I woke up after sleeping for who knows how long, my vision was blocked but then i remembered that i put my hand over my eyes. I sat up and moved my hand as i noticed my hat shifting lower down to my legs. I picked it up and put it back on my head. I scratched my neck for a bit as it felt uncomfortable, everything felt uncomfortable actually, maybe it was due to me sleeping on the floor though. I stood up and accidentally knudged Sam, i was going to apologize then remembered she was sleeping. Sunlight was shining through the window ever so slightly, if it wasn't for the chair near the window, the sun would be shining down Kyle and Sam.

"Good morning" I heard Kenneth's voice. I looked over at the couch and saw him reading a book. "It's about 7 or 8 AM in Eaxura time it's been awhile since i checked, and we have the day off, so I'm catching up on some books that i never got to read when we were human."

"Guess that's one way to kill the time...want anything to eat" I made sure to walk over Kyle and not on him as i went to the kitchen.

"Can you make some french toast?" Both of us had our voices lowered, and people in Eaxura, at least my neighbors, hadn't waken up yet, so it was really quiet, besides for the fan i turned on before laying down.

"Of course, i didn't learn nothing in class" After getting to the kitchen i took out some already beaten eggs, some cream, vanilla extract and cinnamon and whisked them together "Give me about...18 minutes"

"If you need help lemme know" After they were fully combined, i started melting some butter, and while that was going on i soaked some bread slices in the batter i made before. And the final part, actually cooking the thing, i let it brown before flipping it and browning the other side. I continued till i made a serving size that fit everyone. Me and Ken had a somewhat large portion, Kyle and Nicholai had a mix between medium and a large portion, and Sam's was medium since she had the smallest appetite...it made me worry when i thought about it, hopefully that statement doesn't hold true since she's a DT now, but just incase I'll keep it small.

"He's making french toast" I heard Kenneth talk to someone, I peeked my head around so i could see through the kitchen "window"(think of a hole shaped like a window looking into the living room). Kyle and Nicholai had waken up and i assumed they asked where i was. I got a tray and placed all the plates of french toast on it, it was a bit heavy but i powered through and placed the tray down on a table set in the middle of the living room. I had written the first letter of their name (With the exception of Kyle and Kenneth) to indicate whose is whose.

"Looks good" Nicholai seemed like she hasn't slept, weird considering she was the first to fall asleep, maybe she woke up in the middle of the night. Sam was still asleep though, and i'd feel kinda guilty if i woke her up, yet i'd feel guilty for not letting her eat. I sat next to her and tapped her shoulder.

"Come on now Sam, can't sleep in forever even on a day off, we gotta see if your parents are safe" After saying that she slowly rose up with her hair fuzzed, she still had her ponytail though. "Morning Sam" I motioned my hand to the food.

"Fo- oh, nevermind" She seemingly cut herself off and spoke a completely different sentence after coming to her senses again. "I feel exhausted" She was still huddled up in her blanket.

"It'll pass, it's just cause I woke you up" Sam got up and sat on the couch, I moved the table's surface up and grabbed my plate before sitting down on the couch myself, Kyle soon joined everyone shortly after, and we all sat on the L couch.

"It's good!" Sam was back to normal clearly, though she was eating slowly, but i didn't worry too much about it, she just woke up after all.

"Leave it to Lee, if he ain't leading he's cooking up something" I deciphered Kenneth's garbbled talk and wrote what i assume he said.

"Thanks, i should cook when we're on longer expeditions and camp out somewhere" I was about halfway done with my food, while Kyle already finished.

"Well, if you all are going after Sam's parents then i got no place to join" Kyle put his hands in his pocket. "Good luck with finding them, they're good people. and we need people like that, though, i guess you'd be taunting Lee at this point if they did live."

"I'll be alright, considering i never met them, and i never was in an orphanage, i doubt they were good people. I'd rather have no parents than abusive ones"

"Fair enough Lee...i hope though...that you do find them, cause i feel like you'd have a few words for em if ya did" He rolled his shoulders. "I'm gonna get going, Kayla needs me for something, see ya later weirdos" He waved us off and turned the lights on before leaving.

"Thanks!" I shouted out, hoping he heard me.

"So" Kenneth stood up with an empty plate "When're we gonna look for Sam's parents?"

"I'd be fine with now, it's better for me to just get it over with." Sam seemed kinda down, but she finished her food at the least.

