Aiden's POV

Once Lukas started warming up and regaining his strength, things were back to normal. We were all outside, choosing partners for our next hunting trip.

"Aiden!" Maya whispered, "This is your chance! Ask Petra to be your partner!"

"Um, Petra?" I nervously asked, "Do you wanna, uh," I ran my fingers through my hair, "be partners for the hunting trip?"

"Uhh..." Petra said. She desperately glanced over at Jesse and Lukas, who just snickered.

"Sure, Aiden," she said reluctantly. I blushed a little because it was kind of embarrassing that she didn't actually want to be with me. Gotta up my game.

"I call Lukas!" Maya shouted. He immediately stopped laughing. Maya wrapped her arms around his neck and let him pull her away.

"Maya..." Lukas groaned, slightly annoyed. Jesse just laughed more.

"Well, that means it's you and me, Jesse," Gill said as he stepped up to her. Jesse stopped laughing, realizing that she could have just gone with Lukas or Petra instead of teasing them. At least I got to go with Petra...

"Let's go," said Jesse. Everyone disbanded.

Jesse's POV

"Harnessing the power of the sun with the- magic amulet they found in the attic," Gill sang, annoying me beyond annoyance, "mmm-mmm-mmm. The amulet is green, mmm-mmm-mmm, it's probably and emerald-"

"Gill..." I groaned, "We have to keep quiet, remember? Walkers are attracted to sound."

"Oh, yeah," Gill whispered, "sor- WAAH!" he screamed. I whirled around and found a walker grabbing him and digging into his chest.

"GILL!" I cried. I pulled out my sword and swung at the walker, knocking it over. I drove my sword into its guts once it was on the ground.

Now, time to deal with Gill. He laid on the ground as blood seeped through his white shirt.

"Gill!" I said, "Hand me your jacket!"

Gill carefully removed his leather Blaze Rods jacket and handing it to me, letting out a small moan. I folded it up and pressed it against his chest to try to help stop the bleeding.

"Ow!" he shouted.

"Sorry," I apologized as I put a little less pressure on it.

"Let's get you back to the hut, it's not safe to be out here in the open, and maybe there'll be someone there to help!"

I picked Gill up, bridal style, and carried him back. It was pretty hard because Gill was really heavy, but I eventually managed to take him back.

"Jesse?" I heard a familiar voice call. I looked back and saw Petra. Her face was filled with worry.

"Petra? What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's Aiden!" she said, "He got his leg stuck in a bear trap, and I can't get it out! I came back here to see if anyone could help!"

"And you just left him there?!" I asked.

"What else could I do?" she replied defensively.

"Well, what am I supposed to do about Gill?! He's really hurt; he got bitten in the chest by a walker!" I said.

"Take him with us!" said Petra, "Follow me!"

She ran back into the woods with me following, which was really hard because I was carrying a 123 pound male in my arms.

"Here!" she said. I carefully set Gill down on the yellow leaves.

"Owww..." Aiden groaned in pain. His teeth were clenched and his eyes had tears in them.

"I was trying to find an emergency latch or something, but I couldn't find one! I don't know what to do!" Petra said frantically. She stopped and lowered her tone, "You don't think we'll have to chop the leg, do you?"

"What?!" Aiden exclaimed, "You can't do that! There has to be another way!"

"Um, I'll check for an emergency latch again, but if there isn't one, we'll have to chop your leg off!"

Poor Aiden just sat in silent terror as Petra searched around the trap. His eyes were red and glassy and he was too afraid to speak. Petra's eyes suddenly lit up.

"How did I not notice this?! There's a latch!" she exclaimed. She pushed it down, making the trap release Aiden's crushed leg. Blood was seeping through his jeans, but his leg wasn't severed from his body.

"Jesse?" Gill said faintly. Oh, goodness, I almost forgot about him.

"Gill? Are you okay?" I asked, silently pleading him not to die.

"Come closer, I have something to tell you," he said just above a whisper. I nervously lowered myself so I could hear what he had to say. He opened his mouth.

"Blaze... rods."

He let out his final breath as his head fell back.

"Aah!" I cried.

"Gill?" Aiden asked in a shaking voice. I lifted my finger up to his neck to look for his pulse. I felt it, but then it suddenly stopped.

"He's dead," I whispered.

The three of us sat and just looked at what was left of Gill. We looked at the face we'd probably never see again.

We solemnly walked back to the hut. Aiden leaned on Petra, who helped him walk with his hurt leg.

Just when we thought things couldn't get worse, they did. Before you say, "It started raining," I'll tell you right now that it's the complete opposite of rain.

As we walked back, Petra sniffed the air.

"Does anyone smell burning?"

"Oh, no," I said.

Our survival hut was now just a few burning planks. I almost burst into tears at this point.

"What now?" asked Aiden.

"Over here! Hurry!" I heard Lukas yell from a distance. I turned around and found him and Maya sprinting toward us.

"Hide!" yelled Maya. We all jumped into the ditch that was once the survival hut. A boy ran over, then stopped. He held a gun in his hands.

"YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME!" he screamed. He had bright, blonde hair and a camouflage jacket on. He then proceeded to scream just about every curse word in the dictionary. Then he ran away.

"Wow, he sure knows French," Petra remarked.

Petra's POV

That night, we had a campfire right outside where the survival hut once was in hopes that walkers were repelled by flame or something. By this time, we had already broken the news to Lukas and Maya that Gill had died.

