*long chapter*

Kimmy's P.O.V

Columbia Commando all crowded in the living room, frantically pacing back and forth, hyperventilating, losing their minds. We can't lose Bella.

Although she started off with a sour twist, she's changing for the better.. Everyone was just getting used to her, she laughs more, she smiles more. She isn't Bella the bi*** anymore, as I used to say, she's my sister. Just like Reese is my sister, and Kai too although It took some warming to get  used to Reese.

Columbia Commando is my family. Until the end, we're going to survive together! They are all I have.. I lost my boyfriend, my mom and my dad, I cannot lose Bella.

I never really got a chance to say good bye to my parents. See,  they went off on a cruise about 3 days before this all happened, to the Bahamas.
I was overjoyed, because that meant I could throw a party while they were gone, so I rushed them on and I never really got to tell them how much I love them and how grateful I am.

It hurts to even think about it.

"Guys I'm losing my shit." I admitted

"That makes two of us." Ryan sighed.

He leaned against the wall and banged his hand gently against the frame of the door and Suddenly, the door creaked  opened and out stepped Samantha. Her clothes had streaks of red, like someone with bloody hands clawed at her for their dear life, and her gloves dripped endless amounts of blood.. Watching every drop hit the floor broke my heart a little bit more.

"I'm losing her. I- I don't know what I'm doing. I only went to med school for 2 years and you can't expect me to save a 14 year old girl from a gunshot to the shoulder... That could possibly paralize her!" Samantha exclaimed

Everyone stood in stocked, shooken from the news.

What can we do at this point except lose hope?

"Now you listen here!" Reese started, walking closer and closer to Samantha "you get in there and you use those 2 years of knowledge and you save her god damn life.. Got it?" She was practically face to face with her now. Except Samantha was a bit smaller, which made Reese look like a monster in front of her.

"Chill out lil mama," Tyrone grabbed Reese by her waist and pulled her back.

I have never seen Reese as anxious as she was in that moment. She's always so chill and on top of things, she's the leader of our group.. She has to be chill and on top of things, but never would have I imagined seeing her like that.

I walked over to Reese, who was know being held back by Tyrone and Ryan and pulled her into a hug.

"Relax.. She's gonna be okay." I lied. A lie so sweet we could both believe.

"I'm sorry, Samantha. I'm just so worried. She's just a kid." Reese sighed

"I know, and I'm trying my hardest to save her but I just can't okay?!" Samantha took her gloves off and threw them to the ground, and then ran off.

June took off behind her mother and Kai held Max back so he wouldn't follow his (now) best friend.

Great.. Let's just give up all hope, because there goes our only chance at a doctor....

"What're we gonna do?" Jose asked

Everyone's eyes began to wander around the room, trying to pull an idea from mid air.

"Alright here's what I'm gonna do," Dylan said, stepping up.

"I'm gonna go in there and I'm gonna get that bullet out of her shoulder, but I'm going to need help." He said.

We all looked at him lime he was crazy. Hell, he is crazy. He's 15 and he thinks he can remove a bullet from someone's shoulder? He's not even legal to buy a pack of cigarettes let along perform surgery.

"And what makes you think you can do that?" Cody scoffed.

Hm, I don't get the memo between these two boys, they seem to have some feud going on ---- for no absolute reason.
Ooohh! What if they have a crush on each other? Nah...that's definitely not it.

"My father was a surgeon." Dylan assured, whilst making a face at Cody.

"Now, Kai, I need you to go upstairs and look in my room and grab my book that talks about bullets, Cody I need you to be by my side in there just in case something goes wrong and Ryan I need your blood." He ordered.

Wow, giving orders like a boss.

"You're a hero, Dylan." Kai smiled widely.

She happily ran up the stairs and Cody just stood in disgust, like he couldn't stand the sight of Dylan. His nose flared and he bit his bottom lip.

"Let's go." Ryan murmured

He walked over to Dylan and Cody and on his way over, Victoria pat his shoulder gently.

