Happy 6th Anniversary everyone!

Author notes at the end.

Enjoy!

The air was brisk as clouds in a dim sky hovered over the Michigan Stadium. Inside the stadium, many golden glowing eyes moved around followed by a cacophony of footsteps slamming against metal, concrete, grass, and moss. Among the hundreds of thousands of roamers inside the stadium, a few pairs of eyes weren't like the others. They weren't glowing. They weren't golden. And they were the only part of their face visible as the rest were covered by masks, whether they were surgical masks, hockey masks, football helmets, or some other thing entirely. The eyes then looked at the sky as daylight broke.

A lone whistle filled the air. Then another. Then more. They went along to the tune of the theme of The Shining. Exactly like Becky's whistle.

Chapter 40: We Can Never Forgive

I - The Devil of Royal Woods

Park's short hair blew against the breeze as he continued to peer into his scope. The crosshairs in his thermal scope were aimed at the main entrance to the Michigan Stadium. His breaths eased in and out of his nose as his scope swayed softly.

"Lieutenant, we're free to go," said a muffled voice.

However, Park continued to stare into his scope.

"Hey, are you asleep, sir?"

Park removed his eye away from the scope and blinked slowly, the bags under his eyes noticeable.

"Don't question the status of my consciousness, Corporal," said Park.

"Sorry, sir."

"Besides, I could hit a target a hundred meters away while sleeping better than you could hit one ten meters away."

"Sir?"

Park chuckled as he stood up. He then slapped his corporal in the chest.

"Just busting your balls, Corporal."

"Get some sleep, sir," said another soldier, a staff sergeant.

"I'd say the same, but you'd get in trouble."

Park chuckled as he walked away. His corporal followed him to the stairwell where they eventually left the rooftop.

The staff sergeant accompanied by his specialist sniper both went into a prone position, keeping the position on top of one of the university buildings near the stadium secure.

As the specialist peered into his rifle scope, he saw a few roamers coming out from the main entrance of the stadium.

"Sir, I got a visual," said the specialist. "Roamers coming out of A."

The staff sergeant looked into the main entrance and nodded.

"Here we go," he said.

On the roof of the Hill Auditorium, Sully removed the thermal binoculars from his eyes and turned around. He and Mazzy walked past Ruby, who was holding a sniper rifle in her arms.

"All yours," said Sully.

Ruby nodded as Benny remained seated near the edge of the roof.

"Careful, man."

"Yeah," said Benny, his voice sounding soft.

Sully looked at Mazzy concerned, though he was too exhausted and sleep-deprived to start a conversation with Benny. They both left the roof, leaving Benny and Ruby alone.

Ruby forced a tremble as she let out a 'brr.'

"Man, if I had known it was going to be this cold I would have brought a thicker sweater," said Ruby. "I sure took predicting the weather for granted."

Benny, who was wearing a scarf and a light jacket over his sweater nodded.

"That's why it's important to pack extra clothes," said Benny. "It'll get warmer."

Ruby rolled her eyes. She got into a prone position and began setting up her sniper rifle.

"So… we're both alone?"

"For the time being," said Benny. "Then someone from the Queendom will come over and take our post."

"I know that. I just mean… we're both, like, single, right?"

Benny raised an eyebrow and turned towards Ruby.

"Who told you I was single?" asked Benny.

"You… you're not?"

Benny sighed and looked away.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said.

"If you must know, Rex told me."

"And how did Rex find out? Did Luan talk to him?"

"No. Jackee did."

Benny remained silent.

Ruby looked at Benny and stood up slowly, leaving her sniper rifle mounted on the edge of the roof.

"You know, I know how it feels to have your heart broken. I also know of a way to make the pain go away… like, for the time being."

Ruby then began to unzip her sweater.

"Funnily enough, it's also a way to warm ourselves up."

Benny sighed. His walkie-talkie then made a static noise.

"Kiwi Team here reporting. We got a visual on roamers on entrance A."

Ruby took a deep breath as she turned around and went back into a prone position.

"Apple Team copies. Vehicle ready for diversion."

"Kiwi Team here, please standby."

"Apple Team here. Roger that."

Benny lowered his head before pulling himself away from the edge of the roof and onto the rest of the rooftop. He grabbed his sword and stood next to Ruby, the sunrise behind them.

