Jenna brought the wheel barrow out of the field house. She had a couple of the men with her to help and keep their eyes open for walkers just in case they find a way through the fence somewhere. Matt and a couple of the other guys were out front. They hopped into the Monster and went to the construction site down the road and loaded the truck down with as much as they could find. Boxes of screws and nails, windows, concrete blocks and stones. They unloaded into the kitchen dock. Matt began working on his project. He had the kids working on arrows and sling shots. Once they got all of their supplies inside they locked the school down tight. All doors were locked, chained and barricaded by large furniture. There was no way they were getting in without heavy machinery.

Jenna filled buckets of stones and concrete and she and Chris and a few of the other adults took them up to the roof and got them set up for the sling shots. When the guys had brought in the supplies from the Monster they had taken it straight up to the third floor. They would throw broken concrete, sling stones and rocks and shoot arrows. Guns were only to be used by the best shots so the ammo wouldn't be wasted. Matt was pretty happy with his project. He had Jenna find old moldy potatoes and they brought them onto the roof. One of the other men pounded nails and screws into the potatoes so when they hit the victim would be impaled.

Matt held it up for Jenna to admire. "Pretty cool huh?" She cocked her head a little. "Yeah but what is it?" Matt grinned and said while laughing. "This my dear lady is a world class potato cannon."


"And I plan on tossing some homemade cherry bombs too." His laugh was hilarious and contagious. She happily pouted and said, "Geez and all I get to play with is guns and rocks." "Come on, let's get all this up on the roof. We will have people all over the school. The guys by the doors will have walkies and weapons. There will be a lot of walkers once the noise starts up so I'm hoping that will help us since we are mainly fighting from up here." Jenna nodded her approval.

Jenna was quiet for a minute. "They should be there by now huh?" Matt nodded. "Yup" The look on his face reflected what her mind was thinking. "Let's go! Everyone in place we should start to see some action here pretty soon."

Jenna taped magazines and books as armor onto the people shooting and throwing from the roof. Matt grinned. They were a funny looking army but whatever they had to do to keep safe. Some were wearing football helmets and other sports protective gear as long as it didn't stop them from seeing or moving properly.

@Demonic Angel@alexfangtalon@lpfan@belle@kurai assassin

9:18 PM

Chris woke up in his room. For the first time in two days he slept like a baby and it felt good to be rested again. Now he was ready for guard duty. He looks at the window and sees that nighttime already came. "What the hell? How long have I been sleeping." He says as he springs out of the couch and goes to the desk, grabbing his wristwatch. "Hmmm, 9:18 PM, damn, I slept a little over 5 hours. Shit! Nikki's probably gone by now. And so is her birthday celebration. I'll talk to her after she returns, provided she's in a good mood." He said as he put his wristwatch back around his wrist and sat on the chair as he drew his journal closer and started writing down on the same page where he wrote the previous content.

"Later that day...

"I'm beginning to think life is trying to punish me for all the bad things I've done in it. I've found this girl here, Jenna, she's the first woman I felt attracted to ever since I broke up with Michelle 7 years ago. As I was peeling those damn potatoes for her in the kitchen I was thinking about what could I do to win her over. And then I saw that in fact, she already has someone in her life. Some dude named Jon. He went off together with our leader, Nikki, and others to assault those bandits that attacked this place yesterday. What if he would die in the attack against those bandits? Wouldn't that be convenient? I'm pretty sure Jenna would have plenty of shoulders to cry on, especially mine. At any rate these people must not find out who I really am and what I used to do for a living. Otherwise it's back on the streets for me. If i'm lucky!"

Just as he finished writing for this day, Chris could hear the comotion outside. He grabbed his revolver and the holster, attached the latter to his belt, swinged out the cylinder, checking the rounds, then swings it back, puts it in the holster and gets up from the chair, getting out of his room. As he was looking around he saw all the comotion unveiling before him. Apparently everyone was busy while he was sleeping. He went to the kitchen along with others and helped Jenna put stones in buckets for some kind of slingshots, and also doing the best he could to ignore her. Once he was finished he took a football helmet and some football armor, together with a bow and some arrows and went up on the roof. And now, he and the others were playing the waiting game.

5:43 PM

Roger was in the suburbs of Ramona. He arrived this morning, stopping his motorcycle in front of a random house that seemed clear of walkers. Unfortunately for him he was ambushed by a group of 3 bandits that were also taking shelter inside. Now he was all tied up in a chair and attempting to release himself. His weapons and gear were on an armchair while the 3 bandits were at a table playing cards. All of a sudden the one that seemed to be in charge rises up and heads to Roger. "You know what old man? That's one hell of a bike you got there. Classic! I think i'll keep it. Along with the rest of your stuff." Said the bandit leader as he started laughing and his two partners quickly started doing the same thing. "If you put one hand on my motorcycle i'll make sure you lose it." Said Roger still calm and with a threatening tone.

"Oh really!" Said the leader as he headed to the door, opened it and after a couple of steps outside he touches Roger's motorcycle and steppes back inside. "Well i'm waiting!" He said with his hands stretched as he headed towards Roger, who in the meantime managed to free himself. He kicked him hard in the genitals, making him fall on the floor in pain. Roger imidieatly reacted, getting up from the chair and grabbing his machete. The two bandits from the table got up as well and started heading towards Roger who sliced the neck of one of them with a swing, making him fall on the floor as a pool of blood was forming beneath his sliced neck. The last standing bandit pulled out a knife and started slashing away at Roger who was dodging the attacks with his machete.

