Everyone stood silently at the rubble where the cave entrance once was. Kevin stepped towards the boulders with a multitude of emotions.
"Rolf..." He croaked, the others watched him, similar emotions on their faces. Kathy watched him, a river of tears gushing from her eyes with an occasional whimper.
Suddenly, Kevin charged at the cave, trying to dig away at the rocks and get Rolf back.
"Kevin, stop!" Double D called out, Jonny and Matt tried to hold Kevin back from the cave despite how much he struggled.
"He's right dude! Rolf wanted us to go on without him!" Nazz assured, she was going ti say more but Kevin quickly cut her off.
"And how do you know that?!" He screamed, tears flowing down his cheeks as he sank to his knees. "Rolf was... No he still is, a guy of integrity, and we owe him for helping us out like that! That's why we gotta help him!"
"Kevin..." Ed said softly, surprising a lot of the others. "You gotta let it go man. Rolf meant a lot to us... All of us. But even if we might not ever know why he and his family did what they did, the least we can do is keep fighting and survive! That's, um, what I think anyway."
Kevin sighed as he stood up and wiped the tears from his face.
"Fine... If we gotta do it, we'll do it for Rolf!"
Kevin drooped his hat over his eyes as he headed over to take the lead of the group.
"Hold up." Eddy said, everyone turned to look at the boy, who had a serious look on his face. "Where are we even going now? We don't have anywhere to go now! That place was the only place we had and now it's gone, all because those Maurauders and that piece of shit, Armando ruined everything!"
"We'll just have to find somewhere new." Lee replied.
"She's right." Janyse added. "We managed to live this long and we can keep living. We just have to find someolace to stay for the time being and regroup."
Suddenly the group heard barking in the distance and readied themselves, though they quickly calmed themselves when it turned out to simply be Erin's dog.
The girl squealed in joy as she happily hugged her pet.
"Y'know I keep forgetting she has that dog." Matt noted.
"Yeah, it's shockingly quiet." Sarah added.
"Well at least we know we have our canine companion." Double D said before the sounds of gunshots and people shouting were heard in the distance.
"Yeah yeah, the mutt's still with us, now come on!" Eddy urged. The group ran away, not knowing where they were headed but it had to be anywhere away from the cave and away from anyone that could be after them. As they ran, the thought of Rolf lingered in the minds of the youth of Peach Creek; if Rolf and his family had somehow survived, then they were running away from them as well...
The sounds of their pursuers eventually faded away as the sun began to set. Jimmy eventually dropped to his knees from sheer exhaustion.
"Jimmy!" Sarah called out as she, Tony and Keenan went to help the boy back up. "Come on Jimmy, we gotta keep moving!"
"Hold on." Jonny said, he climbed a nearby tree and took out a set of binoculars to scan the area. "Looks clear for right now."
"Then we have a chance to make a plan." Eddy announced. "Anybody got any bright ideas."
"Aren't you supposed to be the idea guy?" Janyse commented.
"After what happened earlier, I'm surprised any of us can function mentally or emotionally right now." Matt replied.
"Well we gotta start somewhere." Nazz stated.
"Don't you guys still have that radio you used to contact the compound?" Lee asked. Double D and Kathy took on a disappointed look with the latter shaking her head.
"There was no way we were able to." Kathy sighed.
"It took up too much space and was too heavy for us to realistically bring with us without it being a detriment." The intelligent Ed added. "Additionally, had we brought it, we would habe most likely left it at the compound to help find more survivors."
"So the radio's back at my brother's trailer?" Eddy asked.
"Oh the memories of that place..." Terry groaned. "Don't remind me of how painful it was to leave that place behind..." Rachel patted her boyfriend's shoulder in empathy.
"So we don't have any way to find any sort of help?" May asked.
"I'm afraid not, plus with the Marauders now being a factor, we have no way of knowing if they have a radio as well."
The looks on some of the group soured at the fact that they had nowhere to really go.
"So what, we just wander aimlessly until we find a safe place?" Rachel asked. Kathy thought for a moment and pulled Edd aside, Marie noticed and went after the two, careful not to bring too much attention to herself. She could hear them whispering about something but she couldn't quite hear it, and the thought of that girl talking to her man made her go crazy!
"We did it once with that old factory back in Canada?" Ed answered.
"Old factor- oh, you mean the abandoned gag factory in Lemon Brook?" Terry asked, Ed nodded with a flat expression.
"Alright, if that's what we gotta do then I guess we got no choice." The older brother sighed.
"Just a moment." Edd called out, everyone faced the two smart teens. "While we may not have the radio we originally used, if we find a town nearby then we may be able to use some spare parts and create a new radio."
"Um... Double D..." Ed chimed with an unsure tone. Everyone faced him with an interested look, Ed may have been genre savvy and a huge help thus far, but his ideas were far and few between otherwise.
"Yes, Ed?"
"Do you think we can put a tv screen on it too?"
"Ed, we don't have time for indulging in your addiction to television, this is a serious situation!" Edd chastised.
"Actually, if you think about it, adding a tv screen wouldn't be a bad idea." Nazz said in defense of Ed. "If there are any news stations that are still broadcasting, then we could find out where they are and maybe find some help there. Plus there are a ton of ways to video chat, so if there's anyone out there using things like that, we might be able to find them."
"Sounds like a bit of a stretch to me." Lenore pondered.
"Yeah, but you kids are smarter than you look, we've been following your lead since the start of this whole mess, and it's gotten us this far." Eddy's dad added.
"Alright, guess we're headed to the nearest town then." Eddy announced. "Alright people, let's get a move on, we're burning daylight!"
