Alright, lets get this story moving again!
"I can't believe we trusted that- ARGH!" Kevin shouted. The sky was beginning to grow dark under the setting sun and the temperature of the desert was decreasing rapidly. Lenore and Keenan buried the heads of Dr. Vincent amd Eddy's mom, they thought it was the right thing to do...
"No time to focus on that lowlofe right now." Lee stated. "We're freezing out here!"
"She's right, we need to make a fire to keep ourselves warm for the night." Janyse added. Some of the group turned to Jonny, who quickly hid Plank behind him.
"NO! I can't let you use Plank as firewood! He... He's all I got left!" Him by pleaded, his voice cracked under his sobs. Double D sighed in defeat.
"We can't use Plank, in a scenario like this it's important to keep a level head and if we burn Plank then the effects it would have on Jonny's mental stability could be catastrophic."
"So what do we do?" Marie asked, claspinf Double D's hand. Eberyone was quiet for a moment before May pulled a wooden backscratcher out of her pocket.
"You know I went to boot camp once when I was a kid, one of my friends back then actually used nacho cheese chips as a fire source. Would that work now or was it just dumb luck?" Eddy's dad asked.
"Well, potato chips with cheese flavored powder do contain various chemicals that are extremely flammable. However where would we even get the chips?" Double D responded.
"Oh! I know! Ed proclaimed, reaching into his pocket and grabbing a bag of 'Jake the Jaguar's official Nacho Cheese Chips'. Some of the group gave Ed some strange looks.
"He's so resourceful!" May swooned as Double D took out some gloves from his pocket and grabbed a chip from the bag. Kevin brought out a lighter and ignited the chip, which lit up almost instantaneously, thankfully the flame wasn't powerful enough to burn Kevin's hand. Kevin dropped the chip, everyone watched the chip burn for a few seconds after it hit the sand.
Ed looksd at the burning chip and then at the bag in his hand several times.
"Cool!" He said to himself. He then reached for a handful of chips to eat but Double D stopped him before he could.
"Ed, no! That is our fuel source for the night, mister!" Double D said as he took the bag and dumped its contents on the burning chip. The fire slowly began to spread until it erupted into an enormous flame that prompted everyone to jump back a bit.
"And that is why I don't consume junk food..." Kathy sighed.
"Well we have a fire now but we dont have any food." Janyse stated.
"It's definitely not enough for everyone but I do usually bring a few PB and J sandwiches with me whenever I go on a long trip." Kevin said, Nazz was about to snatch the bag and start digging in since she loved Kevin's PB&J sandwiches. The thought of food made her remember her remember that she also had something to eat though it was only miniscule, she pulled out three lollipops from her pocket.
"It's not much but I have these." Nazz said, her tone made it clear that she was rather ashamed at her contribution. Though almost nobody else had food on them anymore after Armando's betrayal and theft of their supplies.
"Well thankfully I took the liberty of preparing several lunches that I had anticipated we would eat at a time under... better circumstances. I just hope Armando hasn't absconded with them as well..." Double D said.
"Um, you mean these?" Matt asked, pulling out a small red box out of his nearly empty backpack, its emptiness being a result of Armando obviously taking almost everything inside. The box itself contained three plastic containers consisting of cooked rice, vegetables and small pieces of cooked chicken or beans for anyone who didn't eat meat, at the current time though everything had become cold.
"Yes that was what ibwas referring to, I suppose if this is everything we have then we could ration this until we come across another surplus of food that is available in a town that is hopefully nearby." Double D answered.
"Oh! Oh!" Ed called out, waving his hand as though he were a student eager to answer a question in class.
"Ed?"
"I've got some gravy cakes!" Ed said, opening his jacket to reveal several blobs of gravy that have appeared to have coagulated into a oval shape that were stuck to the inside of Ed's jacket. Ed grabbed one of the blobs and offered it to the group. "Want one?"
