(Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestinysEmbrace!)

(I DO NOT own The Walking Dead, Code Lyoko or any kind of names or brands that appear in this story. I do own all OCs unless specifically named as they appear above this message.)

"YOU DUMB SON OF A BITCH!!! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO OUR FRIENDS?!"

It had been only a few moments after Yumi fired the shot which pacified her little brother. The Lyoko Warriors were all still reeling from the fact that their friends and teachers were all dead now, and Miranda was still full of rage towards the bastard who opened up those barn doors. Much of the other people were stunned that the people they helped the teens look for all this time had been under their noses all along...

As several of the Lyoko Warriors struggled to hold back Miranda, a reluctant Jeremie desperately started to sort through the bodies of all the people from Kadic Academy who got shot today. Someone from the school had to still be alive out there somewhere. Like all his friends, Jeremie was devastated by all that had just happened. But the supergenius refused to believe that all of their friends had been killed and collected like they were nothing more than animals...

Someone had to still be out there somewhere.

"LEMME AT HIM!!! LET ME AT HIM!!!" Miranda snarled with blood rage as she struggled to escape the death grips she found herself in.

"Miranda, no!" Kyra urged as she, Odd, Alex, and Jennifer all struggled to hold back this pissed-off girl.

Yumi choked out even more sobs as she thought about the bitter irony of what had happened today. Despite how close that she and Ulrich came to getting killed by those people in Greenville, despite how close Daryl came to getting killed because of what happened at Horton Creek, despite how close she, Ulrich, Odd, the Enhearts, and Robert all came to getting killed in that suburb, the people they were looking for had practically been right next to them whole time, and the teens never knew until now...

God... Hiroki was probably dead before she even began looking for him...

All their efforts, everything they went through... all of it was for nothing.

"N- No... no..." Yumi choked out so quietly that her voice was like a whisper. She had to put a bullet in her own brother's brain... She would have to live with that memory for the rest of her life, however long it lasts...

Hiroki...

This shouldn't have happened... This just shouldn't have fucking happened.

They were supposed to have found Hiroki alive... found all of the people from Kadic alive...

Yumi was supposed to have kept her little brother safe from this horrific new world. Hiroki was supposed to get the chance he deserved to grow up, to survive with her and all of her friends. But now, he was merely another little boy who got killed by one of those terrible monsters out there. It made Yumi feel so sick to her stomach seeing her little brother dead on the ground like that. She had failed to keep Hiroki alive...

Yumi was supposed to find her brother... and instead he starved, he suffered, and he died screaming in pain and terror before she could even start looking for him...

This was a nightmare she couldn't wake up from...

She was in hell...

Wordlessly, with tears still rolling down the sides of her face, Yumi reached forward and she gently shut Hiroki's eyes for him. He was gone and he needed to rest forever now.

Hershel had fallen to his knees while covering most of his face with his hands as he was trying to come to terms with the horrible scene they were all forced to witness here today. Hershel couldn't help but wonder what in the Lord's name himself did he do...? He never should've put walkers in that barn. He felt like such a damned fool...

The elderly farmer had felt Maggie's hand on his shoulder during the entire massacre, but he couldn't bring himself to look away from it as it happened. His wife, his stepson, his nephew... and all those poor children... all of 'em just laying dead in the cold dirt now. He might not have killed those poor people, but he sure didn't allow them the rest with the Lord like how they deserved. Hershel felt like he had committed a horrible sin by herding those people in the barn...

He could hear Beth's tearful gasps from his left as Jimmy held onto her to try and comfort her, but Beth shoved herself out of his grip and she started stumbling towards the corpse of what used to be her mom.

"M-Mom...!" Beth cried out as she staggered towards the corpse, despite Rick attempting to stop her. "No...!" She managed to get past Rick as she shoved another corpse, one that belonged to neither the Lyoko Warriors' friends or their family, off of what used to be her mother.

Beth couldn't stop crying as she overturned her dead mother, seeing her face for the first time since she was locked up in the barn... "M- Mom..." Beth choked out again as if she couldn't believe her mom was dead. What was left of her was decayed, sunken flesh as there was a gash on her cheek. She didn't want to say goodbye to her mother... she couldn't...

Suddenly, the corpse reached up and grabbed onto Beth's hair as it revealed that it wasn't quite dead, prompting her to scream.

Beth screamed at the top of her lungs as her mother's corpse yanked at her hair, trying to pull her daughter's face closer to her rotting mouth. Within moments several people had ran over to Beth to try and help her get away from the walker that used to be her mom. Yumi didn't stand up to help Beth even though she was sitting very close by. The poor teen simply kept staring down at her dead little brother in total silence, seemingly not even noticing what was going on right now. It was like Yumi was in a trance, or a state of shock...

Glenn, in the meantime, had grabbed onto the walker and he started prying it away from Beth as those who were grabbing Beth managed to pull her away from the creature's grasp. Hershel and Maggie promptly pulled Beth close as she kept screaming and crying from what had just happened. Though Beth was safe now, they still had a live walker to deal with. T-Dog tried to take care of it initially by stomping his foot into the walker's skull, much to the family's horror.

However, it just wasn't giving in. It soon grasped onto Glenn, who was doing his best to keep its jaws away from him as it snarled.

Improvising a solution, Miranda hurried over to the front of the barn since she remembered seeing a huge scythe leaning up against its wall earlier. Miranda quickly grabbed the big farm tool and she hurried back over to the walker. Thanks to the walker having been let go of due to the sudden situation, she was able to dispatch the undead monster with a single swing, stabbing it right in the back of the head.

Pretending that she was hitting Shane's face with the scythe helped out with her targeting a lot... a LOT.

The walker that used to be Annette Greene fell limp after it was stabbed, and Miranda used her boot to push the corpse off the blade. The Greene Family saw all of this with horror. Beth continued to sob in her father's arms as he held her close, clearly traumatized by what she had witnessed. In the course of ten minutes she saw her mother get shot in the face, felt her mother try to eat her alive, and then watch her mother's head get stabbed in with a scythe...

Unable to be anywhere near the barn anymore, Chase holstered his pistol and he started heading back for the camp by himself. He didn't even try to check on Jenny, or 'Lita, or Annie or Dyl because of how pissed and upset he felt right now. Christ, how many of his friends and teachers did he just see get shot in the face?

On his way back to the camp, the one-handed teen stopped close to Shane and he glared up at the bastard who opened up those barn doors and unleashed hell upon him and his friends. "... I hope that this was all fucking worth it." Chase coldly muttered to him before he resumed walking. Shane didn't reply, and Chase didn't notice how his mouth curved into a small victorious smirk. Had he noticed, the one-handed boy would've tried to wipe it away permanently.

Likewise, Hershel, Maggie, and Patricia started to lead Beth away from the barn and back towards the farmhouse. They all needed to get away from this mess too...

As the family turned and walked away from the scene of carnage, it became apparent that Shane wasn't done with messing things up yet. The man who opened the doors of the barn hurried after the family so he could confront them about all those walkers that came out of there, the ones who they were trying to find. A lot of people hurried after him to keep him from harassing the family.

"We've been out and combin' these towns and these woods lookin' for those kids and they were in there this whole time?!" Shane asked as if he himself couldn't believe it.

"Oh, now you act like you give a damn?!" Charles retorted, unable to believe this man's attitude.

Shane ignored the Aussie teen as they followed Hershel and his family back towards the farmhouse. The whole family was distraught but Shane didn't care. All that he cared about was his own outrage. Out of all the places in all of Georgia, the people that they were trying to find had been inside that barn all along?

... that was too much of a coincidence for Shane to handle.

"You knew!" Shane openly accused Hershel, glaring at the farmer as they made it to the front porch.

"Leave us alone!" Maggie demanded him, full of hatred for what he just caused back at the barn.

"Shane, stop!" Rick tried getting in his way to keep him away from Hershel. Hadn't he caused enough trouble?! Rick put his hand on his best friend's shoulder to try to get him to stop harassing the family, but Shane pushed it away. "Get your hands off me!" Shane warned with anger.

Hershel was still reeling from what happened back at the barn, still struggling to comprehend everything that's happened in the span of less than twenty minutes.

"I didn't know!" a distraught Hershel told the angry deputy. Hershel truly had no idea who he was putting in that barn alongside his dead family. He now realized how much heartbreak he put on those poor kids and he regretted ever doing such a foolish thing in the first place. He never should've locked up all those people... those walkers... in that barn no matter what he thought about them.

However, Shane wasn't buying the excuse from the farmer. "Why were those kids in there?!"

Though the Lyoko Warriors were all still upset by what had happened, they grudgingly admitted to themselves that Shane's question was important. They all hated that man so much for what he just did but that still didn't make his question any less valid. The teens all needed closure after all that had just happened at the barn today. They needed to know how their friends ended up in there...

Still with tears in her eyes, Aelita approached the farmer. "Hershel, please... why were our friends in your barn?" she pleaded for any answer to help make sense of all of this.

"Your..." Hershel trailed off, choking up with emotion. He pushed past it and spoke again. "Otis put all those people in the barn... Maybe he found all your people and he put them in there before he was killed?" he hesitantly theorized.

"You expect me to believe that?!" Shane gawked at what he just heard. "Do I look like an idiot?!"

"I don't care what you believe!" Hershel retorted back at the troublemaker.

Miranda again tried to push her way past several people to get to Shane, but she was held back once more. "FUCK YOU, SHANE!!! LET ME GO SO I CAN CLAW AT THAT MOTHERFUCKER!!!"

