Code: Survival, Season One

by I heart Lyoko

The Lyoko Warriors take a vacation to the United States when a mysterious disease suddenly brings the dead back to life. Can the group possibly hope to survive in what remains of our civilization? Or will they fail and join THE WALKING DEAD? (OC/OC J/A U/Y O/S) *Story is currently under rewrites to eliminate old writing errors*

13. Anne

(Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestinysEmbrace!)

---

The group continued to stare down at Merle's severed hand with feelings of shock, horror, disgust and in Daryl's case: despair. Yumi was so horrified and disgusted at the sight of Merle's severed hand that she actually gagged a bit and had to struggle not to vomit, and this was the exact same situation with Odd, Ulrich and Chase as well...

Merle actually did it... They couldn't believe it...

Merle had actually cut off his own hand in order to escape from the roof...

Daryl was absolutely devastated at seeing the severed hand of his brother and all of the blood on the ground with it. This all likely meant either one of three things: either Merle died of blood loss somewhere on the streets or even within the building somewhere, the walkers got him before that could happen, or that he was still alive and losing a lot of blood somewhere inside the city. Either way they had to look for him... they had to find him!

"H-He did it... He cut off his hand! I can't believe it!" Odd managed to say with disbelief as he stared down at the severed hand.

Daryl's despair soon began to morph and turn into full-on rage at the others in the rescue group, especially Rick, T-Dog and Glenn for how they left Merle behind. Daryl's anger finally boiled over and he suddenly turned and quickly aimed his crossbow straight at T-Dog's face, which resulted in Rick, Chase and Yumi all quickly aiming their guns straight at Daryl's head in return. He wasn't going to murder T-Dog if they had anything to say about it...

"I won't hesitate... I don't care if every walker in the city hears it..." Rick warned with a frown forming on his face.

"Drop the crossbow, Daryl..." Yumi warned as well, not wanting to kill a living person but likewise not wanting T-Dog to die.

T-Dog simply stared at Daryl with an expressionless face, as if he didn't truly think Daryl would murder him. After a few more moments Daryl finally lowered his crossbow out of frustration, causing Rick, Chase and Yumi to likewise lower their weapons as well. The last thing they needed at the moment was a repeat of what happened the day before with the group being trapped...

Taking a moment to regain his composure and to calm himself down a bit, Daryl sighed and stood where he was before he turned to look at Ulrich, purposefully averting his gaze.

"Y- You got a rag, or something?" Daryl quietly asked him.

Ulrich nodded and he reached into his pocket, pulling out a small red bandana that was among the ones he grabbed from the department store just a short time ago. Daryl quickly took the bandana and he didn't bother saying thank you as he went to examine both the severed hand and the dangling handcuffs.

"I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs..." Daryl commented.

Much to the disgust of everyone else present, Daryl proceeded to pick up Merle's severed hand by its pinkie finger and he examined it closely, scrunching up his face in both disgust and curiosity.

"Ain't that a bitch..." Daryl said in a grim tone.

Daryl then sighed and unfolded the bandana on the floor. He then took Merle's hand and he gently placed it in the middle of the bandana before he carefully wrapped it up, wanting to take it with just to bury it later if they couldn't find Merle. After this, the others watched as Daryl walked straight over to Odd and went behind him, unzipping his backpack. Odd almost immediately had a look of complete and utter disgust on his face as he realized that Daryl was putting Merle's severed hand in there for transport.

"Ugh... Why mine?" Odd couldn't help but ask out of disgust.

"Quiet..." Daryl frowned.

After setting Merle's hand in Odd's backpack and zipping the backpack shut, Daryl glanced back over at the dangling handcuffs and examined the scene with the others, noticing that there was actually very little blood for something as serious as chopping off a hand.

"He must have used a tourniquet... maybe his belt." Daryl stated.

"Yeah, there would be much more blood if he didn't..." Chase noted.

The group all saw that there was also drops of blood that led straight back to another door that was up on the roof, signalling that this was the way Merle had gone after he escaped from the pipe. They would have to follow if they were to have any chance of finding Merle...

"A trail of blood..." Yumi pointed out.

"Let's follow it, but everyone be careful. Anything could be in there..." Ulrich instructed.

The others all nodded in agreement and Chase went to open the door, quickly aiming his pistol inside this new stairwell in order to check for walkers. Thankfully there wasn't any in there. Giving a nod to the others to confirm that the stairwell was clear, Chase began to cautiously walk down it with his gun still aimed straight down the stairs as the rest of the group quickly caught up with him, all likewise keeping their weapons at the ready just to be safe.

"Do you think he's alive?" Yumi asked the others.

"I have no idea... but I know that we should be careful. " Rick stated as a reply.

"Man, y'all just shut up? He's alive..." Daryl frowned with annoyance at their conversation.

The group went quiet after that, not because Daryl asked them to but because they had to keep an eye out for any walkers that could be in the building. They continued down the stairwell until they got to the bottom floor, where they opened a door and saw that they were back inside the department store. The blood trail was still leading them further and they had to follow it, but they all froze when they suddenly heard a rustling noise.

The rescue group immediately readied their weapons and cautiously looked around the store for any sign of a walker, but much to their shock they found that it wasn't a walker at all that was causing the noise. The group noticed that a teenage girl of about fourteen years old was inside the building, a girl who was wearing an unbuttoned flannel shirt over a black T-shirt with blue jeans and who was digging through a box of emergency supplies that were originally stored under the checkout counter.

A scavenger...?

The girl herself had long, shaggy, messy brown hair, and her bangs were styled to cover her right eye. They also noticed that a bandana was tied around her head and was also purposefully covering her right eye like how her bangs were doing. Strapped to the girl's back was a guitar, much to the group's surprise.

"A girl...? Is she actually alive?" Yumi whispered to the others with surprise.

Daryl cautiously raised his crossbow and aimed straight at the back of the girl's head, causing Rick to immediately place his hand on the crossbow and forcibly lower it with an angered glare at the prospect of Daryl murdering or even aiming a gun straight at a living person. Yumi lowered her rifle and she stood up, cautiously beginning to approach the girl in an effort to find out who she was.

"Excuse me...?" Yumi asked with caution.

The girl seemed to jump ten feet in the air due to pure surprise and shock at hearing a living person's voice for the first time in God knew how long. She immediately turned to face Yumi and she almost tripped over the box of emergency supplies, but once she regained her composure she immediately raised her hands in order to signal that she was not a threat whatsoever.

"I- I don't want any trouble..." the girl stated, now a bit fearful once she saw the entire group was armed.

"What're you doing in here? This city's dangerous these days..." Rick stated.

"I was just trying to find some food and some water. It's been a few days since I've eaten and I thought that if I went inside the city I might be able to find something to eat... No luck so far." the girl sighed.

Meanwhile, Chase had lowered and holstered his pistol as he continued to stare at the girl. Something about her seemed very familiar to him, although he wasn't exactly sure how. She couldn't have been a student at Kadic Academy, that much was obvious... so how was she familiar? In any event the rest of the group had lowered their weapons as well, causing the girl to lower her hands as a sensation of relief flooded through her.

"Who are you?" Odd asked.

"My name is Anne. Anne Marshall..." the girl replied.

His eyes going wide with realization, Chase gasped and immediately began walking towards the girl. It all made sense now... He knew this girl! He actually did! What were the freaking odds of this happening?!

"No... N-No fucking way..." Chase gasped with disbelief.

The girl who was now known as 'Anne' blinked with confusion as she saw Chase approaching her, which she felt was kind of creepy. What was going on now...?

"Uh... yeah?" Anne blinked.

"Do you... recognize me? Do you recognize me at all...?" Chase hesitantly asked.

"I- I don't know who you are... Why?" Anne asked with complete confusion.

Chase took another step forward and he even placed his hands directly onto Anne's shoulders. Anne herself almost immediately tried to brush them off, but he only pressed them firmer as if he was about to try and make a point to her about something.

"Anne... Look me in the eyes..." Chase said.

Anne was absolutely confused at all of this, but she decided to abide by Chase's request and she began looking straight into his eyes. Anne's visible eye slowly began to widen with realization as she noticed that Chase's eyes were colored blue and green due to his heterochromia, which he shared with Dylan since Dylan's eyes were blue and hazel. Anne only knew one boy who ever had green and blue eyes... one of her best friends from a long time ago: Chase Enheart.

"C- Chase?! Chase Enheart?! Y-YOU'RE ALIVE?!" Anne gasped with realization and shock.

Chase immediately began to smile and he nodded in confirmation once he saw that she indeed recognized him, much to his own joy. Anne almost immediately pulled him in for a very tight hug, which Chase quickly returned as he reunited with his old friend.

"I'd never thought I'd see you again!" Anne smiled, quickly beginning to look around at the others. "Wait, where's Dylan? Is he still alive, Chase?" she asked.

"He's fine, he's just back at our camp with the others." Chase confirmed. "Wait until he sees you again! I can't believe you're even here, Anne! He's totally gonna freak out about this!" he smiled.

Anne and Chase finally broke their hug and they pulled away from each other, still smiling as the others continued to watch them. After another moment or two, Odd began to grin a bit and he walked over to Anne, holding out his hand for her to shake.

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Odd Della Robia, one of Chase's friends." Odd introduced with a grin. "Not that this has anything to do with your lovely reunion, but I just so happen to be single... Wanna help me fix that?" he smirked.

"Never in a million years." Anne deadpanned and immediately turned him down.

Odd actually pouted a bit once he heard that, as he was fully aware that getting a date with a girl these days would NOT be as easy as it was back in Kadic Academy. The others were still very confused though... how did Chase know this girl?

"How do you know Anne?" Ulrich asked.

"About six or seven years ago, Dylan and I were walking by Anne's school one day and we both saw her getting attacked by a group of jackasses... So Dylan and I ran over there and we 'chased' them off, pardon the pun." Chase shrugged.

"Dylan helped me off the ground and they both stayed with me for a while just to make sure I was safe... We became best friends for years after that. But one day... I just couldn't find them. And I never saw either of them again..." Anne sighed with sadness.

Anne's face formed a saddened expression as she turned to face her old best friend, seeing that he already had a look of deep regret on his face as he remembered how he and Dylan had to leave her all those years ago...

"Why did you and Dylan leave me...?" Anne asked, as she needed to know why.