"I say we all take a shower first, all the drinks and food, and that party thing yesterday is making conflicting scents on us" Nicholai stated.

"You know, since we smell a bit, wouldn't we blend in with the zombies in the other world?" Kenneth pointed it out to us.

"I feel disgusting though..." Nicholai's voice shook a bit.

"We've put zombie guts on us before, and that wasn't disgusting?"

"Course it was! We just got used to it like i got used to being a medic!"

"I dunno Nicholai, i think it's fine" Sam spoke almost instantly after Nicholai finished speaking "I mean, we'll probably have to do that gut idea when we get there anyways even with our magic, so we can just get it over with then shower"

"Well said" I supported the two.

"you have a point...alright...let's get to it, we're already in our gear." Nicholai got up and stretched. We had all finished our food.

"You gonna be fine though Sam?" I patted her shoulder. We'd be going into a bloody area after all.

"Yeah, I'll have to overcome it sooner or later." She got up and put her plate on the kitchen counter. "Alright! I'll clean it later, for now, who's ready to reunite the rest of the Calstianos family!?" The way she talked made me sure she was hoping they were alive...and i was hoping too, but what would i do if they weren't? Sam would already have to have realized that, there's a chance...and it's a major one.

"I'm ready too, so let's get to it" I cast aside my thoughts of what if, and stood beside Sam and Nicholai. "You Ken?"

"Yeah, let's go" He stood up with us. I summoned my sword, i did my best to pick our old home world and after that i slashed in front of us, opening a portal to it, i could see the now filled with vegetation school we used to attend, it was nostalgic and heartbreaking...it was only a few days ago since we've been there...and yet, it looks like months, or even years passed since we left...

"Lee..." Nicholai's voice was right beside me.

"I know...it's not like i don't have my own worries here after all." I took a breath, this might be hard for all of us, especially considering we'd be going to our childhood neighborhood." If anyone needs to rest, or sees something that makes them wanna back out, let someone know, we're going to be seeing a lot of stuff, and there's a difference between what we've been doing as DTs, and what happened as humans...as DTs, we're fighting and killing other soldiers, people who deserve it...no one here though...no one deserved this..." I spoke the rest of my mind.

"of course" Kenneth and Sam responded softly.

We all entered the portal and there we were, standing on the rooftop of our old school, looking out onto the city we once lived in.

"We lived here for so long, even during the apocalypse, so why does it feel so painful to be here now?" Sam's voice shook.

"I think...we all have our own reasons...but...at least I'll say mine, i feel...guilty, i know we didn't have these powers back then...but having them now, it makes me wish i could do something...but if i did, i don't know what i would ruin in the future. Ruco, Kai, us, Alice, sure, we wouldn't die, but we don't become DTs either... and considering they're high ranks, they're important...that's what i feel...that's why i feel hurt right now" They were silent as i gave my reasons. "Let's go" I spoke quietly, my throat felt like it was burning. We began descending down the stairs...it was so barren...the stuff we built during the apocalypse was still here...the sketchbooks we used for fun, the whiteboards we marked with 'Bravo Team sticks together forever'...everything was here.

"I know we were almost always in danger in this place...but is it weird that i kinda miss it?" Nicholai looked into one of the classroom.

"No...i don't think it is" After letting Nicholai think for a minute we continued down the stairs until we were at the entrance, we walked through it together and began the voyage, course, we could just warp there, but i think everyone just wanted to see this place again even if it was full of plants or walking corpses.

After walking through the town we encountered some zombies. They just shambled around mostly, back then i just killed them whenever i could, because i just wanted to make sure no one got hurt, but seeing them like this reminds me that maybe there could still be a piece of humanity in them. It was only three of them, they were no harm, so i just walked past them, if the others wanted to kill them then they could. Eventually we made it to the neighborhood we lived in and began the search for Sam's house.

"They're barley recognizable" I heard Kenneth say across the road.

"It's been a while after all, one...two years?" I looked at the house numbers looking for 143.

"I think i found it!" Nicholai called us over. When we got there i saw it 143, it was Sam's house alright.

"So...should you go in last or first?" Kenneth looked over to Sam. "If you go in last we could warn you of anything...let you prepare mo-" Cutting Kenneth off She walked past him and went to the door, she crouched down and took out a fake floor panel and picked up a Key, she stood up and unlocked the door.

"I'd rather see it myself" She walked, and we shortly followed her inside.