The group either stared at Ed in shock, horror, disgust, or a combination of all three. Kathy turned to gag, Tony however looked in amazement and wonder about how the gravy actually managed to not completely ruin the jacket and remain in place. Matt was laughing hysterically at all the reactions.
"ED, YOU GROSS BABOON!" Sarah hollered.
"Um, Ed, we appreciate yoir offer but we'll have to decline." Double D responded.
"Uh, yeah!" Eddy added. "Think of it this way, Lumpy, more for you!"
"Maybe we should eat before Ed ruins our appetite..." Keenan said, everyone ate as little as they could to properly ration the little food that they had. Without a word, everyone tried their best to go to sleep...
Jimmy was the first to wake up the next morning, the cold had woken him up as the flames of the previous night had died down and only a pile of burned potato chips and burned sand stood where the fire was. The sun was slowly beginning to creep out from the darkness...
Jimmy shivered a bit as more of the group began to awaken. The slowly rising sun began to provide a miniscule amount of heat.
"Well, we survived the night. Now what?" Janyse asked, rubbing her eyes. She looked down at the spot where she was sleeping and noticed that she was sleeping on top of Matt. Janyse blushed as she quickly got off of him.
"Now we just have to find any source of civilization." Kathy answered as she surveyed the area.
Double D looked at the growing shadows cast by the group and rocks nearby. He positioned himself so that the sun rose on his right.
"Armando most likely brought us here after passing through Watermelon Falls, which should be to our East. We need to follow the direction of the sun." Double D exclaimed.
"And how'd you figure that out Galileo?" Peter asked.
"Simple, the sun typically rises in the East and sets in the West. Following that direction should lead us to Watermelon Falls."
"But why can't we just keep going West? Isn't that where we're going in the first place?" Nazz asked.
"It is, however going West would only lead us through the desert for about another day." Kathy explained. The sky began to turn blue with daylight, prompting everyone to stop wasting time and begin heading Eastward.
Hours had passed, the group was still in the desert. The time according to Kathy and Double D was nearly ten in the morning. The heat was beaming down on everybody, Jimmy had to be carried by Sarah to conserve energy, though Sarah herself was already exhausted.
"Look!" Eddy called out, pointing to a cactus in the distance. He took out a pocket knife and dashed towards it. Peter, Matt, and Ed hurried after him. The cactus has little needles but was quite abundant in a strange deep purple fruit that was growing all over it. Eddy cut off a fruit for each of the four boys which they hungrily wolfed down.
"Eddy, no!'" Double D called out, far too late to stop them.
"Chill, Double D!" Eddy said, hiccuping immediately afterwards. Double D examined Eddy's eyes, which had turned the same purple color as the fruit.
"Oh my... I read about these fruit in my Botany class. They have extremely hallucinogenic properties!" Kathy exclaimed.
"Is there any way to help them?" Erin asked.
"I'm not sure..." Kathy replied solemnly.
"Well we gotta keep moving." Kevin stated. "Can they walk?
Erin took Peter's hand to coax him into walking. Peter seemed to walk as though he was intoxicated.
"Woah, when did the road turn into jelly? Haha." Peter laughed as he continued to sway on his feet. The other boys seemed to walk just fine. Ed was going through some sort of heat flash as he removed his jacket and began fanning hinself with his hand, everyone seemed confused at this because while the heat was a burden on them it was not affecting them as much as it was affecting Ed.
Eddy began to climb on top of Ed, the look on the short boy's face made Double D remember when he had an epusode of insanity when he was unable to scam the rest of the kids when there was a quarantine several years ago. Tony however simply stared at the blue sky above them though he was able to walk perfectly fine, Jimmy and Sarah wondered what he could be seeing.
Rolf's family said something in their native language that seemed to correlate with the boys' conditions.
"What did they say?" Marie asked.