"I remember this place," said Benny. "We were attacked by the Laborers. Me and a few others got separated from the main group and we had to run here to take cover. And the whole time I was thinking… how to get back to Luan…"

Ruby frowned, though she continued to look at Benny.

"Now, I think about avoiding her. Ain't that funny?"

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but, like, why did you break up with her?"

"She broke up with me. And I… uh… don't feel like talking about it."

"That's okay, Benny. You don't need her. Sure, you've been with her after all these years… but things change. People change. Like, I'm sure you can relate with that."

Benny nodded.

"I just… I really wish she hadn't done what she has done," said Benny.

"Then, please… let me help me forget about what she has done. Let me… forget about her."

Ruby moved herself close to Benny, looking up at him as he looked down at her with soft eyes.

"No, that wouldn't…"

The two looked at each other before a car horn blared continuously in the distance. Their hearts skipped a beat as they looked over the distance, wondering where the noise was coming from.

"Apple Team, I said to standby!"

"That ain't us!"

Ruby gasped as she raised her sniper rifle and peered towards the stadium in the distance. However, she was unable to get a clear view as it was too far, even with her scope. Then, multiple car horns blared across the city, all coming from different directions.

"Dammit, where are those horns coming from?"

"We have to get rid of those horns now!"

"Apple Team, horn— now!"

Benny and Ruby continued to look around the city as the horns continued to honk.

"Apple Team, I gave an order!"

"You didn't hear us? We honked our goddamn horns!"

The roamers poured out from multiple corridors in the stadium. They began to scatter about, with the runners running off into random directions. Then, a long line of roamers walked northwards.

"Strike teams, locate those horns and cut them off!"

Benny and Ruby remained still as a few roamers staggered around the ground. Then, multiple bells tolled from the Burton Tower next to their building.

"What the—? Lime Team? Are you ringing the bells? Lime Team?"

However, Lime Team was quiet.

Benny looked over at the Burton Tower. It was completely covered in moss. That was expected. He then looked down at the ground and saw the corpses of the two soldiers that were supposed to guard the entrance. That was unexpected.

"Oh my god," said Benny.

Among the atmosphere of car horns, the tolling of the bells came off as a unique, distinctive sound. A herd formed near the stadium as it moved northeast.

"There's gotta be Vultures in there," said Benny.

"How did they get in there?" asked Ruby. "Weren't there supposed to be soldiers guarding the place?"

Benny unsheathed his sword.

"Maybe they were there the whole time," said Benny.

Benny headed for the stairwell as Ruby called out for him.

"Wait, there's roamers down there!" exclaimed Ruby.

"Stay here! Cover me!"

Benny ran down the stairs and took an exit door straight into the back field of the Hill Auditorium Building. He ran straight for the Burton Tower, though a few stragglers began to jog towards him. He raised his sword and swung it, slicing the roamers dead.

Ruby peered into her scope, aiming at a roamer approaching Benny. However, each roamer that she tried to aim at, Benny has killed already.

A couple flares were fired onto the sky, flashing brightly. Some roamers facing the flares were drawn to it before strobe lights in the ground snatched their attention. They decided to walk towards the strobe lights, joining the herd where the lights came from.

Benny panted as he walked past the two corpses on the ground, seeing their heads decapitated. Sweat began to fill his palms as he walked towards the entrance of the clock tower.

Upon entering, he saw roamers wandering in the stairwell, stepping up and down at random intervals. The bell toll echoed across the stairwell, causing Benny to use this noise to his advantage.

He let out a yell as he swung his sword across, killing the roamers in his way. Some of the roamers did not hear him as he made his way up top. Blood continued to splatter onto the ground and down the tall stairwell.

A Vulture stood below a large bell wearing earplugs as she rang it. She was wearing a hockey mask with blood stains on them and a long robe painted with roamer innards. Next to her was the body of a soldier with a sliced throat.

Before she knew it, a sword pierced through her back and out her chest, causing blood to spill from her mouth beneath her mask down to her neck. She groaned before Benny pulled out his sword. The Vulture collapsed to the ground, now in the same situation as the soldier she killed.

He then grabbed the sniper rifle that was mounted at the edge of the tower and looked out into the distance.

Roamers were scattered in many streets around the stadium. The flares fired by the soldiers were ineffective. The light from the strobe lights among the herd shined brightly. A large whistling then formed among the herd.