"Anne... I swear to God that neither of us had a choice..." Chase said with sadness as he began to explain. "Dad was ex-US Special Forces. After his stint in the military he became an explorer and a treasure hunter, and when he got a job for a French exploration company we had to immediately pack up and move to France. We tried to find you to say goodbye, but your prick parents wouldn't tell us where you were and we didn't have any time left to look... Anyway, we ended up moving to a city called Amiens and my dad disappeared a few years ago while exploring some Mayan ruins somewhere in Latin America, and my mom died in a car crash not long after that..." he sighed.

Anne's eyes widened as she listened to Chase's story about what happened to him and Dylan over the last few years, shocked to hear all of this. Jimmy and Rachel Enheart were two of the nicest people she had ever known in her entire life, and she actually felt tears welling in her eyes when she heard that they were both gone...

"Dylan and I kept to ourselves for a while after that, but one day we met some new friends at our school Kadic Academy... It turned out that one of them was a sister I never knew I had, a girl named Aelita Schaeffer. It's a very long and complicated story, but my parents... they're not really my parents. My memories were wiped and I got separated from my real mom and dad and Aelita, and I was sent to America and adopted by the Enhearts when I was five... Aelita was separated from them as well for a long time, but we found them again about a year or so ago and we moved back into our old house. Our parents are still in France, but... in all likelihood they're both probably dead right now because of the outbreak." he explained with a sigh.

Anne was shocked to hear all of what had happened to Dylan and Chase over the last several years. They had been through so much... She then proceeded to run straight to Chase and engulf him in another hug, which he wasted no time whatsoever in returning back to her.

"I'm so sorry, Chase..." Anne said with sympathy.

"Me too, Anne... I really hope you can forgive Dylan and I." Chase sighed with sadness as they hugged.

The pair continued to hug again for a few more moments before Daryl impatiently stormed off to the front entrance of the store, quickly turning back to frown at the entire group and especially at Chase and Anne.

"Can you two cut that crap off? We've gotta find Merle!" Daryl rudely ordered.

Anne was taken aback by Daryl's rudeness, but both she and Chase released each other from their hug. The others in the group were getting really ticked off by Daryl's attitude but likewise they all digressed and hurriedly followed him over to the door, as they knew they still had to look around a little longer for Merle and still get the bag of guns from the street.

Chase smiled at Anne and he offered her his hand, causing her to smile as she gently took it and allowed him to hurriedly lead her straight towards the front entrance and to the others in the group. They were ecstatic that they had reunited, and Anne couldn't wait for Chase to bring her back to camp so she could see Dylan again...

---

Aelita cringed as Verity gently placed her hand on the part of her jaw where Ed punched her earlier, as Verity was closely examining it to see if any significant damage has occurred. There was still a lot of pain on her jaw and a nasty bruise had definitely formed by then, but as far as Verity could tell nothing was broken or cracked or anything like that. They were both sitting inside the RV as Dylan, Rebecca and Jeremie all sat close by, watching as Verity examined Aelita since she had taken a few medical classes back at Kadic Academy and knew about how to check wounds.

"Does it hurt when you move your jaw at all? Like for example if you chew food or yawn?" Verity inquired.

"A little bit... Yawning definitely is a bit painful, and I assume eating is not going to be pleasant later on." Aelita replied as she allowed her friend to keep examining her jaw.

Verity nodded and made a mental note of what Aelita said. She then grabbed a small flashlight from the table and she had Aelita open her mouth so she could look inside, which she proceeded to do once she turned on the flashlight and illuminated the inside of the pink-haired girl's mouth. After a few moments of examining her teeth, Verity allowed Aelita to close her mouth and she likewise set the flashlight aside after it was no longer needed.

"I don't think you're gonna lose any teeth due to that punch, but I'd be a bit careful while eating for a little while just to be on the safe side." Verity instructed.

"I still can't believe that motherfucker did that to you, Princess..." Dylan frowned, angry that Ed had actually laid a hand on his sister.

"Ed definitely better sleep with one eye open from now on. No one fucks with any of the Lyoko Warriors and expects to get away with it, least of all Aelita..." Rebecca added with a similar frown, as if it was a promise.

Aelita cringed with pain once more after Verity gently placed a synthetic ice pack on her jaw to help it heal. Verity then nodded at her work and she stood up from her chair, looking down at the pink-haired girl as she now had to leave to go help Patrick with something.

"I'll check on your jaw later today to see if everything's still fine. I'm glad you're alright, Princess." Verity smiled.

The pink-haired girl smiled with gratitude at her friend and she continued holding that ice pack on her jaw as she watched Verity walk out of the RV. The pain on her jaw was already beginning to be soothed by the coldness from the pack, and after a moment she looked to her boyfriend, brother and friend and sighed.

"Guys, I really am fine now..." Aelita stated to the three. "Believe me, I'm still very angry at Ed and I know all of you are as well, but now it is over and done with. I really do not want more violence and now I just want to continue past this. Besides, Ed already got what he had coming to him thanks to Shane..." she stated.

The three other teens all glanced at each other for a moment as if they all had similar thoughts about what exactly should happen to Ed, and then they all looked straight back at Aelita.

"You sure I can't just poison his coffee in the morning just to be safe?" Dylan asked half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"That is absolutely not a bad idea you have, Dylan..." Jeremie added in agreement, but rather in a slightly more serious tone than a joking one.

"I can poison him right now if you just give the word, Princess." Rebecca offered, being completely serious in contrast to Dylan and Jeremie as she knew exactly where some rat poison was in the RV.

Although completely serious about not wanting any more violence to break out within the camp, Aelita couldn't help but let out a small laugh after hearing Dylan, Jeremie and Rebecca's words. It was really touching that they all cared so much for her...

"I'm sure, guys..." Aelita chuckled. "How about this? If he hits me or anyone else in this entire camp ever again, then you have my permission to poison him whenever you feel like it. Deal?" she asked half-jokingly and half-seriously like how they were.

Jeremie, Rebecca and Dylan all laughed with Aelita after she said that, and all three of them nodded as their agreement to Aelita's deal. All that mattered right now was that she was alright, and none of the Lyoko Warriors would dare let anyone hurt her again...

---

The rescue group and Anne continued to follow the blood trail in an effort to find Merle Dixon. As they walked, Yumi explained to Anne as to what happened to Merle and why they were looking for him, and although she was horrified that he was left behind and that he cut off his own hand she agreed to help. The trail of blood droplets led into another building across the street so the group went straight into the building's front lobby, where they were shocked to see that there was several corpses laying scattered all over the entire room.

What was more remarkable was that all of these walkers were already pacified, meaning that if Merle went through here he had to have been the one to take them out... no small feat given the condition he was currently in.

"He was definitely strong enough to take down these guys..." Ulrich stated.

"...One handed." Odd added bluntly, as he was likewise surprised at how strong the man was.

The group continued to examine the dead bodies for a few more moments before they continued to follow the trail of blood droplets. Merle had to be close to the group by then...

"Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer and he'll crap out nails." Daryl commented to the others about Merle.

"Any man can pass out from blood loss no matter how tough he is..." Rick retorted matter-of-factly.

"Then we should try to find him before that can happen..." Yumi stated.

The others agreed with the Japanese girl and they all quickly resumed following the trail of blood droplets through the lobby and to a flight of stairs, where they proceeded to climb up to continue following it. Merle most likely ran into walkers on the street and fought his way into this building for shelter and safety, so odds are that he was still hiding somewhere within the building.

Hopefully that miserable prick is still alive...

---

Kyra and Alexandr were busy chopping some more firewood together at a tree stump within the camp, near their tent to be specific. The temperature outside was getting hotter by the hour and the two of them were already covered in what seemed to be gallons of their own sweat, so the two of them decided to take a break for a little bit so they could get something to drink.

"Holy shit, I'm so tired..." Kyra panted as she wiped some sweat from her brow.

"I can barely feel my hands and I think I'm beginning to get a blister on one of my palms." Alexandr cringed as he gently rubbed his sore hands together.

Kyra tiredly sighed as both she and Alexandr made it to a small cooler by one of the campfires, where they proceeded to open it and pull out a couple of cans of Coca-Cola to drink. The pair clinked their cans together before they opened them and began taking large gulps of the soda, relishing the taste. After a moment or two they noticed that in their thirst they both had ended up chugging every last drop from the cans, much to their mutual surprise. In any event they simply shrugged and set the empty cans down inside of one of the makeshift garbage cans that the camp had set up, and they prepared to head back and resume chopping more firewood together.

The pair of them stopped in their tracks when they saw Andrea and Amy Harrison walking up from the trail that led to the bottom of the quarry, and much to their pleasure they saw that the sisters were both carrying a lot of at least two dozen fish that they had caught from the waters below. Dinner never looked so good...

Several others in the camp quickly noticed the sisters and all of the fish, and a few of them such as Lori, Rebecca and Patrick were so impressed at their haul that they even began to lightly clap in appreciation. The two sisters simply smiled as they handed one of the bundles of fish over to Morales, who only could give a joyful smile as he stared at the fish.

"Ladies, because of you my children will eat tonight. Thank you!" Morales smiled.

"Thank Dale. It's his canoe and his gear..." Andrea smiled back as she and Amy went to set the rest of the fish on a nearby table.

Aelita came walking out of the RV with Jeremie and she was still holding the ice pack on her jaw as the couple approached the scene. The two geniuses eyes widened when they saw all of the fish that Amy and Andrea caught, and their stomachs almost immediately rumbled with the prospect of eating fish for the first time in weeks. Aelita would have to be careful eating them though due to the punch from Ed earlier, as she seriously didn't want to take the risk of losing a tooth somewhere in the back of her jaw.

"Impressive catch..." Aelita complimented the sisters as she examined one of the lots of fish that was set down on the table.

Both Andrea and Amy smiled at the pink-haired girl out of gratitude for her comment. Carl also expressed a desire for the sisters to teach him how to fish, and Amy agreed to do so as long as Lori thought it would be fine. The group could see that a rifle-carrying Dale was walking over to them from who knew where and the two sisters were wanting to show him the beneficial fruits of letting them borrow his canoe and fishing gear from time to time.

"Hey, Dale!" Andrea called out with a smile as she saw him approaching. "When's the last time you oiled those line reels? They are a disgrace." she stated with a chuckle.

Unfortunately the group could immediately tell that Dale had something serious that he had to tell them all, as he absolutely looked like he wasn't in the mood for jokes. Everyone's smiles quickly faded away as Dale approached them, a worried expression plastered upon his face.