The boys all shot each other a look and made their way into the room where Bella stayed.

"Here goes nothing." Dylan said, before shutting the door.

"That's absurd! Why would you let that itty bitty boy operate on her?!" Tyler exclaimed.

"Yo shut the hell up. It's worth a try fam, and she wouldn't be like that if yo ass knew how to aim a gun." Tyrone jarred.

Dang, he is such a savage. But he's right.

"Woah woah, just calm down guys." Victoria advised. She stepped between them and held her arms out like they were going to fight... But they obviously weren't going to.

"Let's just take a seat, I'll go get some lemonade and we can just wait around in here today. Like, civilized human beings." She said
"But we aren't civilized at all." Reese assured

Victoria sighed and pushed everyone out of the little circle we had formed. "Take a seat!"

And just then, Kai came running down the stairs with the book in her hand. She didn't even look at us, she just kept going until she reached the 'operation room'.

She opened the door and ran in there quickly but a little less than 10 seconds, she slowly walked back out with a sad look across her face.
She shut the door and placed her back against it, staring at us all. "So much blood," she squealed.

She slid down with her back still against the door and threw her head into her knees.

Max ran over to her and wrapped his arms around her twine-thin body.

"Kai don't cry." He smiled

"I'm not crying." She assured

"You sure look like it."

"I'm not, Max. Just go sit down." She jarred.

Gosh, everyone's panties are in a wad today.

"Where's the other Asian kid?" I asked, directed to Tyrone.

Tyrone calls Park Asian kid #1 and me Asian kid #2. We don't take any offense though, it's pretty funny if I do say so myself.

"Him and Charlie are out looking for medicine and bandaids and stuff for yo friend." he explained.

I nooded and took a seat beside Tyler.

And now we wait. We wait for a 15 year old boy to remove a bullet from Bella and save her life.

Dear God...
____________________________________

Ryan's P.O.V

"Hey Bella I hope you can hear me.." I started.

I wrapped my cold fingers around her hand and held it tight.

"You're a good person and you deserve to live, you deserve to  live longer than 14 years. And I'm going to give you as much of my  blood and strength  it takes to get you through this. I may sound like I'm out of my mind and heh, I probably am because of how much blood I gave today for you, but it doesn't matter because it's for a good reason. It's for you to live and that's all I really want right now. I have all I've ever wanted right now,  I have a beautiful, amazing girlfriend, I have my brother and I have a beautiful family and you are apart of  my family Bella and I can't lose you --- we can't lose you and no matter what you think of us, doesn't matter if you think we don't like you ------ we do and we think greatly of you, Reese and I. We look at you as our daughter but not exactly," I chuckled  "You're someone we are entitled to look after. I mean I feel like I have to protect you because that's just who I am and you are just a great person who should be protected. So, I'm going to go  in the room and I'm going to pray for you --- though I'm not really good at it, I'm going to pray for your health and healing and strength and I hope it comes your way I really do Bella."

I stared at her pale face, which was a bit blue and moved the single strands of black hair from her forehead.
I still can't believe Dylan actually  removed the bullet from her shoulder. The moment he stepped out the room with the bullet in his hand, a smile across his face, the others went wild giving him kudos.

"Goodnight," I whispered.

And with that, I slowly backed out the room until I accidentally bumped into Victoria, coming in with a wet rag to clean Bella's  wound and a bunch of bandages to change her gauze pad.

"Sorry," I smiled.

She slowly blinked her long eyelashes at me and chuckled lightly, "It's okay."

"So, uh, how are you feeling?" she asked

"Weak." I answered, without hesitation.

"Well, Reese is making some chamomile tea downstairs."

I raised an eyebrow at her, because I don't know what chamomile tea is...never heard of it.
Matter of fact, half these foods I have eaten in the past week, I have never tried. Reason being, I'm Jewish and we only eat Kosher. But, it's not going to apply to me anymore, I'm eating whatever  I can get my hands on.. So is Max. He doesn't want to though, he  wants to live the way Mom taught him to but I told him that we need to eat what we can.

