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It had been roughly about a month since the world had gone to hell zombies had started to rise up from the dead, the people of Luana Isle were on vacation enjoying themselves. Most of the island has now been infected by zombies, only a few people have managed to survive and grouped up scattered across the small island. A group of about a hundred or so survivors on the island's largest resort have managed to build a small safe zone in the Paradiso Gyn and a few beachside cabins. Staff from the resort and, some other survivors managed to make makeshift walls to keep the dead out and have set up a small infirmary in the gym, a small storehouse, and a small armory with a few small arms and rifles. They also had an area made for supplies to, and makeshift beds for those who chose not to take refuge in the nearby cabins near the gym.

It was about twelve in the afternoon as a few survivors were milling about on the beach, some were getting ready do some fishing to get, but it wasn't really enough and supplies were slowly starting to dwindle and had enough fresh water for only a few more days. If people looked out onto the horizon they would notice a few US warships out in the distance patrolling, trying to contain the spread wherever they could. Those who tried to get off the island were quickly either destroyed or were forced to turn away and back towards the island, the island itself was cut off from the rest of the world now. A few people were getting ready to get out and try and do a supply run, the Paradiso Resort was not really a good option the dead were overrunning the area. But there was still other supplies to be found along the beachside properties still that hadn't been fully looted yet.

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Maria had spent most of the morning fishing with a few survivors, she wasn't much of a fisherman but she had learned it from some of the survivors and was pretty good at it. Maria made her way towards the gym with her catch of five fish that morning and handed them towards an elderly man and his son who were gutting some of the catches as well to. "Here you go." Maria said to them and gave them a friendly smile before entering the gym itself.

She looked at the small group seeing that they were gathering to head out for a supply run, she wanted to go as she approached them, they were a few locals there who knew the island pretty well. "Mind if I tag along?" Maria asked as she joined them, a woman in her thirties or so looked at her and nodded. "The more the merrier." She said Anna Brady, Maria gave a friendly nod. "I'll grab my bow, and meet you shortly." She said as she headed out, Maria had opted to stay in one of the small beachside cabins her cabin mate was busy with other tasks.

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Kaitlyn was busy in the gym, she had spent most of the morning counting out some of the supplies that they had, as she grabbed a small list going over what they had. Kaitlyn looked through the medical supplies, seeing that they were running low on a few things as she took note of it and sighed slightly to herself as she then counted on the food. There wasn't much food left luckily they managed to scrounge out a few solar panels to keep some of the fridges that they found as well to working.

Kaitlyn looked out seeing that there was a group of people heading out to do a supply run, as she grabbed the list and headed out towards them and handed out the list. "Here's a list of what we need." Kaitlyn said looking at them as a man from the group took it and started to go over the supply list and nodded. "We'll see what we can find." He said the man's name was Jensen Bowen he was in his fifties his accent was British being from the UK he folded up the list slipping it into his pocket.

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AJ had been on numerous vacations throughout her short sixteen years of life. Her family would travel to her grandparents for Christmas, and they often travelled to California to visit her aunt. It was something she often looked forward to. She loved to visit unfamiliar, strange or distant locales; places and experiences that she normally wouldn't get to have in her New Jersey hometown of Glen Rock.

So, when her parents broke the news that they were going to an island resort over the course of summer break, AJ had been practically clawing at the thought of summery tans and beachside relaxation. She watched the calendar like a hawk with each passing day, going over and over her list of things to bring to ensure she had absolutely everything she would need to party and enjoy her time on the island. It wasn't every day you could visit a fancy resort (even though her parents were the ones paying for it). AJ wanted everything to be absolutely perfect.

In another life, AJ would've been out on the beach, lounging away and sipping from a coconut drink right now. But like the other tourists on the island, AJ had her dreams ripped away from her. The carnage, the bloodshed—she couldn't shake the image out of her head. It came back like a recurring nightmare, haunting her dreams and thoughts. Gone were the ideals of a luxurious beach vacation. The only things that were on her mind now were staying alive, her parents, and getting off this hellscape of an island.

"Mom, she began, "do you think dad is okay?"

Her voice was unusually timid; a far cry from the typical extroverted happy go-lucky attitude she often had. She had stuck to her mother's side like glue since the incident. AJ didn't want to be alone, and she also didn't want to potentially lose another parent. They had been separated from her father following the chaos a month ago, and he had yet to surface alive or dead. AJ dearly hoped he was still alive, but with each passing day, she began to lose a little more faith.

