III - No-Zones
The water flowed slowly along the rocky trail with trees around. A few crunches from nearby twigs was then muffled out by the noise of conversation.
Calvin was holding a piece of bark and a .50 BMG cartridge with his fingerless gloves. His eyes stared down menacingly from the shadow of his blue cap at the bullet as he wrapped it around with the strip of bark.
"Sure you're rememberin' it right?" asked Beatrice.
"I'm sure," said Calvin, his eyes fixated on the bullet. "It just takes precision and patience. It's what we do."
"It's what you do," said Guillermo. "I'd rather do things quickly. Even if it's messy. Works sometimes."
"Yes, it does. But in certain situations… go too fast- boom. Whatever you plan will blow up on your face."
Calvin grabbed a nail and another piece of wooden bark. He pushed the tip of the nail inside the bark before calling Timothy over.
"Hammer it," Calvin said.
Timothy grabbed his hammer and hammered in the nail inside the bark. Calvin then placed the nailed bark on the bottom of the bark strip. The nail pointed upwards at the bottom of the cartridge. Calvin then slid the bullet further down the cylindrical bark strip until it touched the tip of the nail. The tip of the cartridge was visible.
A giggle was heard approaching as Nora made herself visible in the distance. Behind her was a slow roamer, growling as she hummed playfully.
"Here's a roamer, Mr. Reed," Nora said songfully. "Looks real dumb, doesn't it?"
"Probably looks more sane than you," quipped Moose.
Nora laughed. Calvin placed down the cartridge trap inside a crack in the rocky trial. The roamer continued approaching the group from a couple meters away. Calvin began to speak.
"You know how the Vietnamese were able to keep the Americans in constant fear? Traps. Lots and lots of traps. And tactics as well. Can't forget about the tactics. And when you combine the two… you can be a nobody, have nothing, know nothing, no training- I'm talking about no experience, nothing. And yet… you can still take on the most well-equipped, most tactical, most strategic, most powerful soldiers in the world… using nothing but your surroundings, your hands… and your brain."
Calvin and the others began to back away from the bullet.
"You might want to cover your ears," said Calvin.
The roamer stepped on the tip of the cartridge. It slid down the bark strip.
A loud gunshot rang around the park. Dark blood and bone shards were launched into the air as the roamer flopped backwards. Its right leg was blown off from its body, causing blood and other toxic liquid to flow from above its missing kneecap. The roamer flipped on its side and began to crawl forward before turning to the left. Then, Guillermo whacked its head with the butt of his G36 and crushed it.
"That was sick," said Neville.
"When do we get to do that with Lori and the others?" asked Raphael.
"Anytime soon," said Calvin. "We'll see if they are still in Service territory."
The cannibals began to walk away from the flowing water, headed out from Rock Creek Park and towards the direction of the White House, which was multiple blocks away. Hundreds of meters behind them, there were roamers, all who heard the sound of the gunshot, moving towards the direction of the White House as well.
Snowflakes landed on the slow-moving water of the Washington Channel. Lincoln held a small bag across his back and held his knife in his hands, slowly watching his surroundings. He led the other members of the group behind him, Vonda, Lynn, Clyde, Ronnie Anne, Luna, Sam, Jace, and Preston. They all walked by the docks that held abandoned yachts, sailboats, motorboats, and other types of boats. They all carried their weapons and were wary of any incoming roamers. But there weren't any.
Suddenly, there were no more boats to be seen as the group reached the end of the docks. Lincoln took a left, moving eastward into a No-Zone deep in the capital. George, many blocks behind them, removed his binoculars and continued to follow them.
Snowfall began to set in harder, compiling on the roof of buildings and cars. Benny and Lana were moving further northwards, leading Luan, Hana, Becky, and Carol behind them.
"It's been over an hour," said Becky. "How far away is this thing?"
Benny and Lana continued walking forward, making it into an intersection when they finally stopped on their tracks. Lana smiled as she turned slightly to her left and pointed ahead.
"There it is!" said Lana. "And look, we barely killed any roamers. What was so bad about the No-Zone?"
"We gotta tell Lori to take more chances," said Becky. "Well… what are we waiting for?"
The group continued ahead, where a large reservoir stood. They walked across the field, towards the McMillan Filtration Plant, walking along the reservoir. A few roamers a couple blocks away spotted them and began to walk towards the filtration plant.
