Part of me wants to keep apologizing for the long spans of time between each chapter. Another part of me knows it's something I can't always control... Nonetheless, enjoy!
Mr. McGee looked towards his younger son and his larger friend, debating on which of the two he should bring with him to check out the source of the mysterious banging.
"Dad?" Eddy asked, looking at his father with an almost unreadable expression of anticipation.
"Eddy, you're a clever man now, but right now I need as much muscle as I can get. You and Eddward are some of the smartest people we've got and losing you two would be a lot worse for everyone. Keep your friends safe. Ed, you're with me."
The largest Ed-boy gave the man a stern look and a salute as he marched over to him and Eddy's brother.
"Be careful, Ed!" Double D called out as Eddy led his group in the opposite direction of the noises.
As Ed's group slowly made their way over to the noise, Terry looked over at his dad in a mix of surprise and confusion.
"Did you really mean all of that? That he's one of the smartest we've got right now?"
"Well, yes and no. Eddy's a clever kid, you and I both know that. But if what we're about to go up against somehow gets the best of us, that's not just the end of our family, that leaves a bunch of teenagers, who have already lost their families and friends, with another serious loss. I know it's just as bad if something happens to big Ed here, but I've personally seen what he can do, especially on a football field. At least he'll have a good fighting chance if it gets to that point." Mr. McGee explained.
"You're telling me..." Terry groaned as he rubbed the back of his head, memories of the Big Picture Show coming back to him.
As another bang resonated near them, the three men readied themselves for combat. The sounds of a scuffle beginning to enter their eardrums as well... It sounded like a young woman growling at a snarling man.
Once the three drew close to the sounds, Terry slowly looked around the corner of the aisle they were currently in, the aisle the noise was coming from was the freezer section, with the last of the building's power lighting the fridge lights just enough for him to see what the noise was coming from:
It was an emaciated man that looked like he was on some sort of drug, just like what the Kanker sister had described back in the town they just left. He was laying on his back and holding a rusty pipe to fend off a zombified woman with what looked like claws that were made from her sharpened finger bones. Parts of the zombie woman's skin looked different in comparison to her rotting green/grey flesh, almost like they were made of stone.
The other two slowly looked around the corner and watched the two, as the two McGee men looked at each other in shock, horror and even a bit of wonder, Ed took out his sketchbook and began to draw the two monsters in front of him and making two journal entries for them. The drug addict kicked the zombie off of him and prepared his pipe for an attack when the woman saw the three men watching them and hissed at them before rushing at them with incredible speed. Ed caught the woman's claws before she could scratch him, she tried to bite him in the neck before Terry prevented the bite with a baseball bat.
As this scuffle began, the drug addicted man looked at the four and grabbed a can of beans that the two had apparently been fighting about and ran off, cackling like the madman he was.
Terry's dad strolled himself to the side of the fight and readied a pistol, taking care not to hit his son or Ed. Firing a shot that echoed around the building, he expected the woman to drop dead for the second time... But the bullet hit one of the off-colored sections of the zombie which appeared to cause it no damage to it whatsoever. The creature looked over at the grown man and growled again. Before it could charge however, Ed took advantage of the distraction and tackled the zombie to the floor, allowing Terry to begin mashing the zombie's head with his bat. It took a lot of hits, but eventually the zombie's head looked like mush and whatever the strangely colored bits were.
"Christ..." Terry sighed. He and his dad watched on in confusion as Ed searched his pockets and took out a plastic bag. The genre-savvy boy took a sample of the strange, bloody zombie bit that was unaffected by the gun and put it in the bag like he was picking up dog poop, just to make sure he didn't get any zombie gunk on him.
"What are you doing?" Mr. McGee asked.
"Oh! I'm gonna give this to Double D and ask him why your gun didn't kill the zombie." Ed answered.
"That's... actually a good idea." Mr. McGee admitted, making the boy beam with pride.
"Dad, are you okay?!" Eddy asked, the rest of the team following behind him.
"We're good. But I think it's time to move on."
"Yeah." Lee agreed. "I think we've gotten everything that we need for now."
"Plus we might get more 'guests' soon after that noise." Lenore added.
"Then let's move!" Terry urged. The gang ran out of the mall and hurried out of the area as soon as they could. As they ran down the road heading West, the sound of a helicopter began approaching.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Eddy groaned. The crew hurried into the nearest set of alleyways that were out of sight from the helicopter.
"W-wait!" May called out. "Maybe these guys aren't like the military guys we saw back in Canada!"
"Not a chance!" Marie replied.
"You sister's right." Lenore added. "Better not to take any risks."
Eddy and Ed looked over at their intelligent friend, who looked down a bit in sadness and worry. The two shared a worried look as they all rounded another corner. Eventually they found a sign that signaled that they were nearing the city limits.
"Good, it'll be tough but I think we can keep moving into the trees and brush from here. At least until we know we're far enough away from those government guys." Rachel piped up.
