#yay another chapter

"Daaaaaaaaa! Maaaaaaaaa! I really wanna open presents now!" you screech from below the stairs, clinging onto your favorite teddy bear in the world, Sir Stuffins.

"We're coming, darling! We're coming!" Dad shouts back to you. You hear the rapid shuffle of feet above you, with a few hushed whispers. You wait patiently at the bottom of the stairs, your lower lip pushed out into a pout. You didn't want to waste a single minute of this day.

You jump when you feel something cool and slimy spread across the nape of your neck. You turn to face a fluffy white snowball, beady black eyes peaking out from his mound of fur. It was a puppy!

"What is this?!" you jump excitedly, embracing the tiny creature in your arms.

"His name is Becquerel. Your grandfather picked him out for you for Christmas," Mom answers, a warm smile spread across her face.

"Good boy, Bec," you rub his head, resting your face into the warm insulation of his fur. "I know you're gonna be my bestest friend in the whole wide world."

........

"Where's my mom and dad?" Suddenly you are twelve years old, standing on that same kitchen floor on Christmas Eve, once cool now bitter coldness engulfing you from head to toe. You no longer grip at Sir Stuffins, his role replaced by a mound of fur now risen to massive heights. He sits dutifully at your side, his wet nose nudging your hand. You stroke the top of his head, the rest of your body stiff as can be. Grandpa tries so hard to stay composed for your sake, so that you have time to let the news set in, but you know what he's going to say. You watched the news for once in your young life, only on a whim because it reminded you of Mom and Dad.

And then you saw news of the plane crash.

And you thought that it couldn't be it.

It couldn't be their flight.

And you decided it couldn't be their flight.

It just wouldn't.

But as soon as your grandpa was standing there in your kitchen in the flesh, you remember only waterfalls and lakes and oceans and rivers.

And you remember drowning.

Jade: Be Rose.

You eye Dave from behind, the sleeping girl slumped over his shoulder sleeping soundlessly, save for a few whimpers from time to time. You wonder what it is about this girl that intrigues him so much. You would leave it alone except that you know your brother and how shut off he is from the world. No, shut off isn't the correct term. Uninvolved, you think to yourself. Withdrawn. It never really mattered to you what exactly his intentions with her were. All that mattered was that Dave wasn't as withdrawn as you thought, and that in the course of three days Dave had managed to become a whole other person than you remembered. Not a drastic change, no. Drastic enough to matter, yes. A thought occurs to you.

Perhaps she's as broken as he is.

Sweat travels down your forehead in rivulets as the sun beats down on you. You regret the decision of wearing black clothing immediately, knowing that it absorbs the most heat. You hear a cough uttered from beside you, the thought of John even being there lost from your mind. You notice him glance over at Dave once every few seconds, a look of remorse plain upon his face. You tug him back a reasonable distance from Dave in order to talk to him.

"What is the matter, John?" From his frown pokes out those signature Har-Bertian (Eg-Ley? You weren't exactly sure how this whole merger game operated) teeth, the sorrow even apparent through their momentary loss of luminesence. His cerulean eyes peer over at you big and blue, kicked puppy expression.

"I should there for her," he says a moment later. You place a reassuring hand upon his shoulder.

"You are here for her. Right now, in fact. You're about all she has at the moment."

"Yeah, I know, but I mean before. First it's her mom and dad, then it's Grandpa, now it's Bec. I'm all she has left in the world and I can't even be the one there to console her. I should've been there for Jade all along and now I'm not and I don't know what to do," he throws his arms in the air, exasperated. "I'm useless."

"Useless is only a state of mind. If you're useless today, then perhaps tomorrow you'll be useful. You can mope about what happens today or you can try your best to make it clear to her that from now on you'll be there for her, through thick and thin. That's the thing about family, John. We may not mesh personalities well, we may be kindred spirits, we may be related through blood or through adoption. The thing is, family is family, and you need to know to keep them close as can be before you lose them forever. I'm sure she'll need you more than ever now, and you need to wait patiently for her, welcoming her with open arms. If you give up today, you'll be giving up for the rest of your life. Then you'll know useless." John doesn't say a word for a long while, his hands resting in his pockets, eyes glued to the ground. His voice, raspy at first, emerges a second later, clearing up as the words travel from his mouth.