Snow gathered up on the stool of the windows outside the White House as the wind began to push the snowflakes around wildly. The lamps in the laboratory flickered softly as Lisa jotted down equations on the whiteboard. Then, the door opened, causing Lisa to gasp fearfully. Lily flinched back as the gasp spooked her.
"Oh," sighed Lisa. "It's just you."
Lily looked around the laboratory. There were glass shards across the floor, plastic containers scattered around, liquid solutions dripping from tables. She looked up at Lisa, whose hair was disheveled and clothes stained with sauce and chemicals.
"What happen?" asked Lily.
"An idea of brainstorming just occurred," said Lisa, frantically writing on the board. "I've been thinking about this too logically and too strict. But if I play around with the Michaelis-Menten equation…"
"Lisa."
"...while taking not just velocity and substrate concentration into factor…"
"Lisa!"
"What is it?" yelled Lisa. "Can't you see I'm busy? Get out of here!"
Lily frowned as her lips began to quiver. Lisa gasped softly as she shook her head.
"Oh no. Pardon my behavior. Please disregard the tone of the voice I just used."
A tear fell from Lily's eyes. Lisa ran up to her and wrapped her arms around her.
"I'm sorry," said Lisa. "I didn't mean to say what I shouted at you earlier. You can stay if you want."
Lily sniffled as she nodded softly.
"It's snowing," she said.
"What? Really? I didn't predict this."
"Snowball fight? Remember?"
"Yes, I do. Umm, tell you what. You can stay here and watch me work. You can play around with the green slime I have in that box. When I'm done, we can play."
Lily nodded and wiped her tears away. Lisa continued to hug her.
The snow began to fall harder and harder as the sky turned darker and darker. Lori and Bobby were outside in the North Lawn, walking towards the mesh fences surrounding the steel fences. They opened up the steel fence and left it open as they walked outside, looking at the rattling fences. The snow piled up on the collapsed fences, causing more weight to pull down on the near-collapsed fences. The wind also weakened the strength of the mesh fences as they wobbled back and forth.
"How are we supposed to mend them?" asked Bobby.
"We got those large wooden planks in the courtyard, right?" asked Lori.
"Yeah, but you think it'll hold in this weather?"
"It's gonna have to. We got no other choice, right?"
Lori and Bobby ran towards the courtyard, closing the steel fences. Hidden in the strengthening blizzard were roamers. Their glowing eyes were more visible as they slowly approached the mesh fences.
Lincoln covered his mouth with his scarf as he continued walking ahead. There were police tapes covering streets around them. There were also cones and abandoned ambulances. The group members turned to their right and looked ahead. There was a stadium.
"We gotta start somewhere," said Clyde. "No doubt the military holed up supplies in there."
"Yeah. Kinda like in Radio Hall back in New York," said Luna.
Lincoln nodded. Lynn walked up to him.
"Dude, that's where the Nationals play!" she exclaimed. "We have to loot there. There's gotta be a ton of stuff in there!"
"Yeah," said Ronnie Anne. "Let's go in that stadium. I'm freakin'... freezin' out here…"
"Okay. Operation Loot Nationals Park For Food And Supplies-"
"Hold it!" yelled a voice in the distance.
"Oh crap," muttered Vonda. "Caught."
"George?" called out Luna.
"What… the hell are you guys doing out here?" he exclaimed. "Don't you kids know where you're at?"
"We're not kids," said Sam. "Not me or Luna or Jace at least."
"You're forgetting 'bout me," said Preston.
"Oh, right. Preston too."
George groaned.
"You kids are at a No-Zone! Know what that means? Are you supposed to be at this zone? No!"
"Come on, George! You know why we're here!" said Lincoln. "I know you want to be as loyal as you can to my sister, but come on! You know how low we're on food! Lori may be fine with eating cereal everyday, but I'm not!"
Lincoln raised his arms while moving back.
"We're all not okay with living in fear!"
"Yeah!" added Clyde. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!"
George huffed. The survivors looked at Clyde, some nodding their heads in approval.
"Yeah, that's a good one," whispered Jace.
"Thanks," smiled Clyde. "I read up on speeches in the White House library. Kills time, you know?"
"I get it," said George. "We are low on food, but you guys can't be running off like that. Lori's worried sick right now. You're stressin' her out."
"Yeah, right," said Lynn. "You mean we're PISSING her off. Good. 'Cause she hates nothing more than being wrong. We're gonna come back alive with supplies."