It was clear that things were getting pretty heated again. To keep the peace, Rick hurried forward and he placed himself between Miranda, Shane, the groups, and the Greene Family. Both Carlos and Lee also hurried up to help him keep all the groups and the family separated from each other, though mainly they wanted to keep Miranda and Shane apart at all costs.

The last thing that everyone here needed after something as terrible as the barn shootings was for Shane and Miranda to get within arm's length of each other. Enough blood has been shed today.

"Enough!" Lee urged the groups, helping to keep order. "Everyone just calm down! Please!"

"Get him off my land!" Hershel demanded as he pointed at Shane. With all the shit he's caused today, it wasn't a surprise that Hershel wanted him gone.

Shane pushed his way past the three group leaders to get to the farmer. "No! Let me tell you something-"

When she saw Shane suddenly move forward from the group and approach her father in a threatening manner, Maggie hurried up to Shane and she angrily slapped him across the face, interrupting him in mid-sentence.

"Hey, don't touch him!" Maggie frowned at the former deputy after she hit him. "... Haven't you done enough?"

Shane was completely unfazed by the woman's slap, though he wisely stepped back from the Greene Family before anything else could happen. Luckily for everyone, things began to calm down after that. Beth continued to sob as she was led inside the farmhouse by Patricia, Jimmy, and Maggie. But before he went inside to join what was left of his family, Hershel stopped and looked back at the groups with a heated glare.

"I mean it... off my land..." Hershel warned everyone who was there.

Everyone stood in silence as Hershel went inside. That ultimatum he just gave pretty much signaled their deaths sometime in the future.

One by one, most of the groups started to head back to the campsite, including many of the Lyoko Warriors. All who left were now deep in thought about what would happen to them now. As those people all left, Glenn went into the farmhouse so he could be there for Maggie during her difficult time. He was the only person who was even allowed inside the house after the mess that's happened today.

Shane turned to leave, but Rick and Aelita stopped him to confront him about what had just happened today. Some of the Lyoko Warriors stopped and watched the scene and to make sure that Aelita would be safe next to the man who they now saw as a complete fucking psyhcopath.

"What are you doing?" Rick asked his best friend.

From the look on his face, Shane was clearly frustrated. He sighed and he shook his head, full of doubt about those walkers who were in the barn.

"Daryl almost died looking for those people, Rick." Shane frowned at him. "Ulrich and Yumi almost did too. Any one of us could have."

Now more of the group was looking towards Shane in anger. How could he be so reckless? Shane saw those looks on their faces and frowned. "I'm telling you, Rick, that son of a bitch, he knew." he said to Rick, clearly not believing Hershel.

"He didn't know they were in there, Shane!" Aelita protested. "Hershel isn't like that! He saved my life and he opened his home to us!"

"He put us all in danger. He kept a barn full of walkers right next to us." Shane dismissed her claims with a wave of his hand.

Rick and Aelita both appeared baffled by everything Shane was suggesting. How could Hershel or Otis or anyone else on this farm have possibly known that those people the groups were looking for had been in the barn all along? Aelita couldn't even begin to calculate the odds of something as ludicrous as that! Besides, in her eyes, Hershel and everyone in his family had already proven time and time again that they were good people.

"So what? You start an insurrection, hand out guns, and you massacre Hershel's family and all those kids' classmates and teachers?" Rick retorted, gesturing over to the Lyoko Warriors that were nearby.

"They were already dead." Shane countered coldly. "And Yumi there would've gone on with false hope thinkin' that kid she was lookin' for was still out there alive." he added.

Alex glared at the former deputy upon hearing that. "That was her brother, asshole. Don't you dare bring him up again after what you just did." the Russian teen warned.

Shane simply rolled his eyes while not taking Alex or any of the other Lyoko Warriors seriously. They were just kids after all...

After all that had happened today at the hands of his best friend, Rick was dumbfounded. "And what? You thinkin' that justifies you kickin' open those doors and forcing those kids to put down their friends?" Rick retorted. "Y'know that walker you shot up before all that started? 'Lita told me that she was their science teacher. They had to watch you put holes in her!"

"It WAS their teacher, but now it ain't." Shane shrugged. He had a slight casualness which the Lyoko Warriors did not appreciate.

"Screw you." Aelita said with disgust at Shane's actions and words.

Rick sighed and shook his head. "For their sake, you could've handled that a lot better, brother."

"I handled it the way it had to be held, Rick. No more, no less." Shane scowled at his friend and at the pink-haired teen.

What the hell was Shane thinking? What, was he seriously convinced that there was some conspiracy by the Greene Family to screw over the Lyoko Warriors and all the other groups? To get them all killed while out looking for the people who were in the barn? How Shane could ever come to a conclusion like that made no sense to Rick or Aelita. As far as they could tell, it was just a horrible coincidence. A really, really horrible coincidence...

"Well, Hershel thinks that we just murdered his family along with thirty other 'people' in cold blood." Rick stated with growing annoyance.

"No, man, I don't care what he thinks." Shane frowned. He, Aelita, and Rick began to talk over each other, getting into a very loud argument. The Lyoko Warriors who were watching immediately ran towards Aelita to protect her from anything that Shane might do, but she waved them off. She was confident that she can handle a loudmouthed idiot like him. Regardless, the teens stayed close by her.

Shane threw his hands up in the air out of frustration. "I was handling it, guys! I was handling it! And you just..." he trailed off, then he glared at Aelita. "You and your friends had us out in those woods looking for a buncha people that every single one of us knew was dead! That's what you did." he said, totally unsympathetic towards the group for their dead friends and teachers.

Aelita was so angry now that she started to grit her teeth in an effort to keep herself from lashing out at the former deputy. The pinkette was feeling nothing less than sheer outrage towards Shane for everything which he's done and said today. All that has happened today was because of his actions and it was all unforgivable even for someone like Aelita. The man has simply lost his mind and she was convinced that sooner or later he'd snap worse than how he did at the barn.

Finally, Shane turned to walk away from Aelita and Rick, having had enough of talking with them. In his mind, he did what needed to be done and there wasn't a damn thing anyone could do to convince him otherwise. Those walkers might've been a bunch of people who all those kids used to know, but they became monsters that needed some bullets in their heads. No more, no less.

Hell, if civilization was still around, Shane would've said he did a public service by opening those doors up...

"Rick, 'Lita, you're both just as delusional as that guy." Shane told them both as he walked away.

The Lyoko Warriors, Rick, and Aelita all watched Shane as he walked away from the farmhouse. A frustrated and mentally-exhausted Rick simply shook his head as he headed back towards the camp, wanting to be with his family and fellow survivors.

After seeing that Jeremie was still looking through the bodies at the barn, Aelita and the other Lyoko Warriors who stayed with her headed towards him...

Mr. Delmas... Jim... Theo... Johnny...

Ms. Hertz... Heidi... Emily...

Milly... Tamiya...

His own cousin...

One by one, Jeremie went through the bodies of all of the dead Kadic people in a desperate attempt to see if anyone could still be alive out there somewhere. The only corpse he didn't examine was Hiroki, as because there was simply no reason to look at someone they already knew was dead and because Yumi wouldn't let him or anyone else near her dead brother. Yumi had witnessed hell just like everyone else did.

Jeremie also didn't check his cousin's corpse... he just couldn't work up the will to see him like that yet...

As Jeremie checked through the bodies of the Kadic people, he was soon joined by several of the others, including his girlfriend. As devastated as they all were, they weren't going to let Jeremie do this alone. It took quite some time, and it was... difficult, for the teens to see so many familiar and beloved faces with bullet holes in them, but it was a task that had to be done. Not everyone from Kadic could have been in that barn and the group needed to make sure if that was the case.

After checking through the bodies, Jeremie and the others who helped him discovered that three people from Kadic weren't amongst the dead aside from Sissi and Herb.

The three possible survivors were Sam, Laura, and Nicholas. Three people who the Lyoko Warriors knew well. One as a good friend, the other two... not so much.

Jeremie desperately wished that all three of them were all still alive out there somewhere. He honestly even wished Laura was still alive despite how much tension she caused during her short time as a Lyoko Warrior, as well as how close she came to ruining his relationship with Aelita... but judging by what he and the rest of the group had found in the barn earlier today, Jeremie couldn't hold out much hope. Sam, Laura, and Nicholas were all more than likely dead too. The Lyoko Warriors were probably the only people from Kadic Academy who were still alive.

After going through all the bodies aside from Hiroki's and his cousin's, Jeremie started to get overwhelmed with emotion and he hurriedly left them for now. The poor boy had to hold back tears as he returned to the rest of his friends and informed them of his discoveries. The teens who helped him look soon joined him, all feeling downhearted.

The group was saddened by the idea of Laura, Sam, and Nicholas being out there with fates unknown, even if they've all had their fair share of issues with Laura and Nicholas in the past. As much as she hated Laura back when she was technically a part of the group, Aelita hoped that her old rival was still alive and as well as possible in the midst of this horrible new world. No one deserves to become a walker or to be left to rot forgotten somewhere, not even someone like Laura Gauthier.

Odd's face fell after he was told that Sam might still be alive out there somewhere. Hope, however, was in short supply. All that Odd felt now was despair and sorrow when he thought of some of the good times he had with Samantha Knight.

Odd might have been with his fair share of girls during his time at Kadic Academy, but Sam...? Sam was always so special to him...