"Chamomile tea?"

"It's uh, tea obviously, that helps sore muscles, bones, bodies."  She explained

"Weak bodies?" I asked.

She nodded and ran her fingers through her tall, black, pompadour. "Yeah."

"Oh okay, thanks Victoria."

She put her hand to  her forehead and threw it off like an army salute.
I chuckled and turned toward the door and exited. Victoria's a cool gal.

On my way down the stairs, things got a bit blurry, I almost stumbled but caught myself and held on tight to the railing. Man, I should really should lie down.

I finally made my way into the kitchen, to find Reese sitting lonely at the kitchen table, sipping from a mug while reading a really thick novel.

"Hey hun." I smiled
I walked over to her and placed a kiss on her head and sat next to her.

"Hey," She said shyly, returning the smile.

"What are you reading?" I asked

"To Kill a Mockingbird," She sighed, placing the book down.

"What's wrong?"

Reese looks so tired, and I imagine she is. She's always on top of things, being strong for everyone else who can't.. and she finally snapped this morning.

She needs sleep, maybe she needs to step down from being leader right now. Though she won't like that, and more than likely, won't agree.

"I just have alot on my mind.. that's all, but anyway..Can I get you some tea?" She tried to get up and break from the fact that she's not okay but I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back so she couldn't walk away.

"Reese.. you okay?" I asked worriedly.

"I'll be okay."  she sniffled.

Sniffling? Crying?....Reese? those things don't go together. She's way too strong to ever cry.

She tried to yank away from my grip, only causing me to stand up and hold her back even more. "Talk to me, what's wrong?"

She glanced at me, with big watering eyes begging for help, and shook her head.

"Ryan I don't want to talk about it."

She pulled away and started to run off but I chased her down and  I finally got ahold of her shirt  before she ran back up the stairs.

"Babe, please, talk to me."

There's nothing I care about more than Reese in this world, except Max but that's it.. I can't let them be unhappy, I can't stand to see them unhappy. So seeing her quietly cry to herself for the first time broke  my heart.

She tried to push me away but I pulled her into a hug, with my arms wrapped around her back and her head on my chest.

"Please, Reese, don't shut me out."

And as she cried, I caressed her short black hair close to my heart.

"Let's get some fresh air," I advised

I took her hand and slowly walked out the back door, very cautious not to fall over because I was still dizzy.

When we got outside, we both quietly sat at the edge of the porch, staring at the stars for a moment.

"why are you crying?" I asked, breaking the silence.

There was still silence, and the only thing you could hear was Reese sniffle..trying to contain her cries.

"Because everything is so f**ked up." she took in a deep breath and exhaled through sobs.

I scooted closer to her and pulled her small body into my  big arms, "What do you mean?" I asked, whilst kissing her soft brown cheek.

"I--Bella's lying on her death bed, for starters...And I could die anyday, my sister and I are drifting farther and farther apart, and I don't know my self worth. I don't know if it's all even worth it, Ryan. Like, why me? I literally ask God why did I get chosen to live this nightmare every night." she concluded.

Wow.. I can't believe she feels like that.. I mean, sometimes I ask myself if the world will ever go back to the way it used to be, or if we'll  get a cure to be immune to this disease that the wanderers have...but I never ask why I'm still living. I mean, it must be for a good reason I suppose. Maybe I'm meant to save lives, or bring joy to others during these times.

"Bella's not lying on her death bed. She's gonna be okay, I promise. Her breathing is regular, her heart beat has  picked up and she hasn't lost anymore blood. That kid Dylan, he's a genius." I chuckled lightly, "and you're here for a reason, trust me. You are strong and you are loved and we all care about you alot Reese. You don't even know how much I love you."