"I, uh... I don't wanna alarm anyone, but we may have a bit of a problem." Dale warned the group.

Dale then turned and gestured up to a hill not far from the main camp, and right at the top behind a thin layer of brush the group could make out a camp member named Jim who was strangely busy using a shovel, apparently digging some hole up there for whatever reason. This caused the group to immediately feel a bit alarmed as Jim had literally no reason to be doing this... they all knew they would need to check up on him to make sure everything was okay.

---

Several members of the camp cautiously approached the spot where Jim was digging his holes, seeing that he had already dug a few and was working on another. Robert almost let loose his fury when he realized that Jim was digging just a few meters or so away from his sister Amy's grave, but thankfully Aelita and Jeremie managed to calm him down for the time being since they all still needed to figure out why exactly Jim was digging holes in the first place.

The group couldn't believe it. It was over one hundred degrees out at the moment and this guy was just out in the direct sun and digging for no apparent reason? Something was definitely wrong...

"Hello... Your name is 'Jim', correct?" Aelita cautiously asked as she and the other original Lyoko Warriors were still learning names of some of the people around the camp.

Admittedly, Aelita and the other Lyoko Warriors present all felt a tiny bit of sadness when she said that name, as the name 'Jim' quickly reminded them of their old but beloved PE teacher Jim Morales. He was last seen going down a different street with other Kadic students and teachers back in Atlanta when the rest of the Lyoko Warriors escaped the city together, but all of the Lyoko Warriors were hoping that both he and the others from Kadic were alright wherever they were... However, the Jim that was currently present didn't answer Aelita for several more moments, but he finally dug his shovel into the ground and left it there for a bit in order to give all of these people his attention.

"What do you want?" Jim asked with curiosity.

"We're all just a little concerned, that's all..." Shane replied on behalf of himself and everyone else.

"Dale said that you have been out here for hours, Jim." Jeremie stated with growing concern.

"So?" Jim asked with a growing feeling of confusion.

So...? So you're going to die out here if you keep digging! Everyone there was absolutely worried and freaked out by what Jim was doing here. He definitely had to have had a heatstroke or something, but this still wouldn't explain why he was out here in the first place...

"So why are you digging...? Are you heading to China, Jim?" Shane quipped while flabbergasted.

"What does it matter? I'm not hurting anyone." Jim retorted as he crossed his arms.

"Jim, it's a hundred degrees out today and you haven't drank any water in hours..." Verity stated. "If anything you're only hurting yourself. I don't know why you're doing this but you really can't keep it up..." she stated.

Jim quickly went back to his shovel and he resumed digging his hole, even as the others continued to stare at him out of worry. They saw that three holes were already dug and this was the fourth he was working on...

"Sure I can... watch me!" Jim replied as he dug further into his hole.

Lori made her way through the others of the group in order to get to the front of everyone else, as she wanted to speak to Jim as well.

"Jim, they're not gonna say it so I will..." Lori began with a sigh. "You're scaring people... You're scaring my son and Carol's daughter." she explained.

Finally stopping his digging once more and already feeling mentally exhausted by everyone hassling him. Physically he was also exhausted and the sun was absolutely getting to him by this point, but... he had to keep digging. He had to keep digging, he had to keep digging, he had to keep digging...

"They got nothing to be scared of. I mean, what the hell, people? I'm out here by myself... Why don't you all just go and leave me the hell alone?" Jim asked as he began to feel very much annoyed.

"We just think that you need a break, Jim..." Charles stated. "How about you go and get yourself in the shade somewhere, huh? Some food and water as well, maybe..." he added.

"I'll tell you what… If you go and get in the shade for a bit and get yourself something to drink, then maybe in a little bit I can come out here and help you dig these holes myself." Dylan offered in an attempt to help save his fellow camp member's health.

Jim was silent at Dylan's offer and he just simply continued to stare at the others in a very disturbing-looking away, so finally Shane sighed and he attempted to approach him.

"Jim, just tell me what it's about. Why don't you just go ahead and give me that shovel?" Shane asked.

"Or what?" Jim suddenly frowned, his voice giving out a tone of annoyance.

"There is no 'or what.'" Shane replied as he tried to find a diplomatic solution to this problem. "I'm asking you. I'm coming to you and I'm asking you, please. I don't want to have to take it from you." he added.

"And if I don't, then what? Then you're gonna beat my face in like Ed Peletier, aren't you?" Jim frowned as he referenced the events of a few hours beforehand.

Aelita cringed a bit and held her ice pack a bit tighter as she remembered the feeling of Ed's fist against her jaw. Jeremie and the other Lyoko Warriors present still felt quite a bit of anger towards Ed as they saw the ugly bruise that he gave to Aelita's jaw, and Shane himself just lowered his head a bit out of a small feeling of shame. True, Ed deserved to get beaten up like he had never been beaten before in his entire miserable life, but in retrospect he realized that he did truly almost beat that son of a bitch to death. A few punches taken out of the equation probably wouldn't have hurt, even if basically everyone at camp loathed the man...

"Y'all seen his face, huh? What's left of it...?" Jim commented to the others in the group before he turned back to the former police officer. "See, now that's what happens when someone crosses you..." he added insultingly.

"That was different, Jim..." Shane quietly replied.

"You weren't there. Ed was out of control. He was hurting his wife." Amy said in defense.

The sun-stroked man finally had enough of this crap. He just needed to dig these holes... He had his own reasons behind it! Why did they have to butt in on his work...?

"That is their marriage. That is not his! He is not judge and jury!" Jim said to the others before he again looked back at the officer. "Who voted you king boss, huh?" he frowned.

Dylan sighed and he finally began walking up to Jim in an effort to try and get the shovel away from him and to get the poor man some help. The guy was obviously dehydrating and he definitely needed to get in some shade for a bit.

"Jim, here, lemme just take that shovel from you and you can keep digging later once you get some food and water. How does that-" Dylan began to say.

Suddenly Jim shoved Dylan away when he got close to him, causing Dylan to painfully land straight onto the cross that marked Amy Smith's grave, much to Aelita's, Rebecca's, Robert's and the rest of the group's horror as the cross broke and Dylan landed pretty hard on the ground. Jim then tried swinging his shovel at Shane and Patrick, but thankfully the pair managed to dodge the digging tool and they quickly managed to tackle Jim together, pinning him to the ground both for his own safety and the safety of the others.

Rebecca and Aelita ran to check on Dylan to see if he was okay as Shane and Patrick kept Jim pinned to the ground. Thankfully and much to Rebecca and Aelita's relief it turned out that Dylan was fine and he was just a bit sore from the landing. In his outrage and devastation at witnessing his sister's grave being desecrated in a manner like this, Robert suddenly yanked Jennifer's revolver from her holster and quickly aimed it straight at Jim's face in an effort to kill him as tears of fury began running down the sides of his face. However, Jennifer and Miranda quickly managed to disarm their friend before he had a chance to fire and Miranda quickly put him in a headlock for his and everyone else's safety, and she proceeded to quickly lead him away from the scene and back towards the camp as he thrashed and screamed many obscenities out of pure fury towards Jim.

"You got no right! YOU GOT NO RIGHT!" Jim shouted at everyone who was listening.

"Jim, just stop it! Take it easy, man! No one's trying to hurt you!" Patrick exclaimed at the pinned down man in an effort to calm him down.

"Jim, nobody's gonna hurt you! You hear me?" Shane added, likewise in an effort to calm him down a bit.

"That's a lie! THAT'S THE BIGGEST LIE THERE IS!" Jim exclaimed as he struggled.

Shane finally reached to his belt and he grabbed his police-issued handcuffs, and as Jim's anger receded and turned into sadness the handcuffs were put straight onto his wrists. Jim was now openly crying as he finally ceased resisting, accepting the fact that now he would be unable to resume digging those holes.

"I told that to my wife and my two boys... I said it a hundred times. It didn't matter..." Jim said to the others as tears ran down the sides of his face. "They came out of nowhere. There were dozens of 'em. Just pulled 'em right out of my hands..." he explained.

The group was horrified and deeply disturbed at hearing the circumstances of how Jim lost his family... His wife and his two boys were eaten alive in front of him...? Aelita was particularly disturbed by this and both she and Jeremie and everyone else could only stare at the man pinned below them, their faces having mutual expressions of shock.

"You know, the only reason I got away was 'cause the dead were too busy eating my family..." Jim added as more tears ran down the sides of his face, which now had a blank expression as he remembered how he lost his family.

Everyone present all glanced at each other out of shock and even Shane was unnerved enough to get off of Jim, with Patrick quickly following suit. This man definitely needed some help... He was a danger to himself and to others, but they were going to try their hardest to help him through whatever the hell was going on...

God damn this outbreak...

---

The rescue group kept walking through the building and were still following the droplets of blood on the ground, still searching for Merle. They followed the trail up a flight of stairs and they ended up going through a hallway somewhere on the third floor of the building. Merle had to be close by then... They also noticed a few more walker corpses along the trail here and there as they followed it, so Merle certainly still had some strength left in him...

The group continued to cautiously follow the trail and all of them kept an eye out for any walkers that could be in the area. However, Daryl was becoming very impatient with how slow progress was going in the search. Every second they wasted meant that Merle was closer to death, so he simply couldn't understand why they were all going as slow as they were.

"Merle!" Daryl suddenly and loudly shouted down the hall to see if his brother was somewhere around.

"Shut up! We're not alone here!" Anne quietly chastised with a frown on her face.

"Screw that. He could be bleeding out..." Daryl stated with a tone of annoyance.

The group continued to move through the hall and finally they saw an opened door near the end, with the trail of blood droplets going through into that room. Cautiously the group made their way into the room and found that it was some sort of a restaurant, and the restaurant itself had this really strange odor inside of it... It smelt like something was either burning or already burnt. When they got to the kitchen they found the source of the odor: some lit emergency candles sitting on top of a stove that were covered in blood droplets.

The group approached the scene and examined it to try and figure out what happened here. Obviously Merle had done this, but why...? The group saw that Merle's leather belt was hanging against the stove, and Rick noticed that an iron steak weight was sitting on the stove and it was covered in a strange burnt substance, so he picked it up to examine it. He quickly realized what it had to be...

"What is that burned stuff on there?" Yumi asked.

"Skin..." Rick replied.