She took off her ball cap, looking over the Brooklyn Nets logo that embroidered the front of the hat. It had been a gift from her father years ago; a time when better memories were to be had. A time when simply living hadn't been a matter of life or death.

"He has to be, right?" AJ continued, turning to her mother. "Dad's strong. If anyone could make it out there, it'd be him."

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Out on the beach, Sienna was in knee-deep water trying her best to spearfish. Her technique was the definition of sloppy, but she didn't have time to perfect it. Every couple of seconds, she'd scan her surroundings to make sure she wasn't caught off guard. The sun overhead was burning hot, and the waves were peaceful, quite the contrast to everyone's current reality in that island.

"Forget this," she whispered to herself, the patience gone. Sienna hurriedly made her way to the shoreline, bending down momentarily to grab her shoes with her free hand before racing to her cabin. Once inside, she sighed in relief, the tension and anxiety slowly dissolving. But that didn't mean all was better. Sienna dropped her shoes on the ground and tossed the makeshift spear aside, hitting the floor with a dull clack. The poor woman was going mad, stuck in the same routine day after day. Wake up, try her best to survive, go to sleep. Then wake up the following day and do it all over again. It would be impossible to count the number of times she'd cursed herself for ever getting on that damn plane.

And now, another failed attempt to becoming self-sufficient led to the questionable choice of drowning out her sorrows for a while. In one of the small cabinets remained two bottles of wine, one which hadn't yet been opened. Not the smartest move on her part, but Sienna figured a glass or two wouldn't hurt. She made her way over to her "secret stash" and pulled out the bottle, briefly reading the label like she had done twice in the past. Purely out of boredom, of course. It'd been a few days since Sienna had last had a drink, and the plan was to finish this bottle which would be roughly the equivalent of a glass and a half.

Sienna poured herself nearly a glassful, then headed to the couch. She tucked her legs underneath herself then began drinking. The relief was instant thanks to the placebo effect. The racing thoughts didn't disappear, but they surely weren't as annoying. Instead, her mind once more took her to happier times, back when she as home without the stress of the apocalypse weighing down on her.

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The distillation of water would fix the dwindling supply of fresh water; however, the energy required far exceeded their supply granted from the scavenged solar panels. If they were able to distill large quantities of water, would there be a significant amount of salt leftover to preserve meats instead of relying on refrigeration? Unlikely. Instead, finding a stable supply of freshwater would fix it. Billie was not familiar with the geology of Luana Isle, but her attention was drawn to the center of the island. Up on top of the volcano, could there be some stream or small pond holding in water? If so, a trek up there might prove useful.
Before making her way to the Paradiso Gym, she stopped by the armory to equip herself with a small handgun. With her camera, she hoped she could take surveillance photos during the next scavenger run for future planning. "Hey, so where are we headed to today?” Billie preferred to join these expeditions. It has only been a month since the outbreak and she didn’t trust everyone here to make the right decision yet. So many of her friends she went on with the island disappeared. All but June.

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Diane glared at the US Navy ships encircling the island with AJ at her side. Just a few short months ago she learned her dear husband of nearly twenty years cheated on her with some secretary at the office. She dreaded this vacation with Paul. She hated the look in his eyes every time they chatted alone. In her naivety, she hoped this vacation would fix Paul’s attitude towards the marriage and so the college sweethearts could rediscover the magic that faded in the past decade. For how long were Paul and that secretary together? If this trip didn’t fix it, then Diane wanted this trip to be a dream come true for her sweet AJ. Her daughter deserved something good this summer.
This summer dream turned into a hellish nightmare. So much so, that Diane prayed she was going insane so her precious AJ didn’t live in this world trapped on an island of the dead. How much of the world is like their reality? Are the dead eating the alive out across the ocean as well? Can they ever leave this island alive?
”You know your dad. He’s bound to be out there somewhere kicking around. Though you know how bad he is at directions. Your dad is probably on the opposite side of the island searching for us.”Putting on a brave face, Diane wrapped an arm AJ and pulled her in close. She never told AJ about Paul’s affair. She didn’t need to know that.

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And then there was June. She hadn't spent a lot of time interacting with the others in the camp so far. It wasn't anything against them, but she had never been much of a social person. Added to that, much of the medication she was on that helped her keep a functional attention span had been used up already despite her attempts to ration it. Now the only thing she could focus on was whatever held her hyperfocus these last few days. In this moment, she wanted to know what was going on outside. She had attempted to force communications with the Navy ships just off the island a couple times. But as they were ignoring her she decided she needed a more direct approach. Rushing through the camp with a box full of random electronics she had salvaged, June made her way back over to the front desk of the gym. A little corner she had at this point claimed as her own. Just secluded enough to cut herself off. Not so secluded that she was easily forgettable.

