(I DO NOT own The Walking Dead, Code Lyoko, or any of the names or brands that appear in this story. But I do own all OCs featured here unless stated otherwise.)
"We're sorry, but cell service in your region is temporarily unavailable. If you have an emergency, please dial Nine-One-One and speak to your local authoriti-"
...
"We're sorry, but cell service in your region is temporarily unavailable. If you have an emergency, please dial-"
...
"We're sorry, but cell service in your region is temporarily unavailable. If-"
...
"We're sorry, but cell service-"
Aelita struggled not to panic as she kept dialing the numbers of each of the Lyoko Warriors who were in Atlanta, ignoring the automated voice message which kept answering in lieu of any connected cell signal. Six numbers - Dylan, Chase, Alex, Jennifer, Rebecca, and Miranda - and six repeats of that same stupid message...
When those calls didn't go through, she tried the numbers of the group's other six close friends who were also in Atlanta - Patrick, Verity, Kyra, Robert, Amy, and Charles - but Aelita had no luck with them either.
Then Aelita tried the home phone number of the Hermitage back in Paris. Then when that one also didn't go through, she tried the cell phone numbers of both her mother and father, but again, she heard only that automated message.
The pinkette was losing a lot of hope by this point but she'll be damned if she doesn't try everyone on her contact list.
Then Aelita tried and failed to reach Uncle David's home phone as well as his cell phone. Then the pinkette tried the cell numbers of several of the other students of Kadic Academy. Then Jim's. Then Principal Delmas' emergency number and the emergency numbers of some of the teachers, but she had no luck with any of those either.
Aelita was so desperate to hear from anyone that even tried Sissi's phone number... But that one only gave her a dial tone, not even the courtesy of an automated voice message. Fitting.
In frustration, Aelita finally flung her phone down into the living room couch of the abandoned house she and her friends were forced to hide in. She sat down on the same couch and rubbed her temples, trying to rid herself of the awful stress-induced migraine that she had developed over the last two hours since fleeing the highway with her friends. The horrors she saw were still plaguing her as much as it was the other teens...
The other five teens were all desperately trying to call their own families and friends as well. Yumi, whose phone was destroyed during the stampede, had resorted to using the wall-mounted home phone which she found in the kitchen.
The teens knew they could still be in danger. For all they knew there could still be many more of the 'walking corpses' they saw eating people on the highway...
How could any of this even be happening right now?!
"Hello?! Mom?!" Jeremie desperately asked as he held his phone up to his ear, but like Aelita, all he got was that stupid automated voice message. Tears were running down the sides of his face because he couldn't force away from his mind the idea that his parents could be dead... or worse.
Odd was also trying as hard as he could to make a call. "Dad?! Please, please, answer the phone! Answer it!" he begged. But like Aelita, all he heard was that annoying automated voice message which made him want to punt his head through a solid brick wall.
Ulrich had no better luck. He tried several times to call into Germany to reach his mother but couldn't, and in desperation he even tried calling his father... but he couldn't get a call through to that jerk either. He had become so angry, anxious, and scared that he was yelling in German into his phone.
William tried more than a dozen times to reach his mom and dad in Scotland. When it was clear that he just wouldn't be able to get through, he put his phone back in his pocket and went to sit against a wall, trying not to entertain any possibility that his family was gone...
In the kitchen, Yumi kept a tight hold on the home phone and was desperately dialing the numbers for her family's home in Paris, the cell phone numbers of her parents, and a few family friends both in France and in Japan. She got nothing from anyone.
However, she did luck out more than the others. When Yumi tried the number for Hiroki's cell phone, it actually got through - by the graciousness of all the ancient gods of Japan, it actually got through!
When she heard the ringing through the phone's ear piece instead of an instant automated message, Yumi's eyes widened. Then, the ringing stopped.
"Hey, are you there?!" Yumi heard the familiar voice of her younger brother on the other line.
"Hiroki?!" Yumi asked with relief. Then she exclaimed, "Oh, thank god!" - drawing the attention of all of the others.
Her brother was alive! He sounded okay!
Continuing, Yumi could feel her heart racing. "Hiroki, listen to me very carefully - I'm in America. I'm a couple hours outside of Atlanta with Ulrich and the others. We're trying to get over there to find you guys right now." she explained, not bothering to go into detail of how the group's visit was supposed to be a surprise. This new emergency made priorities clear, and questions can be answered later when everyone was safe.
When Hiroki didn't respond at first, Yumi practically screamed into the phone. "Hiroki, where are you?! Are you okay?!" she asked, her tone making it clear her desperation.
"Hello? Can you hear me?!"
Yumi's anxiety made her stomach twist with more discomfort than she ever thought possible. "Yes, yes, I hear you!" she exclaimed. "Can you hear me?!"
When her brother didn't answer again, Yumi paled. "Hiroki, where are you?! Are you still in Atlant-"
"I can't hear you!" Hiroki exclaimed once again.
"Hiroki, just please tell me where you are right-"
"Hello?!"
"Dammit, Hiroki, will you just quiet down and listen to-"
"Ha! Voicemail prank!" Hiroki's voice was heard again, though now the tone was pretty clowny. "Yeah, you fell for that. So whoever's calling, leave your message at the bee-"
With no hesitation, Yumi (who was now so furious over this 'prank' that she was seeing red) proceeded to rip the home phone receiver straight off of the wall, showering most of the kitchen counter in pieces of ceramic tile and drywall.
So angered that she couldn't bother thinking about what she was doing, Yumi promptly threw both the receiver and the phone itself at one of the kitchen windows. The phone and its receiver hit and went straight through the window and landed somewhere in the backyard. This caused the window to loudly shatter into thousands of tiny pieces.
... so much for being lucky.
Unfortunately, Yumi's 'angrily throwing the phone' moment had some immediate consequences. The sound of the shattering glass drew some unwanted attention...