"We're going back now."
"We can't have gone all this way for nothing," said Lincoln. "Plus, we need to get warm, so can't we just loot this stadium? Just this stadium and that's it. We'll go back."
"Fine. Let's hurry this up."
Snow began to set in harder. The McMillan reservoir water was moving like ice blocks as sheets of ice began to float in the water.
The metal door creaked as Benny shined his flashlight inside the control room. There was a man wearing a hard hat sitting on a chair. He moved the light towards his face, finding a hole on his forehead while red stains painted the glass wall behind him. Benny looked through the glass wall and found multiple thick pipes running through a room.
"Why is it cold in here?" asked Becky.
"The cold is snow problem for me," said Luan, chuckling softly. "Just kidding. I'm actually really cold."
Lana opened up the door to the boiler room. She walked around and touched the boilers. There was no heat in them.
"That's weird," she said. "How were we able to get warm water, then?"
"Maybe the boiler doesn't work anymore," said Carol.
"Why would it not work anymore?" asked Lana. "After two years, with no human guidance, and all of a sudden, it doesn't work? That's crazy!"
Lana rubbed her chin.
"Unless…"
"Unless what?" asked Benny.
"Unless this is all solar-powered. Snow can't be too good for solar panels, right?"
"But it just started snowing," said Benny. "Unless you're talking about the previous times it snowed."
"Yeah. I mean, this thing would be run on a generator. Generator can store power. Which makes sense 'cause by now, the solar panels wouldn't be strong enough to get energy, especially with all these snowfalls. And with this blizzard outside, the solar panels won't be able to get light!"
"So we have to shovel them," said Becky.
"Yes."
"Where are the solar panels?" asked Carol.
"Should be on the roof."
"I'll check," said Benny.
"We'll follow you out there," said Luan. "Can't let you do this on your own."
Benny nodded. The group followed him as they exited the filtration plant. On the back of the filtration plant, there was a hole in the wall, where snow began to pour inside from the wind, where cold air quickly filled the hallway that the hole exposed, where a roamer wandered inside.
Darkness covered the entire capital. The blizzard did not slow down.
Lincoln, George, and the rest of the group walked around with their flashlights. They opened up crates and filled their bags with canned food, salt, sugar, vinegar, and MREs.
"Nothing that good, huh?" sighed Vonda.
"Yeah. Don't really know what I was expecting," said Lincoln.
"If you wanted fresh meat, you'd be out hunting," said George. "So what were you looking for?"
"Rice. Pasta. Ramen noodles."
"If we had rice, we could've gotten us some deer meat," said Vonda. "Rice with meat. Now that's the dream."
"Or even just spaghetti," said Lincoln. "Delicious."
"Guys!" exclaimed Clyde. "We found the jackpot!"
The group followed Clyde to a small restaurant inside the baseball stadium. Luna, Sam, and Jace each opened up a box with bags of rice, pasta, oats, nuts, dried beans, and dried corn. Lincoln smiled and chuckled.
"This is it!" he gasped.
Ronnie Anne came out of the bathroom, rubbing her hands with paper.
"This place has running water for some reason," she said.
"Where's Lynn?" asked Lincoln.
"And Preston?" asked Jace.
"I thought they were with you guys," said Ronnie Anne.
Lincoln grew a concerned expression as he looked at George. George sighed.
"Fill up your bags with the food. I'll look for them," said George.
"Let me come with you," said Lincoln.
"No. Wow, you're just like Lori. Always want to run into danger."
"I thought Lori didn't want to come get us…" said Luna.
"She did. She didn't want you guys to go to the No-Zones. But she was willing to go by herself."
George grumbled to himself.
"Just stay."
George walked away, turning on his flashlight as he trekked into the dark, curved hallways. Lincoln and Vonda looked at each other. They nodded.
"Fill up your bags," said Lincoln. "Let's follow him."
The wind howled. The snow moved up and down and sideways at extreme speeds.
Benny climbed up the ladder near the corner of the filtration plant, using his leather gloves to shield his hands from the freezing metal. His face was pricked by the snowflakes pelting his face, though he kept on climbing up. Behind him was Lana, who also endured the snow slapping her face.
They both reached the roof, which was two stories high. They stepped on snow, which caused Lana to stumble around. Benny quickly grabbed her hand and prevented her from falling.
"I got you," said Benny.
"That was close," panted Lana. "Alright, let's see what we got here."