"Thank you so much, Rose." You aren't sure what he's thanking you for, exactly, but you accept his thanks regardless, knowing that below that goofy exterior is just a kid who's as lonely as the rest of you. And together you make four, not-so-lonely-anymore misfits. You don't think you would have it any other way.

As you continue on down the tarry ashphalt highway, something catches your sight, as well as the boys' sight. A whole chain of restaurants appear and it's almost like Christmas to you. You and John catch up next to Dave.

"Looks like we're going to have to pick a place to start," you tell Dave. You glance over at Jade. "You should probably wake her up now." He nods his head then moves his shoulder around a bit to nudge her back to consciousness. It takes her a moment, but then stirs and her eyes flicker open, melancholy mossy green orbs alight. It takes her a moment to even say anything, but eventually she mutters softly,

"Put me down, Dave." He complies and sets her on the ground gently, holding his arm out for balance support as she gets her footing again. John hands her back her bookbag and rifle, both of which she slings onto her shoulder. She returns her attention to the three of you. "What's going on?" You point in front of you and she turns, gazing at the mass of signs pointing to chain food restaurants.

"Well, pick your poison, guys," you tell them.

"Let's go to the gas station over there," Jade instructs. All three of you shoot her a puzzled look. She gives one back. "What? Honestly, you guys thought that a fast food place would have actual salvagable food? No, everyone knows you need to go to a gas station for that." You mentally kick yourself for not coming to that conclusion and all three of you follow behind Jade's lead.

The gas station is deserted as suspected and there aren't any zombies scrambling around in sight, so you sneak inside without a problem. A decent amount of stuff is missing from previous raids of the store by other people, but there is still plenty left for you to salvage. You immediately find a bag of M & M's and rip them open, picking out only the blue ones and eating them. John peers at you from behind.

"You only eat the blue ones?" he asks.

"They're the only ones that taste good," you respond through a mouthful of M & M's.

"They all taste the same." You shake your head.

"The blue dye tastes different," you explain. His mouth twists to the side.

"You're weird." You smile at him and he walks away to find his own food. From the other side of the room you hear static. You turn to find Jade fiddling with a radio sitting on the counter.

"Jade, you're not going to find a clear station anymore. No one's running anything," John calls out to her.

"On our way over here I saw a number spray-painted black on the sidewalk. I couldn't figure out what it meant, but when I saw the radio I thought I'd check it out," she says. "I think it's something important." You hear the static cut immediately when she reaches the station, and the voices of unknown people are heard. You all remain quiet, listening in on the conversation attentively.

"Unfortunately we've only been able to communicate with five other state locations, but we're in the process of trying to set up one in each state. There are plenty of campgrounds around that are secluded, and if we can at least set up one in each state, that'll give people a bit more of a chance. So far we have one near the southern border of Pine Lake in Texas, one somewhere towards central Louisiana, one off the northern border of Arkansas, one at Jordan Lake in North Carolina, one all the way out in the eastern part of Idaho, and one in Missouri. If anyone needs the address for any of those locations, please contact us at 940-812-3546. Please let us know if anyone in the area is in need of help and we can try our best to help out. Our refugees provide security and a place for people to have a normal life without it being disturbed by any zombies or anything. We'll continue doing our daily updates every hour for thirty minutes every single day. This is Camp Pine signing off." The static cuts through the air again and you all turn to each other.

"Anyone got the number?" Dave asks. You tap your finger against your temple.

"Safely stored up here."

"We're definitely going to go there. We should probably pick up as much stuff here as possible to bring to the camp, if they're a refugee camp," John comments. Suddenly his presence seems a bit bigger to you, more confident, and you wonder if his sudden attitude change is due to your poor attempt at an inspirational speech earlier. Regardless, it has made him less stumbling and nervous and more eager to take control.

"Uh-oh, looks like it's getting pretty dim outside," Jade notices, pointing to the now-setting sun.

"Looks like we'll have to stay holed up inside this gas station," Dave says.