Within only a few moments, there was already a few infected people beginning to stumble onto the street the house was on. All the teens, including Yumi, stopped what they were doing and they hurried over to the front windows of the house to check on their new 'friends' who were outside...
Soon enough, those few turned into a few dozen... And many were stumbling toward the house they were in, straight toward the source of the noise.
"Yumi!" Odd groaned. What the heck was she thinking throwing that phone?!
"I was angry!" Yumi defended, though she admittedly did feel like a huge idiot. If she finds Hiroki she'll hug him... then she'll throttle the little brat...
"Run out through the back before they reach the house!" William told the others before he grabbed his backpack.
The teens didn't waste any time or any haste as the infected people approached. Within seconds, and as Odd gathered up Kiwi in his arms and Aelita grabbed her phone, all six had bolted out the back door and hurried to the chain-linked fence in the backyard. They were in such a half-panicked rush that they even forgot one of their suitcases of clothes...
Once they got over the fence (Odd gently lifted Kiwi over it and into Aelita's arms), the six hurried as quick as they could through another yard and around the side of the house there. They made it to another street which thankfully looked clear of any infected.
The group then resigned themselves to yet another long run for anywhere that could be safe...
After the mess at the abandoned home, the group of six turned tail and ran as quick as they could away from the building. There was some infected people here and there on the streets but they were quick, and they managed to avoid all of them.
After an hour of non-stop running, the group couldn't bring themselves to continue any further for now. They had to find some shelter before they'd keel over on the streets.
Exhausted and fearful since it was now nighttime, the group made their way into an abandoned neighborhood and into a home at the end of a street. It was at the corner where the street met another, so they had good visibility on anything which could come their way.
William, Yumi, and Ulrich used their strength pushed a heavy bookcase and some other furniture in front of the front door of the house the group had taken shelter in. As they did that, Odd, Aelita and Jeremie all hurried around to close any windows and blinds.
Only after the group was certain that the house was secure did they finally allow themselves to rest. They chose the living room since no one really wanted to be out of each other's sight for the time being...
As the group settled in for now, William and Odd went to check around the house for any supplies which they could use. In the garage they were lucky enough to find a small battery-powered emergency lamp in a tool closet. It didn't have the D-batteries it needed, but they managed to scrounge up a pair from the remote of a radio-controlled toy car in some child's bedroom upstairs...
Not only that, but the two boys even managed to find a battery-powered emergency radio with the lamp, along with a small stash of emergency bottled water.
The opportunity to finally drink something was welcomed, but they really hoped that the radio would work and they could figure out what was happening out there...
Odd and William searched the whole house top to bottom but there were no signs that whoever lived here was still here, or had been here recently. The two teens could only hope that they were still alive out there, and that if they were, they would be okay with the teens taking shelter here just for the night...
Once the emergency light was powered on with one of the batteries, William set it down on the living room coffee table and took a seat on the floor alongside Ulrich and Yumi. Odd took a chair while Jeremie and Aelita took the couch.
The teens were all silent. All were still trying to comprehend everything that had happened today...
One moment they were in that van, caught in a traffic jam... the next, they were seeing people burning alive and people eating other people...
They had all just seen the worst things any teenager ever could... and then just to top it all off, none of them knew if their friends and families were okay, or if they had gone through horrors similar to what those poor people on the highway did...
As she sat with her boyfriend and their friends, Aelita hugged her knees to her chest and struggled to keep herself together. The thought of her family which once served as comfort now served as a source of endless worry, sorrow, and stress...
Her brothers, Dylan and Chase... all her friends and all her fellow Lyoko Warriors...
Her mom and dad... Uncle David...
All the people from Kadic... the teachers whom she looked up to and the fellow students whom she respected and admired...
...
...
... everyone she ever knew outside this abandoned home could be dead right now ...
Aelita felt tears welling in her eyes as she thought back to everything she had seen on the highway. The napalm being dropped by those fighter jets, the 'walking corpses' and burnt people... and all the innocent hurt victims who were eaten alive by them...
The thought of her family and friends going through anything similar to that...
... and the thought of them all being 'walking corpses' themselves ...
The pinkette buried her face in her hands and allowed herself to finally let it all out. The worry she felt for her friends and family along with the memory of the nightmarish things she witnessed on the highway was just too much for the teen to deal with all at once...
Jeremie gently wrapped an arm around Aelita and held her, unable to say anything since he knew nothing he could say would ease her. In fact, he was feeling the exact same kind of unease and worry. He had no clue if his mom and dad were alive, or his cousin...
Kiwi softly whined as he went to sit on Odd's lap. The dog had suffered a bad cut to his front-right paw back when the van flipped. It was still bleeding a little bit...
Odd couldn't do anything but just keep his dog close and try to keep him from using that paw too much. He doubted that any vets were open anywhere around here, given the circumstances. He had no clue what to do for Kiwi...
"I'm sorry, little guy..." Odd apologized as he brushed his hand up and down Kiwi's back. He hoped that Kiwi was comfortable at least...
Eventually, around the time Aelita finally stopped crying, William had figured out how to pry open the battery cover of the radio without its screwdriver. He was both annoyed and astonished that an emergency radio would require screwdriver access for its battery access...
William put the D-battery into its spot in the radio and he flipped the radio back upright. He tossed away the plastic cover since he was forced to break it while getting the stupid thing open...
"Alright, I think I got it..." William told the others as he set the radio down next to the lamp on the coffee table.
"You got the battery in?" Ulrich wondered.
William nodded at him as he extended the radio's antenna. "Yep, it's in." he confirmed.
"You got the battery facing the right way?" Ulrich asked a second question.
"Of course. I'm not an idiot." William deadpanned. Who in the world be dumb enough to screw up something as easy as putting a battery into a radio?
With that, William pressed the radio's power button. What greeted him and the others was just more senseless static like in the van, but he wasn't gonna give up this time. Not when they had to know exactly what was happening out there...
For several long moments William twisted the radio dial and tried several different stations. It took time, but eventually he found one. It sounded like someone giving out an emergency update for anyone who was listening...
