Dead Parade

For Now

Chapter 20

7:37 A.M.

"Agh! Maria that hurt," Anthony slightly exclaimed.

"I'm sorry," Maria replied, "but this medicine is supposed to help you. You got hurt pretty badly back there."

"You need to tell us what happened back there. We want to know what happened to Zack," Dorthy softly demanded. A small sigh was heard from the back of the car.

"It's my fault," said Steve.

"How many times do we have to tell you that it's not your fault?" Abby replied to him from the front of the car. 

"What happened?" Carissa asked concerned.

"I'm actually quite interested in hearing the rest of the story myself," Kari informed. 

"Ouch," Anthony said. "Can I tell the story?"

"Shut up, you're hurt. Let Abby and Steve tell it," Maria directed. 

Abby sighed, "When the rest of the group left after we got caught in the dome,  Zack was mad and shot a bullet at it. It caused a hole in the dome. But by the time the group tried to go back for us, guards were coming. When the guards took us in and to the lab, they confiscated our stuff and interviewed Zack because he's the oldest. Because that was Zack's last titanium bullet, he blamed Steve for damaging the dome and Steve ended up being taken away to be experimented on by Dr.Carmine."

"And then?" asked Cody.

"And then I was injected by something, but it wasn't Dr.Carmine. It was his daughter Kari. She and her little sister Lena ended up helping us escape. Maria was the lister and opened the cells. We ended up running into Dr.Carmine. Then when we were about to leave, we ran into him again and we all got into this boss battle. And then Zack..." Steve trailed off, zoning out for a bit. Haru worriedly patted his back. "Steve? You alright there?" he asked.

"Steve," Abby firmly said, and Steve slightly turned his head up, "you know that wasn't your fault."

"If I moved quicker-"

"No," Abby cut off, "you couldn't have moved any quicker than that."

"What?" Ranica asked, "What happened?"

"Dr.Carmine pulled a gun on Steve but Zack took the bullet," Maria said, letting the news down slowly.

"Oh, so Zack is-"

"Dead?" Alissa said as she finished Loreto's sentence. "Did he just die? Just like that?"

"No no no. We tried to get him out," Maria informed.

"But?" Carissa asked.

"I was pulling him to the exit," Lena added on, "but then he went back and stopped Dr.Carmine. Then the lab exploded."

"Why didn't you tell us? We could go back for him," Cody suggested.

"We can't," Kari warned. "That explosion is damaging the place as we speak. It's toxic there. The chances of Zack or Dr.Carmine still being alive are very low. We were hit and we were even far away from the lab. I'm sorry to tell you guys this but it is the truth."

"Zack wanted to die," Anthony said out of no where.

"What makes you think that he wanted to die?" Dorthy skeptically asked.

"He was talking to himself. You heard that too, right Abby?" Anthony asked. Abby let off a slight shrug, "I heard murmuring, but that could've been the guards."

"No, he was talking to himself. I heard him from my cell. He was closer to me than to you," Anthony informed, "He said something weird like, 'Its all my fault. Paps would be happy to see me up there. So dumb. Huge mistake. Not exist.' Something like that. He didn't even want to leave the cells when we were going to escape."

"Its fine," Abby said with a slight tear dropping down her cheek, "he's up there now. We don''t have to worry about him."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Loreto whispered to her as he drove the car. She nodded a no.

"Anyways, I'm Lena," Lena said turning to look at Queen, Haru, and Kimmie. JDA already talked to Lena and Kari earlier.

"And I'm Kari."

"Kari's my older sister, and I'm a fifteen year-old vampire," Lena said with a smile.

"What the f*ck," Haru said. "Aren't we supposed to kill you?"

"Chill, she's vegan and just got turned into a vampire yesterday," Kari informed.

"Your friend," Lena said pointing at Ellie, "is she dead?"

"She's just knocked out," Queen stated. Kari took a look at her, "Apply something cold to her once in a while. When she wakes, give her water. I'm pretty sure that explosion had an impact on her." Queen nodded in reply.

"I'm sorry for sneaking out," Kimmie quietly apologized. Queen turned to her. "We're supposed to stick as a group! But were you okay?"

"Why didn't you guys just say that you wanted to leave early? We would've gotten ready," Haru said.

"You guys?" Kimmie asked. "I went alone."

"That's even worse!" Queen commented. Haru looked at Kimmie bewildered. "But you were with Ellie and Connor," he said.

"I was never with Ellie and Connor," Kimmie replied. "I thought they got down from the van to get me."

"Nope," Haru replied. "I think they followed you."

Kimmie let out a heavy sigh, "Yep, definitely my fault."

"Hey, don't worry. If we didn't rush over to the lab sooner, these guys would probably be zambie breakfast," Alissa stated.

"Don't beat yourself up over it Kimmie. That includes you too Steve," Maria warned.

"Maria, remember to tell me where to go to get to the second lab," Loreto reminded.

The whole ride down the road was awfully quiet. Anthony had fallen asleep, and Steve was still stuck in his mind for a bit. Queen and Haru carefully kept watch over a knocked out Ellie, and Abby and Loreto were in a bit of conversation before Abby got quiet after a while. Nothing came out of Kimmie's mouth, while the rest took a part in small talk with Kari and Lena.

After quite a long drive, they made it to the second lab. It was much smaller, but Maria said there's more to it than meets the eye.

"Don't follow us," Queen directed to JDA.

"Why not?" Dorthy asked. Queen flashed a small smile, "It's amazing that you guys stuck with us this far, but we don't want you guys going through any more trouble for us. We'll be okay. If we ever need you guys we know where to find you."

"Are you sure?" Anthony asked.

"We're positive," Queen assured. 

As the group said their goodbyes, all that was left was for Kari and Lena to decide where they wanted to go.

"I think I'll stay with JDA to relax and do some research with Maria," Kari stated. Lena chuckled, "I won't be coming with you."

"Why not?" Kari asked confused. 

"I'm a vampire. I have survival skills. I'm going to go and try to find mom. I feel like she's still out there, somewhere," Lena hopefully said.

"How are you going to find me?" Kari asked. Lena smiled, "Don't worry, I've got your scent down. I'll see you around." With that, she hugged her sister and sprinted off into the woods.

So then the groups separated, and as JDA drove off and told the group all they needed to know about the lab, the rest now had a new task at hand.