Outbreak: Ninjago's Dark Dawn

Chapter 11 - The Cost of Survival

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The warehouse was silent except for the occasional hum of Zane's systems as he worked through the night. His face remained impassive, but behind those cold blue eyes, his mind churned with data, theories, and possibilities. He had isolated fragments of the parasite's energy signature, but something still eluded him. Something crucial.

As dawn began to break through the cracked windows, Lloyd sat apart from the group, staring into the dim light with hollow eyes. His thoughts were distant, consumed by the weight of their situation. Supplies were dangerously low. They had enough for a few days at most, but with the recent loss of food in the last raid, the future looked bleak.

He had made a decision—a decision he hadn't told the others yet.

The quiet creak of the floorboards signaled Kai's approach. His older brother stood next to him, his face drawn with concern. "You need to eat something, Lloyd," Kai said, his voice soft but insistent.

Lloyd shook his head, refusing to meet Kai's gaze. "I'm not hungry."

"That's not the point, and you know it," Kai retorted, his frustration breaking through. "We're all starving, but you can't just stop eating. You're the one holding this group together. We need you strong."

"I need to make sure everyone else survives first," Lloyd muttered, his voice heavy with the burden of leadership. "If I don't eat, there's more food for the rest of you."

Kai's hands clenched into fists, his anger bubbling just beneath the surface. "This isn't some noble sacrifice, Lloyd. Starving yourself won't save anyone."

Lloyd finally looked up, his green eyes shadowed with exhaustion. "I can't let any more of you die. We're running out of time, out of supplies... out of hope. If we don't start rationing better, we won't make it."

Kai's heart clenched at the sight of his brother's weary face. The endless battles, the pressure of keeping everyone alive—it was too much for one person to carry. But Lloyd, as always, shouldered it alone, refusing to ask for help.

"Stop trying to do this by yourself," Kai urged, his voice softening. "We're a team, remember? We'll figure this out together."

Lloyd didn't respond, his gaze drifting back to the horizon as the sun rose higher in the sky.

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Meanwhile, Nya was bent over her communicator, her fingers flying over the keys as she tried to trace a weak signal that had caught her attention earlier in the night. It had been faint—almost too faint to detect—but there was no mistaking it. There were survivors out there. Somewhere.

Her heart raced with both hope and fear. Could this be the breakthrough they needed? Or was it just another false lead?

She glanced over at Jay, who was tweaking the prototype for their anti-zombie weapon. His face was tense, his usual humor completely absent. The pressure of trying to save the world had taken its toll on him, too.

"I think I found something," Nya said, her voice barely above a whisper as she focused on the signal. "There's a group of survivors not too far from here. I can't pinpoint their exact location, but... they're close."

Jay looked up, his eyes wide with surprise. "Are you sure?"

Nya nodded, a glimmer of hope sparking in her chest. "It's faint, but it's real. We have to try."

They quickly gathered the others. Lloyd, Kai, Zane, and Garmadon joined them around the makeshift table where the map lay sprawled out, dotted with red markers indicating areas infested by the undead.

"We can't ignore this," Nya insisted, her voice steady. "If there are survivors, we need to help them."

Lloyd studied the map in silence, his expression unreadable. He wanted to believe it. He needed to believe it. But after everything they'd been through, it was hard to keep hope alive.

"We're running out of food," Garmadon said bluntly, his eyes fixed on Lloyd. "This could be our last chance to find supplies—and more allies."

Lloyd glanced around at his team—his family. They all looked to him for the final decision, the responsibility weighing heavy on his heart. But Nya was right. They couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

"Alright," Lloyd said finally. "We'll go. But we need to be careful. No risks, no mistakes."

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The mission started with hope in their hearts. The ninjas moved swiftly through the deserted streets of Ninjago, keeping low and avoiding the roving packs of undead that seemed to lurk around every corner. Zane led the way, his heightened senses alert for any sign of danger.

But the city had become a graveyard—a sprawling wasteland filled with death and decay. Buildings crumbled, cars sat abandoned in the streets, and the air was thick with the stench of rot.

As they neared the signal's source, their anticipation grew. Nya clutched her communicator tightly, her breath shallow with nerves. "We're close," she whispered.

But then, as they rounded a corner, they saw it—a small group of survivors, huddled together in a narrow alley. Among them was a familiar face.

"Dareth?" Kai gasped, his eyes widening in disbelief.

The former dojo owner looked up, his face pale and gaunt from days of starvation and fear. "Kai? Lloyd? Is that really you?"

They rushed to his side, but something was wrong. The air felt thick with tension, and Zane's sensors were on high alert.

"Get back!" Zane shouted suddenly, his voice sharp with urgency.

But it was too late.

The trap had been set. From the shadows, a horde of zombies descended on them, their eyes glowing with the same eerie light that Zane had detected earlier. The survivors screamed in terror as the undead swarmed the alley, their rotting hands clawing at anything in their path.

Dareth tried to fight, but he was too weak. In an instant, he was pulled under by the ravenous horde, his cries lost in the chaos.

"Dareth!" Kai screamed, his voice cracking with horror.

Lloyd's heart pounded in his chest as he swung his sword, cutting down the zombies with ferocious determination. But there were too many of them—far more than they had anticipated.

"Fall back!" Lloyd yelled, his voice raw with desperation. "We have to retreat!"

The team fought their way back, but the damage had already been done. As they reached the relative safety of an abandoned building, the grim reality of their situation settled in.

They had failed.

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Back at the warehouse, the atmosphere was suffocating with grief and frustration. Nya sat in silence, her hands shaking as she stared at the communicator, still replaying the signal in her mind. Jay paced the room, his face dark with guilt.

Kai, meanwhile, was seething, the loss of Dareth tearing at him. He had been too slow, too weak to protect him. It was a feeling he couldn't shake, no matter how hard he tried.

"We can't keep doing this," Kai muttered under his breath, his fists clenched at his sides.

Lloyd sat against the wall, his head in his hands. The weight of their losses was too much. The mission had been their last chance for hope, and now... now, it felt like that hope was slipping away.

"We lost more than just supplies today," Garmadon said coldly, his eyes fixed on Lloyd. "We lost lives."

Lloyd didn't respond. The words cut too deep, a reminder of the countless failures that had led them here. He hadn't just lost Dareth. He had lost the belief that they could win this fight.