• The girls did not hear him, they were too absorbed in making a special super-zombie-slaying weapon. “Which one of you has the brother upstairs?” Jason saw that it was a wasted effort to grab their attention as it stood, so he left, trying to figure out what to do next.
    Kait and Megan had taken a good fifteen minutes to make the C.R.A.Z.Y. gun, and when they were done, Kait yawned and smiled. “Nice job, Meg. I couldn’t have done this alone, you know. First thing tomorrow, remind me that we need to go to Wal-Mart to get more supplies for…well, everything.”
    Also smiling, Megan said “Sure. You’re going to bed?”
    “Yeah. I’m really tired now, making weapons can do that even to an expert. Besides, if I don’t sleep at night, I’ll be up while everybody else is sleeping, and I’ll be alone.”
    “All right. Good night.”
    “Night, Meg.” With a quick friendly hug, Kait made her way up the stairs, her eyelids getting heavy. By the time she got back to her sleeping bag, she was looking a bit like a zombie herself. She climbed into her sleeping bag, and was instantly asleep. To her luck, it would be another nightmare.

    “In what kind of way,” Otaki asked Dran, still sitting on that rooftop.
    “In a friendly way, but maybe something a bit more, too. Do you know how kindred spirits work? They’re the spirits of certain people who are always together in each life, maybe like us.”
    Otaki smiled a bit, and leaned herself against Dran’s shoulder. “Me, too. I love you, too, Dran.”
    Jason climbed back onto the roof, and asked “Hey, Dran, the weapons tech in the garage is your sister, I take it?”
    “The one and only. She actually made my glove,” Dran said, holding up the right hand that had a leather glove on it. “She designed it special for me. Kait made it so that the three blades would pop out if I applied enough pressure to a set of triggers inside the glove. In short, I make a fist, and the blades come out to do their dirty work.”
    To demonstrate, he clenched his hand into a fist, causing three blades to pop out, each about a foot long, from the spaces between his fingers. Just then, he heard another scream, identical to the one from earlier that evening. “Jase,” Dran said quickly, “You can go see her if you want, I was probably a killer in her dream anyway, don’t ask why.”
    That one statement was all the reason Jason needed to go see what had happened. He rushed into the room, and saw the same gray-haired girl from earlier, tossing and turning violently, and grunting as if she was running from something. Quickly sitting to her side, Jason yelled “Wake up!”
    There was no response from Kait, only a continuation of her fear.
    Jason grabbed a nearby cloth, and soaked it in cold water. Rushing himself a bit, he set the cloth on Kait’s head, and she quickly woke up with a jerk and another scream. Her face was stained with tears, possibly from her sleep, as she was breathing deeply, and she didn’t look the boy next to her in the face, but said “Thanks.” Looking at the boy, she smiled a bit.
    Jason then noticed his hand was on Kait’s, and jumped back a little, causing Kait to laugh.
    “You’re crushing,” she said. “It’s really easy to tell by how red you are, and how you jumped when your hand was on mine. It’s okay, I might be crushing on you, too. Food for thought, I guess, but I really don’t want to sleep alone, can you stay?”
    “Sure.” He was still blushing, which kept the smile on Kait’s face as she quickly drifted back to sleep.

    The whole house was asleep, but somewhere else, a special zombie lurked, hunting down survivors. “There has to be multiple,” he said. “A sole survivor is a logical impossibility, it’s a near-impossible occurrence!”

    As morning rose over San Diego, Kait smiled that the boy was good to his word, and had stayed the entire night. He was eating an apple when she woke up, and yawned lightly. “Good morning, insomniac.”
    “Hey there.” Holding up the apple, he asked “Do you want one?”
    “Sure.” Kait caught the apple he tossed her, and said “You know, I never actually got your name. Can I get it now? Mine’s Kait.”
    “Jason. Jason Sistalain.”
    “Well, Jason, remember when I said ‘food for thought?’ Well, my thoughts were munching on it, and they happen to like the taste. So, then you’re crushing on me who’s crushing on you, how convenient for us.”
    “It is, isn’t it? I also found a bunker last night, loaded with weapons.”
    Megan stepped into the room, and said “Hey there, Kait. You ready to go to get some supplies?” She asked this, as she always did, smiling.
    “Oh, yeah, I totally forgot!” Looking at Jason, she said “Can you come, too? We may need some big strong man’s arms to help us get stuff together.”
    “Sure,” Jason said.
    Kait smiled, and said “Then let’s go! I’m not taking Dran, he’s all lovey-dovey with Otaki right now, so he can work it out himself.”
    Megan shrugged, and the two girls plus Jason started making their way down the road. There were no real vehicles in sight, so the three of them went on foot, simply enough.

    “Then I’d better not mess up, huh?” Dran and Otaki were talking about a variety of things, mainly them. “If you really think these dreams of yours are premonitions, we’d better watch ourselves. If they’re not just psyched-out nightmares, this is nothing.”
    “I’m sure they’re not just dreams. I really think these things will happen, we need to do something about it.”
    “If you’re sure, then I’ll follow you every step of the way. I swear, that as long as I’m alive, you and Kait, I’ll protect you both, as best I can.”

