Lee's POV

I had to be quick, otherwise, Sam would be stuck in that hotel building for who knows how long. As I had mentioned to her before, it took a day to get back to the hideout, yet I made it before those guys did. In the distance I could see them right outside the hideout, I wanted to just shoot them down. I reached for my shoulder for my rifle, but stopped short, right, Sam had it, it wasn't even just that though, the angle I was at, I was still on the ground floor, and they, even if small, had the height advantage thanks to that tank. They started speaking, yet I didn't understand what language, this city was known for having many languages in it...though, Cally was able to translate it, and she only knows Russian and English, so it was clear what it was...but me knowing the language wouldn't mean I knew how to speak or understand it...I took out my pistol and checked the mag...seven shots, more than enough, but it'd draw in noise...heh, I'm sure that building coming down was loud enough, surprisingly though, the dust already settled and that building managed to miss other structures...not like it's that surprising though, considering most buildings were already majorly destroyed. All three of them were facing the hideout, so I decided to creep closer to them, pistol drawn, I checked the floor to make sure I wouldn't step on anything that would draw noise over to me, especially when I'm right behind them. I made it up to the back of the tank, the thing was menacing, and just one shot from the barrel would blow me to bits. The conversation the three were having seemed to turn to arguing, every now and again they'd shout at each other, well, only two of them were from what I could hear, meaning, I could pick one off and they wouldn't notice. When their shouting became the loudest I jumped onto the tank and climbed up it, the guy was sitting on the entrance to the tank, I took out my knife, resting my hand that held the pistol onto the hand holding the knife. I got behind the guy, making sure he wasn't talking, and that the other two, who stood at the hideout door weren't looking. I raised my knife and knelt down near the guy, my knee banged against the metal, and so it was all or nothing. While the guy turned I moved forward and practically jammed my gun down his throat, I pressed my knife against his neck and cut, the guy tried biting my fingers, but it seemed like he was going out of it. He clawed at my wrist but eventually stopped and I could see the shine in his eyes fade away.

I was tempted to just shoot the other two, yet it seemed like they were unarmed... No, who the hell was I kidding? They took down a whole building just to try and kill us! They deserved death. I raised my pistol but before I could pull the trigger I felt something pierce my neck. I did a 180 and whipped my pistol through the air, I felt that it made contact with something. When my clarity of the situation became more clear, I saw someone with a syringe holding their head with their free hand, it seemed like the guy jabbed me with the syringe, yet, it didn't do anything, and when the person refocused, they seemed surprised as well, yet didn't speak, that must've been why I didn't hear them to begin with. They tried rushing me but I pulled the trigger before they could, the round hit their right shoulder, yet it didn't come out the other end. I shot again before they could muster any resolve to continue charging me and this time, it pierced their left shoulder, seemingly hitting the heart. I knelt down, my body was beginning to feel weird, like I wanted to claw out my own neck. I heard a thud behind me, then another, I remembered the two people behind me and flipped around, facing my gun behind me, yet with a single motion, I felt the slide of my pistol going back, and the mag hitting onto the outer frame of the tank, bouncing off onto the floor.

"Next time, if someone does that, you jab them in the stomach" I started taking deep breaths to focus. My vision was a mess...When it came back however, I noticed that it was Kenneth who did that.

"Kenneth? But you should've been at the school"

"Cally gave me and Nicholai a hollar over the radio, the signal was clearly terrible, so i knew you guys were somewhere in the zone where the building fell" Kenneth back up, hopping down the tank, he knelt down and picked up my mag, lifting it up to me. "five more rounds" He notified me, I jumped onto the floor and took the mag, putting it back into the gun. "This" He stretched his arms out to his side and did a single slow spin. "Is why you don't give idiots heavy machinery." I walked past him and headed for the hideout, placing my hand on the panel, like it typically did, it announced my name and ID, then, allowed me in.

When the doors opened I was treated to Crystal hiding behind a turret in the middle of the room. I looked back over to Kenneth.

"Hey, as long as it senses our DNA and ID, it won't harm us, hell, you can even hack it, batter its camera, do whatever, while it may not attack our enemies if that happens, I can assure you, through months of testing, it will not harm us."

"It's only you two..." She sounded relieved, she walked over to us, and yet that relieved expression was cut short when she saw the bodies. "Well...at least they were dea-...Where's Sam?" I felt guilt hit almost immediately after she said that and looked at me.

"I...had to leave her somewhere..."