The two men abandoned weapons and got into a clinch, but Roger kicked this guy in the genitals as well and after e fell on his knees in front of him, Roger took his machete from the floor and sliced his chest open. Then he proceeded to clean the weapon's blade with the clothes of one of the two dead guys and proceeded to equip himself back with his backpack and leather gloves. Then he looks at the leader of the other two bandits who was still struggling with the pain that he got from Roger's kick in the genitals as he lifts him up and places his right hand on the table which they used to play cards. "When I make a promise I like to keep it." Said Roger while taking out his machete and slamming it hard on the table, cutting off his hand plus a part of his arm clean.

As the man fell on the floor squirming and screaming in pain, Roger once again cleans the machete's blade and puts it back in the sheath, grabs his Springfield M1A Socom 16 rifle with an added scope and with the rifle on his right hand he heads back to the guy who's right hand he just chopped off, grabbing him by his shirt and pulling him outside. Once outside he throws him out on the street. "I think the walkers are gonna have a delicious meal tonight." He said smiling as he grabbed the rifle with both hands and fired a shot in the air. The noise attracted all the walkers in the vicinity, but then again, that was Roger's point as he slings the rifle on his back and heads to his motorcycle, starting it and leaving the scene as he took one more look behind, as he saw the walkers getting closer and closer on the bandit with his hand cut off who was now screaming in terror much to Roger's delight.

Nikki had noticed two doors on the back and two on the front of the building. There was also a loading dock door. She hit the light on her watch. It was 11:30 they should be settling down for the night. She looked at the group and motioned for them to be really quiet and no shooting unless it was necessary. The last thing they needed was to have to worry about hoards of walkers. "Knives out guys..." Nikki crept up to the first door and motioned for them to follow. She pointed to the other doors as well and Eric, Jon and James took some men and headed off to the other entrances.

Nikki tried her door and it wasn't locked. Obviously they had thought they would be safe on their own land. She peaked inside. It appeared to be a guard's sleeping room. The door on the other side of the room was likely an entrance to the rest of the building.

Jon took his men around to the back entrance of the complex. He looked through the window panes of the door and noticed a guard in the security room right next to the entrance. Jon tapped on the window and waited for the guard to come checkout the problem. The men Jon had with him moved to either side of the doors when the guard came out, Jon stepped up beside him, put his hand over his mouth and stabbed him through the chest. "Right, i want two of you in the security room"

Nikki checked out the other side of the door and she saw that the basic floor plan was offices on one side and then the warehouse on the other side of them. It appeared that Nikki was in a good position to see a large section of the warehouse. That also meant that they were in a position to see them entering if anyone was in the warehouse. Nikki motioned for the guys to spread out and look for them. One of the doors opened just as Nikki was reaching for it and two men came through laughing and talking. Nikki kicked one in the face and as he fell backwards his pal ducked back and grabbed for his machete. The noise and yelling caused the next closest guys to come running. One of her guys stabbed the guy that fell. It quickly became a crazy fight. It seemed as if Nikki had interupted a nightly card game.

Jon looked at one of the screens that was in the security room. On it showed the feeds from four cameras. One showed a room where Nikki was fighting. Another with James and his team. Another showed the feed of a group waiting by a door with Eric and his team going through and another showed footage of Ray in his room. Someone was tied up and blindfolded in the corner. "Everyone else go help Nikki and Eric, im going for that bastard."

Jon drew his sword and ran off towards the main conference room.

Nikki and her team quickly had their hands full. The room they were in held at least ten guys. Luckily they weren't all preppared as some of them were drunk and one or two of them were high. It was a quick fight. She heard them bragging to each other about the win against the school the other day.

Meanwhile Eric and his team opened the wrong door. It happened to have their attack dogs behind it. The dogs ran at the men and being dogs they attacked upwards trying to bite necks. Instead they got arms with magazines rolled up around them for protection. Eric hated to do it but it was kill or be killed so he stabbed the dog in the head. His arm was bleeding profusely as he had opted not to use the mags on his arms. The animal trainer appeared out of nowhere and his gun went straight to Eric's head as the other men fought off the dogs and the entire compound stopped for a fraction of a second as Eric's grey matter exploded all over the others in his group.

Jon had rushed up to the conference room and was stood outside the door. He kicked the door in but was immediately blindsided by two guards. One punched his stomach, the other hit his head. When the third punch came he grabbed hold of the mans arm, taking his dagger and placing it through their wrist slicing all the way up before pulling it out, slashing the throat of a second guard then placing it into the others skull. "Remember me jackass."

"Jonathan Carter. I remember your girlfriends final screams and gurgles as she breathed her last breath." Ray shouted a small smirk grew across his face. "And now its your turn to feel the pain she felt."

Jon became enraged at the man and threw his sword at Ray, its tip hitting his shoulder. He continued by running up grabbing his sword and slashing his throat. The blood spraying across Jons face. As Ray fell to the floor he managed to slash Jons face with his own dagger. A bloody red gash now lay on what was once a perfect face.