"-itizens are currently advised to stay in their homes or move towards the cities of Charlotte and Orlando, but to brace themselves due to rising violence and infection rates amidst the spreading Wildfire Virus in those areas." a radio reporter's voice was heard. "If citizens choose to remain in their homes, they are urged to be near their radios and await further instructions from federal or state authorities."
Charlotte... Orlando? 'Wildfire Virus'...?
Those two places were cities outside of Georgia, one of which the six teens themselves even visited only days ago... They didn't actually plan on going south to Florida since they didn't have the time, but they knew some of the other Paris schools had made plans to do so...
Whatever this 'Wildfire Virus' was which caused those 'walking corpses' to eat people and made the military desperate enough to go for napalm bombings to stop them, it was certainly at least a multi-state crisis.
This clearly wasn't just Georgia. For all they knew, this could be the entire South. Or perhaps even the entire United States...
"In spite of these issues, moving into the cities of Charlotte or Orlando may become necessary in order to ensure the survival of all citizens." the radio announcer continued. "The status of cities in Georgia have been reported as of one hour ago as:
Atlanta - Stage Nine, Catastrophe.
Augusta - Stage Eight, Disaster.
Columbus - Stage Six, Infection Zone.
Savannah - Stage Nine, Catastrophe.
Athens - Stage Eight, Disaster.
Sandy Springs - Stage Seven, Outbreak.
Macon - Stage Nine, Catastrophe.
Roswell - Stage Nine, Catastrophe.
Albany - Stage Nine, Catastrophe."
The teens listened carefully to the status of the major towns and cities across the state, listening... but still not fully believing this was really happening. Given this and what they heard about Charlotte and Orlando, it almost seemed like the world itself was ending right in front of their eyes...
Each of their hearts skipped a beat when Atlanta's status was announced first, each teen feeling their worry increase all the more. 'Catastrophe' sounded so much worse when you know people who you deeply care for are in the middle of it...
"In the event that you chose to ignore this emergency broadcast you will be doing so at your own risk. To yourself and those family members who remain with you. The United States Federal Emergency Management Agency will not be responsible for rescuing persons who choose to avoid this broadcast."
"Reminder: The Wildfire Virus is spread via direct contact with the infected, primarily through the transmission of fluids such as blood or saliva through bites and possibly also through scratches.
Under no circumstance can you allow any direct contact between yourself and the infected. To do so is to risk the lives of yourself, your loved ones, and others. Infection will result in your death and subsequent reanimation."
Don't let those things out there bite you or scratch you. Don't let them even touch you if you can help it. If you get infected, you will come back as one of those things...
That seemed easy enough for the six teens to remember. Horrifying, yes... but definitely easy to remember...
"Further reminder: If you have been infected by the Wildfire Virus, isolate yourself immediately and commit suicide." the broadcaster gave this chilling 'advice' to any and all who were listening. "Your brain must be destroyed in order to prevent reanimation from taking place. Should you or any loved ones not immediately take this course of action on yourselves upon infection, you will only contribute to further death and further spread of the virus.
The most effective way to destroy your brain in this situation is with a firearm. If you are infected and are in possession of a firearm, press the muzzle of your firearm up toward the roof of your mouth and pull the trigger. Death will be instant and completely painless.
We at FEMA urge you to commit suicide ONLY if you are confirmed to be infected by the Wildfire Virus. If you have children, we urge you to refrain from suicide until you are able to leave them with a trusted adult or any surviving authorities in your area. It is important that they not be left alone and in emotional distress during this time."
All six of the teens were stunned into silence. They each had already seen for themselves just how bad it had gotten out there, but to have a radio announcer openly telling you to kill yourself if you get infected...
The radio announcer continued once more. His next words confirmed that this definitely wasn't just Georgia, a multi-state crisis, or even the United States as a whole...
"Now we will give the latest update on the status of cities around the U.S. and the rest of the world." the broadcaster continued. "Be advised, the status of each individual city is based upon the latest reports we've received here at FEMA, and much of it could already be inaccurate at the time of this broadcast.
...
...
New York City, New York - Stage Ten, Lost.
Washington D.C. - Stage Ten, Lost.
Los Angeles, California - Stage Nine, Catastrophe.
San Francisco, California - Stage Eight, Disaster.
Sacramento, California - Stage Four, High Risk.
Chicago, Illinois - Stage Eight, Disaster.
Seattle, Washington - Stage Eight, Disaster.
Houston, Texas - Stage Nine, Catastrophe.
San Antonio, Texas - Stage Nine, Catastrophe.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Unknown.
Miami, Florida - Stage Ten, Lost.
New Orleans, Louisiana - Unknow-
"How...? Just... how?!" Yumi interrupted, her voice marked with utter disbelief. How could so much of America have fallen so quickly?
The radio continued.
-nchorage, Alaska - Stage Eight, Disaster.
Fairbanks, Alaska - Stage Four, High Risk.
Phoenix, Arizona - Unknown.
Memphis, Tennessee - Unknown.
Indianapolis, Indiana - Stage Eight, Disaster.
Denver, Colorado - Stage Six, Infection Zone.
Honolulu, Hawaii - Stage Three, Low Risk.
Detroit, Michigan - Stage Ten, Lost.
Boston, Massachusetts - Stage Ten, Lost.
...
...
The teens listened to the names of all these great American cities be read one by one, each of them followed by their current status. None of it sounded good... "Disaster," "Catastrophe," "Lost."
This crisis was destroying the whole country, not just Georgia... but the teens were surprised to hear about Honolulu and those "Fairbanks" and "Sacramento" places.
Only Aelita and Jeremie had a prior clue where Fairbanks was, but "Sacramento" was a place which both they and all of the others already recognized. Kadic and one or two of the other Parisian schools had actually planned to cut through the city during the trip down the West Coast, which would have ended in Los Angeles before heading home.
