I could go on and on with the reasons as to why this chapter is going up so late but it'll be easier if I explain at the end of the chapter.
As for the choice at the end of the previous chapter, I was actually surprised to see the results actually split somewhat down the middle. But a choice was eventually decided upon. So for now, enjoy the results of your choice.
"Well..." Eddy began. "What do you say, big guy?"
Ed looked between his two friends before looking down at his feet, even if he wasn't known for his brains he contemplated this choice as hard as he could before coming to his conclusion...
"If nobody likes him then we shouldn't let him join us." Ed finally replied. "Fighting between friends is wrong!"
Edd sighed while Eddy's eyes went wide in surprise for just a moment before relenting.
"Alright, guess that settles that." Eddy replied, clapping his hands once before looking in Lenore's direction. "Let's let this sucker know."
As the four of them headed back to the room everyone was waiting in, Ricardo's eyes widened in anticipation as he saw the trio entering. The group of survivors all huddled into a group as Ricardo eagerly watched on. The minute that they all stood across from him surely must have felt like the longest minute of his life. He could almost feel his chest tightening as the group finally dispersed and Eddy walked over to him, finally stopping in the center of the room.
"Well?" Ricardo asked.
"Sorry man, we've got enough people to take care of right now. We can't take in another person."
The young man audibly let out the breath even he wasn't aware he was holding as the room became silent.
"Figures." He began. "Since you basically have all you need I guess you're gonna head out now, right?"
"Indeed we are." Double D added.
"Alright... I'll find a way to make it." Ricardo sighed. "I always do."
As everyone gathered their things to leave, the rejected boy said one more thing.
"Hold on." He began. "There's something I want you guys to take with you. Gimme a second." As he went over to a small room towards the back of the garage, some of the group looked at each other in confusion while others had their eyes locked on Ricardo, unsure of what he was going to do. Jimmy could see a few lights in the room the teenager went into but Jimmy's eyes then went wide with absolute shock and bliss when Ricardo returned, he knew Sarah had a similar reaction.
"Wow..." The two youngest group members said simultaneously as they stared at the flower Ricardo had brought out.
"A weed?" Eddy scoffed. "What the hell are we supposed to do with that?!"
"This... isn't just any ordinary plant, Eddy." Double D responded. "It's-"
"A Baby Blue Gym Sock!" Jimmy exclaimed in pure awe as he and Sarah took in the beauty of the plant. "But... why, or how is it red?"
"That's because it isn't a Baby Blue Gym Sock." Ricardo answered. "It's closely related to it, but it isn't the same plant. The Blue variant is native to Canada and is very rarely seen outside of that country. Hell, it's rare even in its native location. But there's an even rarer plant here in the United States; The Ruby Red Gym Sock."
As the two younger survivors took in the information, the others were mostly just confused.
"So why exactly are you giving us this thing?" Terry asked.
"Because this plant might just be the key to saving the world..."
"No fooling?!" Eddy asked to which the rejected boy nodded.
Two weeks earlier...
"It was just after this town got hit attacked by the zombies for the first time."
Ricardo scrambled into what looked like a high school science classroom, screaming could be heard throughout the hall as the young man grabbed several textbooks and hastily shoved them into a backpack before heading to the window of the room. After taking a moment to be thankful that the room was on the ground floor, Ricardo opened the window and jumped out, running around the corner and too a greenhouse not too far from the school's track field. Taking a quick glance at the field made the boy grumble to himself at the fact that he wished he was more athletic. Clearly his physique didn't matter though as he witnessed some members of the school's track and football teams getting slaughtered.
"I was doing some after school tutoring at one of the local high schools for my college work when it happened. I graduated from there so I knew the place pretty well. The school's science teacher specialized in Botany and set up a greenhouse for the school to use. I'm thankful he did since he spent a big chunk of change for just one seed."
Ricardo entered the greenhouse and hastily checked every flower, vine, and vegetable there for the one he was looking for. Eventually, he came across what he was looking for; the Ruby Red Gym Sock. It sat in its pot, light gently shining over it amongst the other plants as though it was some sacred treasure amongst everything else in the greenhouse. With bated breath and hands slightly trembling, Ricardo gently grabbed the potted plant and headed for the exit.
"I knew the plant was not just important and expensive, but its rarity means that it hasn't been studied very much. I figured that I'd get the plant and bring it to him if I could find it. If I couldn't, then I'd follow in his footsteps and study the plant myself." Ricardo explained.