Benny looked around the roof. There were large solar panels lying in the floor, some of them covered in snow. Others had water floating near it.
"There seems to be nothing wrong with the solar panels," said Lana.
"Maybe it's not the solar panels," said Benny. "Still, we have to clean all of this snow up."
"Yeah. Maybe it's a problem with the generator."
Lana grabbed Benny's hand and walked towards the ladder. She looked down.
"Can you guys check the generator?" asked Lana. "See if it's turned off. Sometimes it can overcool."
"Okay!" replied Luan. "Where's it at?"
"Should be in the boiler room," said Lana. "If not, then check the basement!"
Luan, Becky, Carol, and Hana walked back inside the filtration plant. Benny and Lana walked back to the solar panels and began to shovel the snow away from the panels.
The visibility around the capital began to fade away as the blizzard picked up and clogged the sky with a fog of wind and snow.
Lynn and Preston looked around the equipment room. Preston smiled as he held a baseball while Lynn held a bat.
"Woah, this is so cool," said Lynn. "Think Max Scherzer ever held this bat?"
"Oh, yeah, definitely," chuckled Preston. "Think he ever pitched this ball?"
"Dude, is that even a question?"
Footsteps quickly approached the equipment room.
"We have to check out the locker room now," said Preston.
"Wait, shush. You hear that?"
The footsteps became louder.
"Quick, act like you're looking for food," whispered Lynn.
The door opened. Lynn hummed as she looked around the drawers. Preston held an aluminum baseball bat and whistled.
"Looks like there isn't any food, here, right, Lynn?"
"Sure, isn't!"
"Okay, Lynn. Time to- AHH!"
The roamer growled as it shoved Preston against the wall. Preston tried to slap it away as he dropped his bat. Lynn gasped and quickly grabbed the roamer from behind and slammed it to the ground. She grabbed her Walther PPK/S and aimed it at the roamer before firing it.
"Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!" panted Preston.
"Where the fuck did this motherfucker come from?" exclaimed Lynn.
Lynn ran out the room. Preston grabbed his bat and followed her. She looked outside and found a couple roamers in the hallway. She went back inside the room and grabbed a wooden baseball bat before coming back out.
"What happened to your bow?" asked Preston.
"I forgot to bring it with me," Lynn muttered.
Lynn yelled as she swung her bat at the roamers. More roamers poured into the hallway and forced Lynn and Preston to turn around. As they began to run into the other side, they encountered even more roamers.
"Where do we go?" exclaimed Preston.
Lynn looked around as the roamers began to close in on them quickly. She faced towards the stairs that led to the seats in the stadium. She quickly grabbed Preston's arms and ran towards the stairs. The roamers chased them into the stairs, climbing over each other. Dozens of roamers were now in the hallways pouring into the stairs. They wore scrubs, military uniforms, baseball jerseys, and civilian clothing. Almost all of them were runners.
The blizzard raged on.
The creak of the lever was followed by a humming noise from the generator as Hana dusted her hands. Red lights inside the boiler room next door turned on.
"That was it?" groaned Becky. "Who the hell even turned off the generator?"
Then, a horrible realization crept upon the group.
"The cannibals," said Carol. "They know. They know we're here."
"No, no they don't," said Luan. "You're just being paranoid."
"Am I?" whispered Carol. "Want to leave Benny and Lana up on the roof unguarded?"
Luan slowly grew nervous. She began to bite her nails as she looked around. The door to the boiler room was open, but the door to the hallway was closed. The lights flickered from the hallway. Then footsteps were heard.
"You hear that?" she asked. "Cannibals?"
"No," said Hana. "Zonbi."
A roamer screeched at the top of its decayed lungs, causing the girls to flinch in fear. The shadow of its legs were visible with each flicker of light in the hallway. Goosebumps scattered across Luan's skin as she shuddered. Becky began to sweat as mist began to float in the boiler room next door.
"We have to get in there," said Becky. "There's gotta be another way out of here."
"This is only door," said Hana. "I check."
Carol brandished her trench knife and raised it up. Becky grabbed her worn-down machete and panted heavily as the roamers began to scratch against the door. Luan and Hana held their katanas. Carol moved her hand towards the doorknob. She unlocked it.
Then, they heard gunshots coming from the halls. Bodies thud to the floor as more roamers continued screeching. More gunshots were heard as Carol backed away.
"Cannibals?" asked Luan.
