Addison and Wyatt crept quietly along the edge of the forest near Zombie Town as they searched for Willa, Wynter and the other wolves.

As they neared the back corner of the town they spotted Willa coming towards them.

"How did it go?" Willa asked.

Addison sighed. "Not great. Dr. Andrews couldn't tell us anything."

"He and the rest of Z-Tech are looking into the problem." Wyatt added. "They just don't know what it is."

"How about you?" Addison asked. "Learn anything?"

Willa shook her head. "I just came back from talking to Wynter and her group. They're stationed on the other side. It seems every Zombie has the same story. The Z-bands just shut down and it was all at the same time."

"Have you seen Eliza?" Wyatt asked hopefully. Though he had been working hard to reassure Addison that everything would be okay, he was still worried.

"Or Zed? Or Bonzo?" Addison added.

"I spoke to Zed." Willa admitted. "He said Bonzo has locked himself in his house. He's scared. Eliza on the other hand is trying to find a solution. Zed said she's been working nonstop since they were brought home. And Zed, he's trying to keep his family's spirits up. Zevon is worried and little Zoey is terrified. She's never experienced this before."

Addison's heart dropped. She hadn't even thought about Zoey and the younger Zombies. She couldn't imagine how scary this must be, seeing themselves like actual monsters for the first time. And Bonzo, her gentle giant of a friend, Bree had told her how nervous he was in the woods and on the bus when they retrieved the moonstone. She couldn't imagine how he was feeling now that he had to deal with this alone, especially without Bree.

"Addison, AdDiSoN, ADDISON!" Wyatt whisper- shouted in her ear, snapping her back to reality.

Addison shook her head. "Sorry guys, just thinking."

"Its okay." Wyatt replied. "We all have alot on our minds right now."

Addison nodded and Willa cleared her throat.

"As I was saying, we've been observing the perimeter." Willa explained. "Their are guards stationed at every exit point and a pair of guards that circulate the area. Once they pass it takes them about ten minutes before they appear again."

"Okay.... and that helps us how?" Wyatt asked.

Willa shrugged. "Maybe we'll need to sneak in or bust someone out. You never know. Besides, we're not supposed to be here so it helps us keep from getting caught. Or would you like to wear those silver bracelets again?"

Wyatt shuddered at the thought of being arrested again. "No thanks, I'm good."

Willa smirked. "Then I rest my case."

"But Wyatt does make a point." Addison cut in. "While the information you collected is important, it doesn't help us solve the problem at hand."

"I know." Willa sighed. "I wish we could have found more."

The three wolves sat in silence, unsure what to say. They were doing everything they could but they were still coming up empty handed.

After a while Willa stood up and brushed off her pants. "Alright guys, maybe it's time we--"

Willa stopped mid sentence as she stepped closer to the edge of the woods, looking out towards Zombie Town.

"What is it Willa?" Wyatt asked, confused by his sister's behavior. At first he had thought maybe the guards were circling back around and she didn't want to be heard, but that didn't explain her moving closer to the edge of the woods.

"Someone is ducking between the houses in Zombie Town." Willa whispered. "Their making their way towards where we are. They're moving fast and staying in the shadows, I can't tell who it is."

Wyatt started to get up but Willa held up her hand. "Don't move, I don't want them to see us until I figure out who and what we're dealing with."

Despite his sister's wishes, Wyatt pushed himself up on his knees to peer over the bushes. Before he could get a good look however, a hand grabbed his arm and pulled him down.

"You are not a good listener." Addison chided. "She said stay down."

Wyatt huffed and sat down, muttering under his breath. "Sisters."

Addison bit back a chuckle just as Willa spoke up.

"Its Eliza."

"What?" Wyatt jumped to his feet and scrambled over next to his sister. Sure enough, he could see Eliza peeking out from behind the house closest to the fence. Her eyes were scanning the fence line as if she were searching for someone, or something.

"I have to go talk to her." Wyatt said, moving forward.

Willa grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. "You only have about five minutes until the Zombie Patrol circles back around. Make it quick and don't get caught. I'll keep watch, if you hear a whistle, run."

"Got it. I'll make it quick." Wyatt nodded before turning to Addison. "You coming?"

Addison nodded and the two crept out from the trees and made their way over to the fence line.

"Eliza?" Wyatt called out, peering through the fence.

"Wyatt?"

Even though her voice sounded distorted, Wyatt smiled, he knew Eliza's voice anywhere.

Eliza peered out from behind the house then quickly moved towards them. "I'm so glad to see you guys."

"I-- We're glad to see you too." Wyatt replied. "But what are you doing out here?"

"Zed told me the wolf pack was hanging around." Eliza explained. "I found something you guys need to see."

"What is it?" Addison asked, moving closer.

Eliza held up her laptop so they could see. "I hacked into the Z-tech servers to see if I could find out what was causing the problem. At first, everything looked perfectly normal."

"That's what Dr. Andrews told us." Addison said.

Wyatt nodded. "But how can there be a problem yet everything look normal?"

"A Trojan horse." Eliza told them.

"A what?" Wyatt asked. "Isn't that from our history books?"

"Well, yes." Eliza explained. "But in this instance a Trojan horse is a program that is hidden within other software. Once I ran a cleaning program, I was able to get rid of the Trojan horse."

"That's great!" Wyatt smiled. "But then why aren't everyone's Z-bands fixed?"

Eliza sighed. "That's because the Trojan horse was being used to hide the real problem."

Eliza clicked a button and the screen changed. This time several lines of code appeared and blinked red. When she clicked on the red coded lines a box appeared asking for a key."

"That's what's causing the trouble? A few red lines?" Wyatt asked in surprise. "Can't you fix them?"

Eliza shook her head. "Whoever did this was smart, very smart. After they created the bad code, they locked it in with an encryption key. I've tried every code cracking program I have, nothing can break it. The only way to fix this is to find the person who created it."

"What do we need to do?" Addison asked.

Eliza unplugged the flash drive from her computer and handed it to Addison. "Take this to Z-Tech. Have them trace the encryption back to its source. Once they find the culprit they can force them to undo this mess."

Addison nodded, gripping the flash drive tightly in her hand. "We'll get it there Eliza, don't worry."

"I know you will." Eliza smiled.

Wyatt reached through the fence and grabbed Eliza's hand. "I love you. We'll have this mess fixed in no time. You're amazing Eliza."

"I love you too Wyatt." Eliza smiled. "I----

A piercing whistle pierced the air and they froze.

"That's Willa. The Zombie Patrol is coming. We gotta get out of here." Wyatt announced.

Eliza took off back into Zombie town and Wyatt and Addison ran back into the woods. They finally had a lead, now they just had to follow it.

Author's Note

Here's another chapter! Enjoy!

              -Meloetta246