She doesn't. Like, it's so hard to explain it. I never thought I'd get with Reese Felthen in the apocalypse. She's a big deal! She's smart, funny, geeky, quirky but nonetheless adorable and I love her, perhaps the way a fat kid loves his debbie cakes.

"I love you too loser," She smiled

She turned to me and planted a kiss on my lips..

and a kiss turned into another....

and another kiss turned into several more....

and several more turned into

"HEY!"

Reese and I jerked back at the  tall, slinky boy standing in front of us. He stared at us, smirking and shaking his head and I sat in shock because I have no idea who he is...

He was very tall, maybe taller than me, and really thin. Thin as a piece of paper. He had long brown hair that went past his eyes and his ears, a smirk that had bad boy written all over it, and hazel eyes...
He wore a red aeropostale shirt that was a bit too small, tight fitting khaki slacks and red converses. In his hand he held a machete, one sharp enough to thin hair.

"Who are you?" Reese exclaimed, hopping up and pulling her pocket knife from her bra..NOT WHERE IT'S MEANT TO BE!!!!

"Mordus. Duncan Mordus." He replied

"how'd you get here?" She asked

"I'm uh, running." he panted

"From what?"

"The military. There's a bunch of those Cannibal people heading this way and the military are about to bomb this shit down!" He said, eyeing over the whole house.

"Wait, WHAT!?"

"Yeah..I say you've got about 8 minutes until a grenade is dropped on your prescious little house...that's why  I got a head start, didn't know I'd run into all of---  this, though..."

"Are you serious?" She murmured

He nodded and flipped his shaggy hair, "I'm being 106% serious-- but hey, don't believe me and see where you'll end up." He said, sarcastically..

Reese lowered her knife and slowly turned her head to glance at me, "Go warn the others." she commanded..

I nodded and quickly hopped up, running back into the house.

"GET UP" I yelled, once I got to the bottom of the stairs.

No one yelled back, and I'm not even sure anyone heard me. I wasted no time and grabbed the gun from Park's bag that was hanging on the coat rack.

I aimed the gun at the floor and pulled the trigger. It was incredibly loud, and sure enough, everyone heard it.

They all came running down the stairs with frightened looks across their faces, nearly toppling over each other.

"What the hell you doing fam?" Tyrone exclaimed, wiping his eyes. I must've waken him from his slumber..and oh god...that's not something you'd wanna do to Tyrone.

Last week, Tyler played a prank on Tyrone.
While Tyrone was asleep the couch, Tyler sprayed shaving cream in his hand and tickled his face causing Tyrone to swat at his face and slam the shaving cream everywhere... Up his nose, in his mouth, in his hair.

And in that moment, there was a flicker of anger on his face and then Tyler got body slammed on the floor.

"Uh," I nervously scratched the back of my neck and stared at all the anxious faces.

Suddenly, someone came from behind me and smacked the back of my head. I looked back--- and they were gone...???

I turned around, blinked and looked back once more.
Whew. I thought I was losing it.

Charlie stood there with her hands on her hips, serving me sassiness.

"What the  hell is wrong with you, lover boy? Grandma Louise is asleep!" She jarred

Charlie is a ninja, honestly. One minute she's on the stairs with the others and the next, she was behind me ready to snap my neck.

"Yeah, lover boy. You could have scared her half to death she's old and brittle, don't give her a heart attack! Matter of fact  don't shoot inside, if you are going to practice, wait until daylight and SHOOT OUTSIDE." Victoria added

Every girl around here calls me lover boy now, ever since Reese told them my nickname. It's starting to get nerve wrecking.

"Look-- I'm, not practicing and stop calling me lover boy, for hells sake THE MILITARY IS ABOUT TO BOMB THIS PLACE!" I shouted

"What? That is impossible. They stopped bombing things about 2 weeks ago." Park said, whilst pulling his long black hair into a ponytail.

"There's some boy outside, named Duncan, warning us to get the hell out of dodge. They are coming guys, we have like  minutes.."