"This..." I couldn't finished my sentence, the outside, looked at least slightly recognizable when you looked closer, but the inside...broken stuff, blood on a dropped knife. However, it seemed Sam still held onto hope, so i would too, as would the rest of us.

"Alright! Let's get looking, Lee and I'll take the upstairs, you two check down here, there's eight rooms if we exclude stuff like bathrooms and storage rooms, so that's two each, let's get to it!"

"Your house, so i guess you decide, we'll get to it." Kenneth assured her as him and Nicholai ran off, getting to the search. I walked up the stairs with Sam.

"You think they're alive to right?" Sam's voice was quiet "I mean, this house was really defendable, and my parents can get really protective of me, so, there must've been some weapon to use other than that knife right?"

"Yeah, i think so too" We made it to the top of the stairs, she took the left side almost immediately so i took the left. First room i entered was Sam's, or both of ours when i needed a home. I could even see my bag in the corner.

"Ain't anything in here...but..." I mumbled to myself, i walked over to my bag and looked through it. Money, Identification, there was one thing that i did remember though, a Krambit. "Well, forgot all about you" I picked it up and put my thumb in the slot, spinning it around for a sec or two before hooking it onto my waistbelt and putting it in a sheath i made for it. I picked up the bag and put it on, there's a few other stuff in there i'd wanna keep and bring to my home in Eaxura. I went into the other room and it was mostly storage, nothing much really, so i looked through some boxes, maybe they started using it for survival and put food or water in it. However, everything in the boxes was the same as it was two years ago, and one of which was a photo album made by Alice. I picked it up and went through it, so many memories were in here. Sam when she was born, her first day of elementary, the four of us playing around at her house, us visiting in the hospital...I closed it when it started getting to highschool, everything in this album was stuff i already know about, so no need to look at it more, but i put it in my bag regardless, i'd give it to Sam later. And that was it for my rooms, nothing besides my old bag was here. I went over to Sam's search area and peeked in on the room she was currently searching, it was her parents room, from what i could tell there was no sign of death, nor anyone still living here.

"How's it going up here?" Nicholai creeped up behind me to the point where i was getting ready to slash at her.

"Don't...do that...but, there's nothing, there's nothing up here, and assuming you're up here..."

"Yup...nothing too, we're leaving the basement for all of us to go down, since it's locked" The basement...a horror death sentence for normal circumstances, but for what we are now, it's not really threatening.

"We'll head down in a sec, just give Sam a minute" I continued to watch Sam search while Nicholai went downstairs.

"There has to be something!" I walked into the room and sat beside her.

"There's still a room, the basement may be where they are, or where any sign of them could be." She seemed annoyed at what i said.

"Why in all places would they be there!?"

"It's something, not to mention, if they are here, then maybe they heard us and went downstairs to hide" I wasn't going to mention the fact that we've said Sam's name many times, or the fact they would hear her voice by now, but it was some hope.

"Yeah! You're right!" She got some burst of hope and bolted downstairs. I still sat there and took a look around, clothes all over, empties out cases and boxes from Sam's search, the bed wasn't anywhere near clean.

"Pity...this home really was special" After saying my piece i regrouped with the others downstairs.

"Alright, i doubt Sam has the key to the basement." Kenneth spoke as he stood in front of the door.

"No...and there wasn't any key upstairs" Sam proved Kenneth's statement.

"I could picklock it if we don't wanna damage the house" I gave an idea while standing behind everyone, they turned to look at me.

"When'd you learn to picklock?" Sam looked confused.

"I thought i told you? No! I thought i showed you" She only looked more confused.

"Did you?..." I was sure i did, or maybe were we losing more memories by the day? If an instance like this happens again, I'm making it a point to talk to Alice about it, i don't really trust the other three after all.

"Whatch'all doing?"-Kayla

She popped up on the TTS...right, we need to manual leave the call, something we never did yesterday. Kayla's sudden voice made everyone including me jump a little.