He never told anyone this, but a long time ago Odd had realized that he might have actually loved her. In fact, Odd had even been planning on asking Sam out during this trip with the hope that they could officially become a couple. Maybe they would have been something more one day... But now Odd wasn't sure if the girl he loved was still alive, if she was rotting under the blazing sun somewhere, or if she was just one of the countless walkers who're roaming all around Georgia right now... the uncertainty of it all just shattered the poor boy.

... Odd hoped that Sam was dead, as much as that hurt for him to ever actually want. The cone-haired teen simply couldn't handle the thought of Sam being just another one of the monsters somewhere out there, or the thought of her suffering through a horrible life of misery all alone. He didn't want her to suffer.

It was simply better if Sam was free from all of the new ills of this world. Odd felt truly guilty for even thinking something like that, sick to his stomach even.

Realizing what Odd must have been thinking, Ulrich went to his best friend and he pulled him in for a tight hug. Ulrich didn't want Odd to worry about Sam though he knew it was impossible. It wasn't much of a secret that Odd loved her after all...

As Ulrich hugged his closest friend tight, Odd had started to sob quietly against the nook of his neck. It broke Ulrich's heart to see Odd in such a state, as him being like this reminded Ulrich of how he himself felt after he and Yumi were separated by the explosion at the CDC building. He wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy...

"It's okay, buddy... just let it all out..." Ulrich soothed as he felt the shoulder of his shirt start to become wet from Odd's tears.

As Ulrich comforted Odd as best as he could, the rest of the group continued reeling from all of the horrors that have happened only twenty minutes ago. The Lyoko Warriors weren't used to failing to protect their friends, so it was hard for all of them to deal with. This pandemic finally did what all of those XANA attacks failed to do.

Some of the teens worriedly glanced over at Yumi, who was still over by the body of her brother and who has not left his side yet. She was grieving, but as concerned as the group was for her there wasn't much they could do aside from hope she will be okay. Something as horrifying as putting down a brother would probably make the others the same way.

Though everyone in the group was worried about Yumi, they were all also concerned about what will happen to them now. Thanks to what Shane did, it was more than likely that they will all have to leave the farm soon like how Hershel demanded. The Lyoko Warriors weren't sure how long that they would last out there again, and the thought of being thrust back into the walker-filled world terrified each and every one of them.

After Ulrich calmed Odd for the moment, the group talked about this problem amongst themselves.

"We can't leave this farm..." Kyra stated to the others.

"I don't want that either, but I think Shane just fucked it up for all of us..." Jennifer sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she felt stressed.

"Maybe we could try to convince him again? Make him see reason?" Verity suggested, cringing a bit as her hand went down to hold her stomach. She had been feeling a little queasy all morning, and that was even before the mess at the barn.

Jeremie shook his head. "Aelita tried that with Lee and Rick already. I don't see how trying again would work..." he sounded resigned to defeat as he spoke.

Odd wiped away what was left of his tears before he chimed in. "... we need to stay here. We won't survive for long if they make us leave ..." Odd stated, forcing himself to push his thoughts of Sam off to the side for now. He was heartbroken, but he knew that thinking of her wouldn't help the group right now. The group had to focus on their immediate problems now and mourn later.

The Lyoko Warriors hated to admit it, but things were looking bleak. They had no clue where they and the other groups could go if or when they left the farm.

Fort Benning in the west could be an option like how Shane had been suggesting since the quarry, but there was simply no real way that they could make a journey like that without fuel and supplies. It'd be over a hundred miles of hostile, walker-infested territory to get through. And who knew if Carver and his men were still following the cabin group? That mess with Carver and the cabin group felt like a lifetime ago on account of everything that's happened in the last several weeks, but the threat was still there. The Lyoko Warriors haven't met the guy but they still wanted to steer clear of him permanently.

Maybe the groups could try their luck somewhere else? They had no idea if Fort Benning was still safe, but if it was then it couldn't be the only place left in America that could count itself walker-free. But then again, even if there was other safe places then they'd likely be even further away than Fort Benning was, and the group would also still have to figure out where they even are...

... they tried not to think of how hopeless their situation was right now. It was pretty much summed up just by dead friends and the odds that they might join them soon.

Ulrich sighed and he crossed his arms, a serious expression on his face. " ... we won't die out there, guys." he told the rest of the group. "We've lost a lot of people that we care about today, but we aren't going to die out there if we leave the farm. We'll figure it out. We'll survive." he assured them.

"I hate to say it, Ulrich, but that's easier said than done these days." Alex retorted, simply not believing that they could have a future anywhere but the farm. "Honestly, I just don't see how we can-"

"We'll figure it out, Alex." Ulrich interrupted his Russian friend, speaking in a tone that was much more stern than before. Alex frowned at this sudden hostility from Ulrich, but because of everything that has happened today he wasn't itching for a conflict with one of his few surviving friends. Alex crossed his arms and he just remained silent, and he just tried to hope that Ulrich was right for all their sakes. He was doubtful though.

Things were bad, but if the group had to leave the farm then they had to be determined to do whatever was necessary to continue to survive. Like Ulrich said, the group all just had to figure it out. So long as they stuck together if and when they leave then maybe they would actually make it out there somehow. It would not be easy at all, but they had some good motivations - they wanted to protect each other, and none of the teens wanted to see even more of their friends become walkers.

Having made the point he felt he needed to make, Ulrich turned his attention back over to his grieving girlfriend. Ulrich felt his stomach twist in knots as he watched Yumi continue to mourn silently over Hiroki's dead body. It unnerved him to see her like this, and he hated that he had no clue how to help her.

"I'm gonna head back to Yumi, guys..." Ulrich told the others before he walked away, leaving them to their thoughts.

The group watched Ulrich head back to be close to Yumi. The teens now had an awful lot to think about when it comes to their future and their continued survival. If and when they leave the farm, they had to be ready to face whatever challenges await them out there.

A couple of hours after that mess at the barn, the Lyoko Warriors returned to the site with an important task in mind: They had to bury their friends.

No way in hell were the Lyoko Warriors going to let their friends and teachers rot in the sun, and they surely weren't going to cremate them like they were just some random undead monsters. All the people from Kadic Academy deserved a proper burial... sure, one or two of them may have gotten on the group's nerves now and then back at Kadic, but none of them deserved a fate as horrible as what they went through... Giving them a proper burial was the least that the Lyoko Warriors could do.

Though the others offered to help them, the Lyoko Warriors refused the aid. These were their people. The teens were going to bury them all themselves no matter how long it would take.

Finding a shady spot by some trees close to the barn, the grieving Lyoko Warriors began to drag all their dead friends and teachers over there one by one. Even Chase who had stormed off earlier returned to help. As they moved the bodies, Patrick, Alex, and Odd all found some shovels and they began working on digging the graves for the Kadic people. The teens also found some old blankets and some cloths back at the camp which they could use to wrap up the bodies in lieu of coffins. Given the circumstances, it was the best they could possibly do for them.

As all that happened, Yumi still hadn't moved from her spot. All this time she had just sat there on her knees and stared at her dead brother, not speaking or moving an inch. Clearly she was traumatized by what had happened...

Yumi soon heard footsteps approaching again. The group was coming back from the camp, but she didn't look at them or speak or anything. She just stayed silent and unmoving. Yumi was so unnaturally still that to an untrained eye it would've looked like she wasn't even breathing.

As the Lyoko Warriors worked to bury their teachers, fellow students, and friends, Anne hesitated as she approached a few of them. "... guys... I'm so sorry..." the bandana-clad teen sympathetically told all of her mourning friends.

Though the teens appreciated what Anne said, they all remained silent. They were all just so heartbroken right now...

Milly... Tamiya... Mr. Delmas, Jim... Patrick Belpois... Ms. Hertz, Yolande... Emily... Heidi... Hiroki...

So many of their friends were just... gone...

Wordlessly, Dylan walked over to Jim's corpse and he took off the headband which he always wore. He just... wanted something to remember his favorite teacher...

"... sorry, Jimbo ..." Dylan murmured quietly, affectionately patting the blood-stained and dirty headband after he took it off Jim's head.

Seeing what Dylan had done, a couple of the others went to some of the other bodies, wanting their own mementos too. Odd took Ms. Hertz's necklace and a bracelet from Brynja. Aelita took Emily's glasses and a pen from Yolande's coat pocket. Ulrich took Milly's star-shaped earrings. Jeremie took that flower-shaped broach from Heidi's shirt, and a Nintendo DS from Mr. Delmas's pocket, the one which he had used to play that stupid penguin game that he loved so much...

The teens were as respectful as they possibly could be as they took these things and more off their friend's bodies. They were silent, and some couldn't hold back their tears.

Tears fell down Rebecca's face as she found a small video camera somewhere inside the backpack which Tamiya still wore. She held the thing tight in her hands as she sat next to Tamiya's body, deep in thought. Rebecca couldn't help but wonder if this thing still had its footage stored inside even though she knew it would be heartbreaking to watch. Even so, if the videos survived, then maybe they could shine some light on what happened to Tamiya and the others from Kadic after Atlanta fell... but was it worth even more anguish to get those answers?

As Rebecca stared at Tamiya's old camera and thought of her old friend, Jeremie stumbled over to his cousin's corpse. The heartbroken supergenius fell back into sobs as he started to search his cousin's corpse for any kind of memento. Eventually, Jeremie found an old and now bloodstained picture of him and Patrick in his jacket pocket. They were both much younger, with big smiles on their faces during that trip they took to a water park a few hours away from Jeremie's old home. It was a good memory...