Sacramento, Fairbanks, and Honolulu all sounded way safer than wherever they were in Georgia. It was unfortunate that they were nowhere near them...
"God... God..." a pale-faced Jeremie muttered with pure disbelief as he listened to all the cities being read out. So much death and destruction. Everything seemed completely fine just a few hours ago...
Even Kiwi seemed to be scared and saddened. The poor pup simply whimpered and nuzzled deeper against his dad, Odd, who simply patted the dog in response. The teen's heart broke at the knowledge that his dog was hurt and scared, and he felt so guilty that he couldn't do anything to help him...
Eventually, the broadcaster finished reading out the status of cities across the United States.
"And now we will broadcast the latest reported status updates of major cities around the world." the broadcaster continued again. "Be advised once again: the status of each individual city is based upon the latest reports we've received at FEMA, and they could be inaccurate at the time of this broadcast."
For a long time, the broadcaster began to list off the names of cities across the entire world and what their statuses are. Each brought only more shock to the Lyoko Warriors.
One by one, country by country, continent by continent, the six teens silently listened to the downfall of humanity together.
Then, as if they all took a stab right to their hearts... they heard the city they dreaded to know the fate of.
"Paris, France - Stage Ten, Lost."
...
Paris... it... it had already been lost to these "infected"...? Their city was full of those man-eating 'walking corpses'...?
The group struggled to take in the news that not only was this a global pandemic which seemingly came out of nowhere, the pandemic itself was winning. They all knew that if these radio reports were true, then there could be countless millions of people all over the planet who've lost their lives in less than a day...
But then, they realized... their families... their families... their homes... everything... all of it could be gone...
... were their families back in Europe still alive... or were they all already dead...?
Hearing Paris was lost was bad enough... but for a couple of the teens there was more blows. Yumi was forced to bite back a sob when she heard Tokyo and Kyoto were both lost. She still had friends who lived in both cities... along with her beloved grandparents and her aunts and uncles in Kyoto...
Odd tightly shut his eyes when he heard about Rome. His hometown... the city where his entire family still lived...
Stage seven, "outbreak", didn't sound as bad as the ones above it. But the thought of his parents or all of his sisters being trapped right in the middle of it all, and him having absolutely no clue if they were safe or even still alive... it hurt Odd so much.
When Glasgow was mentioned as being stage ten, William simply closed his eyes and allowed himself to release a solemn sigh.
His parents lived right in the heart of the city... William didn't need to hear anything else to know in his heart that they were both dead... that he was an orphan now...
Ulrich's face fell at the mention of Berlin, stage nine... He and his father were never too close, but he never wanted him to risk be turned into one of those 'walking corpses', or to have him go through anything like on the highway. Ulrich would regret never getting the chance to get closer with his father for the rest of his life...
And his poor mother... all Ulrich could do for her was just hope she somehow made it...
The FEMA broadcaster continued reading out the status of dozens of more cities all around the world. Later, he announced that a temporary break was coming up, and for the next half hour or so, the broadcaster's voice was replaced by instrumentals of patriotic American songs.
"The Star Spangled Banner" was the first, of course, followed by "America the Beautiful", "My Country 'Tis of Thee", "Yankee Doodle", and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
The group listened to the instrumentals in a stunned silence as they tried to comprehend everything they've heard so far. Some were barely holding back their tears...
After a while, they finally found their voices again.
"... I don't even know where to begin." Aelita admitted. She was so stunned by all of this that she had gone slightly pale, and she felt sick to her stomach.
"America... France... the whole world..." Odd muttered with disbelief. How could everything seemingly fall apart in such a short time...?
This wasn't just a crisis... this wasn't even just a global pandemic...
... this was, quite literally, an apocalypse.
As the teens dwelled on all of this horrifying new information, all they could do was just hope and pray their families and friends had survived and were safe...
How the hell were they going to get home after they find the others...?
"... what do we do now ...?" Ulrich asked the question which now plagued him. If all of civilization was collapsing... if there was millions of those 'walking corpses'... how were they going to stay alive? How could they find any of their friends in Atlanta?
"We focus on finding our friends first and foremost." Jeremie stated, forcing himself to bury his shock for the time being. "We'll figure out a plan after we find them..."
Aelita nodded in agreement with her boyfriend. Like him and the others, the pinkette was still struggling to deal with everything they had heard on that radio, but she was forcing those feelings away for the time being. Panicking wouldn't help them, and certainly not in a situation like this...
All that mattered for now was staying alive and finding the teachers and students of Kadic Academy, her fellow Lyoko Warriors and her brothers included. After that... well, she was certain they could come up with some idea of what to do.
"For the foreseeable future, we just have to focus on survival..." Aelita stated logically. "At least until we can find our friends. After that we can wait for the American government to save and shelter us, or we can try and figure out a way to get all of us back home and back to our families..."
William frowned again, averting his gaze from the others. No one noticed the tears welling up in his eyes.
"... our homes are gone and our families are all dead ..." he muttered, though it was loud enough for the others to hear. And none of them appreciated the comment.
"Shut up, William..." Yumi practically growled at him. She was already worried sick for her parents and Hiroki and everyone else she cared for. She didn't want to think of any possibility of them being dead any more than she was already forced to.
"You know it and I know it, Yumi..."
Yumi suddenly stood up and raised her first in preparation to sock William right in the jaw for saying such a thing. How dare he!
"You son of a-" she began to say... but a sudden voice from the radio instantly made Yumi freeze and stop in mid-sentence.
"-and now, from a secure location," the radio broadcaster suddenly spoke again, "the President of the United States."
The argument immediately ceased, and the Lyoko Warriors exchanged surprised glances. The president...? He was still alive...?
With a mixture of bewilderment and curiosity, the teens all settled in to listen to the president make his address to the nation. It began only moments later.
"Good evening, my fellow Americans..." the teens heard the voice of the U.S. president, Thomas Resnick, begin to speak, "Tonight, I address you not as the President of these United States. Nor do I address you as the leader of a nation, nor the elected representative of the free American people...