The group could only look on at the iron steak weight in both disgust and silence at the scene in front of them. Merle cauterized his own wound...? Ouch. Rick then set down the steak weight where he found it and he continued to examine the scene a little bit longer, shaking his head in both disgust and a bit of guilt for leaving Merle on that rooftop, even if it truly had to be done.

"He cauterized the stump." Rick informed everyone.

"I told you he was tough... Nobody can kill Merle but Merle..." Daryl commented as a reply.

"I wouldn't have faith on that. It looks like he's lost a lot of blood, maybe too much..." Ulrich stated.

Daryl noticed a broken window was nearby so he walked over to examine it. He looked outwards and saw the window led to a fire escape with Rick and Yumi. None of them saw any trace of Merle Dixon other than a bloody handrag... There wasn't any trail of blood either, so if they don't find him quickly then they might never see him ever again.

"Yeah, Ulrich? Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap..." Daryl pointed out.

"He left the building?! Why in the hell would he do that?!" Glenn asked with shock that he would just go into the deathtrap of Atlanta's streets.

"Why wouldn't he? He's out there alone, as far as he knows. Doing what he's gotta do, surviving..." Daryl retorted.

"Jesus..." Chase sighed as he realized that the guy they were looking for was most likely dead by then.

Anne glanced at the burnt skin on the steak weight laying on the stove and she nearly gagged with pure disgust at the sight. In any event, how the hell could any human being endure all of the pain that Merle felt in such a short time?!

"You call that 'surviving'? Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out?" T-Dog asked.

"What could his odds even be out there in the streets?" Odd inquired.

Daryl suddenly had an expression of anger on his face as he quickly turned and began to storm straight towards T-Dog, Rick and Glenn.

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks!" Daryl growled, knowing the odds were better out there on the streets than dehydrating on the rooftop.

T-Dog, Rick and Glenn all quickly averted Daryl's gaze out of guilt for what happened to Merle. The prick deserved every single last minute he spent up there on that rooftop, but being forced to cut off your own hand to escape was something that no one should have to go through. Daryl then looked straight at Rick with a menacing scowl on his face.

"You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard..." Daryl said insultingly.

"How about a thousand 'dumb dead bastards'? Does that sound different to you, Daryl?" Yumi asked bluntly.

Daryl simply rolled his eyes in annoyance at Yumi's comment. Merle was a tough son of a bitch and nothing was gonna stop him, no matter if it was one walker or a thousand like how Yumi said. He was going to get his brother or he was going to die trying...

"Why don't you take a tally?" Daryl sarcastically asked the Japanese girl with a frown. "Y'all just do what you want. I'm gonna go and get him..." he added.

Daryl then tried to walk through the group in order to climb out the window to keep looking for Merle, but Ulrich quickly stopped him by placing his hand on his chest pretty firmly. Daryl immediately shoved his hand aside and angrily raised one of his fists in a threatening posture.

"Get your hands off me! You can't stop me!" Daryl loudly growled at the teen.

"Shit, Daryl! Quiet or else you'll get the walkers on us!" Yumi quietly hissed at the redneck.

Ulrich quickly raised his hands and backed away from Daryl as he absolutely did NOT want a fight with him at the moment, it was far too dangerous. Anne, Yumi, Odd and Chase all sweatdropped at the sight of what was happening and they worried that a fight would indeed break out between Ulrich and Daryl, but thankfully Rick quickly stepped in to confront Daryl before anything could happen.

"I don't blame you..." Rick began to say. "He's family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine, I know exactly how you feel. He can't get far with that injury and we can help you check a few blocks around, but only if we keep a level head." he stated.

Daryl simply stared at the former police officer for a few moments as he considered his words carefully. He was definitely right that everyone had to keep calm and clearheaded during all of this, as getting pissed would certainly not help him find his brother. They needed to work together, but more importantly they had to be calm...

"I could do that..." Daryl conceded with a nod.

"Where could he have gone? Atlanta's a big place..." Odd stated.

"Who knows." Yumi replied with a shrug. "But I really think that we have to grab those guns first before we do anything else. Strolling down the streets of Atlanta with nothing but a few revolvers, a crossbow, Ulrich's katana, my rifle and a few positive thoughts won't help us in the long run." she stated.

The group were all in agreement with Yumi on that matter, and even Daryl reluctantly saw the wisdom in her words. If they had any chance to find his brother Merle, they'd definitely need the bag of guns and ammunition for their own safety. But they'd still need to be quick though... because if they don't find Merle soon, they may never find him at all. Anne, however, was already more than freaked out by the situation and she desperately just wanted to get out of Atlanta with Chase as she wouldn't last much longer in the hellish city. If he and his friends here truly had a camp then she simply had to get to it, especially if Dylan Enheart was really there and still breathing...

"C- Can you tell me where your camp is? I'm just a little scared to be here..." Anne meekly said to her old best friend.

"Do you want me to take you there, Annie?" Chase didn't hesitate to offer.

Anne was relieved to hear Chase offer to take her back to his camp, and a smile quickly formed on her face as she nodded in confirmation.

"I'd really like that..." Anne smiled with relief.

Chase smiled and nodded as a reply to his old best friend, and after that he turned to face the others. He was going to leave but he absolutely wished them all the best of luck...

"You're taking Anne back to camp? What about the entire monologue about saving Merle during the last chapter?" Odd blinked.

Absolutely confused by Odd's question involving a 'last chapter' of sorts, Chase could only blink with confusion at his cone-haired friend. Even Yumi and Ulrich seemed to be absolutely confused by what Odd had said, as the couple both stole an inquisitive glance towards each other as if to ask what Odd meant. Glenn, T-Dog, Rick, Anne and Daryl all seemed to be pretty confused by this as well.

"...What?" Chase blinked with absolute confusion before he shook himself out of his thoughts. "Whatever, it's not important... Look, I think you all can definitely handle this. You're all very smart and very strong... Anne's just very important to me and I really want to help her stay alive. I have to get her back to camp before something bad can happen here in Atlanta." he explained.

Odd, Yumi and Ulrich all understood the reasoning behind why their friend was going to take this girl back to their camp, and T-Dog, Rick and Glenn all understood as well. Daryl didn't give the slightest of shits and he wasn't really paying attention to this little discussion, as Merle was far more important to him at the moment. Chase walked up to Odd, Ulrich and Yumi and he made sure to share a hug with all three of them and he wished them luck, and after that he went to shake T-Dog's, Rick's and Glenn's hands as well. Rick wished Chase luck in bringing Anne back but he specifically asked him to leave the U-Haul truck behind, as the rescue group would still need a ride home once they find the guns and/or Merle. Chase agreed, and after that he looked at all of the remaining seven members of the rescue group.

"Good luck, guys... Come back home safe, okay?" Chase smiled at the group.

"We don't plan on doing anything less." Ulrich assured with a smile.

With that, Chase turned and he walked back over to Anne. The two old friends then smiled at each other as they locked hands, and both Chase and Anne proceeded to wave goodbye to the others before they both began to make their way out of the restaurant and back towards the stairwells, with the goal of getting out of the building and beginning the journey back to camp...

---

A few hours after that incident between Jim and some of the others from the camp, Jim himself was sitting on the ground while tied up to a tree within the confines of the camp. Everyone aside from Robert had forgiven him by this point and they were mainly just keeping him tied to the tree until they were sure he wouldn't be a danger anymore to himself and everyone else in general. He was there for about an hour or an hour and a half before Shane, Patrick, Aelita and Jeremie all came to check up on him to see how he was doing.

Robert Smith, surprisingly, was also there with the four. Robert was very reluctant to check up on Jim and was still absolutely livid at how his sister's grave was damaged due to the scuffle he had caused earlier, but thankfully Aelita, Verity and Jeremie all promised to help him repair Amy's cross and to help him clean up her grave if he would go with them. Jennifer, Kyra and Rebecca all also promised Robert that they would go into the forest together to look for some pretty flowers to place on her grave, whereas Patrick, Charles, Miranda, Dylan and Alexandr all promised that they would come to pay their respects to their dead friend and Lyoko Warrior later in the day. Their support cheered up Robert a lot, but he still wasn't sure if he was ready to forgive Jim for what had happened...

In any event, the five camp members approached Jim and saw that he appeared to be completely calm now. This was very good... last thing they needed was Jim freaking out again like how he did back at Amy's grave.

"Hey, Jim... How are you doing? Are you feeling better now?" Jeremie cautiously inquired.

Jim looked up at the teen and the others who came to check up on him and he gave them all a nod to signal that he was indeed feeling a lot better than how he felt earlier. He was just missing his family, that's all... He was just missing his family. He freaked out, but now he was doing better...

"I've got a canteen right here... Do you want some water?" Aelita kindly offered.

"Alright..." Jim quietly replied with a nod.

Aelita nodded back at the man and she quickly unscrewed the cap for the canteen, proceeding to hold it up to his mouth so he could take a few gulps of water. Jim drank until half of the canteen was empty, and once he was done he quietly gasped so as to catch his breath again. It was so hot outside today... What was it? Over one hundred degrees still? Hopefully it'll cool down later when nightfall comes...

"Pour some on my head?" Jim quietly requested.

"Sure thing..." Aelita nodded.

Aelita then lifted the canteen up to Jim's head and she gently began to pour out some of the water down into his hair and down onto his forehead in an effort to cool him down a bit. The water was very much welcomed by the man as he simply shut his eyes and relaxed as he felt the refreshing cooling sensation. Shane walked up and he crouched down next to Aelita and Jim so he could talk to the man, as he still needed to explain why he had to remain tied up for now.

"Cooling you down, huh?" Shane asked as he was happy to see him calm.

"Yeah..." Jim replied with a relaxed nod.

Aelita smiled at the tied up man as she finally dumped the last few droplets of water onto him, and after that she stood back up and walked back over to Jeremie. Jim expressed his gratitude to the pink-haired girl before he turned back to look at everyone else above him.

"How long you gonna keep me like this?" Jim asked as he rested his head against the tree.

"Just until we don't think that you're a danger to yourself or to others..." Patrick explained.

Jim nodded at this and he resigned himself to acceptance. He freaked out up there on that hill and he was fully aware of this. He wished it didn't happen, but the sun probably just got to him... Jim then finally noticed that Robert was among the people who came to check up on him, and he immediately began to feel a lot of guilt about how he pushed Dylan and accidentally broke Amy's cross.

"I'm sorry about what happened up there... 'bout your sister's grave and all that..." Jim apologized.