"So, what's so important about it?" Eddy asked.
"I was getting to that..."
As Ricardo began walking towards the door, the sound of glass shattering and pots breaking on the floor behind him caused the young man to snap around and see the zombified form of one of the track team members rising back up to his feet, a massive hole of cracked and broken glass behind the zombie and shards of ceramic pots, dirt and various plants scattered on the floor. Moving as quickly, yet as carefully as he could, Ricardo backed away to the door with his eyes locked on the zombie that was now standing before him. As the zombie lunged for the boy, Ricardo held out the Ruby Gym Sock in front of him as a feeble attempt at a shield. Expecting his face to get torn off, Ricardo shut his eyes and expected the worst, but he slowly opened his eyes when he felt nothing. As he looked at his attacker, he saw that they were silently clutching at their throat for a moment before growling and clutching at their head.
Ricardo's confusion quickly turned to horror when the zombie focused its eyes on Ricardo for just a few seconds, though those few seconds felt agonizingly slow to the boy.
"Hhh... help m-" The zombie wheezed before it's body completely dried out, it's skin going from a sickly green to a charred black. It's mustard yellow eyes and red irises turning completely red and shriveling up a bit. With feeling returning to his legs, Ricardo dashed out of the greenhouse and away from the school as quickly as he could, avoiding any zombies that came his way. Those that managed to get in close shriveled up just like the track student did.
"Eventually I made my way here and used this place as a hideout. Taking care of this flower as much as I could. Some people came and went, some didn't survive. But no matter what, I did what I needed to do to make sure this flower survived." Ricardo concluded.
"But why are you giving it to us?" Lee asked, raising part of her hair to reveal one eye to look right at Ricardo. Eddy couldn't help but look at her as well, it wasn't often that Lee showed her eyes and he never noticed just what a nice shade of green they were.
"Because I'm just one guy." Ricardo answered. "I'm not invincible and if something happens to me, then this flower dies. Whatever it is, this Ruby Red Gym Sock has some component within it that kills these zombies. If it dies, humanity as we know it might be doomed alongside it. So that's why I want to give it to you guys. You've got at least one person in your group that's smart enough to take care of it and maybe even figure out what's up with this thing. Protect that person and protect this flower with your lives. At least you guys have strength in numbers. I don't even have my sister to rely on right now. So if you won't let me join you, at least take this flower with you."
Ricardo handed Double D the Ruby Red Gym Sock, with the hatted boy admiring it for a moment before looking back at the man with mixed emotions. Here was a person that Edd reacted violently and negatively towards earlier, now trusting him with what might just be the key to ending this plague. Before he could say anything, Ricardo continued to speak.
"So... you guys are leaving in your RV, right?"
"Uh, yeah, we should probably be heading out now. We're burning daylight or however that phrase goes." Marie replied, rubbing the back of her head and avoiding eye contact. Edd couldn't blame her either, hearing all of this after refusing to allow this guy to come with the group was rather awkward. Everyone already knew that going out in this world alone was most definitely not safe, survivalist or not.
"Then you guys should probably hurry along..." Ricardo mumbled before the sound of a nearby explosion rattled the building.
"What the hell?!" Eddy's dad cursed. Ricardo hurried over to a set of monitors that had video footage of the block their building was on. A swarm of zombie humans and animals ran rampant through one of the nearby streets, dashing straight towards a squadron of U.S. soldiers. The explosion they heard came from a tank blast destroying the front of a nearby house.
"Shit! It's the fucking army!" Ricardo shouted. "What the hell are they doing here?!"
"Forget why they're here, we gotta bail!" Terry snapped. Everyone grabbed their things and exited the safe house, despite their proximity to the ongoing battle outside, they remained out of sight. No matter where they looked they saw either zombies, soldiers or both.
"We'll gotta make a break for it!" Eddy began. "The girls know where this RV is so we gotta follow them."
Sarah glared at Eddy, believing that he was basically throwing them into the lion's den. Lee fished around in her pocket for a moment before pulling out a plastic swordfish while Marie and May brought out a machete and axe respectively. Lenore smirked as she brandished her shotgun and loaded it.
"Make sure you keep up!" Lee said as charged into the crowd of zombies in front of her.
"Yeah, don't fall behind!" Marie added, May shivered for a moment before following her sisters. The rest of the group followed the sisters as Lenore took up the rear.