"Alone!?" Kenneth wasn't talking, I guess he would rather have Crystal berate me. "She can't even fight Lee!"

"I know...But it was either that or you could die, it's not like I knew Kenneth was coming here...and I at least gave Sam something to defend herself with, not even just that, the door has a lock on it, I gave her games to play with a charger that should last a few days, and there are even windows she could escape through if someone manages to find her." I defended myself, I knew that it was stupid to leave her on her own...but I didn't want to risk her life either. I could see Crystal take a deep breath.

"I guess with all that...it would be safer than coming here. Yet, doesn't she know where the school is?"

"Hold on, how'd you know we were at the school?" Kenneth looked down at Crystal, getting off the wall he was previously leaning on.

"Dave told me" She pointed back at the hideout, the turret seemed to go up and down like it was waving at us.

"Right, I do also have the drone form of Dave at the school...why didn't he tell you sooner then?" Kenneth looked at me.

"We weren't here, we had only just got here about a day or two ago, and Sam and I left almost immediately to go find you guys."

"Speaking of which, Lee" Crystal sounded like she was getting mad again. "It took you guys a day to just make it one way, from what I could at least tell...so, how long has it been since Sam has been on her own?"

"A Day" I answered immediately.

"How long does that battery and charger last?" Kenneth asked me the next question.

"About...a week? At least when I last used it...That's altogether by the way, the charger and the base battery" I could see both of them relaxing.

"Well, I guess it isn't much of an issue then, you thought of everything." Kenneth patted me on the back. "We should hurry though, in case that charger dwindled in power" We began the trek back, although it seemed like Kenneth tinkered with the tank before we left. "To make sure no one else takes this you know?" The door to the hideout closed as we got further away. It was long, and annoying, Crystal decided to come along, bringing her own bag of goods, With my bag, and now Kenneth and Crystal's, I was sure we took everything from the hideout besides for certain emergency foods and medical supplies in case we had to return and we had nothing else. A certain part of me questioned my actions, why leave her on her own...Sam...although I didn't want to think it, was used to being on her own...yet as I thought about it...it's not like she enjoyed being in the hospital for most of her life...I felt guilty about so many things...it felt like Deja Vú. The area around me started to get muffled, and my movement became slower while I felt pressure on my stomach

"L...ee" It felt like things got slower, I looked down and pressed on my jacket, causing my hand to slowly get stained with blood...that's what it was...heh...I have a real tendency to get hurt...don't I? I dropped to the floor shortly after I realized, an immense wave of coldness washed over my body as it hit the snow-covered floor. Everything rushed back to me, the pain, the freezing cold, and every noise that sounded off. A figure walked up and knelt down to me, soon they stood up and I saw that gasmask and blue glow in their eye...

"Just stay dead!" They sounded pissed off in a sense. They took out a hand axe and began to swing down. A bullet rang out, then more, then even more. The figure was staggered and seemed to vanish into thin air.

"Your cavalry has arrived" Kai stood above me with a handout, until he realized the condition I was in. "Can you go a week without getting injured?" I smiled weakly at his joke. He helped me stand up as he took my arm over his shoulder. I looked around, it seemed like Kenneth and Crystal were slightly injured but were able to stand on their own. Kai had some form of an assault rifle, but my mind was going all over. I could see others going to aid Kenneth and Crystal, but my ears started to ring, I could barely even walk with Kai anymore. "Come on Lee, just stay awake a bit longer." I tried looking up again, hoping it would help me stay awake, but as I took another step, everything became dark again.

I woke up on a bed, a familiar one. One look around told me I was in the nurse's office in the school...Last I was here this floor was flooded with zombies, I guess they did a better job...heh, wouldn't doubt it, we're just kids after all. When I sat up I felt a tug on my left arm, I looked down at it and saw an IV connected to me. I followed the line and saw the bag, clearly, it was blood, yet, the bag looked makeshift...did the others give their blood for me...I recall that me, Nicholai, and Kenneth's blood weren't similar, but I didn't know about the others...I noticed a paper sticking out of the edge of my bed, I crawled over to it and took it out of the slot it was in.

Lee Anc

Sex: Male

Age: 16

DOB: 8/26/06

DOA: 12/11/22

Condition: A bullet pierced through his stomach, surgery went well, no anesthesia needed(Nor do we have any)

Notes: He's murmured in his sleep about something, but I came in at the last second of it.