"Don't know," said Carol.
A yell was heard as skulls were crushed and bodies were slammed to the ground. Then, silence. The doorknob jiggled. Then, the door opened slowly.
Carol fired into the steel door. The bullet ricocheted off the door and into a wire in the wall. An alarm went off, and red lights began flashing in the hallways.
"Woah, woah! It's just me! It's David!"
"Oh, Jesus," sighed Becky. "What timing."
"You girls are in big fucking trouble. Let's go."
David placed the M9 back in his holster and moved out of the doorway, allowing the girls out of the room. The girls looked around the hall and saw corpses on the ground as the red lights flashed and the alarm blared continuously. They shivered as a whisk of cool air moved across the hall.
"How'd they get in?" asked Becky.
"There's a breach in the side of the building," said David, walking away from the boiler room. "We need to get out from the front entrance doors."
"What about Benny and Lana?" pointed out Luan. "We can't just leave them up on the roof!"
"Shit, I ain't even know they were up there!" growled David. "Fuck are they doin' up there?"
"Fixing the solar panels so we can get water, asshole!" yelled Becky.
"Y'all ain't even supposed to be here! More roamers are comin'!"
"David," said Carol. "We have to get Benny and Lana. Now."
David nodded and ran through the hallway towards the exit door in the back of the filtration plant. The girls followed behind him as the alarm continued to blare across the halls. David opened the steel door and ran out. The girls followed him outside as they looked up at the roof.
"Benny!" shouted Luan. "Lana! Come down! Now!"
Benny and Luan raised their heads as they heard Luan. They slapped their hands together to wipe off the snow from their gloves as they looked around them. There were roamers approaching from around the fence-protected reservoir. They gulped as they slowly stumbled across the roof, heading towards the ladder.
"Hurry!" yelled Luan.
David looked back and saw the approaching roamers joining together. They were swarming up, running through the snow. He motioned the girls to move ahead. Becky, Hana, and Carol ran around the building and towards the entrance.
"Shit, there's no time!" shouted David.
"Please, Benny! Lana! Hurry down!"
David grabbed Luan's arms and dragged her away as Benny and Lana looked down at the ladder. The roamers began to pass by the ladder and some were even grabbing onto it, as they began to pull themselves up the ladder.
"Oh no," whispered Benny.
"H-How are they doing that?" whispered Lana.
Benny grabbed Lana's hand and ran away from the ladder.
Snow flew around wildly. Lori and Bobby struggled to use the wood planks to hold up the fences. As they put up one wood plank to hold a collapsing fence, another one would fall.
"This isn't working!" yelled Lori.
"Let's ignore the fences, then!" exclaimed Bobby.
Lori and Bobby ran back inside the North Lawn as they closed the steel fences. They looked at the mesh fences. The roamers pushed through them as Lori and Bobby drew their guns out. The roamers growled as they reached their arms through the fences. Some of the roamers then began to climb on top of other roamers, trampling them. A dune of corpses was created below the fence as a single roamer reached the top of the fence. It pulled itself over and fell to the snowy grass of the North Lawn.
"Fuck," said Lori. "We need explosions. Lots of explosions."
Lori and Bobby ran back into the courtyard, running inside the armory. More and more roamers were getting through the fences, quickly recovering as they lifted themselves back up. The roamers were limping across the North Lawn, while a few lucky ones managed to run across the snow.
The snow began to slow down, though wind speeds picked up.
Lynn and Preston were at the bottom of the spectator seats, fighting the roamers that were coming from the stairs. More and more poured into the stairs, forcing Lynn and Preston to leap over the fence and into the field. Both of them ran towards the home plate, as they turned around, watching the roamers press their face against the fence. Then, a couple roamers climbed over the fence and leaped into the field, breaking their feet, ankles, legs, arms. Only a few were barely damaged.
"Lynn!" exclaimed Preston. "They're coming from the other side too!"
Dozens of roamers were pouring from the other side of the stadium, many just walking into the field. Lynn yelled as she swung her baseball bat around, killing off the roamers at home plate. Jeffrey shouted too, as he moved towards the other roamers in the field, bludgeoning them with his aluminum bat. George then jumped into the field and fired his shotgun at the roamers. Their blood splattered into the snowy field. However, the running roamers began to quickly overwhelm them.
"What's going on?" asked Preston.
"I'm out of ammo," whispered George.