The hours passed on, the sun descended and the sky was now a bright orange and pink.
"There it is!" Erin called out. The group finally came across their target, now the only thing to do was hope that there were working parts they could use.
"We'll everyone." Edd began. "We have our objectives: find any working electronics you can that would be of assistance to us. Specifically any sort of radio or transmitter. Additionally, any shelter that we may be able to use would be beneficial.
The group separated into numerous groups, Kevin had entered a supermarket that appeared to have been ransacked. Most kf the shelves were empty but there were still some loaves of bread amd frozen meat that could be salvaged.
As he looked around, Kevin noticed a poster of a man on a tractor.
'Farm fresh foods and produce, straight from Cantaloupe Ridge!'
The man looked nothing like Rolf, but just the sight of him and the tractor reminded Kevin of his friend.
"You ok, Kev?"
Kevin turned to see Nazz with a concerned look on her face, she placed a hand on his shoulder as she looked at the poster.
"...I just can't believe he's gone."
"None of us can." Nazz responded. "...But what do you think Rolf would say if he saw you acting this way?"
Kevin looked down in defeat and shame, knowing full we'll Rolf would criticize Kevin over his weak attitude and call him something akin to a baby, just like the whole fiasco with him and his field-worker pageant.
He couldn't help but laugh at himself a bit; Kevin never liked those pageants, but if Rolf was with them all, he would happily watch it one more time, even if he had no idea what was going on.
Nazz smiled a bit at Kevin's laughter, they didn't say anything but it was as if they subconsciously knew that despite what happened, Rolf and everyone else that they lost along the way were never truly gone, as long as they could remember them.
Ed had grouped up with his fellow Eds as well as Jonny and Matt to find electronic parts for their new radio. As he picked up a car battery, Ed looked over at his best friends as they talked about the blueprints. He couldn't hear what they were saying but he couldn't shake the feeling that they were still upset with him.
Ed frowned as he slumoed away before Jonny noticed his grim expression.
"Hiya Ed, whats wrong?"
"Eddy and Double D are mad at me!" Ed sniffled. Matt patted his friend's back in sympathy while Jonny tried to think of what to say.
"Why?"
"It's because of what happened back at the compound." Matt answered. "Remember what I told you, Ed? Just tell them how you feel and I'm sure it'll work itself out. All you need is the right moment and everything between you guys will be solid!"
"May I have your attention, gentlemen?" Double D announced. "We have completed the design of our communication device, calling it a radio seems false as will be able to do more than just that."
"Yeah, so let's get what we need and get outta this place." Eddy added.
As the boys collected everything they needed, Ed repeated what Matt told him in his head.
The best moment to talk to Edd and Eddy. When would that be? Not when they were putting the comms system together, Ed may not have been the smart one kf the group, but he knew there was a time and place for certain things, especially in a situation like this! ...Double D taught him that, and once Ed finally understood that, things got a bit better for him, at least that's how it was back when things were normal...
Peach Creek, four years ago...
The Eds were hanging out in the lane, looking at the cul-de-sac in the orange hued sky of the early evening. The August air was warm but with a slight breeze as Eddy began to speak with confidence, yet also a hint of nervousness.
"Alright boys, this is it." He said. "Summer's almost over and our time as high school freshmen officially begins!"
"Clean and fresh!" Ed beamed. "Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!"
"I'm glad to see you two are confident about our futures in the realm of higher education! Though I'm surprised to see you actually excited to start school, given your previous behavior at Peach Creek Junior High."
"Yeah well, that was then and this is now, and now we're in high school! The place where things get bigger and better, and we're gonna rule the school!"
"Well 'Your Highness', let's hope your methods in attempting to climb the social hierarchy do not include harassing and disturbing the school faculty and our fellow students. Not every student from our Junior High class will be going to the same school as we are, and our new classmates and instructors may not be as forgiving as our previous ones."
"Don't worry Double D! It's gonna be fun!" Ed assured.
"Yes, we'll, just remember, gentlemen; there is a time and place for everything. Let us make sure we do not wind up making the same mistakes as before."
"Like Ed said, chill Double D, we have everyone else looking out for us now and we always got each other's backs."
Ed began to smile, they did always have each other's backs. The next chance he got, he would talk to his brothers, maybe then everything will be alright between them again.
As the boys continued collecting supplies, Janyse and the Kanker sisters were scavenging in abandoned homes for any useful place to stay for the night. Marie grimaced as she removed some moldy food from a fridge to reach some juice that was behind it.
"Yuck!" She gagged. "Did these people ever bother cleaning?! Not even our trailer was this bad!"
"At least the beds look okay." May said, exiting one kf the roo s.
"I guess that'll do, the couches look clean this place is big enough for everyone." Janyse replied, she turned to face Lee to say something but she suddenly froze. Lee was about to say something back but Janyse quickly covered her mouth before signaling for May and Marie to stay quiet.
"May, Marie, head back to the others, but try going as silently as you can. I thought I just heard something coming from the basement."
"We still haven't checked that place." Lee stated, looking around one last time to make sure they didn't miss anything.
"Depending on what's down there, we could either handle it without a problem and take whatever's down there, or be royally screwed if its one of those Marauder freaks. But if we try backing out, we can just move on or give whatever's down there the chance to get the jump on us..." Janyse explained. "It's your call..."
Lee had to take a moment to think about what the best course of action was... She listened a bit and heard the sound Janyse was talking about, though she also couldn't explain what it was...
Make your choice:
Option A: Go into the basement.
Option B: Leave the building.
Not every choice may have an expected outcome. Choose wisely.