"I'll look for the keys to lock ourselves inside. You guys should work on finding things to barricade the doors with in the meantime. We'll also have to see if they have a place away from the windows where a couple of us can sleep while the other two take watch," you instruct. Dave, John, and Jade all nod and run off, bringing boxes and such in order to create a wall for the door while you search behind the counters for the master keys, if any. You pray that the set of master keys is somewhere within the store, because it would make your life that much easier if you didn't have to worry about zombies pushing their way through into the store while your guard is down.

You sift through drawers, pushing aside masses of paper stuffed inside to see if you can find anything. The master keys are still hiding away from you. You think that maybe if you check in the room in the back you might have some better luck. You find your way to the back and find the keys resting on the table in plain sight. Thank god, you think to yourself, grabbing them and running to all the doors in the store to lock them up. Dave, John, and Jade follow behind you, cramming things against the door to block them up in case they attempt to push through. When you think you've got all the doors locked up, you place the keys into your bookbag and wait towards the entrance for the rest of the group. They've managed to stack every single box of anything they could find against all the doors, with the front door barricaded the most. The stumble over towards you when they're done, huffing from exhaustion of heavy lifting.

"I think we've got it all," Dave pants. You grab your bookbag off the counter and bring it over to him, digging through it and tossing him his inhaler.

"I made sure to grab it for you," you tell him.

"Thanks, Rose," he says, taking a few puffs of it and exhaling after each puff. He tosses it back to you when he's done and you place it back in your bag.

"I figured we'd be doing a lot of running around and such. I know it's not as big of a problem as it was when we were younger, but I brought it just in case."

"Alright, now what are we gonna do? I'm still starving," John whines, his stomach grumbling on cue.

"Let's just get together some packaged items and then eat together on the floor," Dave suggests. You nod your head.

"Probably a good idea." Each of you find some food items and set them down on the ground before sitting right beside them.

"You know, it wouldn't be the same if I didn't have doritos for dinner," Dave chuckles. You are suddenly reminded of many dinners with your older brother, ones that consisted of doritos and applejuice. You usally brought food with for your visits to his house, but the memory makes you laugh, nonetheless. Dirk was never a good cook, and you kind of preferred him that way.

"Dirk always made the best plate of doritos around," you agree, giggling along with him.

"Who's Dirk?" Jade asks.

"He was our older brother," Dave answers.

"He was, what you would call, 'cooking impaired'," you add.

"Our family was pretty big on cooking. Our specialty was baking, however," John mentions. "We always insisted that my dad open up a bakery or something, but he never got around to it. He had to take care of two kids on his own, so the baking was limited to us. In a way, I'm kind of glad he didn't open up that bakery, so that his food was all our own."

"I remember!" Jade exclaims ecstatically. "Man, he really did know how to make a good key lime pie. I miss his food." John nods silently, reaching in to grab a handful of doritos from the bag. The conversation dies down and every one stuffs their faces with assorted junk foods, something that you happily take part of now that all you care about is whether or not you actually get food rather than a stupid regulated balanced diet of all the food groups.

"So how are we gonna do the shifts tonight?" John mumbles through a mouthful of food.

"I think the best way would be to have Jade and I take one shift and you and Dave take another, if that's okay," you propose.

"Sounds fine by me," Jade chirps.

"I guess so . . . " John hesitates. You guess he probably wanted to be split up with either you or Jade, since he didn't really know Dave all that well.

"You'll be fine, John. Dave doesn't bite, right, Dave?" Dave shrugs.

"I tend to sleep punch." You shoot him an unamused glance.

"He's joking," you explain to John. "That's just him being a dick, as per usual. You'll be fine. Consider it a bonding experience for two potential friends!" Dave sends you an unamused look this time, but you ignore it. The boys were just being ridiculously childish.

"Alright, we'll have time to worry about that later. For now, let's just eat!" Jade pushes food towards each of you. You take a handful of doritos and munch on a chip, realizing that perhaps you might've missed out on those dorito dinners all along . . .

John: Take first watch with Dave.

You didn't really want to sit with a guy you barely know for four hours. You'd rather spend time with Jade or even Rose, but you got forced to sit with Dave. Dave the quiet, stoic kid who half of the time you can't even tell what emotion he's portraying because he's got his eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. Dave the quiet, stoic kid who's putting the moves on your cousin. You don't trust him one bit, but you give him the benefit of the doubt. You're not entirely sure how much time has passed while you've been sitting at your post by the door, but you'd rather not check. The less you check, the faster it goes by, the quicker you can avoid having to spend more time in silence with him.