Across the desk lay assorted parts from electronics June had cannibalized for parts. Simple motherboards. More complex ones. Parts of desk phones, desktops, smart phones, and plastic cases that had been sawed into shape with a pocket knife. Though June lacked the usual tools she was used to working with, she still had a few she had traveled with or had picked up on her stay. It was amazing what the TSA let you bring as long as your bag was checked and you had paperwork to drown some poor desk worker in. Saws, screw drivers, spare parts, all of it coming together to form!!! Three failed attempts at making a drone. Being unable to make custom parts, and having insufficient tools to shape them properly, only having her laptop and tablet with unreliable power usage, building these drones had been nothing but spent parts and time. But as June had been so focused on working on these things so she could see the outside world, she was determined to make it work.

One major drawback to running out of most of the medication that was only supposed to last a couple weeks to begin with, was that June found herself regularly picking things up and setting them back down and forgetting where she set them down. "Mother fucker...". She mumbled looking around the front desk for her last line of defense. She knew she had it as the box of shells were still on the desk. Retracing her steps box of shells in hand she ran back to the room she collected her more recent salvage job from, and there it was. The compact shotgun resting on top of a filing cabinet. Before the isolated apocalypse, it rarely left June's travel bag other than to go to storage again. Since the island went to shit, it had become a new part of June's every day life. Before things went to shit, she had fired it maybe twice at a range to familiarize herself with it. And never at anything... alive. Now she's fired it a couple times, the lead balls striking flesh more times than June wanted to acknowledge. Not that it had stopped the attackers.

Grabbing the shotgun June internally mumbled about how she wished she had a sling for the thing, or some kind of holster for it. She supposed she could keep it in a bag but she would probably lose it there too. But maybe then she could keep it loaded? Leaving the back office again over the crowds of people attempting to take shelter in this localized apocalypse, June rushed over to the people collecting near the entrance. "Hey yo uh, you all going out? If so can you keep an eye out for some circuit boards? A small motor? I could probably make one from scratch but they tend to be unreliable and need a ton more juice. Oh! Unlikely but if you find a 3d printer that would help tons!" June asked with the biggest smile. Seeming unaware of the localized end of the world. "Radio equipment may be good too but not as needed. I think I can make something work with the gear I have here..." She spoke as she slowed, pondering how she could work out communications with the drone. Then remembering she actually had something important to say. "Oh and uh!!! uh... huh..." She paused. Visibly stumped. "There was... something else..." Then, with a gleeful smile it clicked! "If you swing by a pharmacy, can you grab my prescriptions? I've written down a few alternatives that can work, and a separate list of ones that absolutely will not work." She said reaching into her pocket to pull out a sheet of paper. On it a string of several lists, a key to understand the lists (If you were a June), and doodles within the margins. On top of that, one list had already included the list of parts she needed to find. As well as a list of snacks that could be fun to have on hand. This list? Pressed over to Billie as June really didn't know anyone else here yet. Sure, she had spent the last few weeks with them. But Billie was a friend of a friend. Well... Friend of a friend with benefits. Everyone else was just strangers that happened to be in the same place when shit went to hell.

"Okay, the first people who die in these sorts of things are either lazy, fat, or old," Alex said, lying over the roof of the building. He had one arm sprawled out and the other over his chest; one of his legs was half-risen, with the other thrown over the cold concrete of the building. He had managed to exchange some fish he had obtained for a can of soda, which was left crushed beside him.

"Too bad I'm one of those things." He said with a bit of sarcasm.

At the same time, Alex's mind was racing with ideas and plans; perhaps he needed to gain some proper skills, though his knowledge of weapons could help the survivors at some point. The thing was, he needed a master, a sensei, to guide him through the apocalypse and turn him into a surviving machine.

"But how?" Alex said out loud. He stood up and decided to get back to the ground. Luckily, he had made a makeshift ladder using the trash container outside the gym and some wooden boxes he had found. After slowly descending, he reached the ground

Alex walked close to a group of survivors, most of whom seemed confused. It was clear that finding an acknowledgeable person here would be difficult, so perhaps he could start by asking the people in charge of the small resort.