    After a while of walking, the trio reached their destination, and stepped inside. All the lights were off, and Kait felt around the wall for a light switch. When she found it, she flipped the switch and watched in wonder as the lights beamed to life, to see that nothing was taken, everything was still on the shelves, fully stocked. “We’re here!”
    “Okay, Kay…is it okay if I call you that?”
    “Sure, Meg. We’re friends, it’s only natural, right? Well, before anybody asks, I’ll answer. We need some twelve planks of wood, sturdy and roughly six feet long each. Then we need something tough, like leather, lots and lots of leather. Some nails and a hammer or drill to add to it, and we have training dummy soup.”
    Jason laughed a bit, and said “Sounds good. I’ll go get started on the wood.” He then left the girls to their own devices.
    “All right,” Kait said. “I’m going to electronics to see if anything good’s still here. You wouldn’t think about it, but it’s important to have fun during a zombie apocalypse, otherwise we’d all just go crazy.”
    “Okay. I’m going to go help Jason out, call if you need us.”
    “Count on it.” With a friendly hug, Kait and Megan went off where they said they would.

    In San Diego, not far from the three, the zombie king, the origin of the apocalypse, was still going in his search. When, suddenly, he saw a photograph on the floor. Picking it up, he realized it was actually a picture from his pocket, of him and a girl, who were deeply in love. “Damn. She wouldn’t want this, she wouldn’t want me to do this to everybody.” Leaning against a wall, he said to any ghosts of his lost love that may have been listening, “I’m sorry, babe. I guess I was missing the ace of hearts in my deck. I’m playing the king of spades, and putting these dead back in their graves, one at a time. Hon, for you, I’m going to help any survivors I find now.” Looking behind him, he saw dark clouds, and thought That looks ominous. I better find some cover if it’s as bad as it looks. Looking around, he saw a Wal-Mart, and the lights were on. He smelled human flesh, living human flesh. Most likely three people, they hadn’t been there long yet.

    Kait was exploring the electronics section of the store, when she saw the televisions in the back were working. Pulling up a chair, she looked to see what was on; the news. “Ugh, I hate the news channels, they make me paranoid,” she said to herself. “Still, what could they POSSIBLY talk about six years into a zombie apocalypse?”
    “In other news,” stated the newswoman. “We have not only increasing reports of resistance against the zombie outbreak, but another important message. To any survivors in California, especially in the San Diego area, we caution you to take cover. Hurricanes Kaitlyn and Megan have been tearing apart the Western coasts of Canada and Mexico, and radars show that they will collide into each other, right near San Diego, where they will feed off each other, to combine and become a super-hurricane. Super-hurricane Juno,” said the newscaster. “Take cover, and take care.”
    Kait was personally terrified of hurricanes, and rushed to the intercom. “Meg, Jase, can the two of you please get over here? Like, now?” It was unintentional, but she had let it be heard she was scared. She was only slightly relieved as Jason was quickly there before she knew it.
    “What’s wrong?” He then looked back and saw the news, and cringed. Wrapping his arms around her, he said “Don’t worry, we’ll get through it. I promise, hon.”
    Kait wrapped her own arms around him, and felt comforted in him calling her ‘hon’ and almost forgot why she was scared. “And I think that’s how it should be. You and me, no matter what.” She was tense, her nerves were going crazy, she felt so energized, but knew it was fear.
    “I’ll board up the doors and windows, okay? I have some plywood planks already, I’ll just use those. Do you want anything to drink or eat while I’m out doing that?”
    Smiling, Kait said “Sure, some chocolate milk. I know we’ll be fine, but…what about Dran, and Otaki? We don’t even know if they’ve got power, let alone enough plywood to board the doors and windows.”
    “I’m sure they’ll figure something out. Trust me, okay?”
    Kait took a deep breath, and remembered something Dran had once told her. “I swore as long as we were together, nothing will hurt you. I’m still right here, Kait.” She let the breath go when she realized he wasn’t, but Jason was.
    Megan had then entered the section, and asked “What’s wrong?” Kait simply pointed to the news casting wall, not wanting to see the warnings again. Megan saw the news, and was also scared, and said “Hey, don’t be afraid. I’m sure it’s not as bad as they say.”
    Kait kept her arms tight around Jason, and said “I hope not.” Guiding him, she moved closer to Megan. Her best friend and her newly declared boyfriend, both of them right there with her. It was the way she wanted it.
    “Kait,” Jason said, “We could probably move some furniture around, and make some living areas around.”
    Kait smiled and nodded at the idea, it was probably best, so they weren’t always in the same places at all times. “Okay,” her nerves made it tough to speak, but she did with little effort considering.

    Dran looked out the window, him and Otaki were the only ones there. Sitting down next to her, he said “Looks like things are about to get pretty bad out there. I’m no meteorologist, but there’s really dark clouds north AND south, so things might get severe. I’ll board the windows and doors, you can help if you want, but I don’t want to get your nerves worked up.”
    “Sure, you do that.” Otaki just stayed there on the couch, knowing he was referring to a hurricane. She was also scared of them, having once almost being killed in one as a very young girl.
    Dran, as he promised he would, was quickly back out with boards of plywood, nails, and a drill. He started with the windows, which took no time at all for him, and was in about three minutes done with everything downstairs.

    Jason, with Kait and Megan’s help, had finished boarding doors and windows at the Wal-Mart, as well. They sat down on a couch they had moved to near an Xbox 360 and a nice TV set. The rain was beginning to hit, but not too hard yet. Kait held onto Jason as tight as she could, and Megan sat on the floor near the two. “It’s going to start soon. I’m scared, I’m really scared,” Kait said.
    “I know, babe.” Jason said, holding her. “It’s okay.”