"Well, i can't blame you for startling us"-Nicholai

"Why? Was i interrupting something?"-Kayla

"Kinda, we're looking for any sign of Sam's parents"-Lee

"Ah, that's where you all are, alright, when you four get back i need to have you guys do something"-Kayla

"Which is?"-Kenneth

"So, our magic, apparently doesn't come from thin air, in the dimensions we go to, at least where low ranking groups like us go to, there are these rods in the ground in certain locations that make our magic easier to use, Raymond wanted us to set one up, since he trusts us enough to do that at least."-Kayla

I walked over to the basement door and started to pick it

"Well, we're kinda busy, but we'll do it later"-Lee

"I'll remind you guys when you get back, until then, don't die, get hurt, or bring some psycho back to Eaxura"-Kayla

"My parents aren't psychos!"-Sam

"I'm sure they're not, as that's not what i was talking about, anyhow, bye!"-Kayla

"And done!" With one more press and a turn i was able to use some broken house appliances as a lockpick. We took a step back, allowing me to open the door.

"Well done Lee" Kenneth praised me as i took the first step into the basement.

"Sam is there a light down here?" Nicholai pointed out how we were stepping into darkness.

"Hold on" We waited for a few seconds before a blinding light came on.

"My eyes!" I covered my eyes by putting my right arm slightly in front of it, i looked towards the ground so i could slowly get used to the light.

"A warning would've been nice"

"You asked for light Nicholai, so you got light" Sam taunted Nicholai a bit as she went down the stairs past me, a few more steps and i was on the basement floor with her. Soon after the other two were as well. The basement had many boxes down here, along with a christmas tree, some decorations for certain holidays and some emergency rations incase of an emergency, and about half were eaten. Seeing that made Sam glow with hope again. I walked over to one of the rations, a can of food to be a slight bit more exact, and looked at it. It wasn't dry, if anything it was like it was open a little while ag-

"What the..." A click sounded behind me. "Who the hell are you people?" I looked behind me...i expected to be surprised, but i was disappointed, it wasn't them...some other couple took over this house...meaning this food was eaten by them...or maybe Cali and Baker were here recently...meaning that bloody knife was looking a lot more worrying. The other two seemed to have put their hands up by reactions, Sam however seemed to have pieced it together like i did.

"Well, that ain't polite is it? This ain't your home after all, shouldn't a guest introduce themselves?" Sam's voice sounded like she was going off the deep end, either that or something could easily cause her to break down crying.

"And how'd you know that? For all you know you could just be some kids trying to steal from us!" I was trying to summon one of my blood spears to get rid of the gun the man was holding, until i noticed my blood kept trickling instead of going into the air...ahh, that's some timing Kayla...i pieced it together once again...until i didn't...that masked guy used magic to warp didn't they?...meaning someone broke it...if that was even possible...meaning we could get hurt just as humans can..."Crazy Bastard! The hell you cut your hand for?" The guy noticed my bleeding hand causing blood to hit the floor. "You weren't bleeding just a second ago!" Well, i was going to lie and say i just got cut but seems he's smarter than i thought.

"Look in any album here and you'll see i lived here!" Sam ignored the man and just tried to prove it was her house again.

"The fuck i'd even care? you all ain't got no weapons besides for that boy with the sword" I motioned his head towards me...right, i brought it when i made the portal. "And he better get to dropping it before he gets his face shot off" Damnit...leaving it isn't the problem i could just resummon it back at Eaxura or New Min, the problem is being defenseless...though...i had planed an idea.

"Alright, sure, I'll even bring it over to you"

"Lee!?" Nicholai looked at me annoyed. Clearly they realized we didn't have our powers anymore.

"Heh, fine by me" I kept my sword pointed at the ground, using the gun part wouldn't be possible, the bullets were mostly magic, i had an other idea though. The woman didn't have a weapon...so doing this should be easy. I took a breath when i was in front of the man. "Well, drop it boy"

"Sam, A or D?" I had used this sentence before during the apocalypse, though it seemed Sam was confused by it.

"The hell you on about? Drop the sword!" The woman talked now, ironic cause she got no weapon. i dropped it but kept it away from the woman so she wouldn't have a weapon still, and i doubt she'd get near me defenseless.

"Sam...A, or, D?" It was like it struck her on what i meant, she took a few seconds to contemplate it.

"A" Her response was what i expected from her, but i would've preferred D considering what we pieced together in this house.

"Alright, it's more harder that way though" It seems the guy got annoyed by my cryptive A and D thing so he aimed at me. "Support wherever ya can crew!" The guy was close to pulling the trigger so i detached my Krambit from my waist and slashed up with my right arm so he'd raise the gun higher, a shot went off and hit a pipe. The guy stumbled back but got tripped by Nicholai who kicked the guy in the arm to get the gun from his grip. Before he could react Nicholai took a shell from his belt and loaded it, aiming at the guy. While that happened and i was bringing my arm back down, the woman pulled a concealed pistol...well damn it.