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Maria looked over towards Billie who appeared to be joining them and gave her a slight smile. "I'm not sure yet." She said looking over towards the leader of their little expedition out of their little safe zone. "Theres that old lighthouse on the other side of the beach there, maybe theres some radio equipment there we could use or salvage for June. Or we jerry rig something to get the lighthouse working to signal any of those warships to let them know we are alive and whatnot, also theres some old World War Two emplacements that were used during the war we were gonna check out to for anything." Jeb was his name, as he unslung his personal rifle that he had brought from home somehow and handed it over towards Billie. "You know how to use one?" He asked her.

Then June decided to join them looking at the woman for a moment she knew that the girl was more like a techie trying to jerry rig something together. "You should come with, you'd be better with us knowing what you need and what we can look out for." Maria suggested, as she inspected her quiver of arrows, luckily they were reusable. Jeb looked at everyone else that was in the building. "Anyone else want to come?" He called out to them to see if there were anymore volunteers.

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Kaitlyn listened in on the conversation on where the group was heading out, she decided to not really head out with them this time as she moved over towards the beachside cabins, and do a little check in on the people who opted for the private spaces than over in the gym, there were around ten of them as Kaitlyn knocked on the doors. There was an elderly couple, they were sitting on the little porch rocking chairs, and making sure that they were alright before wandering over towards the Beach Cabins that the Beauforts were using and Sienna's were right next to each other and knocked on the doors.

"Are you guys okay, do you need anything. Theres a group going out for supplies I can give them a list before they head on out." Kaitlyn said, she didn't want to enter their cabins for their own privacy. There were a few kids around AJ's age playing a little bit of soccer nearby with a volleyball that they managed to find drifting in the swells that one of the kids managed to grab.

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AJ leaned into her mother's embrace, resting her head on her chest. The hug felt comforting despite the bloodshed, death and carnage that now surrounded them. She felt she could trust her mother's words, and it brought some ease that she sorely needed.

A knock then drew her attention elsewhere, away from her father. She glanced towards the door, and peeped through the small view hole. It was one of the other survivors—Kaitlyn, AJ could've sworn. Apparently some of them were planning on making a supply run into the zombie-infested resort. AJ had half the mind to ask them if they could look for her father, but she felt hesitance in her throat. Was it fair to ask? More so, would they even entertain her request? AJ didn't want to see anyone get hurt looking for her father, no matter how much she wanted them to.

"Uhm," AJ awkwardly began, opening the door to the cabin. "My mom might know if we need anything."

She then turned to her mother.

"I'm... I'm going to go join them." AJ continued, referring to the soccer match outside the cabin. She wanted to give them some space; to allow the adults to talk. "I'll make sure to stay in sight, okay?"

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Coming with her neverending asinine and unreasonable demands, June shoved a barely incomprehensible list into Billie’s hands. With the amount of times she’s been forced to play errand girl, Billie learned how to read June’s chicken scratch. A motor and a 3D printer? Do you see a horse and buggy, princess? She wanted to ask, but June would unlikely catch on to the sass. They would need a substantial amount of energy just to get five minutes worth of a print in. She’s just trying to be useful, Billie. Something she had to remind herself every day. A radio set would be nice to retrieve and get working. Medicine is always a priority. “I’ll try what I can.”

She turned towards Maria and forced a smile. A lighthouse and World War 2 bunker sounded promising. Depending on the state of the bunker, could it be a worthwhile hideout than this beach? It would feel more secure than a tropical resort beach. “Y’know, June, it would be helpful to get an extra pair of hands. You will have better luck fixing the radio equipment than us.” If the tactful way didn’t work, she might have to resort to bullying or bargaining. To her surprise, Jeb offered his rifle to her. Billie patted her holstered handgun before reaching for Jeb’s rifle. “Mainly for hunting deer.”

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Diane held AJ close as she considered everything she could do for her. Should she join the supply runs? No. Diane couldn’t stomach facing the horde of walking corpses roaming the island. The thought of stabbing, hitting, or shooting one of those things turned her stomach. With the kids around, maybe just watching over could help. What day was it? How long until the school year starts? Despite the horrors going on, they still needed an education. Before her thoughts spiraled out of control even more, a knock came at the door.

”Hey, Kaitlyn. She stood up from the ground and gestured for Kaitlyn to come in. ”Okay. Stay safe, AJ. Love you!” As AJ ran to play with the other kids, Diane turned towards Kaitlyn. Diane didn’t bother going through an extensive list. They all needed food, water, and medicine. So she tried to think of other essentials that might be forgotten about. “Most of the usuals. We can’t get too picky much now. Could you keep an eye out for tampons and pads while you’re out there?” As she watched AJ rush to play with the other kids, her mind couldn’t help but wonder what AJ was up to while she wasn’t around. ”It wouldn’t be bad to find board games and cards too, for the kids.” Diane wrote down the list for Kaitlyn. A frown grew on her face. ”How often do you run into other survivors?” If Paul became one of them, would they ever know?