I looked around for a calendar, hoping to see something about the date. On the wall, I saw it, February 4th, 2022. I've been out for two months. It seemed like everything was alright, I forget the name of it, but the thing that attaches to your arm and senses your blood pressure, I at least knew what was fine thanks to my time at the hospital. I popped out the IV, it was a bit painful with all the tape, but I did it regardless. I slapped on a bandaid from one of the drawers, then took off the arm pressure thing... I stood up and left the room to find Nicholai coming over.

"What did I expect from you...could've at least stayed put for a minute or two" She had a tray of food.

"Well...i was in there for two months" I gave a cocky smirk.

"Fair enough" She walked into the room and set the food down on a table near the bed I was on. "You can wait to eat. Come on, let's go tell the others about how right I was" I followed her up to the third floor, we entered a room where everyone but Kenneth and Crystal waited.

"Well shit, guess he is awake" Kai leaned at the window, looking over at me.

"It's not like he would die like that" Ruco was drinking something while he sat at a Kotatsu with his feet under it...It felt like someone was missing.

"Where's Sam?" I leaned on the doorframe, she was probably on the rooftop with the garde-

"What'dya mean?" Ruco said, it wasn't condescending, or even as if it was a joke.

"Sam...I told her to come here if I took too long or if she felt unsafe" I began to explain.

"Why would you have to tell her that? She's at the hideout right?" Nicholai sounded confused "Cally said so..."

"No...she must've misunderstood...or, she just didn't listen" Nicholai uncrossed her arms and looked over at Cally, Cally only looked away.

"Typical, where is she really? You know what! save it, we're going" She walked to the wall towards my right and took off a bag. "Your stuff is in your room, I added some of your old belonging to it as well, don't take too long!" She ran out the room while I ran back to the nurse's office. I saw the bag under my bed, I picked it up and noticed a small handle attached to my bag, I took it off and pressed the button, it opened and revealed a sword. I pressed the button causing it to close again, I reattached it to my bag and ran, for the most part, I still wore my original clothing yet I was still clean...When I made it to the first floor I saw Nicholai moving in place, I ran past her and she began following. "Here! It's yours" I turned slightly to see her tossing me my leader hat, this thing has been through hell and back. I put it on and we continued the trek back towards the hotel where hopefully, Sam would still be. Without that tank brigade to worry about and the zombies seemingly being passive due to the snow coming from the sky we were able to keep running...and running, it felt like my lungs were burning, something that would be a two-hour trip...and we were trying to jam it all into just a few minutes by not stopping...I heard of a technique, if you just didn't think about being tired, you wouldn't be, and while that worked at first, the pain in my feet and lungs became worse, until I saw the hotel straight ahead. I made it to the door and opened it, I fell over and began heaving while Nicholai fell onto her hand and knees. I practically threw myself to the walls for support and Nicholai did the same on the opposite wall. Both of us heard a shot ring out...then another. She motioned me to go, and while it still burned to even move, I pushed myself, taking out my pistol just in case...not like I had the energy to aim. When I turned the corner I saw someone I didn't recognize against the wall far from me, they held their chest and soon dropped to the floor, where I also saw another person laying there. I slowly limped over to the door, two bullet holes were there, unlike before. I reached for the door and opened it, I quickly threw my hand back as a bullet whizzed by my hand. It was meant to be locked...guess she tried to leave but never got the chance. In one action that could get me killed, I stood in front of the door with my hands up. It was then where I saw Sam, sitting on the floor with the rifle, her face red while tears kept dripping down onto the floor. It took her a second to realize it was me, she looked exhausted yet still had the energy to throw her rifle down and charge at me, I thought she was gonna punch me for leaving her alone for months...but instead, she hugged me and began balling her eyes out. Nicholai caught up and just looked on with a smile. "Good..." I heard her mumble. Sam continued crying into my chest, it kinda stung...but I wasn't gonna stop her. I knelt down with her so she didn't have to stand, I planted my right hand on her head and started brushing through her hair.

"Come on...It's alright...I'm...sorry, I didn't intend to take this long...I promise, for as long as you want, I'll make sure you never have to endure solitude like that ever again." It was like she didn't hear me...either that, or she couldn't stop crying to respond...seeing her cry this much only added to my guilt...how long did she stay here alone...I looked over at the bag I left...from the looks of it collecting dust on the bedside drawer, it died ages ago... A month...that was how long I could think...she lasted a month doing nothing...but wait

It took me awhile, to gain the courage...but I would make sure my promise was kept...not just this one...All of them.