Meanwhile, the wind howled as Benny and Lana looked down from the roof. David, Becky, Carol, Hana, and Luan all quickly gathered snow to a specific spot in the ground.
"I don't wanna jump," said Lana. "I-I'm too scared."
"Okay, just follow my lead. Raise your arms towards your chest, bend your knees, and lower your head. It's snow, it won't hurt. I promise. Look."
Benny squatted and jumped down towards the pile of snow and groaned. Lana felt a jump in her heart.
"It doesn't hurt!" groaned Benny. "It's just… cold!"
"You can do it, Lana!" exclaimed Luan. "Just imagine you're doing a cannonball!"
"Okay," whispered Lana. "I can do this."
Lana bent her knees and jumped down to the pile of snow. Her body landed on the pile and was quickly stuck in the snow, until Lana waved her arms and legs. She yelped as she shook the snow off her face.
"So cold!" she yelled.
Luan lifted Lana out of the snow pile and grabbed her hands as the roamers approached from the side of the filtration plant building. David and the girls ran away as they continued following them.
Meanwhile, Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, Clyde, Vonda, Luna, Sam, and Jace arrived at the stands and watched as Lynn, George, and Preston fought off the roamers. Vonda, Sam, Ronnie Anne, and Clyde jumped down to the field to help them while the others remained in the stands, using their weapons to fight them off.
Lincoln aimed his M1911 and fired at the roamers.
Luna aimed her M110 rifle at the roamers and fired at them.
Jace aimed his Px4 at the field and fired.
"Goddamn it," said George.
"You're very welcome," said Vonda.
"You know I hate being wrong, Vee."
Vonda yelled as she swung her bow around, destroying the skulls of the roamers. She and the others back up against the wall of the stands. They each leaped over it with the help of Luna and Jace while Lincoln continued to fire his pistol at the roamers behind them.
"Lynn!" yelled Lincoln. "Get outta there! Lynn!"
Lynn nodded. She ran over to the wall, though the roamers began to block off the wall. She ran to the other side, though the roamer also blocked the other walls. They blocked off the outfield and began to surround her as she stood on the pitcher's mound. She turned around and looked at Lincoln with a desperate look on her face.
Lincoln gulped.
"I'm out!" he yelled. "Come here you, dumb freaks! Over here!"
The roamers turned around. Then, Lynn yelled. She grabbed tossed a baseball on the air and swung her bat at it, killing one of the roamers. She ran towards the other roamers at home plate and began to swing her bat around. The bat shattered before her eyes, though that did not stop Lynn from going berserk. She ran towards first base and stabbed the roamers with the remaining bat, before it got stuck on a roamer's skull. She let go of it and ran to second base, punching the roamers in the face, using her leather gloves as protection against cuts. She ran towards third base and kicked a roamer in the face before running back to home plate where she finished off one last roamer.
"WHOO!" yelled Lynn. "Let's fucking go! Home fucking run!"
Lincoln gasped. Clyde smiled and clapped as Lynn leaped over the wall.
"Splitting up was your idea," said Lynn. "So you can't even get mad at me, asshole. Cheer for me. Cheer for me! Whoo!"
Lynn cackled as she wiped the blood off her gloves. She groaned softly as she touched her knuckles.
"Felt like I punched hard ass ice, though," said Lynn. "Don't matter. Did ya see that? Would Lori ever do that? No? Mrs. President can't fight off a couple roamers in the field? That's right."
"Ugh, shut up, Lynn," said Luna.
"You know Lori hates being called President," said Lincoln.
"Maybe I should be President," said Lynn.
"I woulda' booed you on the stands," said Ronnie Anne. "Your ego is so obnoxious."
"Right, sorry," said Lynn. "Still pretty badass what I did, right?"
"Let's just get outta here," said George.
The group jogged back into the hallways as the corpses laid in the ground, bludgeoned and shot. A few more roamers poured inside the stadium, though the group was now gone from sight.
Meanwhile, Lori and Bobby continued to fire their guns at the roamers in the North Lawn. Their bodies dropped like flies, though the swarm of roamers outside the steel fence still proved to be a problem. Lori dropped her bag into the ground and took out grenades from it. She pulled the pin from it and tossed it over the fence, blowing up the roamers behind them. Bobby tossed them as well, destroying the mounds of corpses that were piled up. The steel fence shook, but it remained intact as grenades kept exploding.