Eric's men jumped on the trainer and stabbed him several times over. Robert looked at the others and thought of Nikki. He took over leading them. He opened the next door and saw several men running out the back door. They were heading towards the school.

Nikki ducked the gun that was being pointed at her as she swung her sword and beheaded him. She was immediately dodging another's knife as she blocked him with her arm and another got kicked in the gut as she spun around and looked around. She continued further into the building. She could hear fighting going on everywhere and she and the guys looked out for each other.

Jon stood near the limp corpse of Ray, he finally had vengance for what he had done. He only turned from the body when he heard the girl in the corner scream. "Shhhhhh, seriously do you want to get me killed" he said as he began to untie her.

"Im sorry, i just wanted you to untie me. ive been here for six weeks. I cant bear to tell you what they have done to me." She said as she began to cry.

Jon placed her head on his shoulder. "Its ok, your ok now. My name is Jon Snow. Whats your name sweetheart"

"Charlotte Alice Browning."

Robert and his men took off after the men heading towards the school. Robert could see about 15 of them running ahead of them. He wished he could let someone know they were on the way back to the school.

Nikki continued fighting and she saw two of her men go down as more men came out of a connecting room. She pulled her gun out and started firing and took out the two bigger guys that seemed ridiculously strong. Her 45 dropped them like they were nothing. In the time it took her to shoot them she was kicked into a wall and she rebounded quickly rolling and jumping up into an attack forcing her attacker backwards into aother teammate whose machete was in the right place to impale him. His screams brought walkers into the now open doors and deeper into the rooms.

Nikki would rather take out the dead. They didn't give her a bloody lip. Nikki found the command room where the camera's were. She played back the tape for the room Eric was in. She watched what happened to him and saw Robert and the guys chasing someone out the back door. Nikki wiped a tear away and stored the emotions away to deal with them later. Right now she needed to find Jon. He had split from his team early on.

Jon sat on the floor in the corner, Charlotte nuzzling into his shoulder. "Everything is gonna be fine now, They're all gone. Youll never have to deal with those bastards again." He said stroking her hair as she cried more and more into his shoulder. "You should come back to the school with us, you'll be safe there."

"C..c...can i, thank you so much Mister Snow"

Nikki directed her men to spread out and make sure the place was empty. She had two doors left. One she found walkers eating a couple of their guys and in the other she found Jon and a girl who was scared and crying. "Jon, let's go. They are already on the way back to the school. I think Robert's group took off after them on foot. We are taking the truck out back. I found keys for it." Nikki looked out the window and saw James and a few of his guys on motorcycles and in a car. "Let's go!"

Nikki got into the truck and was glad that it at least had gas.

Jon stood the girl up and brought her out to the truck and sat her in the back. He went and sat up front with Nikki. "Wheres Eric, shouldnt we wait for him"

Nikki kept her focus on backing the truck up. "He's dead. Robert took lead and followed the others back to the school on foot. James guys are on vehicles. Looks like we finish this at the school."

@Wick

Jenna hurried up onto the roof when she heard Matt yell down that they were here. There were a lot of people on the roof already. Jenna grabbed her gun and sat so that only her head and arm appeared over the ledge as she took aim. Deciding to try a bow first she grabbed one and took aim. She realized that they might have some issues with them. "Matt? The bows and arrows are harder to use than you think. They are hard to pull back and they aren't flying as straight as they should." He picked one up and nailed a walker in the head. He looked back at her "Or it's the user." He chuckled. She stuck her tongue out. "Yeah! Or that!" She laughed back at him.

Jenna decided to stick to her gun and let the others deal with the other weapons. She saw some of their archers hit their targets and one woman on the roof got shot. She had risen up too high and the attacker had gotten her in the belly. She was on her back and Matt ran over. He had brought the basics up with them just in case. "You guys stay down as much as possible!" Jenna watched as he unwrapped the book she was wearing taped to her torso. It was a large print version of war and peace. She laughed as he pulled the bullet from her book and looked at the redness on her stomach. He whistled and shook his head. "Tape it back on. That's a good book." Jenna shook her head and took aim and she saw Robert. "Guys! Our guys are down there too. BE CAREFUL!"

Jenna scanned the area for Jon. She didn't see him. She did look up as a couple of vehicles came screeching around the corner. James and his group of fighters hopped out and into the fray. The battle raged on with walkers in as a third party. They heard the noise and came in large waves. The archers were taking out more of the walkers than bad guys but that was okay as they were still hitting the enemy too. Jenna smiled as the kids were earning their keep.

Matt was having fun. He grabbed up his potato cannon and loaded it up with nail filled potato and aimed it at one of the guys trying to scale the side of the building near the gym. He hollered with approval as the guy got hit, fell and was being eaten alive. There were nails sticking out of his head and upper back. "Damn!This thing is dangerous but oh so cool."