'Those are definitely my girls...' She thought to herself before following the rest of the group. The sounds of explosions and machine gunfire clouded the sounds of the shotgun blasts and pistol shots of the Peach Creek group as they forced their way through the crowd of zombies. A stray zombie nearly slashed at Lee from behind, the redhead turning her head fast enough to see it but not enough to retaliate. Just as her life began flashing before her eyes Eddy smashed the zombie's brains in with a cricket bat. The two locked eyes for a moment, causing Eddy to lose focus for long enough to be in the same situation as Lee with another zombie rushing towards him.
The sound of a bullet managed to snap Eddy and Lee out of their daze as the zombie that almost killed Eddy collapsed into a heap. Both teens looked over and saw Terry, with Rachel slung onto his back. The older brother had one hand supporting his girlfriend and a pistol in his other hand, a stern look on his face.
"Focus. We can't afford to lose anyone now."
"Let's go, we're almost there!" Sarah called out. Terry continued onward as Eddy and Lee looked in each others eyes for just a moment, or at least Eddy would have if he was able to see Lee's. With a quick nod of their heads, they followed the others.
The number of zombies diminished as the sounds of gunfire and explosions faded ever so slightly as the gang arrived to the RV's location. Marie practically jumped into the driver's seat and tried turning the engine on as Terry gently placed Rachel down on one of the beds. The engine sputtered a bit before finally turning on.
"There ain't no way we can go anywhere with a rust bucket engine like that." Terry called out as he hurried over to Marie, now joined by her sisters. The older man gulped a bit as he noticed that he was alone with the Kanker sisters and their mother, who was now entering the vehicle. The last time he was alone with the girls was not a pleasant experience. As he looked ahead and out of the front windshield, he noticed a rather sizeable garage that Lee had seen earlier.
"Put this thing in Neutral, we'll push it into the garage!" Terry announced, with a click of the gear shift the Kanker family could feel the RV lurch forward ever so slightly as Terry hurried outside to inform the rest of the group. Lee and her mother exited to help push the RV leaving May and Marie surprised with how easily it managed to move, though having six people push would make the task much easier with only Jimmy and Eddy's dad not pushing, instead the two kept watch for any enemies.
Once the team managed to round the camper into the garage, Jimmy wasted no time in locking every door he could. With a few sighs of relief everyone stopped to take a breath as Terry and Lee walked over to the RV, the former knocking on the hood to get Marie's attention and the latter motioning for her to pop the hood.
After scavenging the area by the steering wheel, the two remaining Kanker sisters pulled a small lever which unlocked the hood of the RV. Upon looking at it, Terry grumbled to himself as the Eds hurried over to help how they could.
"So what's the damage?" Eddy asked.
"Definitely a worn battery and alternator." Terry began.
"Spark plugs and coils need changing too. Surprisingly this thing has enough gas in it to keep running for a while." Lee added.
"So a simple tune-up is all that this vehicle requires?" Edd pondered.
"Sorta, the engine on this rust bucket is a bit worn too. It'll run but if this thing dies out on us, we're shit out of luck." Terry sighed.
"Is there any way that we can properly repair everything?" The smartest Ed asked, with the rest of the group now gathering around them.
"Yeah, but it'll take some time. I noticed an auto parts shop a couple of blocks away. Shouldn't take long to get there but obviously there's trouble, plus getting back here with your hands full of car parts leaves you wide open." Lee replied.
"So we have to split up, huh?" Eddy pondered. "Alright, how's this then. We'll go out and get those parts you need, you guys do what you can and we'll be back in a bit!"
"Gonna need more than just you three, Pipsqueak." Terry remarked, looking at his suddenly confident brother and immediately breaking that confidence. "Some of the parts we need ain't exactly light. We can check some of the other engine blocks here for one that'll fit but there's a pretty big list of stuff we might need."
"How much stuff are we getting?" Ed asked as Lee handed him a rather large box that sat in the corner of the garage.
"Probably enough to fill this whole thing."
"Oh." Ed nodded as he stuck his head into the box while laughing to himself. "Hello! Echo!"
"Puffball and the local here should probably go with you too." Terry added, making Jimmy flinch at the nickname while Ricardo scoffed. "You're gonna need as many hands and backup as you can get."