"Drop it!" Nicholai's aim went to the woman as Kenneth broke the pipe off the wall and was ready to bash the guy's head in if needed, so the guy stayed down. I noticed Sam went somewhere, most likely flanking this woman, so we just need to buy time.

"Listen lady you're not in a desirable situation right now, He's armed, She's got a gun trained on you, and i got you guy down here. Just drop the gun" Kenneth tried convincing her...well, threaten her depending who you ask. I moved my leg back a bit, trying to get my sword from the floor so i could throw it at her, after all, a krambit isn't exactly an easily effective throwable weapon, however my sword wasn't there. I looked around, the guy didn't have it, though he did have a stun baton, it was mine...more specifically Sam's, but i gave it to her so it's technically mine. They rummaged through this house, and no wonder my bag was open, kinda stupid he didn't take the krambit though.

"So? What's stopping me from shooting all of you? Sure the boy's armed, but only one of ya'll got a gun" She was crazy but right, she kept backing up more and more, getting away from the spread of a shotgun, and from how fast i can rush her, though, I've heard that even a person with a knife can have the advantage on someone with a gun, though i think that's only when the pistol is holstered.

"This is the apocalypse and I've noticed zombie corpes around the neighborhood, putting it simply, i doubt that gun has ammo" Nicholai tried calling her bluff. "I used guns during the apocalypse too, ammo is a luxury, and a very dangerous one at that, we only had it cause we found a bunker and a code to another bunker, even then there were tons of us in a group, and even then, we barley had ammo, do you honestly expect me to believe that you do?" Nicholai seemed to talk the woman into a slight panic.

"Think your smart huh!?" She aimed the pistol to the ceiling, and that's when i rushed her. She had already pulled the trigger and was aiming at the sky, if I'm not wrong that pistol requires it to be pulled back to rechamber due to the larger bullets, meaning not only does it have to be rechambered, but the shot itself require a few seconds to go by. Things however did not go as i planed. "AAghh!" Sam came from the side and stabbed her leg with my sword, Sam got hit with the back of the gun but I continued rushing her and knocked her down, i reached for the pistol and tried getting it out of her hands, reaching for my krambit would mean i lose power in this struggle.

"Fuck this i had enough of trying not to harm them" I heard Kenneth then a loud bang, footsteps followed and i saw a pipe in the corner of my eye. "Can you move Lee!" I tried shifting my arm slightly but the woman took advantage of it and fired a shot, it grazed my shoulder but nothing too bad. I saw a pipe swinging my way which caused me to flinch a slight bit, a crack echoed in the basement as the woman started screaming in pain. I took the pistol away from her and stood up. Nicholai knocked the other guy out with the stock of the shotgun while Kenneth broke the woman's arm with a pipe. "See what happened when you don't listen?" I knew they had it handled so i ran over to Sam, she was sluggishly sitting up crying.

"It burns" She held her...arm?, it was bleeding slightly along with her head, but neither was bad. I sat beside her and looked at the pistol i took, looking for any blood, then i saw it, the mag, it was slightly pointed and that point had Sam's blood on it, bad luck all around today, Sam must've gotten stabbed when falling down, her parents always mentioned how dangerous down here was with all the boxes.

"Stay put" I looked over at Nicholai and she understood to tend to her while i look for something. I went through the basement, one thing i do remember about this household is that there's a first-aid-kit in almost every room due to Sam's illness, due to that though i doubt there'd be much bandages, but it's worth a try. Eventually when going through the emergency prep stuff i found it, i checked it...nothing, it was cleaned out...I ran back around to the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Nicholai called for me.

"A first-aid-kit!" I ran upstairs and went to the bathroom. I went through the cabinet, there were some bandages...a needle too...I preformed some very mediocre medical job on Crystal with a needle and thread, but it wasn't needed for Sam, nor would i ever want to do that to her, at least with Crystal we had proper medical equipment. I took the bandages and continued looking through the house, nothing again...those prickes downstairs used up everything, must've thought they were gonna feast on it all since with how old they looked, they wouldn't need to worry in the long run.

I ran back downstairs with the small amount of bandages i had and went back to Sam and Nicholai.

"Alright, it sure ain't much, but i have this" I sat on the other side of Sam while Nicholai was on the other.