Jenna looked up as a truck rounded the corner. Nikki was driving and Jon was in the cab with her. "Oh thank God." She looked up to see Matt realize who was in the truck and smile. "Hot damn it's gonna get fun now!" Jenna shook her head and took aim as Nikki slammed the truck into a couple of attackers that were close to her. She put the girl that was in the back of the truck in the front and told her to stay there and lock the doors til they came for her. Then Nikki disappeared into the darkness all Jenna could see of her was when she came out into the light. Nikki was in black clothes and her trenchcoat was dark blue so she was difficult to see. Jenna had kept count of the attackers that had fallen and there were six that she had counted as dead. She wasn't sure how many there were but it was close to 20. She kept her eyes on Jon as much as possible and she shot the attackers who dared to try to attack him from the back.

@Demonic Angel@Alexfangtalon@Belle@Kurai assassin@lpfan

Haru Sento

Haru was on the roof with the others when the fighting started. He had grabbed onto the rifle but couldn't quite put his heart into pulling the trigger so he directed the shooter beside him where to hit. That was until Nikki's group had come back. The young man didn't like it how they had suddenly appeared because he was just about to tell the person to shoot thinking they were an enemy. Thankfully Jenna had called out making him readjust their aim. The battle looked worst down on the ground then it was up above which was the thing that worried him he most. Yes the people was brave rushing into battle like that but it was also dangerous from the looks of it. Hopefully no one would be hurt down there. He aimed toward a person coming toward one of their people and shot the enemy's knee. ” Question for you Matt. I thought that they were hitting them and not leading them back to us? I mean don't get me wrong I'm glad Nikki's group is back and all by isn't it safer up here then down there?” the teenager asked in a worried voice as he aimed for another attacker. The guy shot this one in the head since the person was more into the light then the other one.

He noted the walkers before deciding whether to attack them or maybe leading them toward the humans. The young man lined up a shot at a walker toward someone on their side and pulled the trigger. There were about three bullets left before he had to reload so making them count would be best. Haru reloaded and tried to shoot again just to have the jam. ” Well that was fun while it lasted. Anyone know where our people begin and theirs end because to be honest I can't.” he stated honestly while carefully unjamming the gun. He was asking because he couldn't really see any of the bad guys until they walked closer or even into a lighted area.
@Wick

4:45am Day 12


"We knew they would run back to the school to hit us if any of them got away from their base. It would be a natural assumption to think that the school was left undefended and therefore an easy target. This is why you are up here instead of on the ground. The school is locked down tighter than ever before and it has internal guards by the doors." He reloaded the potato cannon and aimed it at the guy trying to break into the truck Nikki had locked a scared girl in. The attacker was "nailed" right in the chest. The force knocked him backwards but the screams brought the walkers in to feast on him. The noise made Nikki look up and she almost laughed when she saw him holding a potato gun.

"This is also why I said Nikki wouldn't let you go with her. She needs a specific skill set on the ground."

The sun was starting to rise and it was a little before dawn where the sky is lighter but still technically night. Matt was starting to look for their guys and see who was missing. He counted four missing. "If you don't know if they are ours stop and watch them before you target them." Matt's heart sank. He looked at Jenna who was guarding Jon from up on the roof. Then he squinted to see where Nikki went.

@Demonic Angel@lpfan@kurai assassin

Sadie Hill

---

---

Sadie and Micky didn't do much other than prepare. They didn't want their minds to wander to anything that might go bad. When dinner came around they were getting continuously concerned at the absence of Alex and the other girl. What also worried them was the fact that no one was even mentioning it. When the cake was brought out for Nikki that seemed to cheer them up a little as it did with many others. At least they hadn't lost all hope for humanity.

When Matt came to the two and asked them to help construct the arrowheads needed they immediately went full force into the job put before them. As the time to fight started drawing near Sadie started getting really nervous. She didn't want anyone to die, but she also wanted to help protect the people here. She grabbed a few magazines and taped them onto herself and Micky. They weren't going to shoot much, but it was better to be safe then sorry.

Just before the fight would start Sadie and Micky were waiting on the roof. They had decided they would keep people supplied with arrows and help anyone who got hit. Once the battle started everything picked up speed quickly. Everything was going pretty decent so far. No one on the roof or in the school had died from what Sadie could see. Supplies were good and they had plenty to use. When Matt yelled out that their people were here Sadie quickly took a peek over to see the fight. So many bodies were on the ground. Still yet to be seen were Alex and that girl. Where were they?

As more and more biters showed up it started to get harder and harder for their people on the ground. Suddenly one of the archers beside Sadie got hit. The person fell back and dropped their bow. Someone quickly showed up to take care of them. Sadie looked back down and then quickly grabbed the bow. She wouldn't shoot any of the people, but she would take out Walkers as best she could to cover those on her side. One benefit of growing up with a family originally from the South was that hunting was practically a way of life. She despised guns so she only hunted during bow seasons. She wasn't an amazing shot, but could hit a target from this distance fairly well.

@Wick@Demonic Angel@Kurai Assassin@LPFan@Belle

Kat stayed inside with Gracie, who was crying from the sounds of everything going on outside. All Kat could do was hold her tight and rock her, her own eyes shut tightly and praying for everything to stop.
She'd done the same thing far too many times in her childhood. Kat tried to detach her mind from the situation, to go somewhere else far away. But now she couldn't do that, not with Grace here.

Kat looked towards the door. She didn't like that those children were out there in that mess. She didn't like that Nikki and Jenna were out there.
She didn't like that Matt was out there...
Kat wanted to be out there with them. She felt guilty being safe inside while they fought, but she couldn't risk Grace's safety.