"Why?"

"I don't know, I believe he said there was a herd of the dead coming.."

Everyone gasped and Charlie ran to the nearest window.

She pulled the curtains back and-----

A bunch of them-- more than our encounter on the forage, all coming toward our Haven...

Just then, Reese and Duncan ran back in, panting for dear life.

"pack up we have to go now!" Reese exclaimed

"No shit but how we gonna get out of here?" Jose shot back

We all stared at her for a plan but she didn't know what to say, I could tell by the look across her face. Silence..

"We have to blow up the propane tank."  Dylan out bursted

"That's absurd! why would we do that?" Tyler asked

Yeah, why would we do that?

"Well..If we blow up the tank, it would kill most of the dead and sure,  it'd blow up the house but we could definitely survive it if we get to the cars in time. Plus if the military sees we are already blown up they won't even bother."

Wow. I'm not gonna lie... A1 plan.

"W-Wow, Dylan, that's actually a great plan." I nodded

He smirked and looked around at all the shocked faces, "I know, right?"

Kai beamed a smile so bright,  she put the sun out of business, "You're a hero, Dylan."

Cody scoffed and pushed through everyone, especially shoving Dylan. "I'll get packing." He murmured

"Who are you, boy?" Charlie asked, narrowing her eyes at 'Duncan'.

"Duncan Mordus. 14. Survivor just like you all.. want my social security number while I'm at it?"  He chuckled

She rolled her eyes and walked over to him, "Cool, nice to meet you. Imma cut to the chase and tie you up--- Nothing personal, just we don't know you or what you're capable of. So, If someone would do me the honors of going to get the rope, that's be great!" she exclaimed, still eyeing Duncan up and down.

"Got it." Tyler ran off.

"The rest of you pack up!" Victoria yelled

"Ryan find a way to get Bella in the backseat of the RV." Reese commanded after everyone scrambled away.

"Reese there's not way I co--"

"I believe in you." She smiled and then ran off down the hall.

How am I, (weak and tired) going to get a 140 pound girl (unconscious and half dead) out that door (where a ton of wanderers wait to seeth their teeth into our skin) to the RV (which is all the way across the field) in enough time not to get caught in the explosion?
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Kai's P.O.V

Cody and I nervously threw our clothes into one suitcase, as much as we could fit in there.
My hands shook as I stuffed more and more things in and eventually Cody noticed.

"You okay Kai?"

I ran my fingers over the necklace he got for me and stared him in the eyes.
"Not -- not really." I stammered

He ran his hand over his face and tilted his head at me. "Come here."

He held his arms out to me and I ran into them like I didn't have a problem in the world. He held me close and I inhaled his strong cologne.
I could hug him forever, it's just that amazing being in his arms.

"We'll make it out." He said

I pulled away from him and smirked shyly, "I know. I'm just being over dramatic." I lied.

I'm not being over dramatic, I'm being serious. This is dirty work, maybe too hard to survive it-- and I'm tired of dirty work.
I don't want to do this.

"2 MINUTES!" Charlie yelled from downstairs.

A worried look suddenly formed across his face and abruptly, he grabbed my hand and the suitcase in the other and ran us down the stairs.

"Calm down!" I exclaimed.

He disregarded my request, didn't even look back to make sure I was coming down the stairs properly.
Jesus.

Charlie walked around all of us, gathered in a circle, inspecting us left to right and up and down.

"Where's my right hand man?" She asked

Park descended from the group and saluted Charlie like she was our lieutenant or something.

"Where's my left hand man?"

Victoria stepped out and smiled, although she's not a man, uh, okay.

"So, here's the plan.." Victoria started, "Park is going to blow up the propane tank and once he does, we can't waste anytime.. bunch around Ryan and run to the cars... that's not much of a plan but it's gonna have to work." She sighed.

My stomach began to twist, bend, shake and nearly break. I began to sweat and my body started to shake... I can't pull myself together.