Benny picked up the walkie-talkie from the dead soldier and spoke into it.

"Apple Team, this is Benny. I found Lime Team. They're dead."

"Dead?"

"The Vultures got 'em."

"Jesus. Alright. Umm… head back to position… in the meantime, standby. We'll relay a plan."

"Got it."

Benny sighed, knowing the soldiers did not know what to do either. He headed downstairs, taking the walkie-talkie though leaving the rifle behind.

Ruby peered into her scope, firing a bullet near the entrance of the clock tower, taking out a roamer. Benny then came out, running past the dead roamer. Ruby fired another bullet, killing another roamer, clearing a path for Benny.

Suddenly, the door to the rooftop slammed open as a few runners burst out onto the roof. Ruby gasped as she turned around and fired a panicked rifle shot, which struck one of the runners in the chest. She then screamed as the runners lunged at her, tackling her to the floor near the edge of the roof.

Benny gasped and ran faster, shoving and slicing away the roamers in his way. He then entered the Hill Auditorium building through the exit stairwell. However, there were multiple roamers clogging up the stairwell, coming from a door on the second floor. He gasped as the roamers turned their attention to him. The roamers then growled and darted down the steps, tripping and falling down, though quickly recovering as they were revealed to be runners. He ran out of the building as the walkie-talkie in his pocket garbled. Roamers came into sight, being attracted to the noise coming from the walkie-talkie, forcing Benny to turn off the walkie-talkie. However, as he had his walkie-talkie out, a roamer lunged at him from behind, causing him to drop it. He quickly rolled, causing the roamer to lose its grip on him. He took out his sword and sliced the roamer's head in half. He looked up and saw runners turning the corner. He gasped and ran away.

Ruby screamed at the top of her lungs as she raised a hand. A runner clawed onto her stomach, ripping it apart rapidly as another roamer bit into her right arm and pulled as hard as it could, ripping skin and muscle. Her legs were flailing in pain, which another runner was attracted to. This runner grabbed one of her legs and dug its nails into it before biting deep into her thigh, causing blood to squirt out. Then, another roamer sunk its hand into her left eye socket, splattering her eye and mauling her head apart as her screams faded away.

Among the roamers that continued to rip Ruby's body apart, one stood out. It was a Vulture with red hair, whose color blended with the blood on her face. She was Becky, who stared at Ruby's stiff arm sticking out among the feasting roamers. She sighed and turned around, peering into the distance with her binoculars. Seeing the front of the herd turn the corner, she smiled and removed her binoculars, now whistling along with the many Vultures hidden inside the herd.

The bell tolled again.

A soldier holding an M4A1 carbine looked out the window from the Michigan Union building as roamers were scattered about. He could clearly see the headlights from a car pointing at the back of another car, its horn blaring loudly. However, roamers walked past the car or towards the car. The random directions they took made it hard for the soldier to come out and approach the car to turn off the horn. There were already a few soldiers that lay dead across the city, having tried to stop the car horns. Many of the roamers in the city weren't normal roamers. They were runners, and among some of them, they were coated in fungus plates, making it hard to kill them with low-velocity bullets and melee weapons.

"Lieutenant Armstrong here requesting help immediately at Ann Arbor. I repeat, requesting immediate help at Ann Arbor."

April sighed as soldiers across the base were scrambling to get into their vehicles. However, there weren't enough of them around.

"When was the last time we cleaned the roads?" said a Corporal in April's radio.

"Last week, why?" answered Major Massey.

"There are so many goddamn roamers on the road, it's like someone came in and littered them all over the place. It's gonna take all day to get to Ann Arbor."

Major Massey sighed as he turned towards April.

"Our soldiers are trapped in Ann Arbor," said Massey. "It's gonna take a whole day to rescue them."

April continued staring at the soldiers scrambling about in the base. She then closed her eyes and rubbed her eyes.

"They really thought this all out, huh?" chuckled April nervously. "Continue to send additional units to Ann Arbor. Then send some to Royal Woods."

"And leave this place undefended?"

"We can't let it destroy Royal Woods."

"What about our people here?"

"If we don't stop the herd in Royal Woods, then it's gonna be too late."

"I don't think it will be."