The last thing she had told Matt was if he didn't come back to her she'd kick his ass.
Ever since they had admitted they loved each other and he had proposed she longed to be with him all the time. It wasn't just her body wanting his, it was the source of comfort he provided. Just the sight of him was enough to make her feel safe and secure. So she prayed to a God she wasn't sure existed anymore to bring him back to her alive.

"Da! Dadadadadadada!" Grace cried out demandingly as tears streamed down her little cheeks. She wanted her daddy and she wanted him NOW. Heaven help the being, living or dead, that kept her daddy from her. The wrath of a toddler was not for the faint of heart.
Finally Kat laid her on the bed and she pounded her little fists on the mattress, tiring herself out. Hopefully she would cry herself out and sleep until Matt returned to the room.

There were a lot of people on the roof. Besides Chris there was also Matt and his potato cannon, Jenna, Haru, the two new kids and other people. Things got really hairy really fast as the bad guys started appearing, which was obvious from their part. They probably thought the place was empty and defenseless. Chris picked up the bow, leaned down on his left knee and aimed it at one of the guys as he let go of the string. The arrow flew right past his target! "Fuck!" He said as he took another arrow and aimed it at the same guy, this time hitting his target. Not long after the battle started the walkers started to appear. It was close to midnight now and the darkness was at it's prime. Chris could barely see anything as he fired another arrow hitting a walker in the chest.

"Goddamn bows!" Said Chris slightly upset as he put the bow down and grabbed his revolver as he pulled down the hammer and aimed it at a walker, shooting it in the head. Not long after that Nikki and the other guys came back and joined in on the action too and the whole place became one huge battleground. For Chris the situation became very complicated as he couldn't tell friend from foe anymore, especially since he didn't knew everyone in the high school just yet. He decided to concentrate on the walkers, since they were the one's that were the most easily recognizeable. He aimed his revolver at another one, cocking the hammer and shooting it down.

Then he finally noticed Nikki! "Oh my God!" He said to himself as he took off his helmet to look at her better. The chick looked like she was straight out of a martial arts movie. This distraction almost got him killed as a bullet flew right past his left ear. Chris snapped out of it and pointed his Ruger at the guy who tried to kill him, cocking the hammer and shooting him dead right in the chest. Then he shot him again, this time in the head, to make sure he dosen't come back as a walker. Proud of himself he took one more look at Nikki, as gracious as a bird. She was making those moves look so easy.

4:45 AM, Day 12

The battle was almost over. The sun was beginning to rise and the night making way for day. Chris has emptied the 6 rounds of the revolver's cylinder a long time ago and unfortunately for him he forgot to take extra rounds when he left his room. Anyway, he used a slingshot for the remainder of the night. Then Chris let down the slingshot, took off his football helmet and armor and climbed down from the roof with the intent of getting outside.

@Wick@Demonic Angel@alexfangtalon

Nikki was getting tired and she was having to take walkers out left and right. Matt tossed a couple of cherry bombs that exploded on contact with the walkers skulls. She could hear his laughter as the heads just exploded and the bodies fell like broken toys. She smirked to herself and rammed her sword through one of the attackers, first the chest and a dagger to the head. Nikki took a fist to the kidney as she pulled her knife out of the skull. It was a hard hit and she twisted around to face the guy.

She winced in pain but she didn't want him to see it so, "You are no gentleman hitting a lady in the back." He threw it back at her as he pulled out his knife. "What makes you think you are a lady? Last time I looked ladies don't fight like you do." She smiled. "Thank you, I'll take that as a compliment." She said as she began a back and forth that she could easily win. Matt was watching her and he tossed a cherry bomb and hit the guy in the upper back causing Nikki to get splashed with his grey matter. Her brain instantly focused on the video of Eric's demise and she froze. Matt watched as his sister was about to be killed. She snapped out of it and started fighting again just as a walker got close to her. She sent his head flying in a fit of anger. Soon Nikki didn't hear anymore gun shots and it was getting quieter.

@Kurai assassin@lpfan

Matt looked out over the battlefield and decided there were only walkers left. "Alright guys, let's get the roof cleaned up but we are going to store all of this in the room closest to the stairs up here." He radioed the guys at the doors to let the fighters in. He picked up the stones they had left and the cherry bombs and of course his beloved potato gun. Jenna and the others brought in the bows, slingshots and arrows inside and stacked them neatly in the room. Matt needed to make sure that the room was closed and locked so once that was done he looked up on the roof once more and then he locked the roof access and locked it down tight. He made a mental note to make repairs and more weapons for the next time. James let Charlotte out and brought her inside.

Nikki nodded to James and Jon. She was last in as always. She bolted the door and headed towards the shower. Matt watched her and Robert came up to him and told him about Eric. Nikki was in a place where she didn't even care about normal things. She walked into the locker room and took all of her weapons and set them within reach of the shower. Fully dressed Nikki turned the water on and rinsed the brains off of herself.

She stripped her trenchcoat off and yanked her boots off and set them away from the water. She stripped down to her bra and panties. Only then did she allow herself to cry. Nikki was beginning to think she was cursed. Eric should have made it through that with no problem. What kind of luck is that? The school lost 4 guys. She wasn't the only woman grieving the loss of a loved one right now. Nikki cried as she slid down the wall in the shower. The hot water was scalding her but she didn't care.