"Then I suppose we should get this over with." Double D sighed, as Terry handed him a list of the parts they would need. As the five boys headed for the garage door, May and Marie watched the two men they love go as they silently prayed for their safety. Lee distracted herself with the engine but was also wishing for Eddy's safety.
"You said we need a new engine, right?" Lenore asked, grabbing at her eldest daughter's attention.
"Yeah, it should look at least similar to the one already in here. Doubt we'll find one that's newer but as long as those boys get what we need, we can manage." Terry explained. "We should look at some of the other vans and trucks they have here to scope some of them out."
Jimmy, Ricardo and the Eds stealthily made their way through the streets, even if most of the zombies had their attention drawn to the battle further away from them, that did not mean they were all gone. As they hid in an alleyway they managed to spot something, or rather someone, that most of them had not seen in quite a while.
"James." Eddy whispered.
The former friend of theirs walked with two other zombies that could only be described as hulking giants. One was a zombified bear with it's front paws torn off and instead replaced with the slightly rotting but intact arms of a gorilla. The other was a mess of human body parts that had four massive arms and four legs with two heads looking both forward and behind it. The most disturbing change was in James himself; the zombie's right arm appeared to not only be rotten beyond comprehension, but it appeared to be completely black with various tendrils sprouting out of the shoulder and wrist. A giant, swiveling eye making up a majority of his shoulder. Despite the extra eye swiveling around in seemingly random directions, it didn't seem to spot our heroes. Jimmy nearly lost his lunch upon seeing it, Double D being there right there with him in that sentiment and none of the other boys would have blamed them if they did.
The five of them watched as the zombies loomed over James, who vomited up a viscous yellow liquid onto the corpse of a rat that was run over on the street. In just a few seconds, the rat went from flattened to more oblong as its body appeared to heal itself. Even though it lacked a head the vermin successfully reanimated and scurried over to James' feet. The zombie picked the rat up and walked away, the two giants following right behind him and what looked like a head reforming on the rat from nowhere.
"My lord..." Edd gagged.
"Let's just get the car stuff and go." Eddy grimaced.
The rest of the group managed to grab another RV and bring it inside the garage and elevated just enough for Terry to start removing it.
"Ugh, I'm bored!" Sarah groaned. "Why couldn't I go with the boys?"
"Because Jimmy's already out with them." Mr. McGee replied. "And them being out there is already a big risk. If... if anything happened to you and Ed..."
"Let's not go there." Lenore interjected. "My daughters are already freaking out about those boys enough."
"Besides Pipsqueak'll be fine." Terry added as the sound of a chain suddenly cranking by him rang throughout the garage. "Shit! Someone gimme a hand!"
Lee and her mother hurried over and lifted the old engine of the RV out of the vehicle and set it down on the floor as Terry wheeled himself out from underneath it.
"Thanks." He groaned as he stood up and stretched. "That's the last of the old parts, all we need now is to wait for the boys and put everything in. Anyone needs me, I'll be inside."
Grabbing a water bottle from the pack the group carried, Terry headed inside to check on Rachel, who was just starting to stir. As she slowly began to wake up with a groggy moan, Terry hurried to set her back down again both to prevent her from over-exerting herself and from hitting her head on the low ceiling of the bunk bed.
"Ugh, what hit me?" Rachel asked, rubbing her eyes before clutching at her side.
"Take it easy! You got hit in the side and passed out. We... we patched you up but we almost lost you. I almost lost you, baby!" The couple took each others hands as Terry leaned in to kiss his girlfriend on her forehead. Once the happiness of her awakening faded away, Rachel looked around in confusion.
"Where are we? How long was I out?!"
"A couple of hours, we got into the nearest town and some locals helped us all out. One of them was left behind and, well... we're not actually bringing him with us. We're in an old RV that we're fixing up right now to get us moving more quickly but we're waiting on my little bro and his pals to get us some new parts."
The sound of the garage gate opening silenced the two adults.
"That must be them now."
The five boys did indeed return from their excursion for parts with Ed lugging the once empty box that was now filled with several car parts and bottles of oil and antifreeze. Eddy also carried a smaller box for extra items in case they were needed.
"Zombie Hunter Ed and his companions have returned!" Ed exclaimed, while everyone was happy to see that they had came back alright, Sarah couldn't help but notice a slight hint of nervousness within her older brother's face.
"Nice job boys!" Mr. McGee said, patting his younger son on the back as Lee and Terry took the car parts.