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The knocking on the door startled her out of her thoughts. She looked up, hearing one of the girls asking about supplies.

"Yeah, give me a minute!"

Sienna was just about done with her first glass of wine, scrambling to her feet as if this were an emergency. Their entire situation was an emergency, one that hopefully they would get rescued from soon. Doing a good job of balancing herself on one foot as she put her shoes on, Sienna then walked over to the door and opened it. "Let me get my things and I'll join you guys," she said to Kaitlyn who was walking over to the next cabin. There wasn't much she needed to get; some snacks and water in case their little mission took a tad longer than it was originally anticipated.

A few moments later Sienna was locking her door. She walked over to meet the others, mentally going over a checklist of items she wanted to restock before they completely ran out.

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June gave a look over to one of the people stepping in who... she was not too familiar with. Though she would recognize his name if she had heard it, Names were not on the skillset that June held. But in a way the dude in the glasses reminded June of herself. Albeit not in the same part of the IQ bellgraph as herself. Mostly in that sense of he gave off outcast vibes like she herself did unless she really, really worked on it. So she gave him a wave with the hand not holding the unloaded shotgun. That is when she noticed, she was infact apart of the conversation at hand and had not really been paying attention.

"I mean most electrical parts, enough copper or gold wire, and enough juice and you can make a short range radio out of most anything really. We may not even need a radio or a lighthouse. There's a greater than zero percent chance a microwave longline system is still in standby on the island. Though they were mostly phased out between the 60s and 90s many are kept on standby as a contingency in case of nuclear Armageddon. Most sides are relay sites, but still have their own backup generators. But hub sites are practically forts. Maybe one out of every five or so sites though are a hub. And that's only on the mainland. Some are underground bunkers meant to maintain a staff of roughly 40 people for weeks, or overland super tall concrete buildings. But even if this island only has a relay station on it they can still transmit and receive once their generator is up. And they are always pointed at two or more other sites. As long as they are within line of site of one another. That was the downside to using microwaves for wireless transmission. But the ability to transmit thousands of channels of communication at a time made them considerably more practical than thousands upon thousands of physical cables spanning thousands of mile. Though we would have to find one of these sites to even make use of it. And since the federal government hasn't really come out with information its been tricky to find them all on a national level. But since they are also not technically classified and are also kinda in standby and also kind of in active use its not too hard to find information on them online. I probably have some information on one of my hardrives somewhere..." June said reaching for a shoulder bag that would usually hold her laptop and or tablet, only to realize it was back in the June Nook. "Well... Not on me. But I got it somewhere. But I don't know how much information wikipedia has on them. But even if those networks are down here or there isn't a station on the island isolated islands like these likely have some old satellite dishes that are present that we can at least send some sort of signal with. Be it something in depth like a voice or written message from a computer, or even an interference noise to transmit something comparable to Morse code." June said wrapping up her rather autistic ramble on communication networks.

Then the thing that she really should have expected to happen happened. June's expertise and experience was requested by not only Billie but also Maria. Though June did chuckle at the comment about princesses and horses and buggies. "Princess's don't use horse and buggies, they use carriages and stallions silly." She said clearly not getting the jest or jab. "Plus most modern 3d printers can be carried by hand. And the motor wouldn't need to be huge, Palm size, maybe smaller. Though multiple wouldn't hurt since the first few may crash and burn..." June said pondering for a moment. "Yeah you both may be right. I should probably come. We will need more bags though. And I think I left the box of shells at my desk." June said before taking two steps, hearing the jingle in her pocket, then pulling the box of 20 gauge shells from her cargo pocket. "Oh, nope. I got them right here." She said with the most gleeful of smiles before resting the short barrel shotgun in the nook of her arm and began loading the shells. "Hey while we are out can we grab some gummy worms? I am running dangerously low. That and something with caffeine. Coffee does fine but it always reminds me of work so its really hard to do passion projects with coffee." June asked as if this were a regular grocery run and not a localized apocalypse. While casually loading a short pump action shotgun.

Alex tried. At least he tried; he talked to some of the older people in the place, but he sort of avoided the part where he asked them to teach him something. He also had no luck in finding who managed the place, so he quickly left that quest unresolved.