After talking to Robert and some of the other guys Matt went to the ladies locker room. He went inside and heard the showers on. He walked in with his hand over his eyes. "Nikki can I uncover my eyes or are you naked?" She kind of laughed "I'm in panties and a bra." Matt grabbed a towel and walked into the showers in his boots, turned off the water and picked his sopping wet little sister up off of the ground, wrapping her in a towel as he did. "Eric..." Her voice broke. "I know sis." Nikki buried her head in his shoulder and cried. She didn't even notice that almost everyone was watching as Matt carried her wrapped in a towel to her room. He stayed with her til she fell asleep.

"James? Can you go get her stuff out of the ladies locker room and take care of the coat and boots so they don't ruin?" James nodded and disappeared quickly.

After taking care of his sister Matt went back out to the group and he heard his little one as she bounced as much as she could on her mommy. "DADADADA!" He practically flew to his girls and kissed Gracie on the cheek as she tried to climb onto him and he let her as he kissed Kat soundly. There was chuckling from many of the people there as they broke up and went their own ways.

A few minutes later Jenna took Nikki's clothes and put them in the wash and put her boots and coat in the kitchen so they would dry faster. James sat outside Nikki's door to keep others from bothering her all on his own. After a while James was asleep in the chair. The first room in the hallway Matt had turned into a medical room. Most of the men were in really good shape there were only minor injuries. They had 4 losses, Eric, Mark, George and Brian. Matt was thankful it was not more.

Nikki slept fitfully. She kept dreaming about day zero. Her mother, her fiance and then she kept seeing Eric in her mind apologizing last night and then the video of his head exploding. She woke up screaming.

@kurai assassin@lpfan@belle@Demonic angel@alexfangtalon

The first thing Jon did was cleaning the blood from his face, the long bloody gash from where Ray's dagger cut him bled profusely but it was nothing serious. Merely a flesh wound compared to that of the unlucky souls on the receiving end of Nikki's sword. His priority at this time was to go and make sure Jenna was ok. He tied the towel he was using to dry the blood from his face around the his head thus applying pressure to the wound he had suffered before heading down the stairs. He made his way to the kitchen, Jenna's usual hiding place and stood in the doorway looking in disbelief at his now girlfriend stood in front of him.

"Told you i'd come back to you Jen" He smiled. It was the first time he had cracked a smile since he had got to the school. He winced a little from the pain of his cut.

Haru Sento

Everything seemed to play in slow motion as the fighting began to cease. When his gun was finally unjammed most of the enemies were either eaten or killed leaving walkers as the aftermath. The young man pulled the gun up once again and finished the remaining ammo inside. Three walkers were killed on the path toward the door when Matt mentioned that it was time to clean up. The teenager followed the others and place the weapon near the door for easier access to anyone who wanted it. He then went to his room, grasping on a baseball bat that Clara had found the last time she snuck out, before walking back out to make sure nothing had snuck inside. The guy walked the third floor then the second wondering multiple things. First was where Erin had gone and if she was alone. Yes the girl had someone with her or at least that's what the little girl said. If the darker half awakened than that would have spelled trouble. No matter who went out with the teenaged girl was almost always lost her.

The second was the history behind them. Wether it was true if they knew each other or not. The child could have been mistaken then again no one knew what Erin was like before all of this happened. Yet he only knew what was inside the file at the hospital. Parents died in a fire, the child was found underneath rubble and a body inside the room which firefighters thought the fire started, and developed Borderline Personality Disorder from the accident. There was a mention of a demon also inside the file but ten to one that was referring to the Hyde part of her. Two different personalities sharing one mind, body, and soul forcing every fiber of being to work overtime. Adding in the very little sleep into the mix would could her immune system to weaken over time which would make infections and illness more of a possibility. Haru was on the second floor when he stopped to stretch. The guy placed his hand over his mouth to cover up a yawn. Everyone seemed to be doing their own thing wether it was crying over the lost souls of their allies or sharing life with loved ones, not that was a bad thing to do.

The question was how to help everyone else to deal with the death without getting to close. Nikki was the main one to worry about since everyone said that Eric had been killed. They both seemed very close so that would mean it would be harder on the leader than the others which meant that it might be time for Erin to have a heart to heart. Maybe then the two could become support buddies or something to that effect. He walked halfway down the stairs just to be greeted by a sudden scream. The guy run down the rest of the stairs, toward where it might had originated, then plowed through the door just to fall over in front of Nikki. ” Ouch. Sorry Nikki. I heard screaming and I rushed as fast as I could. Looks like my breaks didn't want to work.” he said with a light blush and closed eyes. ” Are you alright? Is there something I can help you with? Granted Erin is the best person to talk about stuff like lost consider she was with her family when they died before all of this happened. I mean I could listen if that's what you need at the moment or something to that effect.” the teenager said trying to help in anyway he could.
@Wick

Jenna had been waiting. She saw him from the roof and she didn't realize that the blood on his face was his own. Between the killing of the living and the dead there was no telling whose blood was whose. She looked at him jumped up and ran to him. "Are you alright?" She pulled the towel away and looked at the cut. Jenna was worried it would get infected. "We need to get that cleaned and stitched up." She looked at him and she hugged him tightly and tears she didn't even know were there ran down her face. She kind of laughed "I guess it's the stress releasing." She said wiping her eyes. "Let's get this taken care of then we can get some sleep."