Upon seeing that old photo, Jeremie finally broke down completely. Wordlessly, Aelita went to the boy she loved and she tightly embraced him, letting him cry in her embrace. The group may have lost so many friends today but all of them realized that Yumi and Jeremie each lost a blood relative. Some of the Lyoko Warriors have been in their shoes before in previous years. Those teens could truly understand the pain that Yumi and Jeremie were feeling at losing a loved one, but they couldn't imagine what it must have been like for them to put Hiroki and Patrick Belpois down like that...

The pinkette placed so many kisses on her love's face and cheeks as she held him close to her, trying her hardest to make him feel any sort of happiness and comfort after everything that's happened today. But there was only so much that Aelita could do for Jeremie after he had to put down his own cousin, then search through the bodies of dead friends for a trace that anyone might have survived that massacre at the barn...

This was one of the worst days in their entire lives. One that they would have to remember forever...

"Shhh... I'm here, Jeremie... I'm right here..." Aelita soothed in-between her kisses as she held Jeremie. The boy she loved was in so much pain right now...

The people from Kadic Academy were dead, at least most of them were. But as painful as that knowledge was for them to bear, the Lyoko Warriors realized and accepted this unfair fate for their friends since they knew there was nothing else they could do for them... All aside from Yumi, it seemed. The broken teenage girl didn't dare leave Hiroki's side nor would she let anyone touch his body. Who could guess what was going through Yumi's mind right now, though it was more than likely nothing good.

Seeing his girlfriend in such a state crushed Ulrich. Having no idea about what the fates of her parents could be was hard enough on her, but what happened with Hiroki must have felt like she was drowning in the middle of an ocean of despair. He couldn't begin to imagine what she was feeling right now.

Hesitantly, Ulrich started to approach Yumi in an attempt to help her. "Yumi...?" he spoke gently and prayed for an answer. Ulrich knew that Yumi might react differently than she did before she pulled the trigger on Hiroki, so he was making sure to choose what he did carefully.

To his disappointment, Yumi didn't answer him. She simply kept her back turned to Ulrich as she stared at Hiroki's body, endlessly. It was an image that would be burned into her mind for the rest of her life.

Ulrich took another step closer towards the girl he loved. "Yumes...?" he asked once more, again getting no answer from her. Ulrich has never seen Yumi act like this before and he was very worried about her. He honestly didn't know what to do...

With no other ideas, Ulrich knelt down next to his girlfriend and he gently put his hand on her shoulder.

"Yumi...? Are you-"

Suddenly, Yumi turned and she pushed Ulrich to get his hand off of her, sending him flying back to fall on the dirt below them both. The shocked teen simply stared up at his infuriated and devastated girlfriend, unable to believe what Yumi had just done to him. She just... pushed him...?

"DON'T TOUCH ME!!!" Yumi screamed at him at the top of her lungs, garnering looks from everyone else at the barn as well as many back at the camp. She glared at Ulrich for a few moments before she turned back to Hiroki as if that didn't just happen.

Ulrich, heartbroken by Yumi's reaction to his touch, could only stand up and brush himself off in silence. Reluctantly, he stepped back so that Yumi could have the space she seemed to want right now. He understood she was in pain and that deep down she didn't mean it, but it still hurt to hear her yell at him with such anger and hate.

As the teens worked on dragging their dead friends to the burial site, they were joined by some people from Rick's group and the cabin group. The teens wouldn't let them help bury the people from Kadic, but they came because they wanted to bury the bodies for the Greene's family and neighbors. It was the least they could do after the hell that they had just witnessed. Andrea said that they would all bury the ones they love, and the walkers that none of them knew would be burnt.

Among the people who came was Dale, who was heartbroken for what the teens had to experience. He knew in those woods that Shane was going to open up the barn... but he never expected that the people these kids were looking for were in there, or that they'd have to take them all down like that. He felt guilty that he wasn't able to prevent the horrors that these poor kids had to go through.

One by one, they began to bury the Greene Family a short distance away from the teens who were burying the Kadic people. Andrea noticed Yumi over by Hiroki's body and she sympathized with the Japanese teen. Losing a sibling like this was one of the worst things for anyone to experience, and Andrea knew that from experience...

As the Lyoko Warriors worked, they could overhear Lori and Rick talking nearby about how Hershel wanted them off the farm, or Shane at the very least.

... many, if not all, were pretty willing to kick Shane out of here for good. After what he just pulled, who knew what stunt he might try to do in the future.

It was best if Shane just left and that they never saw him again ...

Nearby, Rick was helping Andrea and T-Dog move some of the bodies of the unidentified walkers over to a burn pit. Shane had left them to get Otis's truck to help move even bodies. After helping to lift a particularly heavy corpse, the three stopped for a momentary break. They all thought back to what happened earlier, about how many walkers that were killed today.

"We got lucky." Andrea stated, having seen the sheer number of corpses earlier.

T-Dog nodded in agreement, wiping some sweat off his forehead. "Good thing Shane did what he did when he did..."

The Lyoko Warriors who were close enough to hear what T-Dog said all turned to look at him and froze. Did he just say that what Shane did was a good thing...?

"You can't tell me that this was the right call." Ulrich said to him, completely taken aback.

"It wasn't. It'll cost us with Hershel." Rick stated, sympathizing with the teens. Though he was happy the walkers were no longer an issue for the group, he still was against the way that they were pacified. Maybe he could've convinced Hershel to let them pacify the creatures if Shane didn't fuck it all up.

Andrea crossed her arms and shook her head. "He's grieving. He'll come around, see we had no choice." she predicted. "Look, I shot too. This wasn't all Shane."

"Look, I got no qualms about it. Walkers in my backyard? Nuh-uh..." T-Dog stated with a click of his tongue.

Miranda gritted her teeth as she glared at him. "Fuck you, T-Dog." she said as she went back to work, though she made sure to give him the middle finger first.

T-Dog suddenly felt a pang of guilt over what he had just said. It was easy to forget that many of the walkers in that barn used to be people that all those teens used to care for. He was resolute in his belief that the barn walkers all needed to be pacified, but it definitely couldn't have been easy for those poor kids.

"I'm not saying that we shouldn't have taken care of the problem, but creating a panic?!" Dale interjected into the psuedo-debate they were having now.

"There's no point arguing about it. It's done. There's nothing we can do about it." Lori stated logically.

Everyone could have argued about what happened today for weeks to come, but Lori had a valid point. What's done is done and nothing could change what happened at the barn. The best thing that the groups could do was to try and get through this and hope that Hershel wouldn't kick everyone out.

As Lori took Rick aside to speak with him about something, everyone quickly went back to work. It was going to take a while to dispose of all the dead...

Shane had a scowl on his face as he walked over to what used to be Otis's truck, needing it to help move the bodies of the unidentified walkers from the barn to a fire pit.

As he approached the area where everyone parked their vehicles, Shane could see that Dale, Patrick, and Verity were all eyeing him from the rear of a sedan that was only a short distance away. Dale had gone to the cars simply to get something out of one of them. Verity and Patrick were there because they were a bit mentally overloaded from having to help bury so many of their dead friends, and they needed to get away from the barn for a little bit. Odd did as well, but he wanted to be alone and he went up to some trees near the farmhouse instead.

The angry former deputy tried to ignore the three as he hopped into the old pickup truck, but the sight of them in the rear-view mirror kept him from putting the key in the ignition. Their glares were getting to him far more than they should be. The old man and the teens were clearly judging him for all that's happened here in the last several hours. The confrontation about the guns in the forest, the barn being opened, Patrick and Verity and the other teens being forced to put their friends down like dogs...

Finally, Shane opened up the door and he leaned out to look at the three. Dale, Verity, and Patrick didn't say a word as they simply glared at Shane.

"Do you got something to say, guys?" Shane confronted the two teens and the old man.

When he was met with silence, Shane shook his head. "Well, go ahead, guys..." he insisted that they speak. "Buncha 'Moral Authority' experts, huh?"

Still no answer...

Shane may have been smiling, but anger was building in him. "You guys the, uh... the voices of reason?"

The three of them remained completely silent as they eyed him...

They were all judging him, weren't they...? For what? Saving their lives?!

Greatly frustrated, Shane suddenly hopped out of the truck and he stormed straight towards Dale, Verity, and Patrick. The three of them continued to glare at Shane even as he walked up to them. If they were afraid that he'd try to do something horrible to them, they didn't show it.

"Let me ask you something, guys. What do you do?" Shane confronted the three by the car. "What do you guys do to keep this camp safe, huh? What do you do?" met with even more silence from them, Shane continued to angrily ramble. "What, Dale, you try to fix an RV? And you two dumb kids try to keep your friends safe? Just look at what happened! Aelita got shot and your friends got bit because you kids don't think!"

The three still remained silent.

"And you all babysit some guns too?!" Shane frowned before he turned his focus on Dale specifically. "Man, you pointed one at my chest, right? But you just... you just couldn't pull that trigger, could ya?"

Even Shane's taunting just wouldn't get Dale or the teens to say anything to him. "If I was such a danger, if I was such a threat, what did any of you do to stop me, huh?" Shane countered to unsaid words. "I smashed that barn open and I saved Anne and Aelita. That's all me. That ain't you guys, that ain't Rick, that's me."