"Yeah, not bad little bro." Terry added, Lee smiled at Eddy with the slightest of blushes on her face. Surprisingly enough, Eddy appeared to have a similar one forming on his face, he wasn't sure why or how but he had warmed up to Lee a lot more ever since this whole thing started. It was actually kind of funny in hindsight; ever since that time they went to go see Terry for the first time all those years ago the kids of the cul-de-sac were less on edge when around the Kanker sisters, then when they all got into high-school they all eventually warmed up to them. Sure they were still a bit crazy for the three of them but with having Janyse around to control them was certainly something Eddy wasn't going to complain about.
Before he could wonder how Janyse, Matt and the others were doing, Sarah walked over to them.
"Ed, is something the matter?" She asked, Eddy wasn't sure why everything suddenly became quiet but he did not like it. But he knew that the others should know about what they saw.
"We saw James again." Ed answered solemnly.
"That zombie kid who went to the same school you did?" Lenore asked.
"Y-yes." Double D replied. "However, he... appears to have undergone some extreme mutations since we last saw him."
"Mutations?"
Everyone turned to see Rachel slowly getting out of the RV to join the others.
"Oh, hey Ray." Eddy greeted, as everyone turned to see the young woman Terry looked rather concerned. As the older brother walked over to his girlfriend, she raised her hand to stop him.
"Babe, I know you're worried but, right now, it looks like we're safe. Besides, if this is important then I have a right to know."
With a reluctant look in his eyes Terry nodded his head and reached out for Rachel's hand as they resumed listening.
"So what did you mean by James 'mutating'?" May asked.
"Yeah, and I'm the only person here who doesn't know this guy!" Ricardo added. "So what's up?"
"Oh, yes." Double D said before clearing his throat, his facing going pale just a bit. "James was a friend of ours back in Peach Creek who was amongst the first to be taken. We encountered James again on our way to procure the parts and we had the displeasure of learning that James' now zombie body appears to have mutated and gained the ability to reanimate corpses through regurgitation of some sort of bodily fluid. Simply put; he can create more zombies by giving them some sort of substance he can apparently create. Additionally, he can apparently use the body parts of various people and animals and stick them to the corpses of others, creating zombie hybrids that can use these extra limbs with little to no difficulty."
As the news began to settle in, Marie was the first to speak up.
"So?" She said. "Even if he can do this crap that doesn't mean we can't put him down! Besides, as much as I hate to say it, that isn't James anymore. Now let's stop moping and get this rust bucket running!"
"Right!" Almost everyone exclaimed simultaneously. Terry and Lee got to work installing the new parts with the Eds and Kankers doing what they could to help as Mr. McGee and Ricardo were on lookout, Sarah and Jimmy took to preparing dinner as Rachel continued to get some rest. It took some time but with one last crank of Terry's wrench, the man finally pushed the hood of the vehicle down and stretched his back.
"Alright!" He announced. "That should be the end of it. Let's fire her up!"
With excitement, Eddy ran inside the RV and turned on the ignition and without missing a beat, the RV spring to life. As cheers of excitement and joy rang throughout the garage Ricardo and Eddy's dad turned around in a panic.
"If you guys are leaving now then you might wanna hurry!" Ricardo urged. "The army's onto us!"
"Fucking damn it!" Lee cursed under her breath as she gathered as much of the tools inside the RV as she and her sisters could. Ed helped Eddy's dad into the vehicle as everyone grabbed what they needed and hurried inside, leaving Ricardo as the only person left as Double D was about to close the door.
"Hey!" Ricardo called out, locking eyes with the hat wearing boy. "Make sure you protect that plant with your life."
"We will." Edd replied. "But... what will you do now?" Ricardo smirked as he pulled out a grenade launcher from his pack.
"Been saving this for a rainy day. I'll try to draw as much fire as I can to me. I'm not one for sappy goodbyes and you're not too fond of me. Maybe we'll meet up again somewhere, maybe we won't. Just... get out of here, alright"
"Hey, Double D, come on!" Eddy yelled. Edd looked back over to Ricardo and nodded before closing the door. A sudden knock on the garage gate made Ricardo jump as hurried over to the front of the RV and waved to stop it from advancing. After taking a moment to take a deep breath and steady himself, he hurried behind a support beam for cover and shot a grenade over to the gate.
For a single moment, all was quiet until...
BOOM!