"My family has seen these symptoms in the Old Country, we call it Ugress. Also please excuse Rolf's family's silence, they are still not very accustomed to the English language." Rolf explained. "We had usually quelled the symptoms with an edible variation of the Carbunkle of the Flesh Stew."
Eddy, despite his trance, seemed to hear the stew Rolf had mentioned, upon hearing it he began to quack.
"We better move before Eddy loses what little sense he has left." Janyse joked. The group continued their trek through the desert, wary not to interact with any plants and to make sure the four boys who were not in their right mind were safe and secure.
Hours continued to pass, but something caught Tony's eye...
"Look! I think I see a building!" He called out. Everyone hurried over to the building and were relieved to see that it was not just one building, but an entire town! The town of Watermelon Falls to be exact.
Watermelon Falls was abandoned after the recent events, everyone was either taken by the horde or had escaped to find a better place to hide. As the group wandered through the town, they heard what sounded like people playing cards. Everyone got their weapons ready just in case, they followed the sound and wound up in front of a restaurant where they could see four men playing cards at a table, some sandwiches and open bottles of beer beside them.
Peter stumbled into the restaurant and got the attention of the men.
"Hey guys, what are ya' just standing here for? These circle birds can help us!" Peter said, hiccuping just as Eddy did. With their cover blown, the group entered, some still brandishing their weapons just in case.
"Hey there, didn't think anybody would still be in town." One of the men said, he wore a black and white buttoned down shirt with a white undershirt, black jeans and white sneakers. He was thin but looked fit, he had what looked like the hilt of a kitana at his side.
"Who are you guys and what happened here?" Kevin asked.
"The name's Anthony." The second man said, he wore a white shirt and blue jeans with black sneakers and a baseball cap. He was of average build but had a very light beer belly "That's Jojo." Anthony directed them to the man that initially greeted them.
"Diego." The third man was tan skinned and and muscular" he also had a baseball cap but he instead wore a red and blue aoccer jersey, torn blue jeans and blue sneakers.
"And that's Gibby." The fourth man was of Asian as opposed to the other three, who were clearly Hispanic. He was muscular and wore a red shirt and green pants with black sneakers.
"We found the town abandoned and figured we might as well stay here while its safe. What I don't get is why this place looks untouched. Every restaurant still has food in the fridge, the stores still have clothes on racks, even the first aid kits are untouched." Diego explained.
"So how did you guys even get here in the first place?" Lenore asked.
"We were with a tour group from the States when the outbreak happened, we tried getting the rest of our group together but we lost them, I hotwired a car and got us out here and weve been here for about two days." Diego replied.
"Very well then, would it be alright if some of us stayed here while the rest went out to get supplies?" Kathy asked. Some of the group stayed behind to rest while everyone else left to get supplies. Amongst the gatherers was Kevin, who seemed to give those that were staying behind a sort of silent warning to be careful just in case the four men tried anything.
"Did they drink some of those peyote plants?" Jojo asked.
"Peyote?" Sarah asked, tending to her brother who had fallen asleep.
"Well its not exactly a peyote plant, but it does have effects on people that are really similar to peyote plants." Anthony replied.
"Also peyote is a Central American type of cactus that has a chemical inside of it that has hallucinogenic and psychoactive properties." Gibby explained. "Diego here tried one because he was thirsty and had the same problems as your friends here."
"You know a way to help them?" May asked.
"Yup, give us a second." Anthony said, getting up to head into the kitchen, coming back with a brown liquid that looked similar to coffee but was bubbly and carbonated like soda, he poured the liquid into four cups for the boys, Ed chugged it while the others were a bit slower to gulp it down.
After finishinf the drink their eyes turned to normal and soon their stomachs began to growl.
"Oh... What happened?" Eddy groaned. He and the other boys suddenly clutched their growling stomachs in pain. Without a word they all rushed to the bathroom.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?!" Sarah shrieked, her shrill voice took the men by surprise.