Dale, Verity, and Patrick all continued to stay silent as Shane talked and talked and talked. Soon, the man realized that he wasn't going to get them to speak. Shane turned and he angrily walked back over to the truck.

"Tell you what, guys..." Shane frowned as he hopped back into the driver's seat. "The next time I need a radiator hose or a lecture, I'll give you three a call..."

Shane slammed the driver's door shut and he started the engine. Dale, Patrick, and Verity all continued to stare judgmentally at Shane as he drove off over towards the barn. Silence spoke more than words ever could...

After Shane left, Dale found whatever he was looking for and he headed off back to his RV. Patrick and Verity lingered for a few moments more before they forced themselves to gather up the will to head back over to the barn and continue helping bury their dead friends. Luckily, the place where the Lyoko Warriors were burying all the Kadic people was far enough away from the place where the other burials were being held. Shane wouldn't be a problem if he and the teens kept their distance from each other.

Verity and Patrick quickly returned to work alongside the other Lyoko Warriors and they were both thankful that most of the bodies had been buried by then. They've both seen enough dead friends for a lifetime...

The couple then went over to Milly's body and they gently grabbed her by her arms and legs so that they could lift her up off the ground. The group planned to bury Milly next to Tamiya so that the best friends could rest together for eternity. It felt like the right thing to do given how close they were...

... but as Verity and Patrick lifted Milly's body so they could move her over to her freshly-dug grave, Milly's rotting left arm suddenly ripped right off her body.

Verity could only scream in horror when she realized that Milly's severed arm was in her hands. Patrick was so disturbed by the sight of Milly's severed arm that he lost his lunch right then and there. Both he and Verity lost their grip on Milly's remaining limbs and her body hit the dirt with a loud thud.

Verity's screaming caused all the Lyoko Warriors nearby to look in her direction. When they saw what had happened, their reactions were... predictable. Lots of gasps, lots of screams, and lots more tears and trauma to add on an already horrific day.

"FUCK!!! FUCK!!!" an incredibly frustrated and upset Verity screamed towards the sky as she set the severed arm down by Milly's side.

She was done. She was just so fucking done. So many dead friends, the group's precarious living situation, Milly's arm - fucking everything.

The raven-haired girl couldn't hold back her sobs as she stormed away from her friends, both living and dead. Verity didn't say another word to anyone as she left, not even to Patrick. Verity also wouldn't let anyone follow her as she stormed back to camp. The group could only watch in silence as Verity walked away from them, the barn, and all of the burials. They couldn't blame her for needing to get away from all of this mess...

Verity only stopped when she and the group saw Odd running towards them from the farmhouse. The boy looked distressed.

"Does any of you guys know where Hershel is?" Odd asked his friends and all the other people nearby. "Beth's in shock or something and we can't find Hershel anywhere..."

"Hershel's gone? Where?" Anne inquired, feeling surprised. Why would Hershel leave the farm...?

Odd shrugged. "No clue. Like I said: no one can find him anywhere."

The Lyoko Warriors and the other people there shared looks of concern, all suddenly feeling confused and worried for both Beth and Hershel. Carlos could probably help Beth out but she still needed her father to be there for her. Where the hell could he have gone, and why?

Several people started heading for the farmhouse to start tracking Hershel down...

Inside Hershel's bedroom, Maggie and several members of each group were searching through the farmer's belongings for any clue that could lead them to him. Even Shane was there, though luckily he was keeping his cool unlike back at the barn. Verity was also there, though she was a bit quiet after what happened with Milly and her arm.

On Hershel's bed was some boxes that the group was digging through. Old stuff which belonged to Annette, Hershel's now-dead second wife. Maggie explained that Hershel kept all of her things because he had been certain that Annette would later recover and that they could simply pick up right where they left off. If only that really could have been the case... his wife was now just one of the many crosses out near the barn.

Half-heartedly helping the group look for any trace of Hershel's whereabouts, Shane was messing with an old photo of Hershel's first wife when he saw something sitting on the top of his dresser. A flask. Bemused, Shane picked up the flask and he showed it to all of the others who were in the room.

"Looks like he's found an old friend..." Shane stated before he tossed the flask over to Rick.

Rick caught the flask and examined it, admiring how well put together it felt. Maggie approached him and he handed the flask over to her so she could see it.

"That belonged to my grandfather. Gave it to dad when he died." Maggie explained to Rick and the others.

"Strange... I never took Hershel to be a drinker." Aelita said with surprise.

Maggie shook her head. "No, he gave it up on the day I was born. He didn't even allow liquor in the house."

Everyone started to get an idea of where Hershel might have gone. After watching all of his undead loved ones get their brains splattered onto the dirt, he must've felt the need to go out and drown his sorrows somewhere... maybe he simply went to a bar?"

"Is there a bar in town somewhere?" Lee inquired.

"Hatlin's. He practically lived there in his drinking days." Maggie told him.

Jeremie nodded. "I bet that we'll find him in there."

The group was gonna have to head into town to find Hershel and bring him back. Senoia was one of the nearby towns that the group checked during their ill-fated search for the people from Kadic Academy. Road signs made Senoia out to be a very small town of only a few hundred people prior to the outbreak, but luckily the town seemed to be devoid of walkers during the searxh. Hopefully that remained the case for Hershel's sake.

Not only did a lot of people wish to make it up to Hershel for what happened at the barn, Rick needed Hershel alive to help deliver Lori's baby when it comes. Finding the farmer was personal now.

"I've seen the place. I'll take you." Glenn told the former deputy, remembering the bar from when he and Maggie went into town days earlier.

"Me, Aelita, Jeremie, Patrick, Verity and Nick are coming with. Just think of us as 'extra security'" Odd, after talking with the others, added some extra manpower to the effort.

"Alright." Rick nodded at the others. "I'll get the truck."

Rick started to leave the room with Glenn following him. However, he stopped when he saw Maggie step in to stop Glenn. She seemed to be worried about him leaving. It honestly wasn't too unfounded given how many times Glenn nearly lost his life so far...

"No..." Maggie told him, taking his hand into hers.

"It's an easy run..." Glenn assured her.

"Like the pharmacy?"

The Lyoko Warriors didn't get much details about what happened at the pharmacy when Glenn and Maggie last left the farm. They knew the pair had encountered a walker, but they didn't get much more information about that. But from how worried Maggie seemed to be, it was probably something life-threatening. They couldn't blame her for not wanting Glenn to risk his life yet again...

Patrick walked up to Maggie and he tapped her on the arm. When she turned to look at him, Patrick smiled.

"We'll bring him back for you. Promise." Patrick swore to her.

Maggie seemed to be unconvinced that the trip would be safe, but she seemed to relent a bit. As she and Glenn continued to talk, Rick left the room so he could go get the truck ready. He was stopped, however, by a couple of the teens.

"Do you guys mind waiting for a little longer? We just have one thing we need to do first..." Aelita asked, fully focused on helping her friends first before Hershel.

Rick realized what Aelita and her friends needed to do. Wordlessly, Rick nodded at the pinkette, and after he saw Lori and Shane beckoning at him from the door of Hershel's bedroom he went to talk to both of them. Satisfied at Rick's answer, Aelita left the home with the other Lyoko Warriors and they headed back for the barn together.

They had just one more burial to take care of... hopefully Yumi would allow it...

Near the camp, Chase was sitting against a tree and thinking about what happened back at the barn. All that blood, all that gunfire, all those friends and teachers that had to be put down like they were nothing more than fucking animals... The blue and green eyed boy was struggling to not break down into tears over it.

Chase scolded himself in his mind, reminding himself that he needed to be tough and that he should already be more than used to this given how many people he's lost over the years. His adoptive father who disappeared in the Amazon, his adoptive mother that was killed in that car crash, his adoptive grandmother who died of cancer... not to mention the countless friends that he and Dylan had to say goodbye to each time their family had to move thanks to Dylan's dad's military career.

The Enhearts might not have been Chase's biological family but he still loved them just as much as he did the Schaeffers. It took time for Chase to come to terms with the fact that the Enhearts weren't his blood relatives, but after he did he always considered that he had two dads and two moms and two siblings and two families. He was as much of an Enheart as he was a Schaeffer. Dylan was his brother as much as Aelita was his sister, and nothing would ever change that.

But even after the rediscovery of his relationship with Aelita, Waldo, and Anthea, the pain of losing Jimmy and Rachel Enheart never left him. Chase didn't show it often but he always had this huge fear that he'd end up losing his new family just like how he the old one, though he always told himself that it was a longshot...

Then came the outbreak. Chase and Aelita's parents back in Paris... Uncle David, Grandpa Bradley... they were all probably long gone by now thanks to this terrible pandemic. Obviously, it has already killed practically everyone from Kadic Academy as well. So many people who Chase, Dylan, and Aelita cared for were now gone forever and there was nothing that any of them could possibly do about it.

It just wasn't fair that Chase and Dylan kept losing so many people in their lives. It wasn't fair. For some reason it just kept happening over and over and over again, and sometimes it made Chase feel like he and Dylan were cursed.

Why? Why did this keep happening...? And how many more people were Chase and Dylan going to lose before all of this finally ends...?

... what if he ended up all alone before the end ...?

"Aww... what's the matter? You and your friends lose something? A bunch of somethings, maybe? Ha!"

Josh... the last thing Chase needed right now was to listen to that monster... Chase tried to ignore the guy tied up to the tree, but it wasn't working. The guy just wouldn't be quiet.