The gate was blasted apart, the soldiers standing behind it were blasted backwards and either badly injured or outright dead from the explosion. The RV floored out of the garage with Ricardo running behind it, lobbing more grenades at the military operatives who were shocked by the vehicle speeding off.
Thankfully, Ricardo did indeed draw some of their fire as at least half of the platoon stuck around to stop him.
"COME ON YOU FUCKHEADS, SHOW ME WHAT OUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS ARE WORTH!" He shouted as he grabbed an M4 Carbine rifle from one of the soldiers caught in the initial blast and fired at as many soldiers as he could.
As the gang's RV continued onward and reached the city limits, some military Humvee's were still on their trail. Sarah, Ed, Eddy and all of the Kankers used anything they could to try and throw them off, including gunfire and even Molotov cocktails courtesy of some alcohol Eddy's dad and brother picked up from the supermarket earlier. Terry himself was behind the wheel, swerving around as much as he could in order to throw the Humvees off but if they proved to be anything, it was persistent.
Terry began to sweat with increasing panic as he now entered the woods outside the town. With a gulp of nerves, Terry swerved into the trees and prayed that he wouldn't lose this mobile home like his first. Thankfully though, the military seemed to stop trying to follow them when two of their cars crashed into the trees. Once Terry felt like they were in the clear, he managed to carefully make his way back onto the main roads as the rest of the gang cheered.
"Aww fuck yeah, we did it!" Eddy said as he high-fived Ed.
"Yeah, we totally kicked their asses!" Marie added.
While everyone celebrated, Edd hurried over to the RV's bathroom and saw that the Ruby Red Gym Sock was there, sitting in the corner where he had placed it before the action started and gave a sigh of relief.
As he picked it back up and joined the others, he placed the plant on the table and stared at it, a number of emotions and questions running through his mind. His rage towards Ricardo for what he said about Ed still lingered but part of that rage turned into confusion when he trusted them all to take care of the plant. Then there was the Gym Sock itself, if what Ricardo told them was true then this flower may just be the key to truly ending this apocalypse. Then there was the sheer horror of seeing what had become of James, even though he was not a resident of the cul-de-sac, he was still a friend to everyone that lived there. Even Rolf liked the boy fairly well back in the day when they saw each other in school, it was the only time Double D could recall Rolf looking at least somewhat chipper when talking to someone within school that wasn't from their street.
"Hey Double D, check it out." Eddy called out, grabbing Double D's attention away from the flower and his thoughts. "The chumps from that dealership left some magazines in the glove compartment!"
A smack from Lee to the back of Eddy's head was just enough for Edd to start laughing. He figured it would be better to tend to Eddy before an argument broke out. Besides, it was better than dealing with those negative thoughts. Thinking of the times long past with James and Rolf would only depress him and make him feel worse, and as he looked at everyone around him, he was thankful to still have his old friends with him.
His eyes wandered over to Marie as rolled her eyes at Eddy before laughing at Lee hitting him. Old friends... and just maybe something a bit more.
As the Humvee's stopped following the survivors, a black Humvee pulled over to them.
"Damn psychos!" One soldier said, rubbing the back of his head as he climbed out of the crashed humvee. He looked over and saw the towering figure standing before him. He was tall, muscular, his dark skin appeared to have scars all over them judging by the ones that lines his face and arms. His olive green uniform was adorned with various medals and awards. The solder steadied himself as best as he could as he saluted.
"G-General Shirley! We... we lost them, sir."
"I can see that." General Shirley said as he glowered at the man. "I saw what happened. Their little diversion tactic was cute. Seems like it was just one person and even they managed to give us the slip! We are not going to lose them!"
Shirley practically yanked the radio out of his chest pocket as he scowled at the road beyond them.
"Send in the Warhawk!" He said grimly before putting the radio back. "Eddward Marion Hart... We will find you!"
And scene!
So the gang is finally truly mobile once again and back on track to getting to their destination with a potential way to stop this plague! I don't want to bog down the next few chapters with travel so expect something a bit more laid-back before we get into some major action.
As for the updates to this story; obviously they take a while and I don't want to keep repeating the same excuses of school, work, etc. but we all have responsibilities we need to take care of. I'm in my last year of college (hopefully) while also doing a part time job and an internship, which doesn't really leave me with a lot of free time. Nonetheless, my main concern with this story is that it's fun for you all to read. I DO intend to continue with it and finish it so please let me know what you think of it.
Until then, stay classy!