Tonight, I address you merely as Thomas Joseph Resnick: a fellow American, and a fellow citizen of a besieged humanity."
In silence, the group huddled closer around the radio and listened to the American president. William stayed by the wall where he was. He didn't feel like listening...
"Over the last days, our nation and the entire world has experienced horrors that were previously unimaginable, and the human race as a whole has been forced to face the greatest challenge that it has ever known: survival.
The Wildfire Virus has spread to nearly every corner of the earth... to every city, to every nation, to every continent. Many nations, even the strongest in our civilization, struggle to survive this time of trials, and many the world over have already fallen to the infected horde. Even the United States itself hangs on the precipice of oblivion."
"But for the first time in the history of our planet, there exists a species which has the tenacity, the will, and the power to fight against its own extinction...
... us. Humanity."
With nothing else to do, the teens settled in and focused their attention on the radio. Aelita handed out bottles of water out to everyone. There was only six, so each teen got one bottle of water. It would have to last...
"The human thirst for excellence and knowledge; every single step we have taken for the advancement of science; all of our combined modern technologies and imaginations; and even the wars that we have fought have all provided us the tools to wage this terrible battle. It is a battle unlike any that humanity has ever known, but it is one that shall be won.
Throughout this nation's history, and indeed the history of all civilization, we have seen moments of spectacular triumph, and we have counted the minutes through some of humanity's darkest hours pre-Wildfire. Great empires have risen, fallen, and from the dust and rubble they have risen again.
Through developments in science and an often reckless pursuit of knowledge we have answered some of the greatest questions of our time. We have cured diseases. We have given sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf. Things that would have been unspeakable, impossible only a hundred years ago have become commonplace features in all of our daily lives.
... but in the face of the Wildfire Virus, all of this means nothing."
The president paused for only a moment to seemingly collect his thoughts, then he continued once again.
"I won't lie to you, my fellow citizens. Cities and nations have fallen. Millions around the world are believed dead at this moment." the president spoke. "Our valiant military, which are currently continuing their brave fight against the infected, has taken very heavy losses as well. The horde is growing in numbers at a rate for which nothing could have ever adequately prepared any nation on earth.
We are not losing... but, at this moment, we are certainly not winning either...
But our advanced weaponry and our technological might isn't the key to victory in a fight such as this... I like to think of that which will ensure our salvation as being our secret weapon. The one special thing which, when we find ourselves in times of turmoil and chaos, we turn to, and which always sees humanity through...
... our courag-"
Suddenly, the sound of a blaring alarm somewhere outside made the teens spring into action.
Yumi instantly shut off the radio while William leapt to his feet and turned off the emergency light. Ulrich, Aelita, Odd, and Jeremie all likewise gathered improvised weapons and prepared for whatever would come next...
But once they collected their bearings and calmed themselves, they realized that none of the 'walking corpses' were trying to break into the house...
Unable to hold back their curiosity, the teens carefully made their way to the living room windows and peered through the blinds. William went to look through the front door peephole instead...
Outside the teens could see dozens of the 'walking corpses' stumbling to-and-fro all throughout the entire street and all of the front yards.
One of the 'walking corpses' - a black woman in a white nightgown - was even seen to walk onto a front porch to try to open the front door of the house. It was unnervingly human how she gripped the doorknob and tried to turn it herself...
The teens could only look on with astonishment at the sights outside... it was like something out of their worst nightmares...
"There's so many of them..." Odd said with a mixture of awe and worry.
Ulrich spotted a car's lights blinking on and off down the road. "Looks like a car alarm went off..." he theorized, "maybe one of them bumped into it?"
"Shhhh..." Aelita quietly moved her finger to her lips. If any of those creatures out there heard any sound from this house then they'll all suffer...
The sound of the car alarm continued to wail for several more minutes before, finally, it went dead. The 'walking corpses' were all over the place thanks to the alarm, but now that it was gone, the teens just hoped the creatures would dissipate sooner or later.
Briefly, William could've sworn he saw a curtain move slightly at the house which the 'walking corpse' in the white nightgown was trying to enter. But he didn't see any more movement, and soon enough, the creature turned and slowly stumbled away from the door...
As the teens watched all of these 'walking corpses', these 'infected' as the broadcaster called them all on the radio before the president came on, stumbling their way around the neighborhood, a horrifying possibility suddenly came to one of their young minds...
"... could all of this be because of XANA?" a slightly pale-faced Yumi couldn't help but wonder.
The other five teens felt their blood instantly chill at the suggestion. The thought somehow hadn't crossed their minds earlier... but now...
... no ...
... no, it couldn't have been XANA. He's gone... he's been gone... he couldn't have just come back without any warning...
They couldn't have failed to stop that monster from ending the world... they just couldn't have...
"... I refuse to believe that its him." Jeremie said, his voice firm and his sense of denial made abundantly clear.
Yumi's face fell. "Jeremie-"
"I refuse to believe that its him!" the supergenius insisted again. His voice had risen slightly, his emotions getting the better of him.
"Shhh!" Aelita urged, gesturing at the window. Although none of the 'walking corpses' heard him, the realization made Jeremie go dead silent.
The group backed away from the windows and the door, gathering back in the center of the room so they could talk without a huge risk of being overheard. They still kept the light and radio off, and they tried to keep their voices as quiet as they possibly could. They'd die if those things out there heard them...
Although their worry about everything outside was still plaguing them, now they had to consider the possibility that XANA might be responsible for this...
"We haven't seen that monster be active for months before we left!" Ulrich stated in a panicked dismissal. "There's no way that any of this could be because of him! He wasn't active anymore, remember?!"
"This couldn't have been because of him!" William agreed, though like Ulrich his words were more out of denial than in a genuine belief.
Odd suddenly stood up from his seat again. "Yeah, but who or what else do we know does something as crazy as this?" he challenged the others.