"You know I saw all of it even from here, right?" Josh continued to taunt the grieving Lyoko Warrior. "Watched all of your guys's friends get their brains blown out. Even that dumb little kid at the end... He was the one that chink Yumi was lookin' for, right? Wasn't he her brother?"

Chase tightly shut his eyes, trying his best not to let that evil bastard get to him. "... Shut up ..."

"Oooh, am I getting on your nerves now?" Josh asked with a dark chuckle.

"... I said shut up, Josh ..."

Josh didn't take the hint that he shouldn't press the grieving boy any further. Instead, the bully of one of his best friends foolishly kept on running his mouth like an idiot. Josh didn't notice that Chase's remaining hand had balled up so hard from pent-up anger that it was now trembling, his knuckles turning paper white. Josh didn't notice that it was simply in his best interest to shut up while he still could.

Unfortunately, whether by his own lack of intelligence or because of his own ego, Josh didn't think to stop at all.

"That chink friend of yours single by any chance? Or is she screwing that grumpy short dude?" Josh inquired with a smirk. "She might have dirty Jap blood in her veins but her ass is amazing. I could stare at the back of her pants all day..."

" ... Shut up, Josh, I'm seriously not in the mood to deal with you today. Last warning ..."

"Or what?" Josh challenged defiantly... and stupidly. "I saw the girl that your bitch of a sister shot in the face... I didn't know she had a twin." he licked his lips lustfully as he thought of the resemblance between Aelita and Taelia. "If that girl your sister shot wasn't a literal corpse, I'd have tried to get her and your sister in a threesome with me. I bet pinkie would love a real man to satisfy her instead of that nerd of hers. And then...? Well, I'll dispose of that trash myself..."

"......."

"You hearin' me, Enheart? I said that before I kill her, I want to have your whore of a sister bouncing up and down on my big hard-"

Suddenly, Chase stood up from the tree he was sitting against and he stormed straight over towards the tree Josh was tied to. Josh's eyes widened from fear when he saw Chase unholster his gun and aim it at him as he approached. Chase was so filled with rage that his face had turned red. By the time he realized he had gone too far, there wasn't anything Josh could do to save himself.

Before Josh could say anything, Chase forced the barrel of his pistol into his mouth. The gun was loaded. A single press of the trigger would be enough to end Josh forever.

"SHUT UP!!! JUST SHUT!!! UP!!!" Chase roared in the face of the monster, unleashing his rage. "YOU THINK YOU'RE SUCH HOT SHIT WHEN YOU DO THIS KIND OF STUFF, HUH?! HUH?! YOU FUCKING SOCIOPATH, YOU'VE NEVER CHANGED A BIT SINCE BULLYING ANNE BACK WHEN WE WERE ALL KIDS!!! AND NOW YOU WANNA THREATEN MY LITTLE SISTER TOO?! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

Josh tried to speak, to beg for the gun to be pulled out of his mouth. Tears streamed down the sides of Josh's face as fear completely overwhelmed him.

"JUST SAY ONE MORE FUCKING WORD, JOSH!!!" Chase demanded, forcing the barrel of the pistol deeper into Josh's mouth. "GO ON, SAY SOMETHING!!! GIVE ME AN EXCUSE!!!"

The tied-up teen struggled to get out of his restraints so he could get the gun out of his mouth, but the ropes holding him were too tight. Josh gagged loudly as the gun barrel was pushed to the back of his throat. He felt so terrified and helpless right now...

Neither Josh nor Chase heard the sound of footsteps slowly approaching.

"OH, YOU'RE STAYING QUIET NOW, HUH?! YOU DON'T LIKE GETTING A TASTE OF YOUR OWN MEDICINE FOR ONCE?!" Chase growled through gritted teeth. "JUST DO IT!!! JUST SAY ONE MORE FUCKING WORD!!! ONE MORE!!! AND I SWEAR TO CHRIST HIMSELF I'LL BLOW YOUR LACK OF A BRAIN OUT ALL OVER THE FUCKING-"

"Chase...? You okay...?"

Chase turned to see that Anne had walked up to him, a look of deep concern plastered on her face. Chase froze as he realized Anne had seen everything that had just happened between him and Josh... apparently, she was not the only one who did.

Nearby, several people in the camp had stopped what they were doing and they were looking at him. Evidently he was much louder than he thought he was, because even the Lyoko Warriors all the way over at the barn had stopped to see what was happening. Some looked on with shock, some looked very disturbed or worried...

Realizing that he had gone way too far just now, Chase hesitantly pulled his pistol out of Josh's mouth and he holstered the weapon again. He backed away from the tied-up teen, his eyes wide and face pale as he asked himself what he just did over and over again in his mind. Even though he (and many others) hated Josh so much, he was so disturbed with how close he came to murder just now...

Sensing how he was feeling right now, Anne approached her friend and she took his hand, giving it a light affectionate squeeze.

"We've got one more burial to do... you know who it is..." Anne told him, gently. "Do you want to come and help us all out...?"

Chase's face fell. After a few silent moments, he nodded. "... alright ..."

Anne felt Chase pull his hand away from hers, and she watched as he started heading back for the barn. When Chase got over there, he simply walked past his brother, sister, girlfriend, and several friends and he went to help wrap up the last of the bodies with the blankets. It wasn't easy to do that with one hand, but he managed. Anne hoped that he and all the other Lyoko Warriors would be okay after the events that happened today...

After she was sure Chase was with his friends, Anne turned back to Josh and she glared deeply at him.

"Leave my friends alone, Josh... or else next time I won't stop him." Anne warned with a dark, hate-filled tone in her voice. With that, Anne turned and she started walking back for the barn, not even staying to hear anything Josh would say to her.

Luckily for Josh, he remained silent for once.

A short while after that incident between Chase and Josh, the Lyoko Warriors had finally buried almost everyone from Kadic Academy who they pacified today. All except for Hiroki, that is...

Over by the front of the barn, Yumi was still sitting silently near her little brother's corpse. A few of the group had glanced her way, knowing that she was still grieving. The teens also knew that they needed to bury Hiroki before he could rot even further in the Georgia heat, but Yumi still wouldn't let anyone near him aside from herself. Yumi being this way was eerily similar to how Andrea was when she had lost her sister back at the quarry camp outside of Atlanta...

If Andrea was any indication, Yumi must've been completely traumatized.

The Lyoko Warriors knew that Yumi needed all of their help and love and support right now... but they also had to bury her brother. None of the teens wanted Yumi to have to witness him rot any further... not after what had happened. But how can they get her to give him up...? Saying the wrong thing would bound to cause her to react negatively. The last thing anyone wanted was to do anything that could make her worse.

Reluctantly, Aelita stepped away from the group and she approached Yumi from behind. "Yumi...?" Aelita hesitantly spoke, slowing down as she got closer to her.

Yumi didn't answer. She kept her face low and she continued to stare at her brother's corpse. Aelita walked closer until she was right behind her. Aelita cringed a bit from pain and discomfort as she crouched down to get to eye-level with Yumi, and she had to rely on her cane to not fall over.

"Yumi..." Aelita tried again to get through to her friend.

"... he was in there all this time..." Yumi replied in a quiet tone.

Aelita's heart shattered as she saw Yumi in such a state. "I know... I'm so sorry that this happened, Yumi. All of us cared so much for Hiroki..."

Her Japanese friend shook her head, and it was clear that she was struggling not to lose control of herself.

"I should have looked harder..." Yumi blamed herself over and over again in her head for the death of her brother.

"There wasn't anything else we could've done, Yumi. We did our best... you did your best..." Aelita assured her friend.

Yumi was totally unconvinced. "No, I didn't..."

"You did. Yumi, you tried everything you could-"

"No, I didn't..." Yumi again said, this time more forcefully. " ... If I was quicker, if I was smarter, then he'd be alive and here with us right now... Instead, he's just a corpse..."

Aelita looked down to see that Yumi's fist had balled up from her feelings of anger and frustration and loss. Yumi continued speaking, her tone gradually making her anger and sadness more and more clear. " ... If we all just came here with the others when they left France, Hiroki would be alive right now... Instead we just had to take those few extra days to stay behind and to make sure XANA wouldn't try anything funny."

"Yumi..."

"If we didn't leave later than everyone else, then Hiroki would be alive! He'd still be here, Aelita!"

Idiots... they were all idiots... She, Ulrich, 'Lita, Jeremie, Odd... Yumi had no idea that she and her friends could've been so stupid...

If Yumi and the other four original Lyoko Warriors only left with everyone else instead of taking those extra days of staying behind and keeping an eye on the supercomputer and XANA, then maybe things could have turned out completely different for her brother and all of the others from Kadic. Maybe Hiroki would be alive right now. Maybe all of the people from Kadic would still be alive too. They all could've survived together if she and her friends didn't fuck it all up...

Yumi knew she would have protected Hiroki. If she was there during the fall of Atlanta, she knew she would've saved him from those undead monsters. Instead... she wasn't. Her brother was dead because of her own stupidity, nothing more...

Her frustration overtaking her, Yumi slammed her fist into the ground and startled the pinkette. "GODDAMMIT!!!"

The outburst from Yumi drew the attention of everyone who was helping with the burials. Yumi then slammed her fist down again. Then she slammed it again. And again. And again, and again, and again, and again over and over and over again.

"DAMN IT!!! DAMN IT!!!" Yumi yelled at the top of her lungs before she began cursing all kinds of things in Japanese. She cussed out herself, her fellow Lyoko Warriors, her boyfriend, the walkers, XANA, and of course God himself...