"So, your name's John Egderp?" he interrupts your train of thought.

"Egbert," you correct, though you're pretty sure he said that on purpose. There was no way you could ever have a normal conversation with this guy. It makes you wonder what it is about him that really puts Jade in such a tizzy, and the only reason you can really come up with is that he's the stereotypical 'cool guy' that makes girls' hearts beat out of their chest to the point of fainting. You do not approve of that, but you realize that Jade's old enough to make her own decisions.

"Yeah, sorry, man. Just got it confused is all. So you're Jade's cousin?" he asks.

"Uh, yeah. Our moms were sisters," you answer.

"That's pretty cool." You give him a little credit for taking a stab at conversation, but much like you, he's pretty useless at it. The two of you are probably better off sitting in silence. Much to your chagrin, however, he continues the piss-poor attempt at socialization.

"So, I see you've been hanging out with my sister . . . " he trails, picking at his nails nonchalantly. You let out an elongated breath.

"Dude, if you're gonna lecture me about trying to make a move on your sister, then save your breath. If I have to remind you, we're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, so I don't really think it's the time to be rambling about stupid teenage issues." You notice his mouth twist to the side.

"That's not what I was gonna say, stupid," he says, muttering the last part under his breath. "I was gonna say thanks for keeping my sister safe." Your eyebrows raise in surprise and you feel your cheeks warm with embarrassment.

"Oh," you whisper. He cackles with delight, throwing his head backward and resting his hand on his stomach.

"You are such a fucking doofus, I swear! You totally thought I was gonna go all 'Dad Strider' on your ass! I think we're gonna be good friends, Egbert. I really do." You shoot him a side glance.

"What makes you think I'm going to want to be your friend?"

"Dude, of course you're gonna want to be my friend. I'm Dave Strider." A small tsk escapes your lips out of peer incredulousness, but you do admit you are warming up to him a bit.

"Okay, whatever you say," you roll your eyes at him, a toothy smile escaping your lips. "Well, I've heard you've been hanging around my cousin," you add. His face deadpans and you swear you can almost see a brush of crimson across his face.

"There is nothing going on between us, I swear. I've only been helping her," he quickly defends himself. You frown.

"I meant to say thanks for helping her out, too?" His mouth drops open as he tries to search for something to say.

"Uh, yeah, that's what I thought you were saying, ha," he fumbles on the last word, craning his head to peer out the window instead. You take a glance over at the backroom where Rose and Jade are peacefully asleep on the tarp Dave has laid out for them. You notice Rose lying flat on her back, arms crossed as if she were lying in a coffin, ready to be buried. It frightens you a little, how corpse-like she can appear. Jade, on the other hand, lies on her side, legs curled tightly to her chest, her mouth slightly parted, very reminiscent of a fetus in a mother's womb. The contrast is so drastic and it's scary, like looking at the line between life and death, and how close it really is. You turn and face towards Dave again, who is busy fiddling with his katana.

"Do you think we'll make it out alive? I mean, that we'll live on our own terms and die on our own terms?" you ask him. His expression changes from stoic to puzzled.

"What brought on all this grim shit?" You shrug.

"I dunno, don't you think about that stuff all the time now? I mean, before it was just a question that popped up once in awhile and you just brushed it off, but now it's sort of . . . there." He stares at the ground for a moment, as if mulling it over, weighing the probabilities you really have of surviving.

"Between the four of us, I think we'll last a pretty goddamn long time. I mean, nothing is really set in stone or anything, but I don't think we're going anywhere any time in the near future." His answer is satisfactory. Not really the answer you wanted to hear, but you appreciate him not sugarcoating it or anything.

"At this point, for me at least, I don't really care about getting myself out alive as much as I do her," you say, gesturing over towards Jade. "She's really had the short end of the stick for most of her life. I just want her to be happy, you know?" He nod his head, and you really do believe he's being sincere about it.