"Easy, that's just the laxatives taking its effect. They have to flush out the chemicals from the cactus and drink some water when they get out. They'll be fine in about twenty minutes or so." Jojo explained.
"I guess we won't be going in there for the rest of the day." Matt joked, getting a laugh out of everyone in the room. Jonny suddenly stopped laughing, his attention shifting to Plank.
"What's that, Plank? ... Where? ... Great idea buddy!" Jonny said as he snuck behind tje counter to get what Plank was apparently pointing out. Jonny found a whole watermelon, an ice cream scoop and a butterfly knife.
"Hey guys, anybody up for a snack?" Jonny said with excitement.
In another part of the town, Kevin, Rolf, the Kankers (sans May), and Janyse were getting food for the group in a nearby supermarket.
"Yo, Rolf! Go deep man!" Kevin called out, tossing a turkey at Rolf from across an aisle, Rolf successfully caught the turkey and then seemed somewhat nostalgic at how it was cold to the touch.
"Ah, the frozen meat brings Rolf back to his time surviving the harsh winters in the Old Country." He said. He looked over at the rest of the food in the frozen section and looked at the frozen French fries in complete disgust and shame.
"Hey guys, did we get everything?" Janyse asked.
"Yeah, I think we should have enough food to last us about a couple of weeks and Nazz is getting medicine with Double D. Speaking of which, we should probably meet up with them, I think the pharmacy they saw is only a couple blocks away." Kevin explained.
As they left the supermarket, they found their friends already back on the street heading to them.
"Hey Nazz, did you get everything we needed?" Kevin asked with a bit of a blush on his face.
"Totally! If anything happens to us we should be alright." Nazz answered.
"Before his untimely passing, Dr. Vincent was also kind enough to teach me a variety of surgical procedures firsthand. So if a situation occurs like that of Eddy's father, I should be able to perform the necessary procedure." Double D added. "Though if we are careful it shouldn't have to come to that."
"Nice, I think we have everything we need to get by, now lets hurry back to-" Kevin began to say before noticing a few dozen zombies dashing towards them. "Oh fuck!"
After the rest of them saw the zombies, the group dashed as fast as they could back to the restaurant with their supplies...
Everyone in the restaurant finished the watermelon, saving some for everyone who went for supplies. Jonny hollowed out the rinds completely, leaving Plank on a table so he could cut out holes in the watermelon for his eyes.
Kevin's group barged into the restaurant, a few of them were completely out of breath.
"What happened?! Is everyone alright?" Jimmy asked, surprised at the sudden return.
"We gotta move, there's zombies heading this way!" Kevin announced, most of the group wasted no time in getting out of there, except for Jonny and Peter. The former had just finished cutting out eyeholes in the watermelon rinds for his 'Captain Melonhead' persona while the had just finished up in the bathroom.
Unfortunately for them, zombies had already begun attacking the restaurant, one was reaching for Plank, right in front of Jonny.
"BUDDY!" Jonny cried out as he began to struggle with the zombie over Plank. He was forced to use his feet to keep any other zombies away. Peter on the other hand was swarmed with zombies, he tried to flee but he was suddenly caught by a zombie that had broken through a door with its hands and tried to pull him to his death.
The two boys cried out for help, thankfully for them they were heard by Ed, who ran back to help them. The rest of the group found themselves face to face with another horde of zombies, the group pulled out their weapons, which looked far inferior to the actual weapons the four men had, a kitana wielded by Jojo, an AK-47 owned by Anthony, a Colt Single Action Army revolver that Gibby had, and an MP5 that Diego held with gusto.
While everyone fended off the zombies, Ed hurried over back to where Jonny and Peter were. When he saw the situations they were in, Ed knew that if he called for help, nobody would be able to respond in time. He was left with a serious choice...
Who should Ed help?:
Option A: Help Jonny
Option B: Help Peter
The choice is yours...
Our heroes have managed to restock on supplies and can continue their quest, but can they continue to survive?