~1 month later~

Aphmau's POV

The air is crisp, signaling the comings of autumn.  A funny thing, that. The world continuing with its silly little seasons despite its fatal infection.

Five walkers are roaming around a small maroon shed, all varying in stages of disintegration. Swaying slightly in the wind like stalks of wheat.

But except for the stuffy growls of the walkers, it was dead silent...GET IT?!

Something ruffles in the bushes, the walkers continuing unaware.

I pluck my binoculars from my backpack, Katelyn kneeling down by my side, both of us hiding behind the bushes

"Are they in position?" Katelyn whispers, equipping her metal claws. The steel reflects the moonlight, casting a shadow down her sharp features.

"Affirmative." I answer, eyeing Lucinda ready with her staff in the tree, Bigglesworth perched on her shoulder.

Everyone was ready.

I set my pack on the ground, snatching up from the small front pocket a tiny flashlight, using it to signal Lucinda, who nods.

Everything after that was a large exciting blur.

Lucinda whistles, getting the walkers attention, Bigglesworth diving down from the tree, talons extended, targeting the walker's pupils.

As their screams ring out, Lucinda stands up from her branch in the tree, whispering an enchantment to the orb on her wooden staff. It lights up with an electric blue. Lucinda thrusts it in the direction of the walkers, the blue energy exerting itself amongst the walkers.

They stop screaming, and become still. A bit too still.

Then their heads start moving, but not with their body.

A freezing spell.

From beneath a reflecting camouflage blanket, Crystal and Violet launch up, Crystal with her bow and arrow in hands, and Violet with her large mace, both chasing into battle.

The rest of us do the same.

Crystal takes out two, aiming a dead-on shot into one, the arrow continuing its pursuit as it goes through the first into the forehead of the second.

Violet takes out one, wiping the bastard out with one crazy swing of her mace, imprinting itself in the walker's bald grey head.

Katelyn does a front flip over the bush we were hiding behind, landing on one of the walkers, flattening the poor thing. Katelyn finishes off it with one quick swipe from her Wolverine claws.

I follow after her, my diamond sword in hand as I take out the one with a quick decapitation.

As the walkers fell, Teony, Cadenza, and Nana come out from their camouflage blanket and start searching the shed for any supplies.

Those of us not searching, start cleaning our weapons of the zombie gunk.

You could say we've gotten used to life in a dead world.

Actually "used to"wouldn't be the words I'd use.

I wouldn't even use "surviving."

More like "not dying."

"Anything?" Lucinda calls to Teony.

Teony sticks her head out of the shed. "Not much, just more canned soup and dried fruit."

Crystal crosses her fingers and squints her eyelids in prayer as she says. "Please don't be—"

"And its your favorite, Crystal, TOMATO SOUP!" Nana shouts, which makes Crystal cry out.

"Why why why would anyone in their right mind have just that abomination of a soup, in their shed?!" Crystal rants, sheathing her bow and adjusting her arrows.

"Ooooh, they have the mushroom flavor too," Teony says excitedly.

"I'm done." Crystal raises her hands above her head in surrender and stomps off towards the campsite, the rest of us smirking as we follow.

*

"Eat it." Violet shoves a spoonful of tomato gunk in Crystal's direction, getting a swift shake of the head in response.

Everyone is sitting on their sleeping bags around the small camp fire, eating the bland soup and dried fruits.

"I'd rather starve." Crystal says.

"EAT IT!" We all pitch in, Crystal finally giving in, but under obvious protest.

"PFT PFT PFT PFT!" She spits mushroom bits all over Violet, before gettingoff her sleeping bag to run in frantic circles around the campfire.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman forced to consume mushrooms." Cadenza remarks, all of us laughing as Crystal continues to get in her daily workout.

At least in this disaster of a world, I have them.

****************

The sound of dead grass crinkles under our footsteps, the high-noon sun setting our hair close to ablaze.

We've been journeying towards PASA for the past weeks. Of course, there's been some delays. Such as dealing with walkers and gathering resources to keep ourselves fed. But we've managed so far to scrape a living.

And we've learned a lot this past month. How to use our weapons, aside from those of us with previous experience, and how to coordinate our attacks. And when we could, how to avoid the walkers in our path.

But for some reason, we hadn't encountered any other survivors.

Just me and the girls and our desolate world.

I'm thrown back to the present by a familiar screech. We all immediately arm ourselves, instinctively gathering into a closed circle, Nana, Cadenza, and Teony in the middle, as we try to prepare ourselves.

Now try is the key word here.

Because out of the surrounding bushes and trees, come out dozens of walkers, all sprinting and growling, smelling of rotting flesh and dried blood, coming at us from all angles.

An ambush.

Lucinda raises her outstretched hands to the sides, staff in one, growing progressively redder. She hovers off the ground, eyeballs turning pale as the clouds above start to grey and churn with thunder.

However, as she does this, there is a total bloodbath on the ground.

Katelyn slashes and cuts about with her claws in a furious rage at a group of the walkers, not letting them stand or be in one piece when she's done.

Violet snatches from her bag her "bowling bowl" which was actually just a really heavy purple ball with spikes attached to a rope. She starts swinging it in a vicious circle, wiping out any walkers getting in a 2-meter radius of her.

Crystal is setting walker after walker ablaze with fire arrows. At one point, she sneaks in an explosive arrow, landing it in the middle of a swarm of walkers, leaving nothing but ash in its wake.

Teony and Nana throw some high tech grenades while Cadenza threw knives.

And I was using my diamond sword to do my part. Though, somehow I got overwhelmed. The walkers disarming me, throwing me to the ground, clawing at my jumpsuit and my face.

I scream out, seeing in the distance Lucinda letting out a large spell, yelling as she swings her arms out violently, releasing a wave of red dust, covering a good portion of the zombies. A moment later, they fall and disintegrate into pure nothingness.

It wasn't enough, though, the walkers continuing to try to keep me down as I try my best to kick them off.

Then I saw something.

Something that flashes before my eyes without warning

I was seeing.....dad lying on the ground in that pool of blood.

Mom...writhing and screaming in her monstrous state.

And the feeling I felt next was not sadness...

But pure, undiluted rage.

I feel my whole body light up, my skin as if on fire, my brain pulsing to the point where it might as well burst.

Before I could do anything, a flash of purple, sweeps across my vision, taking all the walkers down with it.

It all happens so fast. Like a shooting star—a pitch-black star wielding a mighty purple comet.

All the walkers were falling faster than they were getting up until eventually, none were getting up. All victims to the deadly comet.

Was it magic? A sharp twist of faith?

I still lie on my back, too shocked or in awe to move until a face appears above. A new one but one that felt known. But he had something covering his face.

A red bandanna...

Have a nice day my crystals!