We had no clue what to do.

Megan was there, a ticking time bomb leading the Others to us, and we were sitting ducks. Over the past week we'd thought of every possible angle, pictured every single scenario and...nothing. The only conclusion we'd been able to reach was that we had absolutely no idea what we were doing. We were no where closer to figuring out how to save both her and the squad.

We were at a cross roads. An impossible, complicated crossroads that provided not a single favorable outcome.

"What're you thinking about, Lucy?"

I looked up from the dirt I was picking out of my fingernails. "Everything," I said softly, shaking my head.

Cassie gave me a small, knowing smile, scooting closer to me. "Were you thinking about Megan?"

I looked out the window, briefly scanning the area around the hotel. Cassie and I were on night watch; ever since Megan had arrived, we'd been assigning two people to be on guard at night. The Others knew we were here- they could strike at any minute.

But part of me believed they wouldn't plan an attack...at least not with Megan here. Why waste the time? Especially when a little girl would do the job for them.

"Yeah. About Megan," I admitted, going back to my fingernails.

"Me too," Cassie said, drumming her fingers on the floor. "And Evan. Evan would know what to do if he was awake."

I nodded slowly. "Probably. By the very least he'd have a better idea than any of the rest of us."

Cassie nodded, murmuring in agreement. "There's no easy way out of this situation. It's either we kill Megan, to discard of the tracking chip inside her or we somehow miraculously find a way to get the chip out without harming her. At least if Evan were awake we'd have help."

Cassie shifted and she wiped her sleeve across her nose.

I looked over, realizing she had started to cry.

"I just-I just wish there was something we could do, you know? I wish we could find some medicine or something to help Evan. I-I mean he saved me and I can't do the same for him and I-"

"Cassie, Evan is an Other-"

"I know he's an Other, Canary-" Cassie interrupted, starting to get upset.

"Wait," I said, cutting her off, "Evan is an Other, which means he had access to the kind of resources to help you. He had medicine and food and a functioning shelter. We don't have any of that. Dumbo had a can of dog food this morning, we have a single roll of bandages, and our shelter? Just look at this," I said, gesturing around me. "There are rats- rats sleeping in our beds. We don't have food, we don't have medicine, and we don't have shelter. You can't compare yourself to Evan. It's completely different."

Cassie thought for a moment before nodding slightly. "I know, I just wish there was an answer to this- to any of this. Canary, what the hell are we going to do?"

I pursed my lips, rubbing my face in frustration. "I don't know."

"With Evan unconscious, Teacup and Ringer missing, and Zombie as a crippled, moody 70 year old man, we're completely lost," she said, a little calmer this time.

There was a tinge of sadness etched into her voice, peaking through the anger and frustration that was at the surface.

I shook my head, thinking.

We sat in silence for a little bit, both of us unable to find something to talk about that wouldn't make us feel more helpless than we already were.

And then I had an idea. It was stupid and reckless and I knew Zombie would kill me if he ever found out about it. But it was an idea.

"Let's go," I said, pushing myself off the ground.

"Wait what?" Cassie asked.

"Get up," I said, motioning for her to get up. "We both want answers. So let's go find them."

"What are you even talking about?" Cassie asked, cocking her head to the side.

"For Evan to get better, he needs medicine. So we're going to find some." I said, shrugging on my jacket.

"Dumbo has already searched the hotel a hundred times, we're not going to find anything," she pointed out, not bothering to get up.

"That's why we're not going to be looking in the hotel," I said.

"You're not suggesting-"

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting," I said. "I suggest we go down the highway a little bit. There's bound to be some hospital or store that hasn't been completely wiped out."

I moved toward the door, looking back only when I realized she wasn't getting up. "Listen, if you're not coming, that's fine. But I'm going. I want to see Evan and Zombie get better; I want answers."

Cassie got up, brushing herself off. "Fine. I'm coming," she grabbed her gun, "But we need someone on watch. Let's wake Zombie."

"Are you shitting serious?" I asked. "He's never going to let us go. We'll wake Flintstone."