No one could give Odd an answer to that. The teen then cleared his throat.
"XANA's tried to kill us with a giant teddy bear, electricity, robots, a laser on a military satellite," Odd began to list off some of XANA's 'handiwork' which they've been forced to endure one after another for the last few years, "ultrasound waves, zero gravity, a steam room, a food monster, animatronic aliens, a kamikaze attack - a literal comet!"
"Odd-" Ulrich tried, but his friend ignored him and continued.
"-laughing gas, sabotaging the devirtualization process, turning the ground into mud so we'd all drown," Odd continued, "putting me, Ulrich, and Yumi in a simulation bubble so we'd go into fake scanners and be deleted, possessing crows so they'd attack us - you all get the idea!"
Odd then frowned at all of his friends, his point being made very clear the more he spoke.
"So with his history in mind - how on earth would anything we've seen today be beyond him?!" he demanded to know.
The teens didn't say a word in response. They couldn't...
If XANA had truly come back while they were in America... if his disappearance months ago was just a precursor to this... then this really was their faults...
All of the horror they had seen - the 'walking corpses', the military napalm-bombing - all of it was because they were careless...
If this 'Wildfire Virus' really was because of XANA... then the Lyoko Warriors had failed in their duty to keep humanity safe.
... even worse ... their failure may have even resulted in the beginning of the total extinction of the human race ...
Unable to bear the idea of any of this, Odd simply stood, walked over to the nearest wall... then promptly collapsed against it, grief-stricken and ashamed of himself.
"This is all our fault..." Odd buried his face in his hands, guilt completely overwhelming him to the point of tears. This caused Ulrich to go and hug him.
"This wasn't... because of him... us..." Aelita choked up at her own words.
"Is there any way we can check?" Yumi asked, desperately clinging onto any chance that XANA - and their own carelessness - wasn't responsible for all of this.
The teen then turned to look at Jeremie. The supergenius forced himself not to look away in shame.
"Jeremie," Yumi began, "open up your laptop and we can-"
"My laptop was destroyed when the van crashed!" Jeremie pointed out before she could finish her sentence.
Then, he turned back to the others and showed them his salvaged hard drive. "I managed to get the hard drive," Jeremie explained, "but without my laptop and the programs on it, the drive is more or less useless. I can't check the status of the towers on Lyoko..."
"And even if we did confirm that XANA's responsible for all of this, there's still nothing we even can do from here..." Aelita added, mournfully.
The group fell into a silence. All of them felt too overwhelmed to speak any more on this...
Finally, the car alarm outside died. Silence again ruled the streets, minus the groans and growls of dozens of those alert 'walking corpses'. It was going to take a while before they'd clear out and the group could finally leave this house...
After several long minutes, William suddenly headed for the stairs which led to the second floor of the house. The others watched him as he walked.
"... I'm going to bed," William spoke in a soft voice, "goodnight guys ..."
"William..." Yumi's face fell. The teen didn't answer or turn to look back at her, much to her heartache...
William soon disappeared from sight after he made it to the top of the stairs. A moment later the group heard the sounds of a door somewhere upstairs opening, then closing... and then total silence.
The five teens all exchanged glances of worry for their friend. They'll try to speak with him in the morning once he was awake again...
Although they knew William was upset by everything they heard, they all also understood that William was only showing what they were all trying to keep buried...
They had to try and keep their sorrow and despair buried, at least for the time being. They wouldn't have any chance of finding their friends if they let those emotions get the better of them...
With nothing else to do now, the group headed back to the radio and turned it on once again to hear President Resnick.
The group was surprised to hear the president no longer giving a stately address, but seemingly making a prayer for the nation and the world. The group maintained a respectful silence during it but didn't last for long, and soon the president spoke again.
"Humanity's story is one of darkness and light, and each chapter has its role in keeping us whole. United. Bonded to one another in kinship and brotherhood." they heard the president tell the American people. "No nation, no ruler, and no individual man or woman alone can truly ever claim to achieve perfection in anything...
But despite that, as we face the darkest hours in the history of mankind, I believe that we can in good confidence say that we will all continue to fight so that our children, and our children's children, will have a future. To ensure there's still many more chapters left in the book of humanity. To ensure that we shall have a better tomorrow... To ensure that our courage will save our species...
Death and destruction will define this moment and of many more moments to come... But I have faith in both God and the American people that it will not define our future.
Survival is possible, my fellow Americans. It must be. And, so long as we stick together in this difficult time, it certainly will be..."
The five teens listening to the radio message by President Resnick weren't American, obviously - excluding the fact that Aelita was American-born.
But still... hearing all of this from the American president brought them all a sense of needed comfort...
"So may the Lord bless you all, may the Lord keep you, may the Lord lift his divine countenance upon you and all you love and care for, and above all else may he give you peace and safety during this crisis. I wish you all nothing less."
"May God bless the United States, and may God bless each and every one of you through the rest of these trying times.
Goodnight... stay strong... stay safe... and thank you."
With the end of that speech, the president's words were replaced with the patriotic instrumentals once again. Jeremie reached over to turn the radio off and save the battery.
The five Lyoko Warriors in the living room decided now to try and get some sleep, although who knew if they would be successful. The events on the highway were still very fresh and painful in all their minds...
The teens went upstairs together and searched for a place to sleep, avoiding the room William took. Odd took a guest bedroom with his poor pup laying on the carpet next to the room's bed. Kiwi licked at his wound as he settled in, and Odd could only watch with regret and shame at not being able to help him...
Yumi and Ulrich took a room that someone had turned into a man cave. The room had a couch with a fold-out bed in it, which the couple found to be not very comfortable but acceptable for just a night.
Neither Yumi or Ulrich really appreciated how the walls of the room were mostly covered in various posters of beautiful women who wore bikinis (or a lot less), (or nothing at all), but both of them felt too exhausted to bother. Yumi made a mental note to rip the posters all down out of principle in the morning...