Alex finally gave up. He sat on the stairs towards the beachside cabin, with his arms over his knees, and he curled into a ball. "Dammit." He signed.

"So... You don't wanna pick supplies or anything like that, right?" A man said, appearing next to him, smoking a cigarette, he puffed some smoke and threw it away. "I don't lie to you, ever since this thing began, I don't wanna do jack sh*t, but it's kinda unescapable." He gave Alex a knowing grin; his eyes were shielded from sunlight by his shades, which made him not easy to read.

"Do I know you?" Alex asked, uncurling from the weird ball he had turned into, the man surely seemed like someone with some loose screws. He was ginger, with a bit of an unshaven beard. "Not from this close, I've seen you roaming around like a little rat. Thing is, you seem lost, kid." His grin turned into a full-on smirk as he gave him his hand to get up. Alex didn't accept it, instead getting on his feet on his own.

"Hard Audience, I see." He said, Alex didn't know how to feel about this man; he seemed a bit too careless for the fact that this was a zombie apocalypse. "What's your name, sir?" Alex asked.

"Theodore Perkins Dudenski, but just call me Dude, everyone calls me that." He replied, Alex was a bit stunned to talk, but Dude did it for him, "So, do you want to do something or what?"

Alex blinked a bit, clueless about what to say. "Well, we could start with..."

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Jeb looked at June for a moment like she had grown a second head as she explained something about microwaves that he didn't quiet understand. "Right." Jeb said shaking his head slightly as he nodded at Billy. "There should be game we should hunt to while we are out, folks will get sick of fish pretty quickly, there was some deer and boar on the island we can get and small game to and obviously seagulls to." Jeb said as he looked at the others who were there. "Only the essentials but if you find the worms sure go ahead and look for it since you are joining us." Jeb said.

Maria adjusted her bow as she looked towards the door. "We should be good to go now if everyone is ready." She suggested as she grabbed herself a backpack and slung it over her other shoulder next to her quiver. She agreed and nodded to Jeb for hunting some game as well to while they were out as well to. "I'll help with that to if we bump into them." Maria said as she started to head out and Jeb started to head outside as well to with her, making their way towards the makeshift gate that they had setup. It consisted of a two large busses and a few other cars as well that were laying about. They were using the doors to get in and out as one of the now former hotel staff was manning it nodded and opened the doors on both ends of the bus to let them through.

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Kaitlyn took a step into the little beachside cabin as she accepted the list from Diane and started to look them over, pads were always on the list along with the rest. "Got it." Kaitlyn said as she looked at the other thing on the list, seeing boardgames for the kids that were outside playing. They would get pretty bored quickly and she didn't want them to get into any kind of trouble or sneak out of camp either as she nodded. "I'll see what I can find out there, we sometimes find them holded up in some other part of the resort but not to many yet we will still keep an eye out for your husband don't worry." Kaitlyn said giving Diane a smile, when Sienna came to join them and nodded towards her. "The others are all gathering up at the gym that are going out if your joining us." Kaitlyn offered giving her a smile.

Outside one of the kids a boy a year younger than AJ approached AJ and smiled to her, his name was Bryan and played with her once or twice before. "Hey AJ, hows it going?" He asked her as the other kids ranging from ten to seventeen continued to play soccer amongst themselves and kicking the ball around. "Did you want to play soccer with us? "He asked her, AJ, Alex and Sienna would notice the group was getting ready to head out now to.

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With her mother's approval, AJ left Kaitlyn and her mother alone and went to go hang out with the others—a group of fellow kids somewhere around her age, give or take a few years. As she approached the group, the first one to greet her had been Bryan, a boy that had only been a year younger than her. The two of them had played together here and there, though admittedly AJ hadn't known much about him.

He did seem nice, though.

"Hey Bryan," AJ replied. She pushed the worried thoughts of her father away, and forced a friendly smile. "I'm doing alright. How about you?"

It had been a total lie. There was absolutely no way she was doing fine. There was no way any of them could claim they were. Certainly not the adults, much less the kids. How many of them had lost a friend or a family member in the chaos? They all had been witness to the carnage that took place, and were lucky just enough to be alive.

But maybe a friendly soccer match could help calm the nerves—something to distract AJ from the very real threat outside those walls, but also her father's whereabouts.

"Sure," AJ answered. "I can play for a bit. Whose team am I on?"

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She half-smiled at Kaitlyn with a brief nod and headed towards the gym. Sienna wasn't feeling all that great about this run, if she was being honest with herself. And it wasn't just the wine talking, at least, that's what she thought. Even though that gut feeling was hard to shake, Sienna wouldn't make her feelings known; she knew better than that.