I assumed Cassie realized her plan was stupid because not long after, she nodded, agreeing. "We'll wake Flintstone then."

We walked quietly down the hall before entering into Flintstone's room. I tiptoed over to the lump of blankets in the corner, making sure to avoid stepping on the loose floor boards.

"Flint?" I asked in a hushed whisper, bending down low enough so I could shake his shoulder.

Flintstone grumbled, swatting my hand away.

"Flint!" I said, a little louder this time.

"What? What is it?" Flint mumbled, shifting to sit up.

"Cassie and I are leaving the hotel-"

"I'm sorry, what?" he asked, blinking twice.

I rolled my eyes. "We're going to search for some supplies, and we all know Zombie wouldn't even thinking about letting us go if he were awake."

"Yeah you're right," Flintstone said, yawning. "But Zombie is going to find out, especially when he wakes up and no one's on watch."

"That's why we're waking you up," Cassie said, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, It's not like we're here because we need your permission or anything," I said.

Flintstone nodded. "Yeah, obviously. Ok, fine whatever I'll do it. On two conditions," he said, holding up two fingers.

I pursed my lips impatiently. Although I was glad Flintstone was considering letting us go without many questions, it annoyed me that he had the nerve to waste time making conditions. We didn't have time for this.

"Ok, what?" I asked.

"One, you get back before sunrise. I don't want to be around when Zombie wakes up and finds the two of you missing. So you're going to make it back before he even knows you were gone."

I looked sideways at Cassie momentarily before looking back Flintstone. "That was the goal anyways," I said.

"Ok, and second, I want a kiss."

I shook my head quickly, taken aback. "Excuse me?"

"I want a kiss. On the lips. From you. It'll piss Zombie off when I tell him about it later."

My eyes grew wide. "Don't you think he's already pissed off enough?" I asked, ramming a finger into his chest. "That's literally the most stupid thing I've ever heard."

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn;t. But no kiss, no trip. That's my deal," Flint said, leaning back on his elbows.

I rolled my eyes and met Cassie's eyes, shaking my head.

She shrugged before making a hand gesture signaling that we needed to hurry up.

"Fine. Deal," I said quickly, leaning forward over Flintstone's chest to plant a kiss firmly on his lips.

I pulled back and patted him on the shoulder. "Alright, thanks Flint. Watch the windows."

Before he had the chance to say anything, I pulled Cassie out of the room and we were on our way to finding some answers.

~*~*~*~

"Damn it's cold," Cassie said, pulling her scarf tighter around her neck.

I nodded a little, too cold to say much. We'd been walking along the highway for what I guessed had been about a half an hour. And in that half an hour, we hadn't seen much of anything.

I dragged myself through the snow, pushing myself to keep going. What was the point of doing this if we weren't going to bring back anything? The only way Zombie but be slightly ok with this whole escapade was if we brought back something that was actually useful.

"Wait, there!" Cassie said in a hushed whisper, pointing at a building a little ways down the highway.

I squinted, seeing the small brown building off in the distance. "Yeah, I see it," I said.

"It's a rest stop. I recognize it from before," she said, picking up her pace.

I doubted a rest stop would have what we were looking for, but at this point, it was better than nothing.

We sped up, moving in and out of the mass of cars that had piled up on the cracked surface of the highway.

When we got to the rest stop, my toes felt like they were gong to fall off and my hands were frozen. My whole body was stiff and my calves were aching. I mentally prayed that I hadn't gotten frost bite. That was the last thing I needed right now.

Cassie pushed on the door, letting it creak open. It moved some of the dead leaves with it, clearing a bit of debris away from the doorway.

"Alright, let's search the place," I managed to say, rubbing my hands together. "Check the offices first, and the bathrooms last."

Cassie nodded, not offering much of a protest. She headed down the hall past the bathrooms and I turned in the opposite direction.

I entered the main office, deciding to bypass the area with the rows of brochures. I doubted they could help us with much of anything; there was nothing to see anymore.

I rummaged through a desk and tossed some yellowed papers aside. It didn't look like the place had been searched, which was good news for us. It meant that there might be something, anything here that might help us.