April stared at Massey, who saw through her excuses. He knew she wanted to be as helpful as possible. However, April had a responsibility to her people, yet Massey couldn't convince her to uphold it.

"I gave an order," said April.

Massey nodded.

"Armstrong, stay right where you're at. Corporal, keep going. We'll be sending more soldiers to clear out the roads."

April walked away, grabbing her weapon. She was getting ready to head back to Royal Woods to defend the place as the herd in Ann Arbor inched closer and closer to the communities.

The air was brisk as clouds in a dim sky hovered over the walled community of Royal Woods. Inside the community, many stern and ready eyes stared out the walls as a rare silence kept the tension high.

The eyes then looked at the sky as nightfall approached.

A lone whistle filled the air in the distance. Then another. Then more. They went along to the tune of the theme of The Shining. Exactly like Becky's.

Fiona grabbed her walkie-talkie as she remained in an abandoned clothing store inside the Royal Woods Mall. She looked out a window as the roamers passed by.

"I see the herd. A thousand meters."

Rex looked from the rooftop of the Burpin' Burger building with his binoculars. He then radioed in the others.

"Yeah, I see them. Five hundred meters."

Braxton grabbed his walkie-talkie as he remained positioned inside the house he was at the night before.

"Herd approaching. One hundred meters."

Luan stood behind the gate, her arms crossed as she awaited Benny's return. However, with the sun setting ahead of her, it seemed more and more hopeless.

Lynn, who watched atop from a hill in Ketcham Park, saw the herd coming into sight. She gulped and grabbed an arrow from her quill.

Carol took a deep breath as she closed her eyes and held Clancy and Kari's hand inside the church nave. Tucker sat next to them as the church itself was packed with survivors carrying backpacks filled with their personal belongings.

Lori stood atop the guard post next to the main gate, along with April, Park, and Jace. She removed the binoculars and nodded.

"They're here," said Lori.

Jace peered into his scope. His eyes then widened as he saw the wave of roamers approaching.

"I gotta ask, couldn't we have napalmed the herd back at Ann Arbor?" remarked Jace.

"Sounds like a good plan," quipped Park sarcastically. "Perhaps, we should have listened to this kid."

April chuckled softly before putting on a stern face again.

"This isn't our first herd," said April. "Though the ones we faced… weren't quite big like this one. And this is only half."

"Where's the other half?" asked Jace.

"Back in Ann Arbor."

"I see. So you're out of napalm?"

"Not just napalm. Rockets, missiles. There's a reason why Detroit is relatively empty."

"Oh, well. We got this anyways, right?"

Lori nodded. She then raised her walkie-talkie to her face before hearing a soft whistle.

Then, the whistles got louder. And louder.

Becky, covered in a plague mask, looked ahead at the main gate with hatred in her eyes.

Lori swallowed hard before speaking into the walkie-talkie.

"Go ahead, Bruna."

As the herd approached from the street on the right of the main gate, a large flare flew into the dark sky, shimmering brightly. The roamers turned their eyes onto the flares before a few strobe lights appeared from within the herd.

"Found 'em?" asked Park.

"Yeah," said Jace.

"Go ahead."

Jace took a deep breath. He then placed his finger on the trigger. He took another deep breath, sweat dripping from his face.

"What are you waiting for?" asked Park.

"N-Nothing… just… give me a second."

"Jace…" whispered Lori, "you know it has to be done. It's us against her because she crossed a line we can never forgive."

Jace still hesitated.

"Remember what she did to Kimi. She wouldn't hesitate if it were you on the other side. None of them would."

"Yeah. Okay."

Jace took a deep breath. Then, he pulled the trigger.

A Vulture holding a strobe flashlight was struck in the head with a bullet. She dropped to the ground immediately, dropping the flashlight.

The Vulture next to her gasped before being shot in the chest by Park. She yelped in pain, catching the attention of the roamers around her. The Vulture froze on her knees as the roamers stared and growled at her. Then, as blood continued dripping from her chest wound, a roamer grabbed her face mask, causing her to scream in fear. Then, the roamers attacked her, turning her scream of fear into one of agony.

Becky gulped hard, though she continued to walk ahead among the herd. The herd itself continued moving forward, with only a relatively small number of roamers feasting on the shot roamer compared to the many roamers passing by them. The herd did not stop on its track. It then turned the corner.