The armory was small, which was a good thing. Prior to this hell that had plagued them, Sienna had never even touched a gun in her life, but now, she was pretty impressed by her natural accuracy. It was something she would revisit in the future if they were to get out of that island.

Offering a quick "Hey" to the others in the gym, Sienna walked over to grab her pistol of choice, a Glock that felt a little too heavy in her hand. But Sienna liked shooting with it, and she especially loved shooting those bastards in the head. It was one of the only few things that kept her spirit up in that place. Once she was armed and loaded, Sienna headed outside once more.

Near instantly, the sun was burning her shoulders with an intensity that promised not to spare her from the dreaded sunburn later that evening. The idea bothered her temporarily until she began going over what she needed in her head.

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Billie rolled her eyes at another one of June’s classic corrections which missed the point. What did Sam even see into this girl? ”You never get it, do you?” She muttered with a roll of the eyes. Fortunately, it seemed June didn’t need encouragement or bribery to join the expedition. Talking to a brick wall did more good than June half the time. Billie turned to Jeb with a smile at the mention of hunting for deer and boar. ”If we land ourselves a boar, mmmmh,” she said, staring down at the rifle. Boars would contain plenty of fat perfect for frying foods. More fat, more calories. Fried pig skin crisps. ”If we do see boar, we need to be a bit more coordinated.”

She turned her head towards the newcomer to the expedition and waved. Sienna, if Billie remembered correctly. Billie holstered her pistol for quick and easy access and tightened her backpack around herself. ”Hey, June,” she placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder. Well friend of a missing friend. “Stay close with me, alright? I don’t want you to get lost out there.”

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He could still be out there. She wasn’t entirely sure if she wanted to see her husband again, but he would be there for AJ when she couldn’t be. ”If you do, his name is Paul Beaufort. I might have told you before, but just to be safe.” Diane shook her head at Kaitlyn’s offer. ”You…you don’t want me out there. I don’t think I could handle a gun, let alone a stick. I’d be a nervous wreck. Besides, we need someone out here to watch the kids and make sure you all come back to a clean home.” Pitiful. What could she even do? She hated fishing. Cooking and preparing the fish was fine, but the killing? She couldn’t stomach that part. Diane always forced someone else to kill the fish.

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It was clear to June that no one understood her rather impressive of cold war communication infrastructure. A shame really. Sure, maybe she wasn't enough of an expert to get it going first try, but with a few manuals and assuming the equipment still worked, she could do wonders with it. Well, as long as there was juice. But it is not like cold war microwave transmitters were the only way of wireless communications. "We could also use lazer pointers. You know that whole law about how illegal it is to point a lazer pointer at a plane? That is because after 9/11 aviation security got pretty strict. At least on a surface level. It's more theater if we're being honest. But the point being is that nearly every modern aircraft has equipment built into it to detect if lazers are being pointed at it. Primarily to see if missile targeting systems are trying to lock onto them. They can normally identify the type of lazer too. I would be surprised if a one and a half billion dollar warship doesn't have some comparable feature with the ability to tell what direction it is coming from." June said spitballing as she loaded the last shell into the short shotgun, closing it with a half pump from opened to closed as she returned it to her dominant hand.

"I get all sorts of things. I know there are at least 2 couples trying to subtlety make love nearly every night in this building, I have counted the number of different types and classes of warships that are patrolling the waters around us, even if I don't know what kinds they are specifically, and I have almost repurposed an office phone, laptop, and pieces to a smart phone to make a mobile drone. Almost..." She said begrudgingly as Billie clearly didn't understand just how much June noticed. Sure, she struggled on social cues, but she was rather observant. "Also when it gets really quiet at night sometimes I can hear footsteps off in the distance. And the occasional electrical hum when the grid attempts to restart itself, the automated system struggling to understand that it is currently going through a critical failure. Though it could be a smaller independent power source powering itself up from time to time that is connected into the main grid with the intentions of only powering it's own infrastructure. But as the many automated checks and balances that keep those systems on their own grid when the power goes are failing sometimes they can send ever so faint echos into the local grid. Not enough to power anything, but enough to cause the occasional jolt, buzz, or a softly flexing cable when the current causes heat and tension in the grid. Maybe a small wind turbine or solar panels. Who knows for sure." June said trying to over explain her surface level understanding of the electrical grid with a shrug. Though she was no electrical engineer. If asked to assemble a grid it would look something closer to a make shift highschool project. Though conceptually she had a pretty decent understanding.