Jeremie and Aelita took the master bedroom. The room was basic but comfortable for the both of them. They were both hesitant to take another person's bed even for only a single night, but they hoped the owners of this home would understand. They wouldn't be here if they weren't desperate.
As the group all settled in for the rest of the night, each of them were thinking of how daunting task it would be for their group to stay alive long enough to track down all of the people from Kadic Academy... assuming the people from Kadic were still alive to begin with...
Dylan, Chase, Rebecca, Jennifer, Alexandr, and Miranda... their six fellow Lyoko Warriors...
Verity, Patrick, Kyra, Robert, Amy, and Charles... their other close friends...
All the teachers and so many of their fellow students from Kadic Academy...
The group was anxious and worried by all that was happening in this world, but they were determined to weather their way through it for as long as it would last...
It wasn't going to be easy... and it was going to be extremely dangerous out there from here on out...
But somehow, someway - the Lyoko Warriors will find all of their friends and figure out a way to stay alive in this mess... and one day make it back home.
The six teens didn't get much sleep during the night. Try as they did, they couldn't shake the memories of everything that happened back on the highway. But once sunrise came and they saw those 'walking corpses' outside had mostly dissipated, the time came to rise and get moving regardless of how tired (and utterly guilty) they felt.
The group gathered up their supplies, the emergency radio, as well as whatever other useful things they could scavenge from the house. They didn't find much.
Aelita left behind a short but apologetic note for the home owners which she left on the refrigerator with a magnet. Along with the address for Kadic Academy, she and all the other teens left their signatures and phone numbers on it so that the home owners will know how to find them and eventually get compensated for the things which she and the others had to take. William did leave his number and name as well, but only after a bit of prodding from the others.
Aelita realized how bad things had gotten out there. But she hoped that the owners of this home were still alive and she also hoped that once they finally return here after the government finally restores order, they'll know how thankful she and her friends were for their night of safety and shelter here.
As the sun rose over the trees, the six Lyoko Warriors fled through the back of the house and shimmied their way through a small gap in the wooden fence surrounding the yard. From there they entered the woods, then made their way through the trees for a short time until they reached a road which led to who knows where. They picked the direction which they thought was west, and they resumed walking.
None of the teens had any idea what awaited them on the way to Atlanta. They didn't have any clue what would await them in Atlanta either.
All they knew was that all of their friends were in that city somewhere and that they had to find them...
The group had a couple of weapons with them but nothing serious. Ulrich and William each carried a couple of broken chair legs, and Yumi had a kitchen knife. Odd, Aelita, and Jeremie had nothing at all on them. The group collectively wanted to avoid those 'walking corpses' out there, not get into fights with them. The knife and the chair legs were really only for last resort...
Another hour rolled by as the group made their way down the dirt road. Luckily they didn't come across any of those creatures...
Suddenly, from what the group could only believe was a very far distance away, they started to hear gunfire. Automatic gunfire, like the soldiers back at the highway...
The group froze in place and turned in the direction which the gunfire was coming from...
"Oh man..." Ulrich muttered under his breath as he and the others stopped and listened.
"The army?" Aelita guessed as to who was doing the shooting.
The others silently shrugged since they didn't have an answer to her guess. They assumed it must've been soldiers but they had no way to confirm it...
The sounds of the distant automatic gunfire were joined for a couple of moments by that of distant explosions... then after a few seconds it all suddenly went silent. After that, it was so silent that it was almost as if there was never any sounds of a distant battle to begin with...
The suddenness of the silence sent a chill up the spines of all six teens. They could only assume the worst after seeing the soldiers on the highway retreating...
"... we need to keep moving." Jeremie stated after a moment. No one disagreed.
With a new hesitance and a heightened alert, the six Lyoko Warriors resumed their trek which hopefully led toward Atlanta. All couldn't stop looking over their shoulder every now and then...
Things were bad, they already knew that. But clearly things weren't getting any better for the world anytime soon...
How on earth could all of this have happened...?
"How bad do you guys think it is back home...?" Odd asked the others at one point. His voice was a little quieter and less energetic than it usually was.
"You heard the radio last night..." Ulrich told him in response, "Paris is lost... it's probably a lot worse than we think it is..." he didn't want to believe his own words but the logic of this horror didn't escape him...
"Do you think that our families managed to get away from all of this at least...?"
Ulrich took a moment to answer. When he did, it was the best answer he could muster. "I... I honestly don't know, Odd... I'm sorry..."
Odd's face fell as he thought about his family again. He'd give anything to just be in Rome right now... to be with his family again...
He never should have come on this stupid trip to America...
Feeling a hand on his shoulder all of a sudden, Odd turned to see that it was Yumi who had placed it there.
"We'll find our way home..." Yumi said in a reassuring voice to her friend, "somehow we'll find a way back to them after we find our friends..."
Although he appreciated Yumi's words, Odd couldn't truly bring himself to believe them after all that he's seen so far. Not to mention the fact that a huge ocean separated him and his friends from their families and their homes...
As they walked, Jeremie glanced over to his girlfriend and studied her for a moment. Aelita looked so tired, but he could tell it wasn't from her lack of sleep...
"You doing okay...?" he wondered, his voice gentle and full of concern.
Aelita didn't turn to look at him. "I feel like I'm in a nightmare and I can't wake up from it..." she admitted, "every time I close my eyes I see burning children..."
Jeremie nodded in understanding. He couldn't rid himself of those horrible images from the highway either...
Everything that he, Aelita, and the others saw would probably stay with them forever...
But in Aelita's case it was somehow worse. She had so desperately wanted to come to earth back when she and the others believed she was a computer AI trapped on Lyoko, and she had worked so hard for the right to be able to call herself a true human... now it seems like it was for nothing.
Instantly after thinking it, Jeremie forced that thought out of his mind. Aelita coming to earth was never for nothing... not even during a time as bad as this.
He vowed to never think such a thing ever again.