A few arrows were shot at the guard post, though Jace and Park quickly took cover. As the archers loaded another arrow into their bows, one of them was shot in the head, causing them to drop their bow. The Vulture next to her gasped and snuck behind a roamer to use as cover from the southward direction. Then, a bullet came from the north, blowing out her forehead and splattering blood onto the roamer in front of her.

Luna smiled as she looked at the roof of a house north of the street outside the walls.

Sam smiled as she looked at the window of a house south of the street outside the walls. She gave Luna a wink.

Jace and Park appeared from cover and quickly sniped the other archers in their confusion, allowing the roamers to feast on their bodies as they dropped to the ground.

Becky let out a soft sigh, watching the Vultures in the front lines fall. She then turned around and looked to see if the other Vultures were moving up front.

Indeed they were, but then, she spotted something else in her eyes. A pair of yellow raincoats joined the herd, showing off their large swords.

A Vulture carefully stepped from side to side, zigzagging her way to the front of the herd. Then, she grunted in pain as a blade pierced through her back and out her chest. She then screamed as the roamers next to her began tearing her flesh apart. The Yellowjacket removed her sword from the Vulture and continued moving discretely among the herd.

"What are they doing here?" whispered Becky.

"Becky, look," whispered Shiwen.

Another flare was fired into the sky. A few Vultures tried using strobe lights again to draw the roamers towards the main gate, but it resulted in them revealing themselves. The snipers took their chance and took down the Vultures with their silenced sniper rifles.

The roamers were now a few meters away from the main gate. However, another flare was fired, resulting in the herd walking right past the main gate. The Vultures with flashlights refused to turn them on, only whistling in an attempt to turn the roamers around. However, the flare's bright light attracted the roamer better than the Vulture whistles.

Another Yellowjacket approached a Vulture, killing him and cutting his whistle short. Then, another. And another.

In the back watched Hana, who wore a black raincoat over her police armor covered in roamer guts. She walked slowly among the herd, making her way to the front. As a Vulture attempted to whistle next to her, she lifted her katana midway and thrusted sideways, slicing apart her stomach from the side. The Vulture let out a cry of pain as a few roamers tore into her. Hana walked past her victim, her face unchanging.

A Yellowjacket approached Becky from behind before her raincoat was pulled on. She slowly turned around, only to see an arm reach out to her. The arm belonged to a Vulture, who stabbed the Yellowjacket in the neck with a dagger. The Yellowjacket coughed out blood before the Vulture slowly pulled out the knife and moved to the side, allowing the roamers to tear into the Yellowjacket. A bullet then flew through the air, striking a roamer next to the Vulture. The Vulture continued moving, keeping her head low as another roamer was struck in the chest. The roamer did not flinch and kept moving.

"Damn it," said Luna. "Where'd she go?"

Then, a car honked loudly at the end of the street. As the herd continued moving southwards, a few runners darted ahead. Becky smiled, knowing the cars were going to be forced to move away. However, a few loud bullets were fired from the Humvee next to the car. The gunner by the turret fired multiple bullets at the runners. The sight of a human then aggravated the herd and before Becky knew it, many of them began running forward, turning into a stampede.

"Holy shit," said Bruna. "Let's go!"

Albert moved the car ahead as the gunner on the Humvee continued to fire his turret. Bruna and Bobby held on tightly to their car seats as the car made a sharp turn. The Humvee then followed the car as the runners chased after them.

Being pushed and shoved by the stampede of runners, Becky quickly held onto the Ketcham Park fence, keeping herself close to the main gate. The Yellowjackets moved towards the walls, using the ruined Laborer vehicles as cover as they freed themselves from the stampede. Some of the Vultures struggled to escape the stampede and were shoved to the ground where the runners trampled over them.

Another car horn blared in the distance, causing the back half of the herd to turn around, not having even gone within sight of the walls. Inside this car was Rex, Nadia, and Clyde, who were now leading a good portion of the back half. They were then joined by another car with Errol driving it and Lyberti, Theo, and Vonda as its passengers. Then they were further joined by another vehicle, one driven by Auburn Hill's Delta Team.

A Vulture then turned on a strobe flashlight and dropped it by a specific portion of the wall. She backed away, hiding among the roamers as they followed the strobe light. However, it wasn't enough to keep the roamers intact as a whole. More and more roamers were drawn towards the other roamers following the multiple vehicles driving away from Royal Woods.

