Aftermath

It was the four of us on the road. Kyle and Rainbow were just stuck. We took turns on watch when we found a place. It's been a week since Sanctuary was destroyed. Kyle and Rainbow were on a run while we defended the place we found- a small gun store.

"How do you think he's doing?" Sunset asked me.

"Not good. I don't blame him." I said.

We found a Walker and shot it silently.

"It was my fault..." I said.

"Don't say that. You didn't kill Scootaloo. Yowane did." Sunset said.

"You don't understand. I didn't just kill her friend, I killed her people. She was one of them, I just couldn't tell." I said to Sunset.

"Well, you don't need to worry about that anymore..." Sunset said.

Me and Rainbow were looking for supplies. We found a place called Anderson's Mini-Mart.

"I'm sorry about Keito. I didn't know him long, but I could see that he was a good guy." I said.

What I got was a look from Rainbow, a look I never saw from her- sadness.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up." I said.

"No, it's okay. I was on my own for a while. I was almost dead. Thirst, exposure... He was sent on a scavenging run, but found me instead. He brought me back, and over time, we became close. How about you?" Rainbow asked.

"When you left, Scootaloo entered something, some kind of depression. She usually stayed away from people. Daisuke told me to talk to her one day, said I might be able to get into her head. I saw her on the roof, just looking. I was able to talk to her, I told her people were worried about her, that I was." I said.

"Then?" Rainbow asked.

"Then she kissed me. Just on the cheek, but I had no idea what to say. I told Daisuke a day later, all he said was 'This is a good thing, something we never get, enjoy it'. A week later, I talked to Scootaloo and she just-" I was interrupted by a gunshot near my leg.

"HANDS!" A voice called from a rooftop.

I rose my hands and turned to the voice and saw someone fully covered with riot gear and a motorcycle helmet.

"Now, put everything you have on the ground, your guns, your backpacks, and that machete. All of it!"

I reached for my Judge and didn't wait for her to reach zero.

"Rainbow, go." I said as I fired at the stranger.

The stranger shot an assault rifle at me and I hid behind some sandbags. Rainbow showed up on the rooftop and the stranger was gone. As I was ready to move, I heard closer gunshots. I peeked and saw the stranger a few inches away from me. The stranger was reloading as I came out and shot her stomach.

"Rainbow! It's safe." I called out.

She came down and saw the stranger.

"Is she dead?" Rainbow asked.

"No. She's unconscious for now." I said.

I went and took off the visor and saw someone I thought to never see again. Someone I thought would be dead out here.

Diamond Tiara.

Sunset and I saw someone with a car and decided to take him in for now.

"Thank you. My friend and I were having a bad day lately. It's good to see good people for a change, you know?" The stranger asked.

"I'm Rin, this is Sunset." I said.

"Well, I won't be here for long. I need to meet my friend at the house down there." Joel said.

"Is it alright if we join you? I'll leave a note for our people." I said.

"How many of you are out there?" Joel asked.

"Two." Sunset said.

We were carrying Diamond to the house that said "BASE" on the door. We carried her in, looking for booby traps. We walked in and saw loads of guns, MREs, grenades, jugs, and bottles of water, and cans of food.

"Whoa..." Rainbow said.

"Looks like she's been busy. Here, set her down." I said.

We set her down gently on the cot.

"We should get the others here." Rainbow said.

"Go. I got her." I said.

Rainbow left and I looked around the place. I saw signs of dogs, fences, and a big sign saying

DOGS GOT SILVER SPOON.

I was struck with shock and grief. I turned to her, stricken with what I saw.

"I'm sorry this happened to you... Believe me, I know what this feels like." I said to her.

I looked around and saw a rifle. One marked with "CHS" on it. I looked if the scope was accurate and checked it for ammo. I heard a clang from the cot, I turned and saw nothing. But then, I turned again and saw Diamond charging at me with a knife. I shoved her back.

"Do you know who I am? Do you see who I am?!" I asked her.

"You killed her!" Diamond screamed.

"You know me." I said.

"No, I don't know you!" She said.

"You DO know me."

"I DONT KNOW YOU!" Diamond tackled me and held her knife at my head.

"Look at me, Diamond. You know me." I said pushing the knife back.

"I DON'T KNOW ANYONE ANYMORE!" Diamond screamed as she pushed the knife down.

I moved my head away and slipped out. I brought out my knife arm and held it at her. After a minute, I dropped it.

"You know me... My name is Kyle Williams, you know me." I said to her.

"Please," She pointed at my gun. "Just kill me..."

We were following Joel to where his base was. We were stopped by seeing bullet cases on the ground.

"Did this just happen?" I asked.

"It must have. We might be fine. Maybe she shot some Walkers." Joel said.

"Who?" Sunset asked.

"My friend. The only other one at my camp. I was an escapee from an enemy camp."