After taking a few moments to check if there were any obstacles potentially blocking their way or anyone following them, the group ran past the city limits and into the wooded area in ahead. While the silence within the city was ominous at best, the silence within nature seemed to at least quell the nerves of everyone to an extent. The sounds of birds chirping felt nice to hear, especially to Jimmy, who recognized the chirping as those of a chickadee. Eddy grumbled to himself about still hating birds, even after all these years.
"Do you think we're far enough away?" Sarah asked. Everyone looked around, seeing and hearing nothing they needed to be wary of.
"I think we're safe, at least for right now." Rachel replied. "Anyone know what time it is right now?"
Double D looked down to see if he could find his shadow in correlation to the sun, digging into his pocket to confirm his suspicion with a compass.
"Hmm." He thought, turning around just a little bit before nodding. "It should be approximately two in the afternoon, we've gone slightly off course but we can easily readjust that and we may have to veer off course at points in case the terrain doesn't agree with us. It's still rather mountainous for now and we'll be dealing with that for quite a while."
"Well, you're the smart one Double D, lead the way and we've got your back, I guess." Eddy stated. As they all pressed on, he and Ed both looked at Double D with a concerned expression, knowing that his parents were still taking a large spot in his mind.
The hours that proceeded were mostly uneventful, there hadn't been any encounters with the undead but the fact that there were no signs of any kind of non-plant life was starting to become incredibly unnerving. Even the sounds of any birds chirping was beginning to become uncommon. As the sun slowly began to noticeably set, the group stopped to take a break.
"Pretty sure either I or Kevin probably said this, but walkin' this much is a pain! I don't know how these health nuts and nature enthusiasts do it..." Eddy groaned.
"Well the benefits from hiking and being outdoors are important, the immediate exhaustion it can bring can be frustrating, and in a situation such as ours, it may be deadly." Double D answered. "Given the distance we've traveled however, I believe we should rest for a short while. We have plenty of supplies for the time being and we can restock whenever we arrive at another urban area or mall, if there is anything salvageable."
"I'm more than ready for a break. My legs are killing me!" Lenore groaned before sitting down on a fallen tree and taking out a cigarette to quickly light up. Seeing this made Double D rather uneasy.
"Um... M-M-Ms. Kanker. Are you uh, sure that it's best to smoke here?" He asked, his nervous demeanor and slightly shaking hands did not go unnoticed by the four Kankers.
"Don't worry about me, I know that I could easily start a fire if that's what you're worried about. But trust me, I'm careful about how I smoke."
"Trust me, she is." Marie added, earning herself a quick look from her mother before the woman rolled her eyes.
"And we all know how bad smoking is for your health, but at this point it's a habit I don't think I can really kick, no matter how much I might want to."
"Oh... I see..." Edd replied, rubbing the back of his neck which was still sweating about the fact that he just directly spoke to the mother of the three girls that had tormented him and his brothers for years. Both of his fellow Eds could tell how nervous he was.
"If walking this much is taking all the energy out of you, then maybe we should try finding a bus or something that we could all try riding around in." Eddy's dad suggested.
"It depends." Ed spoke suddenly, getting everyone's attention. "If we get something loud then it attracts all the zombies. We need something quiet!"
"Very astute, Ed!" Double D praised.
"But how the hell are we supposed to get something that all of us can ride around in that's quiet?" Eddy asked.
"Well Terry's trailer actually had a quiet engine, it was customized though." Rachel noted.
"I still miss the old girl..." Terry added, mourning his old home. "But yeah, an RV should be big enough for all of us. It'll be a tight squeeze but we could try making it work. As for the engine, it depends on the model. Age, condition, and whatever someone could have put in the engine would have an effect on noise."
"So it's a no go?" Lee asked.
"I didn't say that. If we can find one, then I would have to take a look at it. Best case scenario, I'd just have to give it an oil change and a tune up since it's not likely that we'd find an RV we'd be able to use right away. Worst case scenario, we find a rust bucket that would take ages and even a ton of new parts to work properly. I had a ton of work done on mine, and it could help against zombies but you all remember how badly it did against armed military."
"So, what, we try to find an RV that's at least decent?" Sarah asked. "How hard can that be?"
"Not as easy as you might think, Squirt." Terry replied, making the two young kids pout at such a childish name... well mostly Sarah, Jimmy just pouted because Sarah did. "But we don't exclusively need an RV. If we can find some vans then that can work just as well, I don't usually work with them but an old buddy who used to work at Mondo-A-Go-Go had one that I helped him with, so if we can find one or two of those that'll work too."
"If we are able to use a car or something to get to Nevada, how long would it take for us to get there?" Jimmy asked.
"Hmm." Double D thought. "Well, assuming we go at the fastest, but safest speed possible, it should shorten our journey from several days to just under twenty-four hours!"
"Under a day?!" Eddy exclaimed. "Then what are we waitin' around for?! Let's go!"
"Hold on there, Pipsqueak." Terry said, now causing his younger brother to growl at the utterance of that dreaded nickname. "First off, we would have to know where the nearest town or city is, and we have pretty much no idea where it is. Second, even if we do find one, it'll take a bit of time for me to actually get it set up properly. Lastly, and most importantly, we're still taking a break after walking for a few hours. You were just whining about walking so much, it won't hurt to take a break."