Aelita simply sat there in silence as she knew Yumi needed to let out all her emotions now. By the time Yumi was done, she had slammed her fist into the dirt so much and so hard that bruises were beginning to form on it. Yumi breathed heavily as she started to calm down, her shoulders heaving with anger aimed at herself. Aelita herself cringed at everything she had seen.

She couldn't blame Yumi for being upset. If Aelita was in Yumi's shoes and Dylan or Chase was laying dead at her feet, she didn't know what she'd do.

"... Yumi ..." Aelita gently told her best friend. "We have to bury Hiroki so that he can rest, and we have to do it soon... you know that, right?"

Yumi didn't answer her. Aelita hoped that Yumi understood that Hiroki couldn't be left out like this any longer...

"Is it okay if we can bury him...?" Aelita tried once again. "We don't want to do anything with him without your permission. He's your brother, after all..."

Aelita hesitantly put her hand on her friend's shoulder. Falling silent again, Yumi glanced at Aelita's hand for a moment before she looked back down at Hiroki. After a few more moments, Yumi reluctantly nodded.

"... okay... okay..." Yumi finally whispered, a tear rolled down her cheek as she said this. "... b- bury him ..."

Aelita simply nodded, patting Yumi on her shoulder as a way to both say thank you and to tell her that she was always there for her. Yumi sniffled, wiping away the fresh tear that rolled down her face. She was about to say goodbye to her little brother forever...

Glancing back towards the groups nearby, Aelita gave them a nod so that they could begin. At that, Miranda and Odd walked up to the girls and they went to Hiroki's body. They gently picked up Hiroki by his arms and legs and they started moving him over to the burial site. The hole had already been dug, so all that remained was to wrap up Hiroki in a blanket and then cover him with a mound of dirt.

As Odd and Miranda walked with Hiroki's body in their hands, Yumi suddenly got up and she hurried over to them.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Yumi said to them, holding a hand up.

Miranda and Odd immediately stopped and turned to look at Yumi, wondering what she wanted. Yumi approached the teens but ignored them. Instead, Yumi focused on Hiroki, reaching down into his pockets in an effort to find find something. Anything, really.

Yumi eventually felt her fingers graze something and she pulled the item out of his pocket. The thing she pulled out turned out to be Hiroki's old lockpicking tool. Another item fell out of Hiroki's pocket when Yumi pulled the tool out. It looked like a picture... Yumi could see it was a family photo of herself, Hiroki, and their parents...

Yumi's heart sank at the sight of the photograph as she gently picked it up. She didn't take family photos with her on the trip. This picture was the only photo she had left of her brother and of her parents. Aside from her own memories, the picture was also the only evidence that they ever even existed...

She couldn't lose this... she couldn't lose this...

Yumi held the photo close for a moment before placing both it and the lockpick into her pocket. After this, she leaned down and gave Hiroki one final kiss on his forehead as a way to say goodbye to him. Yumi then looked at the two teens who were carrying him and she reluctantly nodded at them.

"... y- you can keep going now ..." she muttered to Odd and Miranda. The two of them both nodded, making sure to be very careful with Hiroki as resumed carrying his corpse away.

Aelita walked over to Yumi's side, the discomfort she had from crouching fading.

"Are you okay...?" Aelita asked. She knew it was a stupid question to ask after what had happened, but she needed to know.

"... no. No, I'm not." Yumi quietly admitted.

Aelita nodded, then she pulled her friend in for a hug she knew she needed. Yumi didn't react to the hug. She just simply stood there and closed her watery eyes tight.

Nearby, Miranda and Odd gently set Hiroki down on an old blanket next to the last unfilled grave by the trees. Hiroki's grave was right next to Milly's, which was an intentional choice on the part of the Lyoko Warriors. They hoped that wherever they were now, Hiroki and Milly were happy and at peace together...

The two teens wrapped up Hiroki's body in the blanket, and then they lifted him up and they carefully set him down inside of his grave. Odd, Miranda, and the other teens all took a moment to simply look down at Hiroki's wrapped body in the freshly-dug hole. The image of him in there was bone-chilling, and they all knew that it was going to stay with them forever just like everything else that has happened today. It was haunting...

Odd picked up a shovel so he could cover Hiroki up with dirt, but Yumi went to him and she had him hand it over to her. She was burying her brother and no one else was going to help her. Some of the others offered to help but she didn't respond to any of them. In Yumi's mind, it had to be her and her alone.

All of the Lyoko Warriors watched as Yumi silently worked at burying her little brother. The Japanese teen used the shovel to load mounds and mounds of dirt into the six foot deep hole, repeating the process for however long it would take. Soon, the white sheet which covered Hiroki disappeared under the rising levels of dirt. Yumi's muscles ached from the exertion, but she didn't react to it aside from wiping the sweat off her brow once or twice.

It took only about twenty minutes for Yumi to completely fill Hiroki's grave with dirt. Her little brother was down in there now, forever.

Yumi tossed away the shovel and she grabbed the makeshift cross for Hiroki's grave which was leaning up against one of the trees, a little thing made out of a pair of two by fours like all the other crosses were. Yumi pressed the cross down as far as she could at the top of her little brother's grave, and then she used her pocket knife to carve the name "HIROKI ISHIYAMA" into the wood.

It was done now... Hiroki really was gone forever...

Silently, Yumi stood up and she took a step back, taking in the sight of Hiroki's grave among all the others of the Kadic people. The group had covered all of the graves with some rocks in case walkers or some other creatures tried to dig their friends up. Kyra even found some flowers near the edge of Hershel's property which she put on each of the graves. It was the least she could do for them...

Yumi covered up Hiroki's grave with the rocks and the last flower that Kyra picked. With that, the burials were completed... their friends which they failed to find could rest easy now, hopefully. One by one, Yumi and her fellow Lyoko Warriors read the names of each and every cross.

"JIM MORALES"...

"JEAN-PIERRE DELMAS"...

"TAMIYA DIOP"...

"HEIDI KLINGER"...

"PATRICK BELPOIS"...

"SUZANNE HERTZ"...

"YOLANDE PERRAUDIN"...

"EMILY LEDUC"...

"JOHNNY ŻBIKOWSKA"...

So many graves, so many names, so many friends... Even now, after everything that has happened, the Lyoko Warriors simply couldn't believe what they were looking at.

The Lyoko Warriors stood in silent mourning in front of all the graves of their friends, fellow students, and teachers from Kadic Academy. Anne was among them, and although she never knew those people she still mourned alongside her friends. It was clear to her that they cared for all these people very deeply.

As the dead members of the Greene Family were being buried nearby by Dale and Andrea and several others, Jennifer stepped forward and got the attention of all her friends. "... does anyone wanna say anything?" Jennifer hesitantly asked the others.

The teens all looked at each other as if to ask if anyone wanted to say anything during this solemn moment. Hesitantly, Kyra stepped forward and walked up to the wooden crosses. Kyra turned to look at all who had gathered before she lowered her head, closing her eyes. She took a deep breath and began to speak.

"... The Lord bless them and watch over them all ..." Kyra began to say a prayer.

Realizing what she was doing, everyone respectfully lowered their heads in prayer as well. Even the irreligious teens all joined in. It just felt like the right thing to do...

"The Lord make his face shine upon them, and be gracious to them..." Kyra continued to pray with everyone. "The Lord look kindly on them and give them peace; In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit... amen."

"Amen." the group said together.

"... amen ..." Yumi muttered with a sad expression on her face. It was done. Everyone from Kadic Academy they put down were buried, including Hiroki.

The reality that they were never going to see those people again finally hit the Lyoko Warriors in full force. Some of the teens broke down into tears. Some were burdened with old memories both bad and good of their friends. Some just stood there silently and contemplated all of the terrible things that have happened since the start of the outbreak. The pandemic had succeeded where all of XANA's attacks had failed. They failed to save their friends unlike how they succeeded so many times before...

Odd stepped forward after a moment, wiping away some tears. "... I know that some of us may not have gotten along with them from time to time..." he began to speak. "But at the end of the day, they were all our friends... family, even..."

It was clearly hard for Odd to speak, but he pressed on. "... I'll miss you guys... especially you, Jimbo."

Odd then went to affectionately pat Jim's cross before went back to where he was standing. He was clearly struggling not to break down in tears. Several other teens followed his example and they spoke about their dead friends. Jeremie talked about how much he respected Principal Delmas back at Kadic, and also how he was happy that he got to repair his relationship with his cousin before the pandemic began. Aelita talked about how she helped tutor bright kids like Tamiya and Johnny. Ulrich talked about how he always knew that Emily had a deep crush on him but that she was still always a good friend...

Talking about those they lost today... it was therapeutic for all the teens in a way. The pain was still there but talking helped them all more than they realized. Eventually, the teens began to walk away from the graves one by one. Some of them still had to go and help find Hershel, while others had to rest from all the burial work they had to do. Some simply needed time to mentally recuperate after today.

All of the teens gave their sympathies to Yumi one by one as they walked away. Soon, only Ulrich and Yumi remained at the graves. Ulrich placed a comforting hand on Yumi's shoulder just to let her know that he was there for her, now, always, and forever. She appreciated the act, but she didn't respond to it.

Reluctantly, Ulrich headed back for the camp by himself. He knew Yumi just wanted to be alone at her brother's grave for a little while...