"I feel the same way with Rose. We haven't had the shittiest of lives, but I can't imagine her going before me when I've barely got shit to live for. She's always had better opportunities for things than I have, so even if it means she gets a morsel of a possibility of getting through this hell, then fuck, I'll let her have it in a heartbeat." You're actually glad you have someone to talk to that's on the same page as you are, for once. If you told Jade any of this, she'd get upset and change the subject immediately. Dave wants his sister alive as much as you want Jade alive.

The conversation between you dies down and you're left to the faint humming of crickets chirping outside while you sit in the illuminated entrance of the gas station. It's nice to sit in silence, but you decide now that since Dave isn't as half as bad a guy as you thought and that since you've had plenty silence to last you for quite some time, you'd rather keep talking.

"Alright, so I gotta ask, why do you and Rose have different last names if you're twins?"

"Our parents split a bit ago and Rose wanted our mom's surname and I wanted our dad's surname. I mean, could you imagine me as Dave Lalonde or her as Rose Strider?" The thought of Dave donning a pink scarf and skirt duo and Rose wearing a red t-shirt and jeans with shades to match flashes in your head, and you quickly understand what he means. You chuckle.

"Haha, no, I guess I can't!"

"Alright, so I figure it'll be depressing, but what's you and Jade's story? I mean, since you mentioned she's had a pretty shitty life and whatnot." Your laughter drops when you realize he really does want to know the hideous backstory.

"Oh, well, when Jade was younger, her parents would travel a lot, so she never really ever got to see them. Our grandfather was her guardian most of the time, and she would stay on his island with him. The only time she ever really got to spend with them was at Christmas time. When she was twelve, they were flying in on Christmas Eve as normal when their plane malfunctioned and went down over the Atlantic. She was left to only our grandfather and Bec, and then it was only Bec, and now it's only me." Recalling the memory is harsh on you, because they were your family, too, and you had always wished you had the opportunity to be closer to them, an opportunity that was wrenched right out of your hands against your will.

"I understand," is Dave's only response.

"What are you guys talking about?" You jump when you hear another voice, realizing only a second later that it belongs to Rose. She appears next to you, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Oh, just . . . dude stuff," you attempt to cover the conversation from before.

"Dude stuff?" Dave jumps quickly into the conversation.

"You know, sharing gripping back stories, fighting montages, talks about boobs. The good stuff."

"Ah. 'Dude stuff'. I, being a lady, would never understand that," she grins. "Anyway, you two can sleep, now. Jade and I will take the next shift." You and Dave rise from the ground, wiping off your pants and grabbing your weapons.

"Where's Jade?" Dave inquires.

"Ladies room," she responds, plopping herself delicately on the ground. "Now go to sleep, you two!"

Jade: Take second watch with Rose.

"The guys go off to bed?" you ask Rose, stretching your arms over your head before you sit down to join her.

"Yeah, I sent them off to bed. You know boys," she chuckles, rolling her eyes.

"What were they up to?" She shrugs.

"John said, "dude stuff", and Dave said, "sharing gripping backstories, fighting montages, talks about boobs", so you can only begin to imagine where their little vocal chords took them." You giggle.

"Sounds like them. I'm glad they're getting along very well! I was afraid John would think that Dave was some sort of a--"

"Douche?" she cuts you off.

"I was gonna say jackass, but yeah, douche works, too. He isn't, though!" you reassure her. She raises a brow.

"You don't have to reassure me about my own brother, don't worry." You exhale a breath of relief, relieved that you didn't offend her. "While we're sitting here, Jade, you don't mind if I pick your mind a bit? Before the world was in an apocalyptic state, I use to dabble in psychoanalysis, and there's a few things I'd like to know about you." You gulp a bit, frightened by what she might do (pictures of Dr. Frankenstein in his lab flash through out your mind). You nod, though, allowing her to.

"Excellent. Don't worry, it's not what you might think. I'm just going to ask you some questions. First of all, do you harbor feelings for my brother?" You feel the blood quickly rush to your face, the familiar heat of red rising to your cheeks.

"I, well, uh, I mean, I'm not entirely sure," you stumble over your words, nervous. "I mean, I haven't known him that long and whatnot--" She cuts you off again.

"I just wanted confirmation to see if the feelings were mutual from your end." You pause.

"What? He likes me?" You feel childish for playing the who-likes-who game, especially since you really don't have time to bother with that at the moment, but your heart leaps giddily with the knowledge she just relayed to you.