As minutes passed, Becky saw most of her herd gone. However, she still had more than a few thousand roamers still sticking around, though they were still moving away by the hundreds. She then growled and grabbed her pistol and pulled the trigger, killing a nearby Yellowjacket.

The roamers turned around just as the snipers did. However, the muzzle fire came and went and the Vulture who fired it was nowhere to be seen. The couple of thousands of roamers still in the street by the west wall followed the strobe light.

A roamer stood above the strobe flashlight. Then, a roamer behind it shoved it against the wall in front of it. Then, that roamer was shoved against the roamer in front of it. Before the survivors knew it, the roamers were crushing each other trying to follow the strobe light. Then, they noticed that portion of the wall rocking back and forth, the portion that one of the Laborer vehicles crashed into the night before.

"Oh, shit," muttered Lori. "April, get your forces over there!"

Lori climbed down the guard post along with April.

"Reeves, you see that rocking wall?" asked April to her walkie-talkie.

"I see it."

"Get your team over there! Alpha, Golf Teams! Join Reeves!"

Lori and April sprinted towards the rocking wall, seeing it snap from the rest of the walls. The former turned around and looked at Spencer.

"Get as many people as you can! Go!"

"Got it!" nodded Spencer.

Spencer ran over to the town center as some survivors joined Lori and April, including Luan and Jackee. The wall portion groaned before collapsing. The survivors moved out of the way as the metal sheet fell flat on the ground, with dead roamers plastered near the bottom. The live roamers growled as they ran inside the community.

"Armstrong, get the vehicles in here now!" shouted April.

Armstrong nodded as he ran back to the main gate. Lori raised her rifle and fired at the roamers. The runners pushed their way ahead, causing the soldiers to act fast and fire at them first.

Luan raised her katana and sliced apart the roamers that dodged the bullets.

A roamer lunged towards Lori, though Jackee fired her pistol at it before it could lay a finger on her. Lori looked at Jackee and nodded at her.

Jackee nodded back and continued to fire her pistol, this time at some of the slower roamers, taking them out as their fungus plates blew out of their heads.

The roamers continued to pour in, walking over the bodies of their dead friends. The survivors certainly did not have enough bullets to take them all out.

"Back up!" exclaimed Lori. "Watch their hands!"

Lori then took out her hatchet and took a step back.

"Form a ring! Let them spread!"

The soldiers backed away as well as the survivors.

"Use your melee weapons for the roamers! If they're using a bladed weapon, shoot them!"

A soldier smashed in a roamer's skull using the butt of his rifle.

Luan continued slicing the roamers' heads with her katana.

Reeves lunged his knife forward, stabbing a roamer through the eye.

April swung her knife, taking out a roamer before seeing a nearby roamer holding a knife. She drew her pistol and shot the 'roamer' in the chest, causing the Vulture to scream. The roamers were drawn in on the shot Vulture, easing up the load for the survivors and soldiers.

A few vehicles then arrived, crushing the roamers flooding through the open portion of the walls. Two of them blocked the open portion, making it more difficult for the roamers to enter. However, they still climbed over the vehicles or crawled under them.

Lori swung her hatchet downwards, killing a roamer that was climbing over the hood of a Humvee. She then opened the driver's door and allowed one of the drivers to come out.

April did the same for the other driver, though she wasn't too sure why.

"Wouldn't it be better to keep 'em inside?" asked April.

"Can you afford to lose these vehicles?" asked Lori.

"Sure thing, though I'd like to know why!"

Lori looked at April.

"Can you set them on fire?" asked Lori.

"Lori…"

"Trust me."

April nodded.

A few soldiers jogged towards the southwestern corner of the wall, carrying Molotovs in their hands. They then lit them on fire and tossed them onto the Humvees, causing them to catch fire.

The soldiers and survivors backed away as the roamers climbing over the Humvees caught fire. They growled as their flesh reddened and then darkened, turning into a crisp. One of the roamers climbing over the burning Humvee fell to the ground, its skull shattering like porcelain.

Becky watched as the fire grew in size, making passage through the walls impossible. The fire reflected from the goggles she wore, yet it showed her anger nevertheless.

"We have to go now," whispered Shiwen.

"We can't," whispered Becky.

"We can. The herd's not gone. Not yet."