"Fine." Eddy groaned. "I could use some lunch too..."
The thought of food felt like a good idea to everyone, and soon everyone was eating sandwiches or fruit that they had either had made before they began their journey or had taken from the shopping center. As they ate, Marie approached Double D, who was understandably nervous when she approached.
"Hey." She greeted, giving the intellectually gifted young man the flirtatious smile he knew all too well.
"H-hello, Marie." Double D replied.
"My sisters and I saw that you were nervous when you talked to our mom. I thought it was cute! But trust me, she isn't as bad as she looks."
"I see..." He replied.
"Yeah." Marie sighed. "Say, Double D, do you really think we can all make it through this?"
"That's a question I believe a lot of us are answering, and truth be told; I'm not so sure if there truly is an answer to that question. But whatever happens, I would at least like to know the whereabouts of my parents, regardless of if we are actually able to overcome this endeavor." Double D looked upwards as he spoke, watching the few clouds in the sky roll on by.
"They really mean that much to you? I heard that they only ever talk to you using sticky notes?" Marie asked.
"They often do, but they've made an attempt to adjust their work hours in order to spend more time with me. We had even planned to take a vacation to London following our graduation."
"Really? Is your family from there or something?"
The fact that Marie seemed to actually have some sort of interest in Double D's life beyond lust made the boy uncomfortable and curious, but having his friends and Eddy's father nearby put him at least slightly at ease.
"N-no. We had just discussed vacation spots that piqued at our interest."
"Oh... have you ever gone on vacations like that before?" Edd couldn't help but notice that Marie's voice sounded a bit more melancholic before asking her next question.
"Yes, just after we had all graduated from the eighth grade. We had visited Puerto Rico. It's a very part of the world with some interesting flora and fauna, though it does tend to rain there often."
"That's cool! My family... doesn't really take vacations much."
It didn't take a brain surgeon to realize what Marie was implying, and Double D would know since he was quite interested in brain surgery. He wasn't sure what compelled him to say this, but it was as if his brain stopped and his good nature spoke for him.
"Well... perhaps if we were to all survive this ordeal, all of us could go somewhere nice and enjoy ourselves."
Upon hearing that Marie's eyes lit up like she had just won the lottery.
"Y-you mean that?!" She asked. She quickly looked away and tried to hide her face in her hands for a moment before suddenly hugging Edd. The young man was surprised by the sudden motion but he was even more shocked that the hug didn't feel like it was one of love, but a genuine embrace. As soon as it happened though, Marie quickly let go...
"Thank you, I'll hold you to that offer when we get through this!"
Double D couldn't say anything else before the blue haired girl left to join her sisters. Eddy and Ed had their eyes locked on Double D the moment Marie hugged him, both looking shocked at what they had just seen. What they did not notice however, was that Lenore Kanker had also seen everything that had occurred, but instead of an expression of shock, she looked pleased and relieved at the exchange.
After a short while, everyone had finished their short break and had agreed to continue moving. Jimmy had elected to take everyone's trash, claiming that even though Rolf was no longer with them, he wanted to honor him and his leadership of the Urban Rangers by making sure litter was picked up whenever and wherever possible. Even Eddy agreed to Jimmy's statement, despite all of his personal problems with the Rangers.
The next few hours, just as before, had been rather uneventful as they still hadn't run into any kind of non-plant life.
"It's really quiet, guys..." Ed said ominously.
"Isn't silence a good thing?" Sarah asked.
"Not like this, baby sister!" Ed answered in a slightly panicked tone. "No people, no animals, no cars, nothing!"
"It's been like this for hours, too..." Jimmy added.
"Perhaps it would be best if were to find the nearest road or dirt path. We've been heading West for the most part, so if we can find the nearest road then we would have the best chance of arriving at a town or city soon." Double D stated.
The sounds of a woman screaming startled everyone. Operating on instinct, they all headed towards the direction of the scream as the sounds of an animal could also be heard.
Making sure to hide behind trees and shrubbery, the gang found the source of the screams: A zombified bear mauled a man and two women to death. They could see the zombie form of James dragging one of the corpses as another zombie twice the size of Terry carried the other. Jimmy tried to hold back vomit as the zombie bear ripped apart the woman. As James and his companion left their sight, the women's arm was bitten off. Jimmy could no longer contained himself as he emptied the contents of his stomach at the sight.
Unfortunately, the bear was able to pick up on the sounds of his retching as it turned to face the group and snarled. The fangs of the beast still containing the bloody chunks of skin, cloth and hair of the woman it devoured. While everyone's focus was centered on the bear, the woman it had killed slowly began to rise to her feet, her skin now turning a disturbingly familiar shade of green...
"Holy mother of God!" Double D yelped as the bear began to charge at the gang...
And that is it for this chapter! Apologies again for the long wait but hopefully with the summer approaching I'll have more time and energy to upload more chapters. Until then, let me know what you thought of the chapter and anything you may like to see in later chapters.
I know the military hasn't had too much of an impact as of late, but rest assured that they will appear more. Until then, stay tuned.