"The head stopped bleeding already, her arm is getting worse though, i think sh-

"Stabbed herself on something, yeah I figured it out" I cut Nicholai off, i felt bad but i was panicked a bit after what happened and knowing our magic got cut...meaning...we can't return to Eaxura.

"Shup up already!" I heard Kenneth shout "You're just complaining now, you ain't in pain anymore i know it"

"I'll do it, you need to relax a bit, and we only got a set of bandages, we can't afford to mess up" I nodded, she was in a better state then me. I gave it to her and went over to Kenneth.

"Goddamn they're annoying" Kenneth had ziptied one of their arms to a sturdy pipe they were on opposite sides so they couldn't help each other, the guy was still knocked out and the woman had gone to screaming her head off. "You're attracting zombies shut up!" Kenneth started to lose his composure...knowing the magic got cut off must've been going to his head too, knowing we could easily die for good this time now. The woman seemed to stop, finally understanding. Kenneth put his hand on his face and took a breath. "What did we get into?" It was clear he was talking to me. "I get, that Sam wanted to see her parents, that's fine, but how did we lose our magic and almost get killed in ten minutes? No! How did we lose our magic! We just used it didn't we? With TTS?"

"Kenneth, take a breath again, calm down" I put my hand on his shoulder, he almost shrugged me off but stopped.

"We already died once...in such a painful way...knowing death feels like that...i don't want it to happen...ever again." The woman was clearly confused by what we were saying, but who cares about her?

"We hold out then, they'll reali-

"Will they!? Raymond has almost gotten us killed who knows how many times now! That cult! The trials! You and Sam got into some cannibal stronghold! He threw us in the middle of a battleground and you think he'll care!?"

"Kenneth!" Nicholai called him, making him look over. "I get it, but Shut! up!" Sam looked like she was ready to pass out from the crying and blood...right...

"I..." He sat down and let go of the pipe he had. "I never thought i'd be this vulnerable ever again...this...easily killable thing...sure, i got the upperhand on someone this time, but I'm not strong like you are, or fast as Sam, nor, can i fix my wounds like Nicholai, without tech or my gadgets...damnit" All of their emotions were blowing up here, even i almost got ahead of myself, maybe Nicholai was on the edge too. "I felt...strong when we first became DTs, like i could finally do something alone instead of relying on you all...heh...someone with a fear of blood can kill better than i can...i want, to be dependable"

"Suppressing your emotions isn't how you do it" I sat beside him, i guess the shock or bleeding caused the woman to pass out, the blood wasn't that bad, and if needed Nicholai would tend to her, if Sam requests it even after all this.

"No...it isn't...yet you're doing it" I looked at him and he smirked, seemingly recomposing himself "Hypocrit much?" He stood up and picked the pipe up again. I looked over at Sam, she seemed to be calming down a slight bit after getting patched up, she recomposed herself like Ken did, Nicholai didn't have to do anything but fix her up to get her to calm down. Kenneth walked over to Sam and held out his pipe.

"Ken?" Both Nicholai and I were worried on what Kenneth was implying.

"You feel it too right? after what they did i doubt you want them breathing anymore" We were all starting to get scared. Sam stood up and grabbed the pipe and walked over to the two.

"Lee...you're the leader right?" She looked over at me, desperate for the answer she wants. I nodded.

"Yeah...you all made me it"

"Then...i have your permission right? To contradict what i wanted before?" Her grip on the pipe was shakey. "Everything points to the idea that they killed them...they didn't even bother cleaning it!" I thought about it, and what doing this may do to her...yet...I've done the same thing, and the others can still consider me the same person...

"No...doing this won't...it wo-

"Won't what!? Didn't my parents treat you like family! They might as well have been your parents!"

"You asked for my permission, and I'm denying it" She seemed angry at me, but eventually dropped the pipe. Kenneth walked to my side, his eyes looked tired and void. Both of them weren't themselves clearly, what ever happened to this world while we were gone clearly makes it easier to lose it. I didn't understand why Kenneth lost it, he's the most composed of us all...at least normally. "Come on guys...let's go, maybe our bunker is still here...maybe Sam's parents went there, they did help with it after all"

"Yeah...maybe" Sam went over and searched the two, eventually on the man she found some paper "Maybe they went here though"

"Well...which do we search first?" Kenneth sounded normal again, for now at least.