Jenna held onto his hand and pulled him into the new medical room. They waited for Matt or Haru to get to him. There was a line of guys with minor cuts in need of stitching. Jenna grabbed the peroxide and cleaned it and decided butterflies would work as well and they would be a lot less painful and less scarring. "You were very lucky." Jenna then took him upstairs to sleep. She was so tired and she knew he was.

When they got upstairs to their room she locked the door and put the dressing divider in front of the door so no one could see in. She helped him remove most of the outfit he wore and he kicked off his boots. Jenna started removing her clothing and she stopped him when he went to protest. She kept her bra and panties on. "I'm not ready yet but I want to feel you in my arms skin to skin. I was so afraid that I would lose you. Am I a terrible person for being grateful that it was Eric and not you? I shot as many as I could but I didn't want to shoot one of ours by accident." Jenna led him to the bed and she laid in his arms and they kissed and spoke until they fell asleep that way.

@kurai assassin

Nikki had sat up suddenly and her blanket slipped and exposed that she was only in underclothes. Her wet hair was wild and all over the place. She realized where she was and she pulled the blanket up more. "Haru? No, please go. I just need to sleep or something." She pulled the blanket up over her head and just about that time Matt came in. "Come on! She needs sleep. You can talk to her later." He hurried Haru out of the room, "She might not be up to talking about it right away and then again she might but not right now. Let's give her whatever time she needs. She saw Eric's demise on the video."

Matt kicked James leg as he went past and motioned to his shabby guarding technique. "Oh sorry." He fell back to sleep and Matt shook his head. He was exhausted too but he didn't have a 2 hour trek through the woods before heavy fighting.

He was just glad Nikki wasn't injured and that his family was safe.

@lpfan@Demonic angel@kurai assassin

The outside was declared safe just as Chris was headed towards it. He opens the doors and gets out as he looks around. So many dead bodies. Dead bodies that were going to have to be disposed of. He would do that, but maybe later. Right now he was too tired. He headed back to his room as he took off his revolve, swinged out the cylinder and used the ejector rod to eliminate all the spent cartridges, putting them on the desk as he reached out to his backpack and took out his ammo box, taking 6 rounds from it, reloading the revolver with them and swinging the cylinder back into place. Then he put the revolver together with the holster on the desk but kept his knife unto him like he did yesterday.

Afterwards he gets out of the room, heading to Mikki's room, wanting to finally have a 1-on-1 chat with her and saw a blonde guy guarding the entrance to her room. Chris sits in front of the sleeping guy with his arms crossed for several seconds. Then he proceeds to kick his chair so hard that the guy nearly fell off after he got awake. "Wake up Goldy Locks! I wanna talk to Nikki. Is she inside?" Asked Chris. "Nope, sorry! She just had a shower and now she's resting. In case you haven't noticed she's had a busy night, and besides that she just lost her boyfriend Eric." Said James scratching his right eye and getting up on his feet. "Fine! I'll come back later then." Said Chris as he uncrossed his arms and walked back to his room.





4:45 AM, Day 12

Roger stops his motorcycle about a quarter mile away from what looked like a high school. He grabs his rifle and looks through the scope to see what's in the distance. Looks like a real battle took place there. By the looks of things there were 3 parties involved. The defenders, most likely a group of survivors that live in the high school and two attacking parties, one of them seemed to be some bandits and the second were the ever present walkers who were just there for their usual "all you can eat buffet". It seems that the high school's defenders have won this one, at least for the time being. They might have used slingshots, bows and arrows, an occasional firearm and magazines and football equipment for armor but at least they were still alive.

Roger was impressed. It was good to see that at least some people still had fighting spirit, and for the good reasons, not for the bad reasons. As he was about to lower the rifle, Roger looks into the scope again as he saw a familiar car in the parking lot. A black Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 truck with California license plates number 6BRI696. "Oh my God, that's Chris's truck!" Said Roger as he quickly slinged the rifle back on his back and rode to the high school entrance. He got out of the bike, opened the gate, got back on the bike and rode inside, got off again to close the gate and got back on as he headed to the parking lot, stopping next to his son's truck as he stopped the motorcycle and got off of it and started looking at Chris's truck, to make sure is the exact same one and that he didn't make a mistake.

@Wick

Nikki was awake now and she couldn't sleep. She threw on her Guy (karate outfit)

ran a brush through her hair and walked out of the room just as James was talking to Chris. She looked at James. "I'm up James. It's ok." She looked at Chris. "You are the new guy right? Chris wasn't it?" Nikki turned towards the gym. "Walk with me. What's going on?" She entered the gymnasium and st up the training stuff. She needed to exert her pissed off energy. She listened to him as she beat the crap out of the bags.

@LPfan

Chris was halfway to his room when Nikki got out all dressed in karate gear and told him to follow her to the gym. He wrapped his hair in a bun himself as they were heading there. Once in the gym Chris decided to speak. "First of all i'd like to thank you for accepting me here. I was kinda wandering around aimlessly before I discovered this place." He said as he watched her beat the hell out of those punching bags.