"Remember," began Maya as she sniffed, "remember how he used to say 'Blaze Rods' all the time? And all those times when he was freaking out about how he couldn't find his ocelot jacket, BUT HE WAS WEARING IT THE WHOLE TI-I-IME!!" Maya was hysterical now. Not to sound like a complete jerk, but she's been rambling about this for a while now, and it was starting to get annoying. I decided to change the subject.

"So, Lukas," I said, "who was that guy chasing you and Maya?"

"We don't know," Lukas replied, "he just started talking about how we 'ruined his life' and then pulled his gun on us. We ran as fast as we could back here, and that's where we met you guys."

"I still can't believe Gill's... gone. JUST LIKE THAT!" wept Maya, blinking away tears. Lukas, Aiden, and Maya all seemed sadder about Gill's death than Jesse and me. It made me feel really mean for not feeling too sad about it.

Well, they did know him better than us.

"Let's just get some rest so we can settle this in the morning," said Jesse, equally annoyed.

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I awoke to the feeling of something sharp scratching my arm. I slowly opened my eyes and saw a full view of a walker's face bleeding onto me and ready to sink its teeth into my neck. It was digging its yellow fingernails into my arm.

"EW!" I screamed as I promptly punched it in the face. Fear response stuff. I stood onto my feet, pulled out my sword, and killed it. Then, to my horror, there were a bunch of walkers coming over to us, ready to dig in. One was about to get Jesse.

"AHH!" I yelled as I killed it, waking Jesse up.

"Petra!" she exclaimed as she sat up. After examining the situation, she yelled, "Come on!"

We began slicing up walkers, but there were too many of them and too few of us.

"We can't take them all!" shouted Jesse. I let my eyes wander around to look for any escape routes. I noticed a tree with pretty big branches.

"Jesse! That tree!" I pointed out as I annihilated a walker that was dripping on Lukas.

"Good thinking, Petra!" said Jesse as she thrust her sword into the stomach of another, "but how'll we get everyone up there?"

Just as a walker was about to clobber me, I drove my sword into its ribcage.

"What about we wake everyone up?" I suggested.

            After shaking everyone awake, we all helped each other into the tree. Maya and Aiden were able to fit onto one branch, while Jesse, Lukas, and I were able to fit onto another. Luckily, they were big enough to support all of us, and we fell asleep, this time completely safe from any walkers. Not exactly safe from falling, though. We'll get there in a minute.

            "Petra!" Jesse exclaimed as she shook me awake.

            "Hmm?" I replied without lifting my head.

            "Petra!" Jesse exclaimed a little louder. I sighed, not wanting to get up. I lifted my head lazily and asked, "What is it?"

            "It's Lukas! Look!" she said. I looked over. Lukas was asleep, with his mouth slightly open. There was an arrow sticking out of the side of his head, but he wasn't bleeding. He was still alive because I could hear him breathing. He was just peacefully sleeping- with an arrow sticking out of his head.

            "Where did that arrow come from?" I asked.

            "I'm not sure," said Jesse, "I woke up and he was like that! He seems perfectly fine, though."

            I reached over and grabbed his arm.

            "Lukas," I said as I shook it gently, "wake up!"

            He opened his eyes and sat up.

            "I'm not Lukas!" he cried. He sounded like he was making his voice deeper. It sounded a little more superhero-ish, I guess.

            "What do you mean? Of course you're Lukas!" Jesse said a little confused.

            "No!" he protested, "My name is Jerry!"

            Jesse and I exchanged nervous glances.

            "No...," said Jesse, not knowing what to make of the situation, "your name is Lukas. Do you know who I am?" Jesse spoke slowly as if she were speaking to a three-year-old.

            "No, but I know who I am, and my name is Jerry!" he said, standing up. He lost his balance and tumbled off the branch, onto the ground.

            "Lukas?!" Jesse and I shouted as we looked down at the ground. He had face-planted into the leaves, and the arrow had fallen out of his head. He then hoisted himself up.

            "Ow," he grunted as he rubbed his head, "What happened?"

            "Lukas?" I called.

            "Yeah?" he asked as he looked up at me. There was a little blood dripping from his nose, but it didn't look like he hurt himself too badly.

            "He's back!" Jesse exclaimed happily. Lukas just gave her a confused look.

            Suddenly, I felt something sharp hit me in the head.

Crap.

Jesse's POV

            Petra had just gotten hit with the same arrow that hit Lukas. Her eyes widened, then exclaimed,

            "HELLO MY NAME IS DIAMOND AND I AM A BIRD!"

            Lukas examined the arrow that had fallen out of his head, then looked at Petra, then back at the arrow, then back at Petra, and asked, "Is that what happened to me?"

            "Yeah, well, no, not exactly, but yeah," I said.

Petra scampered up the tree to a higher branch and pulled off her bandana, to find most of it covered in dried blood from when it was tied around her neck.

"This... this has blood on it," she said in a quivering voice, "did someone... die?" She began to tear up, "I don't want anyone to die!" She was sobbing now.

Lukas didn't come back to normal until he fell and hit his head... I thought.

I carefully climbed up the where emotional Petra was hugging her bandana and sobbing.

"Petra," I began.

"MY NAME IS DIAMOND!" she cried.

"Er, Diamond," I corrected, "I'm sorry I have to do this, but..."

I shoved her off the branch.

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Wow, there is some serious cringe-worthy action coming from Lukas and Petra! It's not their fault, though. There are reasons...

Anyway, tell me what you think or what you might want to see in the comments! If you have any suggestions, I can't take anything super big that would change the coarse of the story, (because I already outlined) but that doesn't mean I can't take little comical bits and references from you! See ya in the next chapter!