The glare on Robert's face softened considerably when he heard Jim's apology. Robert didn't truly hate the man for what happened, per se, but he and Amy were obviously close. She was his closest friend and he was hers as well. They were inseparable as siblings and the worst day in his entire life was the day that he watched his sister Amy Smith die... He only wanted her to rest in peace now, no more no less. Seeing her grave being desecrated like that was something he hoped to never see ever again...

"I..." Robert began to say but suddenly trailed off as if he didn't know what to say, quickly going silent.

Jim and everyone else present waited for Robert to continue, but it soon became very apparent that he either had trouble finding the right words or that he was probably just not ready to forgive him just yet. Jim understood and he looked away from the teen and over to Lori Grimes, who was sitting just a short distance away with Carol while they both helped Carl and Sophia with their homework. Even in the apocalypse those two children still needed an education...

"Sorry if I scared your boy and your little girl..." Jim apologized to the two mothers.

"You had sunstroke. Nobody's blaming you..." Lori assured with a nod.

Jim was relieved to hear this and he continued to watch the mothers and their children for a few more moments before he asked Carl and Sophia if they were afraid of him because of what happened up there on the hill, but much to his relief both of the children said that they weren't.

"Jim, do you know why you were digging up there? Can you even guess?" Aelita asked.

"I had a reason. Don't remember... Something I dreamt last night." Jim sighed.

The tied up man then looked back at the children, specifically Carl, as he tried his hardest to remember the events of his dream the previous night. Some of it was clear as day, some of it was fuzzy... but the rest? He couldn't even begin to remember what happened. He knew he had a good reason to dig those holes though...

"Your dad was in it. You were too..." Jim explained to the child. "You were worried about him. Can't remember the rest... You worried about your dad?" he asked.

"They're not back yet." Carl replied.

"We don't need to talk about that..." Lori dismissed as she was trying to keep her son from thinking about what may be going on with his father.

Aelita and the others all picked up on Lori's sentiments. They felt the same way she did: the last thing Carl needed to worry about at the moment was if his father was getting eaten alive or not in Atlanta. Admittedly, Aelita could definitely see why Lori wanted this as she herself was struggling not to worry too much about her brother, Yumi, Ulrich and Odd at the moment.

"Your dad's a police officer, son. He helps people..." Jim said to the ten year old boy. "Probably just came across some folks needing help, that's all... That man, he is tough as nails. I don't know him well but… I could see it in him. Am I right?" he asked.

"Oh yeah..." Shane agreed with a nod.

"There ain't nothing gonna stop him from getting back here to you and your mom, I promise you that..." Jim assured the boy.

Carl stared at Jim for a few more moments and took in all he had to say, and after that he simply looked back down at his homework and resumed working on it. A few more moments of silents followed between everyone before Shane remembered that he had to clean and prepare the fish that Andrea and Amy caught earlier, as the camp wanted to have a large fish fry that night together. That was definitely something good to look forward to...

"All right, who wants to help me clean some fish, huh?" Shane offered the two children with a smile.

Carl and Sophia both were excited at the prospect at helping Shane clean the fish, although for the most part they were just willing to do whatever was necessary to get away from the terribly boring math homework that they were having to do at the moment. Thankfully both Carol and Lori thought that they could use a break as well since their teaching skills were... well, they were a bit 'eh', to put it as politely as possible. Patrick and Robert both headed out as well, since Patrick was going to go with Alexandr to help take a few more bits and pieces from Glenn's formerly-awesome sports car. Robert, meanwhile, was going to go and start the repair work on his sister's cross with Jeremie and Aelita.

As the others left to go whatever they had to do for the moment, Jim quickly stopped Jeremie, Aelita and Lori in their tracks, as he apparently had something else he needed to tell them. Jim first looked at Lori, staring straight into her eyes with an expression on his face that was both indescribable and unnerving for the woman.

"You keep your boy close... You don't ever let him out of your sight." Jim warned, as all he knew from his dream was that something bad may happen.

Lori simply stared at the tied up man with a look of surprise on her face, but she nodded and quickly began walking away in order to catch up with her son. Jeremie and Aelita were taken aback by Jim's sudden seriousness, especially when he turned to give the couple the exact same look that he had just given to Lori.

"Keep your friends close, too... They'll all slip away if you don't. All of 'em..." Jim warned, his memory of his dream being fuzzy but still believing that something important was going to happen.

Jeremie and Aelita both glanced at each other as if to question what exactly Jim meant, but neither of them had any answer for the other. The couple then just looked back at Jim and gave him a nod to signal that they would be careful in the future, which Jim was relieved to see. Jim then simply leaned his head back on the tree and shut his eyes in order to rest them for a little bit, and both Jeremie and Aelita simply walked away and left him there. The couple had to go help Robert with Amy's cross...

Jim was going to be alright, hopefully...

---

After what seemed like several hours of endless walking away from Atlanta and the others, Anne and Chase ended up on a dirt road only a mile or two away from the quarry. The two friends noticed that by then the sun was starting to go down, and the pair were absolutely exhausted after their long trek out of the city, but they were both pressing on as best as they could despite their mutual exhaustion. Thankfully they only ran into one or two walkers on their way out of the city, but they were both really easy to take care of so it wasn't a huge deal.

"How much farther?" Anne inquired as her calf muscles felt like they were going to explode.

"We're not far from it now, I think its just up the road..." Chase replied as he wiped some sweat from his forehead, tiredly.

Anne tiredly nodded as she continued to follow Chase. She kept this up for one more mile before she finally had to stop for a moment, as she placed her hands on her knees and quietly gasped for air as weakness tried to overtake her. Chase immediately stopped when he noticed this and he hurried back over to his friend, taking a small water bottle out of his backpack to offer to Anne.

"You should take a drink. You look exhausted..." Chase stated.

Anne smiled gratuitously and she took the water bottle from Chase, proceeding to take gulp after gulp of the refreshing water and absolutely relishing the feeling she received from it. Anne kept drinking until she swallowed at least two thirds of the bottle, and after that she handed it back to Chase.

"Thank you..." Anne smiled.

Chase smiled back at his friend before he likewise began to drink from the bottle, finishing off what was left of the water before he put it the bottle back into his backpack so as to reuse it later. The pair resumed their trek down the dirt road and walked for a bit longer until they finally reached the edge of the quarry, where they could see the camp on the opposite side along with some of the people moving around within it. They all looked smaller than ants from this distance...

"Okay, there it is. That's the camp." Chase said as he pointed to it.

"Thank god... My legs are killing me!" Anne exclaimed as she rubbed one of her very sore calves.

Anne and Chase continued to watch the camp for a few more moments, and Chase even walked to the edge of the quarry in order to look down at the bottom. Anne was terrified of heights so she made sure to stay a safe distance from the edge itself. Chase then pulled away from the edge and walked back over to Anne again, once more offering his hand. Anne smiled and took it, and together the two friends resumed their walk to the camp.

Anne hadn't felt this happy in a long time...

---

Dylan and Rebecca were sitting at a table near the RV together and they were busy cleaning parts of some handguns and putting the guns back together. Rebecca had came back to the camp with Kyra and Jennifer about fifteen minutes earlier after the three women had found and picked some really pretty flowers in the forest for Amy Smith's grave. There was a bunch that were blue, some that were purple... A few red ones and a few yellow ones, along with a TON of very beautiful white ones... Amy really would have loved them.

Jeremie, Aelita and Robert all also finished fixing Amy's cross together, so that was obviously great. The Lyoko Warriors all collectively decided that tomorrow morning they would all get up at dawn and head up to Amy's grave together in order to put down her cross and all of the flowers, which were at the moment sitting in a few cups of water inside the RV so they wouldn't die during the night. They only needed to wait for Yumi, Ulrich, Odd and Chase...

In any event, Dylan and Rebecca continued their cleaning of the gun parts. Dylan had gotten some prior experience with firearms thanks to his father Jimmy Enheart, but Rebecca had absolutely none prior to the end of the world. It was absolutely frustrating to try and put all of these parts back together! Who the hell had the audacity to make firearms so complicated?! Probably an American, go figure... Anyway, Rebecca continued piecing whatever she could but alas it was just not her thing, so she simply sighed and set the remaining pieces of a handgun back on the table.

"Bloody hell, this is frustrating..." Rebecca sighed with annoyance.

Dylan smiled at his girlfriend and he set down the pieces of the gun he was working on at the moment. He then proceeded to stand up and he grabbed his chair by one of its cross rails and then he dragged it over to the spot right next to where Rebecca was sitting. Dylan then sat down and picked up the pieces of the gun she was trying to put back together.

"Here... Watch how I do it, sweetie." Dylan smiled.

Rebecca lovingly smiled back at her boyfriend and she looked down at the table and at his hands. He then proceeded to show her how to properly put a Beretta pistol back into one functioning piece of machinery. He showed her how to put the spring mechanism back onto the firing pin, how to put the firing pin and the barrel back into the slide, and finally how to put the slide right back onto the frame of the gun itself. After that he took the gun apart once more and laid all of the pieces back out onto the table for Rebecca to try herself.

"Your turn, 'Becca." Dylan instructed.

With much more confidence in her ability to rebuild a pistol than just fifteen minutes earlier, Rebecca gave her boyfriend a quick kiss on the cheek before she picked up the pieces of the gun and tried to replicate the process that Dylan had shown her how to do. This time she was completely successful and the gun was now fully cleaned and fully rebuilt, and more importantly it was ready to be used against a walker.

"I did it!" Rebecca happily grinned as she handed her boyfriend the reassembled pistol.

"Great job, baby! I knew you could do it!" Dylan smiled and praised as he set the pistol down on a small stack of already reassembled pistols.

Rebecca leaned over and quickly gave Dylan another loving kiss, but this time a longer one that was on the lips. Dylan smiled in the kiss and after a few moments the couple broke it, and then they resumed cleaning more gun parts and reassembling more handguns. Only a few more weapons were left and none of the guns they had to go through that day were anything special whatsoever. Truth be told these weapons were just barely enough to deal with the threat of walkers, so hopefully Rick and the others would get back with those other guns really soon.

"So how's your back doing, Dyl? You looked like you landed pretty rough on Amy's cross..." Rebecca pointed out.

"I'm doing a lot better than I did a few hours ago. I'm not as sore as I was then. I'll be fine." Dylan smiled as he worked on cleaning a firing pin.