June did appreciate Billie looking out for June. She wasn't a particularly social person, and most people did what they could to avoid June the moment she started off on any of her tangents. "I really appreciate that. Though I don't think I'd get lost, I have a decent sense of direction..." She said pondering the last few weeks. "However a lot of the streets have probably changed a bit the last few weeks. And adrenaline really does make the human brain cut short a lot of thought processes. Fight and flight and all that." She said continuing her thoughts. "You're right, we should stay close to one another." June said confidently agreeing with Billie. The happiest smile on her face as she agreed with the friend of her most recent lover.

"Getting some weapons, just in case, of course." Alex ended up saying, Dude nodded at this and gave him a little smile, "Sounds neat, let's go to the armory."

"There's an armory?" Alex was surprised, but seeing how casual Dude seemed about this made it clear that he had been a bit lost in the whole commotion, so without needing his question to be answered, he followed dude as they went back to Paradiso Gym.

The group eventually found the armory, and without too much else, Dude grabbed an old rifle lying on a table. "Dammit, they don't make like this anymore."

Alex looked as confused as ever, "I don't know how to use a gun." Dude gave him a side eye and threw a small gun at him, which Alex messily caught, "You'll get your grip soon enough, like me."

Alex's doubt about this man seemed to grow more and more.

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"I'll make sure that they keep an eye out for your husband, i'm not leaving but i'll pass along the message for you. I'll be around camp if you need me for anything else." Kaitlyne said as she headed out and started to make her way towards Jeb and the others as they were getting ready to leave handing him the list of things that they needed which Jeb took stuffing the list into his pocket before heading out with the people who were leaving for the supply run.

"I'm doing alright." Bryan said giving AJ a smile as the others started to gather up looking at AJ as the oldest one named Jason. "You can be on Bryan's team." He suggested as the others started to, one of the other older kids looked at the other kids for a moment. "I snuck out last night theres an arcade nearby we could go to, it's cleared of zombies and theres a few games that work still if you want to go there later." He suggested. "We could do that if anyone wants to go." Jason said,

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Maria looked over at Sienna and smiled towards her giving her a friendly wave. "Heya how are you?" She asked as she noticed Alex and dude walking in. "If you two are coming you better get ready or we leave without you." Jeb told them both as they headed out looking at the group that was joining them. The group made it through the gate as Jeb lead the group, the sun was pretty hot beating down on everyone as they walked along the street, there were a few zombies in the distance shambling, they didn't notice them all just yet which was good. Jeb looked at everyone there.

"Remember they are attracted to noises, so only use guns as a last resort and ammo is rare so don't use it unless you need to." Jeb told the group as Maria nodded slightly, they avoided the zombies walking past them. Jeb then gestured towards the old lighthouse in the distance looking at the group. "Thats where we should go, it should hopefully have something useful." Jeb said as Maria nodded deciding to take up the rear and made their way towards the old lighthouse, the resort itself could be seen in the distance, they followed the trail up towards the lighthouse noticing that the gate to it was locked up pretty tightly. Jeb pulled out his backpack and pulled out a thing of bolt cutters and cut the chain off. "Alright everyone stay close and partner up as well to." Jeb suggested.

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"That's fine with me."

AJ moved to Bryan's side, where he and a few other kids had been waiting to play. Despite the dangers outside, a part of AJ honestly wanted to have fun right now. She had loved soccer, and she could only think of her friends and team back home. It had been some time since AJ had heard from them; at least before they had left for vacation. But that had been a month ago, back during a time when the dead weren't eating people. Were they okay? Had... whatever this was reached their home in New Jersey?

She didn't know. There was no way she could know for certain. All AJ could do was remain hopeful that her fears, as much as they were real on this island, weren't elsewhere. Hopefully, she dearly wished, everyone was still alive back home.

Before their game could truly begin, though, one of the older kids in their group suggested heading off to some arcade beyond the walls. They swore that they had snuck inside the night before, and that there hadn't been any zombies nearby. Jason seemed to be willing to go, but AJ hadn't been so willing as he had been.

"I..."

AJ paused.

"I don't know."

Though the others were likely to see her as a coward, she felt uncomfortable with the idea. It wasn't like sneaking out of your bedroom window to go hang with friends or a boyfriend. Even if the arcade was empty of zombies, who was to say they wouldn't come back? If they got caught, there was no way they were going to be able to fight off a pack of zombies.

"I don't think we should. What if one of us got hurt?"