"The bunker" I grabbed the paper Sam was holding, it seemed to be some type of coordinates "Them having this doesn't guarantee Cali and Baker are there"

"Guess not" Sam was still down, every now and again she'd look over at the two with disgust.

"We should hurry, every day we lose gives another chance for accidents to happen." The three went upstairs while i stayed behind for a moment, i could hear the door to the basement open and close, i thought for a minute about the power in this house, it was still running, meaning there was some generator, or perhaps maybe in the time we were gone, they got the power stations running again. I sighed and headed back upstairs with the others.

"Lead the way Lee" Nicholai brought my attention back to the task at hand. "Right...and Kenneth" I looked at him, he seemed to nearly fully recompose himself. "If you don't mind, could you keep trying to regain contact with Eaxura, after all there's no point in finding her parents if we can't bring them to safety.

"Yeah, i can keep trying" He responded with his normal tone.

"Sam" She remained silent, just waiting to hear what i had to say. "I don't know what it's like to lose my parents, but...what i do know is what lose feels like and that they'd want you to keep being yourself, not whatever you were down there, after all, weren't you the one who talked about speaking out about how you feel?" I raised a fist for a fist bump which she followed through with, bumping my fist with hers, "Good, now...let's get this over with" We had left the house and started a trek towards the bunker, but not before i saw Sam take one last look at her home, the other two continued while i waited.

"Thank you..." I didn't hear everything she said, but the last part was all i needed to hear, after saying her piece she walked past me and over to the group, i eventually caught up and was now in the front of the group. No one really talked, Sam seemed dejected, Kenneth is focused on getting TTS and our magic online, while Nicholai doesn't really make small talk often, it made the atmosphere of us lonely even when we were together, it felt unreal really.

Night began to take over as our vision started to become more impaired and groans of the undead could be heard.

"We should set up somewhere for the night, that gas station seemed defendable." Nicholai pointed it out to us, though when i looked at it, i noticed that the gas pumps were gone, along with the ceiling thing that were usually above them, the building itself though seemed fully intact, if you don't include a single busted window that was near the top, must've been where the bathroom is...weird place to break in through.

"Locked" Sam softley said while checking the door.

"I don't think busting open a window is a good idea, i mean, you all can hear them too right?" He referred the the groans from the undead, and yes, we could all hear them. "Hey Lee, how about yout try going through the bathroom window?" his voice had this uneasy feeling about it.

"I could pick the lock" I responded, he looked over as did I, the keyhole had this disgusting thing growing in it.

"Not an option from the looks of it, i bet it's broken anyways." Kenneth kicked the door, to no achievement. "There you go, window it is"

"Guess there isn't an option, it's getting too late to keep moving, and with all the groans i feel a horde coming" Nicholai spoke while i walked over to the window.

"I can give you a boost" Sam's voice was at least somewhat cheer full again.

"You sure?" I asked while she put her back to the wall

"I've done it before, come on"

"Alright then, if you're fine with it" I climbed up to her shoulder, making sure my weight was balanced between them while i leaned on the wall, looking through the window.

"You see anything?" Sam asked below me.

"I can barley see anything, my eyes just reach the window" I moved the shards of glass to the other side of the room by flicking the shards with my sleeves.

"I can lift you more"

"I'd appreciate it, but don't strain yourself"

"I'll be fine, Nicholai is watching over me" Sam lifted me more, it wasn't much of a difference but it allowed me to see more, there was a corpse on the floor, leaning against the door, just great.

"I'm going in, give me seven minutes, if the front doors aren't open then just bust it down or leave"

"Got it, good luck" Nicholai spoke behind me while i slowly clambered through the window. When i made it through all the way dropped down onto the floor, nearly banging my leg on the sink. I took out my krambit and jabbed the zombie in the head, to do it i made a scooping motion. When i ripped the krambit out a bit of blood remained, an obvious thing, but the fact that some brain matter was also there kinda sickened me, maybe the adrenaline of when the apocalypse first started made it so i wouldn't be traumatized from killing my fellow students...thinking about it now made me feel sick and this sense of guilt set in. I took a breath and moved the zombie aside, when i opened the door the place was filled with people, alive people, and they stared at me, this awkward silence filled the station, i looked around and noticed they had some system, someone at the counter was handing out rations, there were sleeping bags, some had little tents with lanterns sitting beside it, they even had young children here playing on handheld systems. Me and the rest of these unknown people looked at each other, so i broke the silence.

"...hi?"