Happy Holidays! Enjoy the chapter.
Ed frantically looked at Jonny and then Peter, knowing that between the two he could only help one of them from the zombie attack.
Jonny has always been a friend to Ed, even after the events of the Big Picture Show and his subsequent actions during his time spent as "The Gourd".
Peter was someone he had just met and even though he knew little about him, Ed knew he couldn't just let him die.
Ed panicked as the situation grew increasingly more drastic. With his choice made, Ed went to go help Jonny. He grabbed his longtime friend and wooden companion, the second he went over to them, the zombies burst through the door and dragged Peter to his demise...
The two boys ran away from the restaurant and joined the others, who left most of the combat to the adults who had already been in town.
The zombies were mowed down rather quickly and without any injuries to those that were still alive. From a dark alleyway, James watched the group. He stood silently, putting his attention mostly on the guns that were being used.
Once the last zombie was defeated, James sank into the shadows, out of sight. The Lemon Brook teens looked around, noticing that Peter was missing.
"Um... Where's Pete?" Tony asked. At the mention of their now deceased ally, Ed began to look guilty. Knowing him for the longest time, Eddy and Double D noticed Ed's behavior, the two began to grow worried.
"Ed?!" Double D asked.
"It is my fault!" Ed cried. "He and Johnny were being attacked and I could only help one of them!"
The group was shocked, none of them really knew how to react.
"You did what you could." Jojo said. "I was in a similar spot when the outbreak started. I had to save either a woman I was flirting with, or my brother over here." He motioned towards Diego, who he promptly shared a fist bump with.
"I don't want to sound mean..." Erin said. "But Peter did sometimes perv on me so... I don't really feel so bad about it."
"He was a bit rude..." Kathy added.
"If he wasn't much help to you then you need to move on and keep moving. It sucks, sure, but its all that you can really do." Gibby said.
"What skills did he have that you needed?" Anthony asked.
"Well he was good at being watch..." Tony pondered.
"That's something any of you could do. No offense. Also, your friend here was smart enough to at least get some sort of food. Plus he looks like he knows basic survival skills." Jojo stated.
"Of course he can survive, gentlemen at arms! Jonny the Wood Boy is one of the Urban Rangers alongside Boy Jimmy and I, Rolf, the Son of a Shephard!" Rolf boasted.
"Hehe, well it looks like you have the survivalists you need?" Anthony joked. "You should probably move on to where you're going, no sense in sticking around here."
"What about you guys? You can't just stay here!" Nazz replied.
"Don't worry, we can take care of ourselves. Take these though." Gibby said as he and his friends handed the group of surviors several weapons such as handguns, knives and shotguns as well as other provisions such as a compass and a map.
"You never told us where you're going." Diego said.
"We're trying to find if my older son is still... You know." Eddy's dad said.
"Yeah, my brother is kind of a dick but we need to find him now. We have to go to Mondo-A-Go-Go." Eddy added.
"So you're heading East, you'll be going through... Pomelo Ranch and Papeda Swamp." Gibby said, taking a look at an extra map they had.
"What are you all gonna do when you find him?" Diego asked. The group fell silent, unsure of how to answer. Until Jojo made a proposition for them.
"You could try heading to the East coast of the United States. Whatever caused this brrakout spread fast and is probablt still spreading, by the time you reach this guy the entire continent could be infected. Before you came here I was just telling the guys that there's supposedly a hidden city in the Ozark Mountains down south in Missouri. It's incredibly far but if it's real, then it could be the safest location at the moment." Jojo explained. "But even then I can't confirm if its real."
"I don't think we can thank you gentlemen enough for the help." Double D said.
"Don't mention it. You better move on, who knows if there are more of those freaks out there." Anthony said, the group left Watermelon Falls, leaving the men inside the town...
They headed further East, the grassy plains of Pomelo Ranch were a rather calming transition from the yellow and brown colors of the desert and town.
The four men headed into a safer building than ghe restaurant they had been in earlier just in case more zombies came. When the coast was clear, James exited the alley he had been hiding in. He began to collect every zombie or chunk of zombie that had been blown off and collected them into the alley he was in.
As he rebuit his army, James secreted some sort of mysterious brown liquid from his eyes that splashed onto his zombie brethren, hardening their rotting flesh into what can only be described as stone.
Once his army reanimated themselves, James rounded them up to follow the survivors, laying no mind to the four men still in town...
The time was slightly after 1 p.m. when the group was halfway through the Ranch. The owners were long gone alongside most of the animals that were still alive, there were dead cows scattered around the farm, so the group wanted to move quickly just in case the dead cows had been zombified as well.
Rolf and his family would have normally felt right at home at the Ranch, but the dead cows unsettled them. Rolf's parents took out a few herbs they had in their pockets and burned them as a sort of way to cleanse them and the cows.
"Yo, Rolf. What's with the herbs?" Kevin asked.
"It is customary in the Old Country to burn the Herbs of Cleansing to remove and repel any evil spirits that can attach to us and cleanse the bodies of innocent animals during a time of turmoil. This tradition is very rarely ever done but in dark times such as this, we may have to do this often..." Rolf replied.
Time passed on as the group continued, the sun began to set as they entered Papeda Swamp. The Eds felt a bit of nostalgia at returning to the swamp, it reminded them of how close they were as friends as it had been where Eddy and Double D had their fight furing the Big Picture Show and renewed their friendship afterwards.
The three boys smiled at each other for a koment before the Urban Rangers stopped them.
"What's the hold up?" Lee asked.
"Do you hear it?" Rolf asked.
"Hear what?" Marie responded, Marie tried clearing her ears out just in case she was meant to hear something. Matt, Double D and Kathy soon caught on to what Rolf was talking about.