"If I know my brother, which, mind you, I do, he certainly thinks more of you than you think. He doesn't normally open up to people or care about people that easily, so seeing him with you made me suspicious. I wanted to know what you did to get through that thick skull of his." You turn your palms upward with unknowing.

"I couldn't tell you if I tried. I mean, if you wanted me to go into the full detail of how attraction works and all the chemical processes, I could probably do that for you . . . " you babble, ready to retreat into your only safe haven: science. She holds up her hand, palm facing you.

"That won't be necessary, thank you, though. I was just wondering what he admired about you, but you seem . . . normal." You're not sure what to think of that last comment, as if normal was something unappealing, but you also resent that. You try to be everything but.

"I don't know if I'm normal, per se. What exactly about me were you looking for?" She taps her chin.

"Hmmm . . . post break-up?" You shake your head.

"Nope."

"Prosthetic limb?"

"Is that something that turns him on?"

"God complex?"

"Uhhh no?"

"Tragic backstory?" You can almost hear a clink as the hammer hits the nail on the head. You never like to think of yourself as tragic or pessimistic, rather the opposite as a glass-half-full-of-rainbows-and-butterflies kind of person, but your own story does take the cake for tragic.

"Yeah, my parents died when I was twelve," you confess solemnly. "You know, it's kind of funny. I can make plants stay alive but I can't keep my own family alive." You look down when you feel something touch your skin and find Rose's hands placed delicately on yours as she offers you a warm smile.

"Jade, we're your family now. Dave, John, and I will be here for you no matter what. I'll make sure we'll stay together for as long as possible, you needn't worry." Rose's words comfort you, and you reach over and hug her tightly.

"Thank you, Rose. I needed to hear that." She pats you gently on the back in response and you release her, moving back to your original spot on the floor.

"Anytime," she grins. "Now I think I've solved the algorithm at hand. He's finally met his match." You bear a puzzled look upon your face.

"What does that mean?"

"It means he's finally met someone with qualities that contrast him so much that he can practically relate to in the same way. He always claims he has a type, but I know what he really looks for, believe me." You feel your heart beating a little more rapidly with the possible thought that he likes you, but you refuse to succumb to such childish ideals. This is a zombie apocalypse. Fun flew out the window the minute you lost almost every remaining family member to the Flesh. Your main priority should be killing and guns. You weren't entirely sure about the killing part, but you were genuinely pleased with the gun aspect.

"So what about you, Rose? Got your eyes set on John?" So maybe you weren't perfect at being serious, but it did feel nice to talk about non-zombie things for once in a while.

"I hadn't really considered it at all. Frankly, I'm not too entirely invested in things like dating. My true love is a good piece of literature," she answers.

"My love is science. You know, before all this happened I was well on my way to becoming a nuclear physicist," you tell her.

"Really? That's awfully ambitious of you. And to think, I wanted to publish a series of young adult novels by the time I was twenty."

"Much like guns and gardening, science is second nature to me. It runs in the family, that's for sure. Ever heard of Atomic Industries?" Rose's eyes widen.

"Your family runs Atomic Industries? That's a multi-million dollar company!" she exclaims.

"Yeah, it is, and I would've inherited once I finished college," you stare at the ground dreamily, sighing. "Oh well. What can you do? I feel a little bit better though, not having to stress out about little things like that. I don't have to go through years of hard work anymore, so that adds like, ten years or so on my lifespan. If I make it out alive, that is," you add.

"Incredible. It seems to me that the two most optimistic people in the world are now hanging out with the two most pessimistic people in the world," she chuckles.

"Well, would we be a family if we weren't a little bit diverse in our personalities?" you smile.

"No, I suppose we wouldn't be." You turn your attention towards the window when you see a ray of light peeking out over the horizon.

"Looks like the sun is coming up," you gesture towards the window.

"Yes, it seems that way," Rose turns to gaze at the sunrise.

"You know, I've seen about a billion sunrises, but I have to say, this one is my favorite, by far." Rose sends you a befuddled look and you search around for a loose string of some sort. Eventually you find an abandoned piece of blue string lying on the floor and tie it tightly around your left index finger.

"Why would something like this be your favorite? It's nothing special," she asks.