"Are you gonna be alright...?" Jeremie hesitantly asked her, reaching out to take her hand into his.
Aelita glanced down at her hand after Jeremie took it. After a moment, she looked up at him and gave his hand a squeeze...
"... I'll try to be, Einstein ..." Aelita promised. It was the best that she could do for now...
Jeremie nodded in understanding. Then he leaned over to give a kiss to Aelita's cheek.
"Thank you, Princess..."
Odd grinned at the pair, "Yeesh, get a room you two!"
The group shared a chuckle at that joke. Even William couldn't hold back a small grin...
It felt good to smile after all they've been through...
After another hour, the group had reached an intersection where the dirt road met a paved one. A gate with a metal fence on each side of it separated the two roads, and the group was forced to hop over the gate one by one to get across since it was shut with a padlock.
As William climbed up and over the gate, his foot accidentally got caught between two metal bars. Because of that, he initially fell forwards and slammed face-first against the gate. He bit back a scream as his foot was terribly sprained by the move.
"William!" Jeremie said with alarm as he, Yumi, and Aelita all hurried over to help him.
William gritted his teeth as his friends freed his trapped ankle from the gate bars. He was sat against the fence so that Aelita could go to her knees and check his foot.
"How bad is it?" Ulrich asked the pinkette.
"I don't think he broke anything..." Aelita responded, not looking away as she examined it. "I doubt he'll be able to walk without aid for a while though..."
"Yeah, yeah, Ulrich and I've got it covered..." Odd said with a slightly-annoyed wave of his hand. Guess it'll be some heavy lifting for a while...
Odd carefully handed off Kiwi to Jeremie and then he and Ulrich went to either side of William. The two each took an arm and wrapped them around their necks to pull William up off the ground. William himself winced and kept his injured foot elevated so he wouldn't have to use it.
Now that that was out of the way, the group resumed their trek. They were slower now because of William's accident but they continued to press on.
The group walked for another twenty minutes before they saw a 'walking corpse' further down the road. The sight of the lone creature was alarming, though not nearly as much as seeing dozens of them like on the highway. Thankfully the creature didn't seem to notice them...
The teens were initially going to re-enter the woods and go around the creature, but they were stopped in their tracks when they heard a noise. The teens stopped for a moment in confusion, but it didn't take long for them to recognize what they were hearing...
Somewhere close by, a woman was screaming.
Without wasting any time, the group hurried in what they thought was the direction of the screams. William was carried by Ulrich and Odd, and Yumi carried Kiwi in her arms. They were slowed as a result, so the pinkette and the supergenius took the lead.
Jeremie and Aelita were the first to find the source of the sounds. It originated in a campground a ways away from the road.
The campground was a wreck of ripped open and overturned tents. A few dead bodies laid here and there - some being the 'walking corpses', others seemingly being human. The couple saw a few of the 'walking corpses' stumbling around the area...
In the center of the campground, however, was an RV surrounded by a swarm of the 'walking corpses'. A panicked woman was on the top with a baseball bat in her hands, desperately trying to keep the infected from trying to climb up to her. She didn't have a way out of there.
Aelita was just about to rush out to try and help the woman... only to be stopped by Jeremie grabbing her by the arm.
"Jeremie?!" Aelita protested as she tried to free herself from his grip.
"Wait!" Jeremie urged her as he reluctantly let go. "There's a couple dozen of those things all around that RV, Aelita!"
The others caught up only a moment later, and they instantly saw what the situation was.
"God, she's trapped..." Yumi murmured, her eyes wide from sudden worry for the stranger's life.
"We've got to do something!" Aelita told the others, "we can't just stand here and let her die!"
William shook his head. "Aelita, if there's a way to help that woman without potentially getting ourselves killed, I'm not seeing it..."
In frustration over not wanting to see another person die, Aelita looked around for any sort of opportunity to help the woman... but it was already too late.
Without warning, a pair of arms suddenly reached out to grab the woman's legs. She didn't even have time to lift the bat to strike when more hands grabbed her, and within seconds she was pulled off of the RV's roof and into the swarm.
The 'walking corpses' showed no mercy as they began eating the woman to death. She screamed only for a moment before they tore open her throat, then her chest, then her stomach... ripping out organs and bone alike as easily as a pack of feral dogs would tear open their hard-won kill.
The group was so stunned that they could only stand and watch...
"O- Oh god..." Yumi managed to get out, feeling her stomach churning.
"They're like animals..." Jeremie murmured in horror.
In this moment, the group found out the hard way how long human intestines can stretch... how it sounds when bones are broken open for their marrow...
What a human heart being ripped apart by rotting fingers looks like... and how squishy lungs can sound when they're being chewed and swallowed...
The stark contrast between dirt and the color of torn-apart brain matter falling onto it... blood spewing out of torn arteries and vessels like a fountain...
... inhumanity.
Odd vomited at what he was seeing. So did Aelita. The others barely managed to keep themselves from joining them but were unable to look away from the horror.
These 'walking corpses' were truly nothing short of monsters...
"W- We need to go..." Ulrich stated, feeling very much unnerved by the sight of the woman being ripped and eaten.
Aelita couldn't tear her eyes away from the ruined remains of the woman. "B- But that woman, she-"
"She's gone." Yumi insisted. "There's nothing we can do for that lady now..."
"But-"
"She's gone, Princess..."
The pinkette alternated between looking at the ruined corpse of the woman and at her best friend, Yumi. After a moment, Aelita gave a reluctant nod to Yumi's logic. In the end, there really was nothing else they could do here, and they couldn't let themselves risk being seen and eaten too...
Wordlessly, and one by one, the teens backed away from the 'walking corpses' who were too busy eating the woman's remains to notice them, and they all resumed making their way in the direction they hoped was west. Toward Atlanta... toward their friends... and hopefully toward safety...
As she walked with the others back toward the road, Aelita took one last look back over her shoulder at the woman and felt a deep sadness over what had just happened...
Just one more bad memory which will haunt her...