Then, the wind slowed down. A drizzle of snow fell from the sky. The weather was more calm now.
Lori knelt down on the snow and then laid down. Bobby laid down next to her, holding her hands as they both looked up. Lori's blazer was covered in blood and snow.
"I shouldn't have stopped them," said Lori. "I should've gone with them."
"Don't blame yourself."
"I have to, Bobby. I mean, I know how my group is. I shouldn't have kept them on a leash. That's not how they are."
Lori sighed as her breath floated in the air.
"It's been more than five hours," said Lori. "What if the cannibals got them?"
"Now, that's just the fear in you talking, babe."
"Bobby… it's the fear in me that kept us alive. You know why? Look around. Nothing is too crazy to think about. The dead walking… soldiers killing the people you love… humans eating your friends… does the fear in me sound crazy?"
Bobby sniffled.
"I'm sorry," said Lori. "I didn't mean to scare you…"
"No, it's just… I'm cold."
"Oh."
Lori and Bobby continued looking up at the sky. Their eyes were tired and defeated.
"This is nice," said Bobby.
"Yeah."
Snow crunched as footsteps approached. Jeffrey looked down at the couple. He raised his eyebrows and looked around with a confused expression.
"Don't judge," said Lori. "It's literally relaxing."
"I bet," he said. "They're here. Everyone is accounted for."
Lori laughed softly. Bobby smiled as he looked at Lori.
"They're here," whispered Bobby.
George handed Lynn a ziplock bag of snow, which she placed around her knuckles. She hissed softly as the entrance doors opened. Lori, Bobby, and Jeffrey walked inside. Lincoln rubbed his hands.
"Lori… I…"
Lori wrapped her arms around Lincoln. Lynn looked away in resentment.
"So when he does something reckless, you hug him. But when I do something reckless…"
Lori walked over to Lynn and hugged her. Lynn gasped in surprise before smiling and closing her eyes.
The sound of intense pressing of the marker against the whiteboard echoed in the laboratory. Lisa then circled a long, complicated equation. She dropped the marker and sighed in relief.
"Eureka."
Lisa looked back at Lily, who was now sleeping on a bean bag chair in the corner of the room. Lisa smiled as she opened the lab door and dragged the bean bag chair out of the room.
Lisa walked into the Entrance Hall, dragging the bean bag chair. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. The entire group looked at her.
"I got it. They key to temporary denaturation of enzymes," said Lisa. "Did I miss anything?"
"No, not really," said Lori.
"I'm going to compile a list of all the equipment, chemicals, and supplies that I need. There is a lab located nearby. All of you will visit the lab and acquire everything that is on the list. Some of you may be itching to do it right now… but I'm tired."
"We're all tired, dude," said Luna.
"Then, we're in agreement. Someone take Lily to her bed."
Lisa walked away. The group members began to chatter happily among each other. But not Carol. She walked towards the window and looked outside. Becky walked next to her, reassuring her.
In the far distance, hidden inside a building, Guillermo kept his eyes on the thermal scope.
"You're seeing this, right?" he asked.
Calvin removed his eyes from the thermal scope of his sniper rifle.
"I'll be damned," he said. "They took out the Service by themselves."
"So they are people we can't just mess with," said Moose. "Or do we just tread lightly?"
"We tread lightly," said Calvin. "It's gonna be a long winter. And we need more food."
"So who will it be?" asked Beatrice. "I want to call dibs on the man that broke them out."
"Make that two," said Timothy. "There was some teen with them. A sniper. The one that killed my lil' brother."
"Redhead's still priority, right?" asked Guillermo. "The older one and the little one with the bow and arrows."
"I hope y'all don't forget about the samurai," said Neville. "She needs to go too."
"And that blonde psycho!" smiled Nora. "You know? The one with the heavy armor and the flamethrower and the machine gun… God, I'm jealous."
"And Lori can't die yet, right?" asked Raphael.
"Nah. But Agent Cane and the redhead can," said Calvin, looking back at the scope. "We're gonna go after four of them. Agent Cane…"
George stretched his arms out in the thermal image that Calvin was looking at. He then hugged Vonda.
"...the older redhead…"
Becky continued to comfort Carol.
"...the blonde psycho…"
Carol laid her head on Becky's shoulders.
"...and the sniper."
Jace looked back at the window. His smile quickly faded as he began to get lost in his thoughts.
"Get some rest," said Calvin. "We're hunting tomorrow."