I closed the first drawer after only finding some office supplies.

Onto the second drawer.

Stapler. Tape. Files. Pens. Pencils.

I slammed that one too. I moved onto the third.

I pulled it open, happy to see that there weren't more supplies lying on top. I pulled a couple folders out, setting them on the ground beside me.

My eyes lit up and I reached in, pulling a handgun out with both hands. Not medicine, but it was something.

There was a box of bullets lying next to it so I slid both into the pocket of my jacket before restarting my search.

There was nothing left in the drawer besides some more paperwork so I moved onto the closet.

There had to be more here than papers and office supplies. I was pretty sure every place had to have a first aid kit in case of an emergency and something along the lines of pain reliever or medication.

I got down on my hands and knees, feeling around the floor of the closet with my hand. After a few minutes of searching, I pulled back, grumbling quietly. I stood up, dusting myself off quickly before standing on my tiptoes to reach the top shelf.

My fingers met a cool hard surface and my heart leaped. I strained to reach it, only able to shift whatever it was a few mere centimeters.

I looked around, my gaze settling on the desk chair. I ran over, picked it up, and dropped it down on the ground in front of the closet.

Standing on it, I was able to bring the metal box down to the ground. I opened its lid, revealing a bottle of aspirin, a couple band-aids, and a half-full bottle of antiseptic.

I closed the lid, hugging it to my chest. Finally. It's not like anything in the box would cure Zombie or wake Evan, but it sure would help. By the very least, it'd make me feel a little less helpless.

Bang.

I scrambled to my feet, sliding the box tightly underneath my arm. My hand then shot to the gun in my jacket.

"Cassie?!" I yelled.

I ran from the room, down the hall, and in the direction Cassie had gone in a frantic attempt to process what the sound was.

Was it a gun going off? Something falling? an Other?

Cassie erupted from the doorway down the hall, slamming against the wall from running so quickly. "Go!" she shouted.

Cassie started running towards me and I wasted no time in heeding her command. I didn't know what was happening or what Cassie had seen or done, but I did know that we needed to get out of here and fast. The sound had been loud- loud enough to draw anyone who was remotely close to us.

We flew through the snow, kicking up specks of white into the air. We breathed heavily as our feet crashed against the ground. My eyes burned and my lungs ached at the cold wind cut into my skin.

"Stop, stop!" Cassie said, coming to a halt once we were off the highway. I moved behind a tree, placing my hands on my hips to help with my breathing.

"What. Happened?" I asked, throwing my hands up into the air.

Cassie looked around quickly before starting to walk in the direction of the hotel. "It was some girl. Maybe around our age- I don't really know exactly what she looked like. She was lying down in the corner of the room and when I opened the door she pointed a gun at me and-and I don't know, I panicked."

"Did you see anything that could've meant she was an Other?" I asked.

"No. I mean, I guess she looked tired and injured. I-I guess she was fast with the gun. But she missed me- she shot the wall. If she was an Other...she would've made the shot, right?"

Initially all signs pointed to the girl being Grace. But then I reminded myself that Grace had been killed by Evan, or at least it had looked that way. I pushed any and all thoughts of Grace out of my head. It wasn't her. It couldn't have been. If the girl wasn't actively pursing us now, then it was highly likely that the girl was just that. A girl.

"Yeah, she probably would've made the shot," I confirmed. "We're ok. Let's just get back to the hotel before she or anyone else decides to follow us."

Cassie nodded briskly and we continued on our trek back to the hotel.

I then looked up at the sky, noticing the streaks of orange and pink that had made their way into the horizon.

The sun was rising. Which meant so was Zombie.

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Tada! A new chapter! I know you're disappointed there wasn't much of Zombie, but I hope you liked it nonetheless! Good ish coming, y'all. Buckle in and put your hands up in the air because you're about to be taken on the ride of your life.

As always, tap that little star if you love Zombie and post in the comments about what you predict is to come! I'll shout out my favorite comment in my upcoming chapter so comment away!