"Exactly..." Matt said in shock and fear. Janyse caught on quickly afterwards.
"Will you guys stop being so dramatic!" Sarah yelled. "Tell us!"
"Listen..." Janyse said. "You hear nothing, right? We're at a swamp, you'd think there'd be some animals around. Any sort of noise."
This revelation immediately weighed on the group as they looked around for any kind of life.
"Oh dear..." Double D said as he began to sweat profusely, he and his fellow Eds becked up into each other so that they could see at every possible angle. The fact that the sun was quickly setting did not help... That was when they heard it...
It did not sound human, nor did it sound like any normal zombie they had encountered... The group then saw several zombified bears, crocodiles, and other animals charging towards them.
"Everyone, before we inevitably fight, we have to conserve as much ammunition as possible. If you must use it, I would suggest using it on the bears." Double D announced.
"Gotcha dude!" Nazz said as she got out one of the knives they had been given.
"Everyone ready?" Keenan asked, shaking ever so slightly.
"Let's rock!" Ed and Matt shouted simultaneously.
Kevin, Lenore, and Eddy's dad blasted the bears with their shotguns, taking them down first. Rolf, Ed, and the Kanker sisters wrestled with the zombie crocodiles, using their knives to stab them at any opportunity. Keenan, Janyse, Matt, Tony and Erin fought against smaller animals such as raccoons, deer, and possums, rolling down their sleeves and protecting any exposed skin to avoid getting bitten. The thought of contracting rabies as well as zombification horrified them. Jimmy, Double D, Eddy, Kathy, and Keenan used slingshot and any other useful weapons such as reasonably large stones to kill smaller animals such as birds, chipmunk, and squirrels. Eddy felt a hint of joy at killing his least favorite animal, the fact that they were zombies only made it better.
The only one that did not fight was Jonny... Battling against zombified people was ome thing, but he was an animal lover, seeing the dead animals earlier and seeing them as zombies now crushed him. The others were understanding in his unwillingness to fight, killing these animals hurt them too but they all knew they had no choice...
When the chaos had ended, night had fallen... The road they were taking was soaked in blood and guts. Jimmy looked horrified at the carnage he was directly involved in, he stepped back and looked at his blood soaked hands, part of him... seemed to enjoy fighting the zombies. His family had always taught him that violence was wrong and that if he wanted to help society, he could join a group that would build his social and survival skills as well as his confidence. The rage and surprising combat prowess went completelt against this mentality, sure he was conniving and sneaky at times but he wasnt a fighter... or so he thought.
Jimmy couldn't physically comprehend this, he stepped back a bit and vomited...
Sarah went to console and help him clean up, thinking the stress and adrenaline got to him but the Kankers saw what Jimmy was going through.
The moon shone on the group as they continued on the road. They traveled silently until they noticed the mountains appearing on the horizon. They were close.
In the border region between Canada and the United States, a large, black plane flew high above the clouds. Inside, several dozen men in suits stood in a room with a lone table in the center, several of these men sat on one side while a group of scientists sat on the other, among these scientists were Double D's parents... They sat next to an African-Canadian man that wore a neat white buttoned shirt tucked into beige slacks, black dress shoes. His head was bald and reflecting the light hanging from the ceiling.
"Mr. and Mrs. Drummond, Mr. Barr, you and the rest of your department have the capabilities of aiding us solve this outbreak. The Canadian government has fallen and we need your help. I'm afraid you have no choice in this matter." One of the men in suits said, this man wore a striped red shirt underneath his suit. His hair was brown and slicked back with gel, he had a mole on the left aide of his forehead.
"Where is our child?!" Mrs. Drummond asked. "WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM AND HIS FRIENDS?!"
"My daughter may still be out there somewhere! Lemon Brook can not be safe right now!" Mr. Barr added.
"I have no idea about the whereabouts of your children but if you don't work with us they may die by morning!" The man said sternly.
"And if we refuse?" Mr. Drummond asked.
"You die. We don't have time to accomodate or persuade you. For the good of humanity you have to work with us and our superiors.
The scientists relented and agreed to work for the men. The striped suited left the room and entered a much nicer area of the plane. Two men sat across from each other sipping a glass of wine. Both of them had white hair but one if the men had an eyepatch. The first man was middle aged, his hair was brown but it was greying. He wore a black suit with a white shirt and blue tie. The second man was more elderly, he had an eyepatch and wore a brown trench coat with a black suit underneath.
"You didn't have force them at gunpoint." The elderly man said.
"You're far to peaceful, David. I know you're a veteran who essentially saved America during the Cold War but you need to understand that this is a disaster we're dealing with... A plague if you will." The younger man replied.
"These people had families, you could have helped them Terry!" David argued.
The striped shirt man told Terry and David about the scientists agreeing to their demands.
"Thank you Pezzulli, make sure you get them to work." Terry said to his subordinate.
"David, there was no time. The President doesn't know we're doing this, he's too focused on rallying the American people to safety first, so if-"
"You didn't tell him! For God's sakes you have direct contact with him!" David shouted.
"I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN DOWN TO BY THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE! I AM THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR GOD SAKES!" Terry boomed. "I can have you killed right here and now and I can tell the President that you were just another victim of those monsters down below!"
Neither man said anything else, David left the room allowing both to cool down... Terry then made a call on his phone...
"It's me. The scientists agreed to work but I need some extra incentive for them. Find their kids, bring them on board. If they're alive and with anyone, bring them too. Use lethal force if necessary, if they're dead then we can still use them."
Back in the swamp, James and his zombie army found the remains if the zombified animals. Despite the inability to smile or show any emotions, James felt like a kid in a candy store as he began to work his magic on the animals...
End of chapter.