged them behind cover.

"Who the hell are you guys?" asked David.

"Who the hell are you?" exclaimed one of the survivors.

David grabbed the barrel of his M9 and slapped it across the man's face. Lori grabbed her hatchet with roamer flesh stuck on the blade, and lifted it up in the air, ready to chop the other survivor's arm off.

"Wait! Wait!" exclaimed the one held by David. "I'm Jimmy! And that's Rob! We're agents for the Service!"

"The Service?" asked Lori. "You're government agents?"

Jimmy nodded as he took out his wallet, which revealed his badge. George swiped it away from Jimmy and looked at it.

"Service as in Secret Service," said George.

"Our boss doesn't like the 'Secret' part in the name," said Jimmy. "We don't really operate in secret. We want people to come to the White House."

"Yet you tried sniping us?" asked David.

"Because you guys are just comin' in here with guns and you're a very large group–!"

"Can you just kill us quickly?" asked Rob. "My legs are killing me. Thanks, blondie."

Lori lifted Rob up and walked behind him, shoving him out of cover. The sniper looked at Lori shoving Rob against the fence through his scope. He then noticed that Lori aimed her gun at Rob's head. A man with long slick back hair and a medium stubble, who knelt next to the sniper, grabbed his binoculars and the sniper's walkie-talkie.

"Rob? Who is that woman aiming what appears to be a… revolver? Forty-four Magnum?"

"Three fifty-seven," said Lori, holding Rob's walkie-talkie. "Imagine the damage that will do to poor Rob's skull. But I'm not here to talk guns. I'm here to make a deal."

"Don't hold one of our own hostage and expect to make a fair deal."

"You attacked us first," said Lori. "These people need medical care and they don't have much time."

"Fair point," said the man. "What's the deal?"

"If you want your men back, give us refuge."

"We give that to everyone. But you haven't exactly shown me that your group are the most trustworthy people."

"What if my group… can prove it to you? We're making a cure. We just need the right people to distribute it."

"Interesting…" said the man.

"But you guys don't exactly strike me as all that trustworthy either. How do I know you guys didn't just swipe the badges off of the real Secret Service?"

"The President of the United States trusts us. His wife, his kids, all the people that we gave refuge to… they all trust us. Plus…"

A couple Service agents revealed themselves out of hiding as they surrounded the group, though their weapons were aimed downwards.

"We could've shot you given the chance," said the man. "But we wouldn't do that to our new White House residents."

A couple Service agents grabbed Jimmy and Rob as they placed them inside Cadillac One, the presidential limo, before driving off into the road.

"I'll see you in a few," said the man before handing the walkie-talkie back to the sniper.