Operation Bite Mark was trudging through fields of marshlands. Addy's Z Whacker and Doc's hammers were covered with a mixture of zombie blood and mud. 10K had his rifle and Warren had her pistol. Both were almost out of ammo. Murphy was using his weird zombie voodoo to try to detect where the Z's were hidden in the mud and hopefully drive them away. Overall, it was not looking good.

The team was increasingly becoming more and more frustrated. They would hardly keep the anger off of their faces. Another muddy zombie reached out and grabbed Warren's ankle. Without hesitation, she fired her pistol off and killed it. She cursed, "Shit!"

Addy complained while whacking a different zombie, "How much further?"

Doc muttered, "Just a bit."

Murphy dragged his soaked legs through the swamp, "What I wouldn't give for a damn boat."

10K mumbled something under his breath. Another waterlogged zombie with half of its jaw hanging off to jump out of the water. 10K's rifle had no trouble taking it out. He grumbled, "That's my last one."

Before he had time to equip a different weapon, another zombie, this one missing an eye, lurched at him. With no time left as it tried to grasp and crawl his muddy legs, 10K whipped his rifle around and tried to bash it. His clothes started to rip. He yelled at it, "Get off!"

A gunshot rang through the air, and the zombie went limp and sank back into the swamp. Operation Bite Mark turned to Warren, who was holding her smoking pistol with determination. She said, "I'm out."

That did it. The usually calm and collected 10K let loose. He stopped his "This sucks! It's so freaking hot! We're out of flippin' ammo! AND we're stuck in the stupid FRICK FRACKING APACOLYPSE!"

Silence filled the air. Even zombies seemed to have stopped in their tracks. Murphy choked out, "What?"

The rest of the group started chuckling. Even Doc's eyes were watering. Surprisingly, it was Addy who started full-blown laughing, "Dude! What was that!?"

10K's face flushed red. He mumbled, "My dad said I'm not allowed to cuss until I'm 18."

Doc said, "But you swore when we were in that psych ward. 'Said you felt like you got shot in the ass."

He defended, "I was drugged."

Doc shook his head, "Alright, keep your shirt on. We're always out of here anyway."

Warren took charge, "Alright, 10K, stay by Doc. I'll stay by Addy and Murphy. Let's get out of here."

It took a while for them to get to dry land and even longer to find a decent place to rest. It had been two weeks since the long-forgotten swamp incident. It was night, and they were currently camping out in a second-floor apartment in an abandoned motel. They were all in a gray carpeted living room. It was dimly lit by a lantern 10K had scavenged. There was no furniture, presumably stolen by someone else, so they were all sitting on the floor. Addy was messing with a screwdriver and a small radio hoping to get a signal while the others were playing cards. Just as she seemed to get the radio to work, what they assumed to be bullets rang outside. The cards were quickly abandoned as Operation Bite Mark tried to scramble to their feet. Warren fumbled with her pistol and hastily opened the front door. They scrambled out onto a concrete terrace with a railing. 10K was the furthest to the left followed by Doc, Addy, Warren, and Murphy.

To their surprise, there were no guns, bullets, or even Enders raiding them. Instead, red, white, and blue fireworks were painting the sky. They all stopped and stared. Addy still had her small radio in hand. She must have fixed it because Citizen Z's voice came through, "Hello to my lovely listeners. This is Citizen Z. Today is July 4th, 2018. America's Independence Day! Remember that fire is dangerous and can attract Z's, so be careful and don't let your guard down. Happy 4th to all! But especially to a certain sniper with Delta X-Ray Delta. It took a while to find you without your real name, but I finally matched your face to an old middle school yearbook I found online. Happy birthday, kid."

Addy laughed, "No way!"

An idea popped into 10K's head, and he couldn't help but smirk. He looked over at Murphy, "Hey, Murphy!"

Murphy responded, "What?"

He flipped him off, "Fuck you!"

Murphy huffed. Doc patted 10K's shoulder, "Happy 18th, kid."