"That's great to hear." Rebecca smiled back at her boyfriend as she likewise began to clean another gun part.

The couple continued to small talk with each other for a bit longer as they cleaned more and more gun parts. Finally they finished the last one and reassembled the last pistol, which brought them to a grand total of... five. Five pistols, no more no less. The fact that they desperately needed Rick's bag of guns cannot possibly be overstated. The guns that the original five Lyoko Warriors got in that gun store a few days earlier was a massive help, but they still weren't enough to properly outfit the camp. Yumi and Dale were the only ones who had any kinds of rifles, and Shane was the only one with a shotgun. Over half of the camp was still stuck with using blades or some sort of a club. The amount of ammunition the camp had was basically a joke at the moment as well...

Rebecca and Dylan then saw that Aelita was walking out of the RV and was heading towards them. The pink-haired girl no longer had an ice pack on her jaw and she looked like she was feeling a lot better, although there was now a very noticeable and nasty-appearing bruise on her jaw thanks to Ed Peletier.

"Hey, Princess... How're you feeling?" Dylan greeted.

"A lot better than how I felt in the bottom of that quarry earlier today." Aelita stated.

"That's really good to hear..." Rebecca smiled.

The pink-haired girl smiled at her brother and her friend as she sat down at the table with them, on the opposite side. Aelita reached down to a container and she grabbed herself a can of room-temperature Pepsi to drink, tossing another two cans to Rebecca and Dylan before she proceeded to kick up her feet onto the table in an effort to relax a bit after such an eventful and long day...

"Did you guys finish up with those guns?" Aelita smiled before she took a sip of her Pepsi.

"Yep, we just got done with the last one." Rebecca smiled back at her friend as she also took a sip of her drink.

"Thankfully Rebecca's strapping, talented and devilishly handsome beau was here and available for her rescue against the dreaded task of rebuilding a gun." Dylan joked.

Aelita chuckled at hearing this and she soon saw Rebecca blush a bit and immediately give her boyfriend a somewhat-hard elbow to his gut as a retaliation. Dylan struggled not to laugh as he rubbed his now-sore gut while he stared at his girlfriend. Rebecca frowned with annoyance at Dylan before eventually she began to also struggle not to laugh, and finally after another few moments of struggling the couple completely lost control and burst out laughing together.

The pink-haired girl chugged down the rest of her Pepsi before she set the can back down on the table, watching the couple laughing. She was so happy that they were still together... Aelita smiled a bit when she remembered how shy Dylan was when he first asked out Rebecca... when was that? Two or three years ago now? Time certainly flies when you battle against an evil computer virus, that's for sure...

In any event, Aelita suddenly noticed something out of the corner of her eye. When she turned her eyes widened when she noticed that her brother Chase was walking back into the camp with a girl that she didn't recognize. Aelita immediately stood up out of her chair and she quickly began to hurry over towards her brother, quickly drawing attention from Dylan, Rebecca and several other people within the camp.

Chase smiled when he saw Aelita was running towards him. Anne was surprised at seeing this as in all her life she had never seen a girl with so much freaking pink on her own body before, as much of her clothes and even her own hair were all many different shades of the color pink. Honestly, this was definitely a new sight to behold for the girl with the bandana, even during the days of the apocalypse... But likewise she still admired the uniqueness of the girl's appearance, and she was also naturally pretty surprised when she saw the girl almost tackle Chase into a really big hug. This had to have been his sister that he mentioned earlier, Aelita Schaeffer...

"Woah! Hey, take it easy!" Chase smiled as he quickly hugged his sister back.

"You're finally back! Where's everyone else?" Aelita asked as they hugged.

"They're all fine, I promise... They're still looking for Merle and they're still getting the guns." Chase explained.

Aelita was absolutely relieved to hear this and she continued to smile as she finally broke the hug and pulled away. However, Chase's eyes widened with pure shock and worry when he first saw that nasty bruise on Aelita's jaw for the first time. What the fuck happened to her?!

"Jesus Christ, Aelita! What the hell happened to your face?!" Chase gasped as he examined her bruise.

Anne likewise cringed a bit when she noticed the ugly bruise that was on Aelita's jaw. She definitely had something happen to her, hopefully accidentally. Rebecca and Dylan both quickly hurried over to see what was happening, and much to their mutual relief they saw that Chase had returned with a new girl. Rebecca had absolutely no clue who this new girl was with him, but Dylan immediately stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened with pure shock and instant realization. Anne looked back at Dylan and her eyes also widened as similar feelings quickly formed within her.

"...A-Annie...?" Dylan gasped.

"Dylan!" Anne exclaimed as pure joy began overtaking her.

Rebecca blinked as she now witnessed both Anne and Dylan run and quickly engulf each other in a very tight hug, tears welling and going down the sides of both of their faces as they finally reunited for the first time in many years. She definitely knew that this wasn't romantic at all, but it was still somewhat weird to witness the boy she loved hugging another girl like never before.

"Uh... Okay, that's definitely something interesting." Rebecca commented with confusion.

"'Interesting'?! You call that interesting?!" Chase comically exclaimed as he kept examining his sister's jaw. "I'm much more interested in wondering what the fuck happened to my baby sister, Rebecca!" he exclaimed.

Naturally, Dylan, Anne and Rebecca all paid no mind to Chase's worry at the moment as the three were far more focused on this reunion that was happening. Aelita would simply have to deal with her overprotective brother by herself for the moment. Dylan and Anne eventually separated after a few more moments and the pair quickly turned to look at Rebecca, who was staring at them with crossed arms and a grin.

"I guess that I definitely am missing something here, baby?" Rebecca joked.

Anne's eyes widened as she quickly realized that this girl most likely had to be a girlfriend to Dylan. He actually got a girlfriend...? Admittedly her heart sank a tiny bit when she realized this as she deeply cared for Dylan when they were younger, but she was still beyond overjoyed that she got to reunite with him once more.

"Sorry, 'Becca, I should probably do an introduction or something." Dylan awkwardly smiled. "This girl is Anne Marshall. She was Chase and I's best friend when we were younger... Anne, this is my girlfriend Rebecca Townley." he explained.

Rebecca smiled and she walked over to Anne and offered the girl her hand to shake. Anne looked down at Rebecca's hand for a moment before she looked back up at her face, and she smiled at the girl as she accepted and gave her a handshake.

"It's very nice to meet you, Rebecca." Anne cheerfully smiled.

"You as well, Anne. Any friend of Dylan's is absolutely a friend of mine." Rebecca warmly assured.

Dylan was absolutely ecstatic about what was happening at the moment. His old best friend Anne Marshall was actually here again! And not only that, she was actually still ALIVE in front of him as well! What were the odds of something like this?!

"How are you even here, Annie?! We're hundreds of miles away from where we used to live!" Dylan smiled.

"Chase and the others in your group found me in Atlanta... Apparently they're looking for a man and some guns?" Anne inquired.

"Yeah, Merle Dixon... He's a prick, but he had to be left behind on a rooftop due to his own actions. He was beating up our friend T-Dog from what we heard... And the guns? Well, they're needed. Pure and simple." Rebecca shrugged.

"Honestly, will someone just fucking tell me what happened to Aelita?! She's not telling me!" Chase suddenly interjected into the conversation.

The rest of the Lyoko Warriors that were at the camp all hurried over to see what exactly was happening here. All of them noticed the new girl and they could also clearly see Chase was back, and they could easily tell that he was definitely pissed due to the bruise on Aelita's jaw. Rebecca and Dylan made sure to inform them all about what Chase had told them about the situation in Atlanta, such as how Ulrich, Odd and Ulrich were all still with the others and how they were all still looking for Merle and the guns, along with how Chase ran into one of his old friends. Anne watched a girl run up and engulf Chase in a hug, causing him to momentarily turn his attention away from Aelita in order to hug the girl back. This had to be a girlfriend of his of sorts, as who else would hug him like that? After a moment or two both Chase and the girl separated, although Chase left the introductions to them as he went back to focusing on Aelita's bruise.

"My name's Jennifer Hudson, I'm Chase's girlfriend and it's nice to meet you. Nice guitar!" Jennifer smiled as she held out her hand.

Anne smiled at Jennifer's compliment about her guitar that was still strapped on her back. Alexandr suddenly snickered at the sound of Jennifer's name as it humorously sounded exactly the same as an actress that Jennifer herself ironically enough hated to watch on TV, with her only being named after the woman by her mother and father as a pure coincidence. Rather than put Alexandr into a standard and very choking headlock or hurt him terribly in some other way for this as it would be pretty insulting to do it right in the middle of introducing herself to Anne, Jennifer just simply slapped the Russian right on the back of his head pretty hard and caused him to yelp a bit before he backed away a bit so as to not get hit once more.

Anne sweatdropped a bit when she witnessed what the Texan was doing to her Russian friend, but nevertheless she smiled back at Jennifer and she quickly took the opportunity to shake her hand. Truth be told she was very happy to see that her old friend had actually gotten a girlfriend, as when he was younger he was bar none the biggest goofball on the entire planet and she wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to find love. Thankfully it was apparent that he did.

"I'm Anne Marshall, Chase and Dylan's old friend. I'm happy to meet you as well." Anne smiled back.

"You know those two from before the end of the world, huh? That's great! I think we'll get along nicely." Jennifer cheerfully replied.

One by one the other Lyoko Warriors present introduced themselves to Anne, aside from Jeremie as he was too focused on the Aelita and Chase situation. Robert Smith, Miranda Lamberse, Verity Clinton, Patrick Hartnell, Kyra Kensely, Alexandr Myakofsky and Charles Liggit all cheerfully and warmly gave friendly introductions of themselves to Anne and she introduced herself back to them as well. They all seemed to be really nice people... Anne couldn't wait to get to know them all.

The group finally turned their attention to the Aelita and Chase situation after this, and they could see that Chase was still closely examining her jaw as if he couldn't possibly believe that she had gotten hurt. Chase and Anne still had absolutely no idea what caused this and Aelita definitely wanted to keep it that way. Although she was still very furious towards Ed for punching her and hitting Carol earlier, another well-deserved beat down would probably kill him and the last thing the camp needed to deal with at the moment was something that serious.

"Chase, I promise that I'm fine now! I just took a nasty fall at the bottom of the quarry!" Aelita lied in an effort to prevent more violence from breaking out.

"What? You're saying that a 'nasty fall' caused this, Princess? It looks like someone punched you right in the fucking face!" Chase deadpanned with a frown.