After she was sure that Ulrich was gone, Yumi silently fell to her knees and sobbed as she leaned her forehead against Hiroki's cross, thinking about him and their parents.

This was a nightmare she would never wake up from...

"Are we almost there yet?"

Aelita sighed after hearing Odd ask that question for the sixth time in less than five minutes. She, Odd, Verity, Patrick, Jeremie, and Nick were all sitting in the bed of Otis's truck while Rick was driving the vehicle and Glenn was in the passenger seat. This was quite a few people heading out to find Hershel and bring him back home, but extra muscle against the walkers never hurt anyone.

The group had just entered Senoia and now they were driving up main street trying to find Hatlin's Bar. Hopefully they would actually find Hershel in there.

"Yes, Odd... I think we're almost there." an annoyed Aelita deadpanned at her friend.

"Alright, great." Odd smiled with relief. It was a short trip from the farm to this town, but the cone-haired teen was anxious to get back over there so he could eat that bag of peanuts he stashed away in his tent. He was starving.

Aelita looked out the side of the truck and watched the buildings as they passed by them. The pinkette had a lot on her mind, especially about Yumi. She was concerned about how Chase acted earlier with Josh too, but Yumi was very worrying. She's known Yumi Ishiyama for years and never once did she ever see her in a state like she was earlier. Losing Hiroki has deeply affected her closest friend. Aelita swore to herself that as soon as she gets back to the farm with the others, she'll try to be there for Yumi and for Chase and for anyone else who's been struggling with what happened to their friends.

She herself has been struggling too, but she ignored her own feelings as best she could. In Aelita's mind, her friends and family came first.

Jeremie glanced at his girlfriend, scooting a bit closer to her after he saw she was deep in thought. "Are you okay, Aelita?" he wondered.

Aelita looked at Jeremie for a few moments before she sighed, leaning down to nuzzle herself into his embrace. Jeremie wrapped his arms around his princess and held her close to him, relishing the contact and the warmth.

"Just..." Aelita trailed off, going silent again for a moment before she spoke again. "... you know that I love you, Jeremie. Right ...?"

"Of course, 'Lita. I love you too... no matter what, I'll always love you."

"Whatever happens to us, to our group... I just want you to know my heart belongs to you, forever. Never ever forget that."

Touched by the words of his princess, Jeremie nodded and he leaned down to pull the pinkette in for a loving kiss that was gladly reciprocated. The others saw this kiss as it unfolded and they all smiled warmly at the sight. Nick didn't, as he didn't really give a shit one way or the other. He just wanted to get that old bastard Hershel and get him back to the farm so that he can finally sleep in his tent.

Alas, the moment was ruined a bit by Patrick letting out a cat call whistle as a joke. Jeremie and Aelita broke their kiss and deadpanned at their friend, whereas Verity turned and frowned at her boyfriend and gave him a hard elbow right to his liver, much to the appreciation of the two supergeniuses.

Patrick wheezed from how hard Verity hit him. When he looked up at the girl he loved, he saw Verity cross her arms and nod in Jeremie and Aelita's direction.

"Say you're sorry." Verity ordered, the glare in her eye a threat all on its own.

"... s- sorry, Jer... 'Lita..."

Upon hearing his apology, Verity's glare immediately morphed into a satisfied smile. "Good boy." she said, seeing that Patrick was smirking slightly from amusement.

Moments later, the truck came to a stop right in front of Hatlin's Bar. Rick and Glenn got out of the front of the truck and they readied their weapons. Everyone in the bed of the truck followed suit when they noticed they've arrived at their destination. They saw that aside from a couple of overturned chairs and tables out front, the bar looked more or less untouched. The windows were still intact and the door was still shut.

Though the bar looked safe, anything was possible. The group didn't bring these guns and knives for no reason.

Cautiously, Rick, Glenn, and Nick all approached the front door since they didn't want to put the teens at risk. The three adults checked their weapons one more time before Glenn opened up the door, aiming his shotgun inside in case a walker decided to say hello.

Instead of walkers, all they saw was one sad old man with a drink in his hand, sitting against the bar...

The bar was safe. Everyone lowered their weapons and one by one they went inside the bar, enjoying the shade from the sun outside. Hershel heard the door open and the footsteps behind him. He figured someone would show up lookin' for him sooner or later. The group could see a drink in his hand and a half-empty bottle of scotch nearby...

"Who's with you...?" Hershel asked, not turning away from the glass in his hand.

"Glenn, Nick, and some of the kids..." Rick replied as he holstered his revolver.

Hershel went silent again as he stared down at the golden amber in his glass, as if he was debating on whether or not to continue to drink it. To give up on the sobriety he's held all these years. After all that's happened on this terrible day, keeping it was far easier said than done.

The farmer tapped the glass with his finger, deep in thought. "Maggie send you?" Hershel asked the people who came for him.

"We all volunteered." Jeremie responded as he sat down at the bar, a couple of stools away from where Hershel was sitting. He helped himself to a can of Dr. Pepper that was sitting behind the counter.

Hershel nodded, finally relenting as he took a sip out of his own glass again. Today he's lost his second wife, a step-son, a nephew, and twenty-two years of sobriety. Before the barn massacre he would've been very disappointed and ashamed of himself for drinking a drop of alcohol... but after what happened? He'd be lucky if he didn't drink all the booze left in this abandoned bar...

What was the point either way? They were all probably going to end up dead sooner or later anyway...

"How many of those have you had...?" Verity asked, gesturing down at the glass and the half-empty bottle.

Hershel took another sip of his drink, then he sighed despondently. "Not enough..."

It was pointless. All of it was just so pointless... the disease out there really was unlike anything anyone's ever seen. Those who were infected were gone... and he was a damn fool for ever thinking otherwise...

Rick walked up to Hershel and he leaned on the bar next to him. Rick moved closer so he could make sure Hershel understood him clearly.

"Let's finish this up back at home." Rick urged the farmer. "Beth collapsed. She's in some sort of state, must be in shock... I think you are, too."

"Maggie's with her?"

"Yeah, but Beth needs you..."

Hershel knew that he should be back home, to be there for his precious little girl... but a whole lotta good that's done for her so far... He realized at long last that he had put his family through hell by keeping those walkers in that barn...

"What could I do? She needs her mother..." Hershel stated, looking away from the glass of scotch in his hand for a moment or two. "Or rather to mourn like how she should've done weeks ago..." his tone of voice made it clear that he was feeling tremendous guilt over all that has happened. "I robbed her of that... I see that now..."

"You thought that there was a cure out there somewhere... You can't blame yourself for holding out hope..." Aelita stated, going to sit in the seat between her boyfriend and the farmer so that she could talk to him as well. Hershel clearly needed to air his thoughts.

Hershel glanced in Aelita's direction, a sad look in his eye.

"Hope...?" Hershel asked, setting the drink aside. He looked at Aelita for a moment, then he looked at Jeremie who was on the opposite side of her. "When I first saw you running across my field with your girl in your arms... I had little hope that she would survive..." Hershel admitted to the couple.

Jeremie's face fell, the memories of that terrible day coming back to haunt him once more. Aelita with that gunshot wound in her abdomen was the most terrifying thing that he has ever lived through. The thought of Aelita dying still filled him with dread even now, weeks later. To hear that even Hershel himself held little hope in her survival... it only added on another layer of horror to the memory.

Aelita was also unnerved by what she had heard. She knew her wounds were gravely serious, but to hear Hershel say it like that...

Pushing that horrible thought out of her mind for now, Aelita scooted close to Hershel and she took his hand into hers, giving it a light squeeze. When Hershel's gaze met the young pinkette's, all he could see was that soft hopeful smile on her face.

"But I did, Hershel... I did..." Aelita hoped her words held weight to them. She figured that if she survived something as bad as what she and Anne went through, then there was no reason to give up hope just yet.

"You did..." Hershel conceded her valid point. For a brief moment he met her smile with one of his own, but it soon faded away.

Hershel has never been a suicidal man... The Good Book and the teachings of his Lord whom he praises forbid an act such as that...

... but a part of him honestly felt that if a walker suddenly came into the room, he wouldn't mind it too much if it sunk its teeth into him.

"Even though we lost Otis, your man Shane made it back. And we saved both you and your friend..." Hershel continued to speak. "That was the miracle that proved to me that miracles do exist. Only... it was a sham... A bait and switch..."

The elderly farmer turned his attention back to Rick. "I was a fool, Rick... And you people saw that..." Hershel admitted what he felt.

Hershel felt completely crestfallen as he reached behind the bar to grab a bottle of whiskey he laid his eye on earlier. He took the last couple gulps worth of scotch in his glass, then he opened up the whiskey bottle and poured some of the liquid inside.

"... my daughters deserve better than that ..."

As Hershel continued to drink all of his ills and woes away, the group began to settle in for the long haul. Patrick and Verity sat down at a table to relax together, Odd found a dart board to mess around with, and Nick raided the backrooms for any of the expensive shit which he hoped was stored in there somewhere. Glenn simply stood by the door with his shotgun, keeping watch for anything dangerous that might approach the bar.

Jeremie and Aelita sat at the bar next to Hershel and Rick, both supergeniuses deep in thought. After everything that the groups have put Hershel and his family through, they really didn't want to drag him out of here by his arms and legs. They wanted Hershel to head back home with them willingly, and completely on his own terms. At the bare minimum, all of them owed him the respect he deserves at least...

Considering how full that bottle of whiskey looked, it was pretty clear that they were going to be here for a while...