Becky turned towards Shiwen. She then followed her as they moved away from the open portion of the walls, leaving behind the herd to continue walking into the wall of fire.

A Vulture gasped as they tried to turn around. However, the flow of the roamers forced her to keep walking forward. Another Vulture tried to fight the flow, though it grabbed the roamers' attention. The roamers grabbed him and began tearing his clothes and flesh apart as he screamed. The Vulture watched as she continued moving towards the burning vehicles. Tears fell from her eyes as she looked back at Becky, who was walking away.

"Wait," she whispered. "Wait!"

The Vulture screamed as she made contact with the burning vehicles. Her body was then being crushed against a Humvee in flames as the roamers behind them began tearing her back apart as she screamed. Even as they caught fire, they did not care and continued to eat as long their hands and jaws could. However, even their hands and jaws became weakened as their muscles burned away and eventually the Vulture and the roamers burned to death.

Spencer arrived with a few survivors with him, including Grant, Patchy Drizzle, and Girl Jordan. However, the wall of fire prevented any roamers from threatening the community.

Luna and Sam looked as the fire spread among the roamers. The walls reflected the light from the burning roamers as the roamers growled harshly. They removed their eyes from the scope, unable to do anything further as the roamers burned.

Lynn gasped, seeing just how effective the fire was. It seemed like the fire was going to end the battle for them. Then, to her side, she saw a few 'roamers' sneaking into vehicles. The vehicles were leftover vehicles from the Laborers, intentionally parked there so that the Vultures could make a quick getaway. However, Lynn had no intention of letting the Vultures get away undetected. She quickly darted down the hill and ran towards a side exit in the park, using the cloudy night sky as a way to hide herself in the shadows of the bushes.

"Yeah, we have to make this quick," whispered one of the Vultures.

"Get in, then," whispered another Vulture, getting into an SUV.

"Wait, I have to piss first," said a small Vulture, holding a bow.

"I'm surprised you didn't piss your pants already. Go. Make it quick."

The small Vulture walked into the park and got behind some bushes, leaving her bow on the ground. She pulled down her pants and sighed in relief as urine dripped into grass. She then pulled her pants back up and struggled to zip them.

An arrow then flew through the air and struck her in the back of her head, tearing through her hockey mask. She dropped to the ground and Lynn quickly made her way to her.

A few vehicles drove away, leaving just the one. The driver got impatient and walked towards the park.

"Sydney, hurry up!"

Lynn stood up, now covered in a robe with roamer guts and a hockey mask painted with decaying blood. She held her own red bow, though it was too dark to tell the difference from the dead Vulture's bow.

"Sorry," whispered Lynn.

"If we get there late, you're the one explaining to Becky, not me."

Lynn nodded as she followed the Vulture into the SUV. She took the back seat and watched the wall of fire grow smaller and smaller as the vehicle drove away.

The sound of the engines attracted the roamers and led them away from the wall of fire, much to the relief of the survivors inside the walls.

As minutes passed, the fire died and smoke filled the air as only a few roamers wandered around the street, stumbling among the corpses of their undead peers. The fight has been won. At least, in Royal Woods.

The main gate opened and a few soldiers walked out carrying barbed wire. They quickly made their way to the northwestern and southwestern corners of the wall as a few survivors took out the wandering roamers. The soldiers wrapped the barbed wire around the fences of the Ketcham Park and attached them to the corners of the wall, using metal sticks to hold them in place.

"That barbed wire's not gonna hold them forever, is it?" asked Jackee.

"No," said Lori. "But it'll do for now. At least until we can get the wall back up."

"We're gonna use the same wall?"

"Maybe not. Some of the walls are singed on the other side. We can replace them with new metal sheets. Apparently there's plenty left on the construction site where they came from."

Jackee nodded. Lori then looked at her.

"You did a good job tonight," said Lori. "And last night. If I'm being honest… I really didn't expect much from you."

"Thank you. If I'm being honest, I didn't expect much from myself either. But as much as I'm scared of the outside world… I knew I could do it because you and your group could."

Lori felt a small warmth in her heart. She nodded quietly.

"We really couldn't have chosen a better leader."

Jackee then walked away.

Lori let out a sigh as she stood by the burned corpses in front of her. It felt too soon to decide that. She knew it wasn't over yet.