Aelita awkwardly averted her gaze and scratched the back of her head as she was caught right in a lie. The others all looked noticeably uncomfortable at the situation that was unfolding right in front of them as it could really only be a matter of time before he finds out about how Ed punched Aelita. If he found out about that, then... well, that was something no one wanted to think of.

"Seriously, nothing happened..." Verity likewise lied in an effort to avoid violence. "Aelita was down in the quarry helping to wash some clothes and suddenly she lost her balance and hit her jaw right on one of the rocks." she lied.

"Exactly! It was only an accident... We got an ice pack on her and she's feeling a lot better now, she wasn't punched at all." Miranda also lied.

Chase kept frowning as he heard all of this, although now he seemed to be mulling over what the others were telling him. After several more moments of thought his frown finally faded away and he sighed, nodding as he turned to face his sister.

"I... guess that kinda makes sense, now that I think about it." Chase sighed. "I'm sorry about all of that sis, I guess I just got carried away a little bit..." He apologized.

Aelita smiled and she nodded as a reply, fully accepting her brother's apology before she walked up to him and gave him a hug. Chase couldn't help but smile as he quickly wrapped his arms around her and returned it, causing the others to smile in both happiness at the sight and relief that more violence was avoided. Anne had absolutely no idea that Aelita was actually punched in the face, but in the eyes of the others this was probably for the best. The peace was very welcomed...

...at least until Dale accidentally fucked it up.

When he noticed that Chase had came back to camp, Dale assumed that he was already told about what happened between Ed and Aelita, so he quickly walked over to the scene to find out what was going on and to ask why he was the only one to come back from Atlanta. He also noticed that a new girl was there with him as well... This camp has gotten a LOT of newcomers in the last few days.

"Hey, you're finally back? Where's the others?" Dale greeted with a smile.

"They're still out getting the guns, Merle and your tools. Last I saw they were still fine." Chase explained. "I decided to come back early after I ran into an old friend of mine named Anne. I had to bring her to safety..." he added.

"Well, that's nice. Friends are important at a time like this..." Dale cheerfully replied. "And hey, I wouldn't worry too much about what happened to your sister. Ed's already been taken care of from what I heard." he added.

Aelita's smile quickly faded and her eyes widened like she was a doe caught in headlights, and the Lyoko Warriors all went wide eyed with jaws a bit agape with hearing what Dale said as well. Chase just simply blinked as he heard what Dale had just told him, and after a few more moments he finally realized exactly what Dale was inferring and an expression of fury quickly formed on his face...

Oh shit...

"Wait... You mean to tell me that that wife-beating trailer trash piece of shit Ed Peletier actually punched my little sister in the face?! What the fuck?!" Chase growled with pure fury.

Dale blinked at Chase's question as he began to realize that the teen wasn't told of that incident yet. Unfortunately he couldn't tell him anything else as Chase immediately began to storm off to find Ed Peletier and to kick the living shit out of the wife-beater for what he did to Aelita. Patrick and Jennifer both quickly ran after Chase to try and stop him from possibly murdering Ed as Aelita simply stood where she was and she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, both out of annoyance and out of a slight amount of embarrassment for how overprotective her brother was. Anne, Dylan, Rebecca and Jeremie all stayed with her as well as the other Lyoko Warriors and Dale all said their goodbyes for the moment as they had other tasks to do.

"Just perfect..." Aelita sighed with annoyance.

"He's still that overprotective, huh...?" Anne sweatdropped.

Aelita sighed once more and she nodded to Anne in confirmation. Anne could still remember all of the times that Dylan and Chase protected her from all sorts of bullies when they were younger. Both were insanely overprotective of the girl back then and she was everlastingly thankful for it, but the problem was that although Dylan managed to relax his overprotectiveness over the years after they were with Anne, Chase simply didn't after he found out he had a sister. Aelita absolutely loved both him and Dylan and she cared very dearly for both of them no matter what, but sometimes he could be a true pain in the ass...

"Anyway, sorry about that..." Aelita apologized to the new girl as she began trying to change the subject. "What is your name? You know Chase and Dylan, apparently?" she asked.

"Yeah, from a really long time ago. My name's Anne Marshall." Anne smiled as an introduction.

Aelita gave a warm smile to this new girl before she and Jeremie walked up and offered her their hands, causing Anne to smile again as she took them one at a time to give them both handshakes. If Aelita was actually Chase's sister and Dylan's stepsister, then Anne knew that she and Aelita would definitely get along very well.

"My name is Aelita Schaeffer, I'm Chase and Dylan's sister." Aelita cheerfully introduced herself.

"And I'm Jeremie Belpois, Aelita's boyfriend." Jeremie likewise introduced himself with a smile.

"It's very nice to meet you both." Anne warmly replied.

Aelita and Jeremie smiled at this as they pulled their hands back again. The pair then wished Anne all the best in settling into the camp before they both said goodbye, as they both had an insanely long and exhausting day and they just wanted to spend a little time relaxing together in their tent before they'd join the fish fry later in the night. Hopefully the others would deal with her brother, because honestly she was just far too tired at the moment to even think about what might have already been happening at the moment between Chase, Patrick and Jennifer. That was simply no longer her problem and no longer any of her concern. Dylan, Anne and Rebecca all smiled at the two geniuses before the couple locked hands and walked away, retreating back into their tent for now.

"They seem really nice..." Anne smiled.

"Oh yeah, they are..." Dylan agreed. "We're a really close-knit group and we've been that way for years now, even before we ended up in this camp. We're inseparable." he added.

"Damn right... Anne, I promise that if you take the next few days to get to know us then you won't regret it. If you're already good friends with Chase and Dylan then I'm sure we'd all love to get to know you." Rebecca added warmly.

Anne beamed when she heard this and she nodded to show her gratitude to her both her old friend and her brand new one. The other teens that Dylan was friends with seemed like they were very nice people! Both Dylan and Rebecca were happy to see Anne happy like this, but before she could get to know the other Lyoko Warriors they had to figure out where exactly she was going to be sleeping at the camp. Thankfully there was still one or two more tents that were available, so Anne could easily just take one of those. With that, the pair began to lead her further into the camp to go and find a tent for her to take up residence in as the newest member of the community...

Anne honestly couldn't have been more ecstatic at this point. She finally found her old friends, made new ones, and she was finally safe...

This was the best day she has had in years...

---

Later that night nearly everyone in the camp had gathered around several campfires, gleefully taking part in the fish fry that night. Everyone there was absolutely thankful to both of the Harrison sisters for all of the fish they caught, as they ensured that basically everyone at the camp would go to bed with full stomachs for the first time in days... Anne and the Lyoko Warriors currently present at camp were gathered around one of the campfires close to the RV, and all of them were eating the fish that was on their plates. Unfortunately the rescue group still hadn't come back from Atlanta yet with Merle and the guns, but hopefully they might make it back in time to get some of this really tasty fish. They're all certainly missing out!

Chase was also sitting with the group, and thankfully he was even stopped from trying to kill Ed before he even got to the prick's tent. Jennifer and Patrick managed to stop him before he could and by some miracle they even managed to calm him down enough to lead him away from the Peletier tent itself, much to Aelita's relief. Although he truly still believed Ed needed another major ass-kicking sometime in the future for hurting his sister, Chase still apologized to Aelita for how he lost his temper back there, and thankfully she accepted it. Likewise, Aelita thanked her oldest brother for just looking out for her safety and she also apologized for lying to him about how she got her bruise, which Chase accepted as well. In any event, that situation was finally over and done with and now everyone could just focus on eating some really good food and having a really good time with each other.

"I haven't had fish this good since I lived in Texas!" Jennifer proudly grinned to the others as she ate a piece of the fish on her plate.

"Totally! I mean it's not quite as good as the fish I used to eat back in Sydney, but this isn't bad at all." Charles agreed as he ate another bite of his meal.

Kyra chuckled at the pair as she took another bite of her fish. This fish was indeed good, but she and her father have many years of experience fishing and eating much of their catches back home in Canada, and she's gladly done that activity since she was only four years old. She knew exactly what constituted the differences of a truly delicious fish from a tasty fish...

"Obviously neither of you have ever eaten a Walleye caught straight from the waters of Lake Huron, huh?" Kyra chuckled as she drank a few sips of water.

"No, but maybe one day we could do that." Aelita cheerfully smiled as she ate some more of her fish.

The other Lyoko Warriors around the fire and Anne all nodded in agreement as they continued to eat their fish. Everything just felt so peaceful and happy now... almost as if the world wasn't ending around them. Aelita turned her back to check up on a couple of the other campfires that had some of the camp members around them, seeing that they were all having just as much of a good time as she and her friends currently were. Aelita was happy to see this, and after another moment or two she turned her attention back over to her friends again.

Patrick added another log to the campfire in front of the group, which was very much welcomed by the others as it was a cold night. Verity also gathered some extra blankets for everyone so they could wrap themselves up and stay warm as they hung out and ate around the campfire that night.

"So... Would you all rather have to fight a hundred chicken-sized walkers, or ten walker-sized chickens?" Patrick inquired to the others in an effort to pass the time.

"What?" Jeremie asked incredulously as if he didn't hear his friend correctly.

"You heard me, man." Patrick smirked as he looked at everyone around the fire. "Would you all rather fight a hundred chicken-sized walkers, or ten walker-sized chickens?" he asked once more.

The group appeared to be thinking very hard on Patrick's question, taking in all of the pros and cons to fighting a hundred chicken-sized walkers or ten walker-sized chickens. Truth be told, they both sounded equally terrifying... Honestly, chicken-sized walkers were bad enough because they might just swarm you by the hundreds until you're dead, but ten walker-sized chickens? That's just a recipe for disaster by poultry, bar none. Also... they might actually peck your eye out. That's a possibility no one really liked to think about...

"Chicken-sized walkers, easy." Aelita proclaimed as her answer. "If I think fast and if I can get up on top of somewhere high, then maybe I might be able to just pick them off one by one."

"I'd go straight for the walker-sized chickens. If I had a spear or a knife or something then maybe I'd be able to get underneath the bastards and stab them each in the heart if I'm quick." Kyra said with a shrug.

"I agree with Kyra, totally..." Anne proclaimed after she swallowed a mouthful of her fish. "Walker-sized chickens seem a tiny bit less freaky for some really weird reason..." she added.