"Where?" I asked.

"A high school. I'll tell you when we get there." Joel said.

"Kill me... Please." Diamond begged.

"I don't think that's what's supposed to happen. I think you're supposed to come with us." I said to her.

"No. It's not. Wait... I know you... Kyle, the one at the walls when..." Diamond said trying to remember.

"Yeah, that's me. We both started out at the same place. Things went bad for both of us, before and after. I know what this..." I pointed at Diamond's writing and pictures. "...feels like. I lost my father and 20 of my childhood friends to them. The Dogs... I know what it feels like, but you need to let that go and come back. You can still come back from this... I know it. This can't be it." I said.

We were then interrupted by my people walking in.

"Kyle?" Sunset asked.

"Diamond?!" Rin asked.

"R... Rin? God, I... I know you, I know who you are. Where's... Where's Dad?" Diamond asked.

"He's gone. I tried to save him, but... I was too late." Rin lied.

I get why she lied. It's better than "I cut his eyes out and threw him in a cage to rot like a dog". But who came in next encouraged me to raise my gun and brain both of them.

"Joel?" I asked trying to stay calm.

"Who... Oh, my God. Kyle."

"You two KNOW each other?" Sunset asked.

"Look, I... I can't describe what I did, what I wanted to do. But I'm sorry. Believe me, I am." Joel said.

I looked at him for a solid minute. Then, something was talking in my head.

"Kill... him... He hurt you... Beat you... Several times... They all did..."

I was too horrified to move.

I saw Kyle standing there, looking in shock in awe.

"Kyle? Kyle! Snap out of it!" Rainbow said gently slapping his head.

He then started moving again.

"One, OW! Two, did you hear that?" Kyle asked us.

"Heard what?" Sunset asked.

"That... It doesn't matter. Joel, what are you doing here?" Kyle asked.

"Listen, Crystal Prep has become a war zone. Worse than anything out there. Someone is in charge, someone with some kind of mind control. Once she gets you, it's over. I managed to deny it and get out. Diamond was the first person I met out here. She let me stay here ever since."

"Who, Cinch?" Kyle asked suddenly.

"No. Worse." Joel said.

"Who can be worse than CINCH?" Kyle asked disgustedly.

Sunset and Rainbow were listening to Kyle with shock and confusion on their faces.

"What's her name?" Kyle asked.

"She has some name for herself: Hell. You see her, you run. Don't hesitate to kill her. They won't." Joel said.

"Look, we're looking for a farm. Any ones that are close." Kyle said.

"We were planning to go to a town. The signs and the broadcast said it was safe." Joel said.

"What's it called?" I asked.

"We looked for a 'Sanctuary', but it's gone." Joel said.

"We're from there. Kyle was in charge of our counsel." Sunset said.

Joel looked in shock and confusion at Kyle.

"It's true. We were attacked by a psychopath with a tank. People died, MY people. My friends, family, girlfriend..." Kyle said.

"Wow... I'm sorry, I had no idea." Joel said.

"It's okay. Keep talking." Kyle said.

"We found signs for a town, Our Town. We're trying for there." Joel said.

"We can look ahead. Tell you what we saw. I'll need a radio." Kyle said.

Joel dug through a crate until he saw a pair of radios.

"Where did you get all of this?" I asked.

"The bad people. Dogs, scavengers, or Hell's soldiers." Diamond said.

"They must be loaded..." Rainbow said.

"They are. They have walls, too. They have a hotel nearby for soldiers." Joel said.

"And people?" Kyle asked.

"There are no people. They all have something to give. All of them..." Joel said dazing off.

"Anyway, we could look ahead. See if it's safe." Kyle said.

I told Joel we could look ahead for him.

"Thank you. Tell us when you find it. Invite us when you know it's safe." Joel said.

"We will." I said as I took the radio out of his hands.

"You should stay for the night. It's dark out and you should rest." Joel said.

"Thank you." I said as I headed to the roof.

I dug into my pocket and pulled out that hairclip I found when I woke up a while before the zombies. I noticed it looked like 3 shurikens infused together. Only it was plastic and it was kinda dull. I tried looking for the owner, but then the zombies came. I finally placed it back in my pocket and came inside for a rest.

But I shouldn't have...

My dream was of my days at Crystal Prep before the zombies. Just sitting on a bench after class trying to give flyers of some gym near the area. But during, the teachers, students, even the PRINCIPLE hated me. The teachers let some kids beat me, the students, well, beat me, and the principle blackmails me to not tell of what happened during school. My good break was when I met Twilight.

She was the only person I called a friend for a whole year. But after the Friendship Games, she just... left and never saw her again.

The night after, I saw the hairclip on my lap. But what was different was the fact that the outside had a mountain of corpses and guard posts with turrets at the end...