Nikki was focussed pretty well on the bags but she was listening. "No problem. Is that all you had on your mind?" She said wondering why he picked now to tell her that. She decided not to beat around the bush. She stopped and looked at him.

"Look, I don't mean to sound bitchy but I am probably suffering from a slight case of PTSD or something right now. I need to work it out so I can get back to normal. I lost someone I cared a lot about in that battle and I appreciate your gratitude but unless you are going to help me fight or make me laugh or something that will help me I just really need to...I don't even know."

Nikki stopped and leaned up against the bag shaking so hard she didn't know what to say. She looked up at him and said. "Can you hold me a minute? It will go away but I shake so hard I can't walk."

Chris quickly put his arms around her, helping her stand still. "I know how it's like to lose someone you love. I used to have two brothers, plus a mother all gone. My younger brother, I lost him just 6 days ago during a raid at a Walmart. The place turned out to be crawling with walkers and as we were trying to escape he got bit. Knowing that he'll probably become one of them he took the shotgun I gave him when this mess started and distracted the attention of the walkers from us to just him while I ran away like a coward. I should've died there together with him." Said Chris as he was holding Nikki tight,

"Yesterday I tried to shoot myself over it. But then I realized that I was just throwing away my brother's sacrifice." Continued Chris as his eyes got watery. This was a sensitive subject for him, talking about the grim fates of his family members.

Nikki's body was starting to stop shaking as hard. The spot in her low back was really starting to hurt. She sat forwards a bit "Can you lift up the back of my guy and tell me how bad is the bruise on my lower right back. I got hit hard there during the battle." When he looked he saw that it was black and blue. It was a very deep bruise that would take a while to heal.

Nikki's walkie blared out. "Nikki? there is some older man here asking about Chris, the new guy. Do I let him in or no?" asked Darius.

Nikki looked at him and raised her eyebrow. "We'll be right there." She looked at Chris. "Got anything to tell me about this guy before I meet him?"

Chris complied and looked at Nikki's bruise. "Black and blue and about the size of my fist." He said. "It's pretty deep and it should take a while to heal." He continued. "Well I ain't no expert but that's how it looks like to me." Chris didn't get the chance to hear a reaction from Nikki regarding the bruise because her walkie started beeping. When she picked it up the voice on the other side mentioned something about an older guy asking about him?

Chris's face turned pale. He didn't knew any older guys and the only family he had left was his father but he hasn't spoken to him in 12 years. When Nikki asked him if he has anything to tell her about this guy, Chris thought for a second about what might tell her. "I swear I have no idea who it is. Well there is only one possible solution. That it might be my father but last we saw each other we argued like hell and I haven't seen him since. And that was like 12 years ago." He said gesturing with his hands.

"Okay well let's go see who it is." Nikki was still shaking a little and they started out to the front. She was a little slower than normal since the muscles were tightened and spasming on her. When they got up front Nikki saw an older man carrying a gun of course. He was wearing biker gear. She figured he was a pretty tough old bird. "Is that your Dad?" She asked Chris.

Chris followed Nikki up to the school's main entrance. When the doors opened he saw his old man. As tough looking as he always was. He put his hands on his head as he looked at her. "Yeah that's him." He said as he looked at his father. "DAAAAD! OVER HERE!" He shouted to his father who was still investigating Chris's truck. Roger startled by the shouting of a familiar voice headed towards the entrance. "Hello young lady. I'm Roger! The father of that bastard sitting behind you!" He said with a calm tone while looking at Nikki.

"Well come on in. You'll have to excuse the mess outside. We had a bit of a battle in the last few hours. Cleanup will start tomorrow." She turned to Chris. "I'll leave you to your Dad now, thanks Chris." She turned and started walking to the kitchen.

"Don't worry about the mess!" Said Roger. "I've seen worse." He continued as he stared at Chris, who was in turn staring at Nikki who just left for the kitchen leaving him with his father. Twelve years of silence, he didn't even knew where to start. "Come on dad! I'll show you to my room." Said Chris as he started walking back to his room with Roger following behind him.

Sadie Hill

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As the battle was drawing to a close, Sadie was extremely relieved. She was sad that a few on their side died, but at least no more were going to die soon. When Matt told everyone that it was time to clean up Sadie turned and saw Micky helping someone who had been hit down back into the school. She smiled and started gathering everything she could to put into the closet.

Walking around the school it was a mix of emotions. Some crying out of joy and others crying out of grief. Sadie wanted something to do so she didn't dwell to much on the sadness. After a while of thinking she came up with an idea that she hoped would be well received. She went around asking various people about those that had been lost during the past few days that had been apart of the group. Obviously, she did her best to avoid anyone who was to grief stricken. Once she had gotten all the names she went to work on her project. She found a broken piece of glass and went into one of the empty classrooms. She then started etching the names of those who had died into one of the walls. Soon others walked by and asked her what she was doing. She told them and they decided to help. With the additional help it didn't take that long. Once they had put down all the names Sadie wrote under them, We survive to remember them and honor their sacrifice. Once Sadie finished she decided she would go clean up finally, and then go to get some sleep.