The others continued to think on their answers to this unusual question. The only consolation was that they thankfully won't have to deal with any threat by the avian races anytime soon. Unless the outbreak decides to just simply fuck with them all just for some laughs in the future... That would suck.

"I'd go for the chicken-sized walkers, same as Aelita." Jeremie answered as he smiled at his girlfriend, causing her to smile back.

The others all gave their answers as well. Dylan, Verity, Chase, Patrick, and Jennifer all proclaimed that they'd rather deal with a hundred chicken-sized walkers. But Alexandr, Miranda, Robert, Charles and Rebecca all appeared to still be thinking on that. Ten walker-sized chickens or a hundred chicken-sized walkers...? Hmm...

This questionnaire was absolutely far more important than it should have been.

And they all totally knew it.

"Okay... After thinking about it, I think that I'd rather go against the ten walker-sized chickens." Rebecca proclaimed before she took a sip of her water.

Dylan rose an eyebrow and looked over at his girlfriend, quickly giving her a playful and fake pout so as to feign sadness that she didn't agree with him on the questionnaire. Rebecca just simply grinned in response and playfully stuck out her tongue back at him, causing both herself, Dylan and the others around the fire to laugh. Alexandr, Robert, Miranda and Charles both ended up agreeing with Rebecca as well, so the total was that seven were for fighting a hundred chicken-sized walkers, and seven were for fighting ten walker-sized chickens. A tie.

"Seven for a hundred chicken-sized walkers, and seven for ten walker-sized chickens." Patrick pointed out to the group.

"Wow, really? I was sure that one of them would beat the other..." Aelita blinked with surprise.

"God help us all if the walker-sized chickens and the chicken-sized walkers team up." Chase chuckled as he set down his fork, knife and now-empty plate.

The group then heard the sound of a door opening and hitting alongside some metal, which came straight from the RV. They and the people at the other campfires all turned to see that Amy Harrison was already leaning out of the door of the RV with an annoyed expression on her face.

"We're out of toilet paper?" Amy asked everyone out of annoyance.

The group and the others at the other campfires all chuckled at hearing this and as everyone turned back to their fires Andrea was getting ready to get up in order to help her sister find some toilet paper. She was sure that there was a roll somewhere within the RV, and if not then maybe someone else had some in one of the tents.

...But that's when they all heard a scream. A loud, anguished scream...

The Lyoko Warriors and Anne all quickly looked at the RV, which was where the scream came from. Everyone else looked directly at it as well. To all of their individual horrors they saw that there was a walker standing next to Amy outside of the door, and horrifically it was already ripping out a chunk of the flesh on her arm with its teeth...

"AMY!" Andrea shouted with nothing but pure horror.

WALKERS WERE IN THE CAMP!

Everyone at the campfires all quickly stood up and either readied their weapons or ran to find some somewhere in camp as many more walkers suddenly showed up from the trees, but alas it was already far too late for Amy. Although the girl managed to get her now blood-covered arm away from the walker, she quickly fell straight to the ground and was pounced on by the exact same walker, who immediately began to rip flesh straight from her neck as massive amounts of her own blood went everywhere on and around her, much to her anguish. The Lyoko Warriors all stood up from the fire and they quickly readied their knives and handguns, and they all immediately proceeded to shoot and stab whatever walker that dared to approach them.

Dylan quickly went over to Anne and he thrust a pocket knife into her hand so she could at least have the ability to defend herself, much to her gratitude and relief. Aelita used her new Beretta and kept firing at the heads of several walkers, scoring a few kills although she accidentally wasting a few bullets on an arm or the chest as she still needed to work on her aim. However she stopped once she heard a scream of agony coming from close by, and she turned just in time to see something absolutely traumatizing...

A walker was already pinning a survivor to the ground and it was literally ripping off the man's face and chunks of his neck with its teeth... Aelita was so horrified at witnessing this that she literally began trembling from shock and pure fear, but she quickly turned her pistol to shoot the walker right in the head and she managed to pacify it. Alas it was too late for that survivor as well, since he died in pure agony just a few moments later... Aelita's heart was palpitating very rapidly as she looked around at her surroundings, seeing several other members of the camp being bitten and killed right in front of her. It was all nothing short of a nightmare.

All Aelita could do was just scream with both horror and fear before she kept shooting at all of the walkers she could see around her, and all she could hope was that both she and all of her friends wouldn't get bit... One after another she continued to kill them, and she tried her absolute hardest to help defend her friends. It was far easier said than done...

Jeremie quickly ran over to his girlfriend in order to watch her back and help her kill walkers. The two geniuses and lovers quickly stood back to back with each other and they both continued to use their guns to kill any walkers that were close, whereas the other Lyoko Warriors and Anne all were close by and also helped kill whatever walkers they could see. Unfortunately things were beginning to look bleak as more and more walkers just kept coming out of nowhere, and it was beginning to become a large struggle to not simply be overrun...

But then they heard a very familiar voice.

"GUYS! GET DOWN ON THE GROUND AND DO IT NOW!"

Jeremie and Aelita immediately turned towards one of the treelines where that voice came from, and they saw that none other than Yumi Ishiyama running out of the trees, already aiming her AR-15 rifle straight at some of the walkers directly in front of them. Jeremie and Aelita both immediately ducked straight to the ground and Yumi quickly began firing her rifle straight at the walkers, taking down all of the ones in front of the couple one after another. The geniuses and everyone else in the camp then noticed Ulrich Stern and Odd Della Robia run out from the trees as well, with Odd immediately beginning to shoot at the heads of a few walkers close by and Ulrich quickly running up to slash at the heads of some others with his sword.

Behind the three teens came Rick, T-Dog, Glenn and Daryl, who all likewise began to use their weapons on whatever walkers they came across in an effort to help save the camp...

The rescue group had finally returned from Atlanta!

The Lyoko Warriors and Anne all grouped together and proceeded to fight their way through the large amount of walkers in an effort to try and get over to Yumi, Odd and Ulrich, who were now standing back to back to back against the unrelenting amount of walkers that soon threatened to surround them. The others in the camp were fighting very valiantly against the walkers, so the main focus of the Lyoko Warriors at the moment was to just regroup and then try to help everyone else after that.

After about thirty or forty seconds of fighting their way through the walkers they finally made it back to the three teens, who seemed to be very incredulous to see all of the walkers that were threatening their camp.

"What the hell is happening here?!" Ulrich demanded to know with wide eyes.

"Holy shit, Princess! What happened to your face?!" Odd gasped when he saw the bruise on the pink-haired girl's jaw.

"I'll tell you what happened to me later! We got walkers!" Aelita exclaimed as an explanation. "They just suddenly showed up from the trees and they just keep coming and coming! We need to fight them off!" she added.

Angered and very frustrated at this horrible new situation, Yumi quietly cursed to herself before she noticed a walker was coming up behind Anne in an attempt to bite her. Rather than let the girl get bitten, Yumi quickly aimed her rifle straight towards the head of the walker, which made Anne go wide eyed in pure fear as she suddenly thought for the briefest of moments that Yumi was specifically aiming right at her face. Thankfully that wasn't true. Anne flinched a bit once Yumi fired, and when she turned her head to look behind her she was just in time to see the dead walker hit the ground.

"Holy shit! Thank you so much, Yumi!" Anne expressed her gratitude towards the Japanese girl.

Yumi nodded as a reply before she turned her attention back to shooting at walker heads. The Lyoko Warriors and Anne were back together and they were kicking a lot of ass already, as one by one walker bodies just dropped back down to the earth as the group slowly but surely made their way over towards the others, who were closer to the RV and a couple of the other campfires.

"We got to keep pushing, guys! Don't stop and don't let these freaks bite you!" Yumi shouted to her friends as she fired her rifle seemingly endlessly.

"Trust us, Yumi! We're trying our absolute hardest to not die over here!" Robert shouted back matter-of-factly as he worked on stabbing the heads of walkers as he and the group fought through them.

The Lyoko Warriors and Anne just kept fighting all of the walkers that approached, and after several more moments it was apparent that they and the other camp members were actually winning! The Lyoko Warriors and Anne quickly rejoined the rest of the camp and they helped them kill all the walkers they saw as best as they could. Soon most of the walkers were killed and after another minute or two the very last one was finally killed by Ulrich, who quickly and cleanly decapitated the creature with his sword. The camp and the remaining survivors were now safe from further harm.

Ulrich then lowered his sword and shook off some of the bits of blood from it, and then the rest of the Lyoko Warriors and Anne all lowered their weapons as well. They burned through a ton of ammunition in this attack... they couldn't afford to allow that to happen once more. The group then looked around to see if they had lost anyone else during the attack, and it soon became apparent that several members of the camp were either already dead or already bitten on at least one part of their bodies. The Lyoko Warriors and Anne also noticed Andrea, who was already violently and uncontrollably sobbing over her bitten sister. Amy Harrison was covered in her own blood, and what was worse was that it looked like Amy was already gone... The walkers killed her and ate parts of her flesh as if she was nothing more than a tasty snack, and all Andrea could do was let out all of the despair and emotional agony she felt at the loss of her only sister.

"Oh my God..." Ulrich gasped as he watched the older sister sobbing over the younger one.

The group then began to separate and spread out to check to see if any of the walkers were actually still 'alive', and they proceeded to stab the heads of any walkers that seemed to still be moving. Aelita and Jeremie cautiously walked over to Andrea to check up on her, but they could easily see that she was in her own pure hell at the moment. Her baby sister was gone forever... She died a horrible, agonizing death and Andrea couldn't do anything whatsoever to stop it.

"AMY?!... AMY?!" Andrea shouted in agony as she held her little sister's corpse close to her, as if she believed she would suddenly wake up like nothing happened.

Aelita's heart broke at this sight and so did Jeremie's. This was the second Amy that they had lost and it was absolutely terrible... They and the other three original Lyoko Warriors didn't get to know Amy Harrison as much as they wished they could, but they all knew that she was a good and very charming person who could have had a good future here in the camp. But that regrettably wasn't going to happen now... The young couple then noticed Jim walk up to watch the scene as well, albeit with a face that had no expression of any kind whatsoever on it as he alternated from looking at Amy's corpse and the corpse of the other camp members who died that night.

Neither of the two geniuses would ever forget what he said next. It was so emotionless, so bland and robotic... either as if he didn't care or he simply cared too much, or perhaps somewhere in between. It was haunting and it truly burned into their memories forever.

"I remember my dream now... why I dug the holes..."