"Guys you better hurry." Duncan advised

"I'm ready." Park said

"Well, go handle it." Charlie commanded, unsurely.

"WAIT! where's Grandma Louise?" June asked, with big eyes and quivering lips.

Everyone stared at Max and June, hand in hand, frightened to death.

"She decided to stay back, June, she thinks that's best." Samantha explained, trying to fight back the tears.

How tragic? I could never explain to a little girl that her grandma would rather kill herself than fight through this herd-- I don't blame her though.

"Here goes nothing." Park cocked back his gun and ran down the hall until he could no longer be seen...

Any moment now.

I felt a  hand tighten around mine and looked down to see Cody's hand still firmly around mine.

"Just don't let go." He whispered
-------------------------------------------------------

Jose's P.O.V

As soon as the explosion went off, so did my ear drums. I jumped up from ducking, as well as everyone else and it was go time.

My ears rung a hole in my head and my vision was blurry, but I didn't let  that stop me.
I threw myself on the side of Ryan and the others gathered around as we pushed our way out the house and into the herd of wanderers.

Everything was moving so fast, and I couldn't keep up.
As more and more of the dead approached me, I continued to tackle them off. I even jabbed my knife into a few of their heads.

Everyone was doing great, shoving and ducking, shooting and shanking ---- all as a team.

And that's when a scream of pain rang from behind us... I turned around just in time to see the skin from Samantha's neck get torn away from a wanderer. It was a disgusting sight, her blood gushed out and she still stared us in the eyes as she was eaten alive.
Everyone stopped and watched, wide eyed, unknowing of what to do, we could still even hear the crackles of the fire from the haven.

June screamed after her mother in terror, and that's when a few wanderers blocked her and began chewing down on her like a midnight snack...

okay, maybe that's not such a great analogy.

As soon as her body fell to the ground, Reese scooped up Max and we all began to run faster and faster.

More cries from behind us ----....I turned my  head to find Dylan fighting off some of them himself, he screamed for help and tried to pull his gun from his pants but he couldn't.. and It was too late.. He fell to the ground and they fell on top of him.
The last thing I heard him yell before I reached the doors of the RV was, "Someone help! Don't let me be gone!"

Charlie climbed on top of the RV like a spider monkey and instantly began sniping out wanderers.

I pushed open the doors and everyone crowded the RV. I watched as Ryan and Reese ran to the back with the kids in their hand, Kimmy pushed  Kai and Cody on, Tyrone pushed Duncan in and then Tyler hopped on...Great.. He's okay, because after all of what I just saw back there, I didn't think he made it because he wasn't in sight and I couldn't hear him over the cries of June, Samantha and Dylan.
But anyway, He got on and frantically closed the doors shut with all his might and once the doors were closed, he shot me a smile and without hesitation, he pulled my face to his and kissed my lips, at first he held his lips against mine like he was unsure of whether  I was going to kiss back or not--- and I wanted to, I like Tyler, but I just couldn't process what was happening.

He then let go and chuckled lightly with his forehead  still against mine, "I'm not gay." he whispered

Just a joke... When I first met Tyler, I knew we'd click, and I figured he was gay, so I told him I was and he jokingly told me  he wasn't. And ever since then, whenever we'd shoot each other a glance or smile or even accidentally touch hands, he'll turn to me and chuckle before insisting he isn't gay.

"Yeah, sure." I laughed

And then I pressed my lips against his.
I gave him a long, deep kiss filled with promise and passion, like I was drinking the taste of him and I couldn't quench my thirst.

"That's enough homosexuals," Tyrone said

Tyler and I pulled away from the kiss and looked around to find everyone staring us down.
They weren't giving us nasty looks though, instead, they smiled.

"Drive." Tyrone laughed.

I shook my head and stared ahead at Victoria and Park pulling off in the car in front of us and pressed the gas pedal.

I made it. We made it.
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