"Woah, woah, woah." Garnett tried to regain control of the situation. Warren had her gun trained at the biker's head as she walked up to him and knocked his knife out of his hand, checking him quickly.

"Hey now, it's not a Z." She looked at us. Everyone relaxed slightly at this news, but that didn't stop us from keeping our weapons trained on him.

"Yeah, no bites here. 100% alive." The biker attempted to reassure us, to very little effect.

"What happened to your friend?" Garnett interrogated. I was wondering the same thing as I glanced at our surroundings, not in the mood for surprises. Something felt weird about him.

"Turns out he had other friends of low morals. Took my ride." The guy explained. "Horse thieves should be shot." He added unnecessarily.

"You should choose better friends." Cassandra told him monotonously. Something seemed off, as if the two knew each other.

"Good ad-vice." He stuttered slightly when he looked at Cassandra, and his demeanor changed for a moment. Warren lowered her weapon before speaking.

"What can we do for you, one peaceful group of humans to a lone traveler?"

"Could use a lift? Sure wouldn't want to spend the night out here alone." Murphy wasn't fond of this request.

"Sorry, we ain't running a taxi service." He sneered, and for once I agreed with him. Something wasn't right about this whole situation. Bad vibes everywhere. Garnett responded quickly.

"Which way you heading?"

"Anywhere but back. Word is there's a hoard on the move south, on the New York side? I see you're scrounging for gas. You know like we used to say, 'ass, gas or grass'." He looked around at our slightly confused, very unamused faces before continuing. "No one rides for free?" He paused and waited for someone to say something, and spoke more when he didn't get a response. "I know where you could fill up."

"Now would be the time to share that information." I responded, cocking my gun to make him speak faster. His voice was quickly becoming annoying.

"Place called Jersey Devil Refinery. Maybe five miles off, just off the turnpike."

"How do you know there's gas there?" Warren asked, suspicious. I'm on the wagon of suspicion too, Roberta.

"Got overrun day number one. All the tanks are still full, just rusting away."

"Alright." Garnett put his gun away. "Take us to this refinery. If there's gas there like you say, you can ride with us to the next outpost." The guy smiled.

"You won't be sorry." He bent down to grab his weapon, and in an instant we all had our weapons trained on him again. Warren reached down and grabbed it for him, her gun in hand.

"You got that right." She handed him his knife slowly, pointing her gun at him threateningly.

"Let's get out of here." Garnett put his weapon away, the rest of us following suit. "New guy's gonna ride with me and Warren, everybody else load up in the truck."

We followed the instructions given to us, and I jumped into the bed of the truck with 10k and Addy as everyone else piled into the cab. Once everyone was set, we started our way to the refinery- hoping for the best.

3rd Person POV

As Operation Bite Mark drove through the wasteland of the apocalypse, Cassandra spoke up from the passenger's seat of the truck.

"So, are we just gonna pick up every sketchy loser at every place we stop?" Murphy spoke up from his spot behind her, muttering.

"Well we brought you along, didn't we? Besides, nobody consulted me." Mack rolled his eyes and leaned forward from his spot next to Murphy to speak to Doc, who was driving.

"We're not really going all the way to California with this guy, are we?" Doc glanced in the backseat, then back at the road before speaking.

"You know, the apocalypse is a lot like rehab, kid. You just take it one day at a time, and then do the next indicated thing. In this case, that means getting gas. After that?" He chuckled. "Who knows?"

"Probably die on the way to California like Hammond and his team." The female sniper muttered.

"We're doomed." Murphy mumbled. Alrrami could hear bits of the conversation through the window from her spot in the bed of the truck. She was sitting between Addy and 10k, and once his words sank in, couldn't help but laugh a bit at Doc's view on the chaos of the apocalypse- despite her grim expectations.

Back in the van with Warren, Garnett and the biker- who's name is apparently Travis- Garnett huffed from the driver's seat.

"Well, there you have it. We're officially on 'E'." Warren looked into the backseat.

"How much further?" She asked Travis, who shrugged.

"Spittin' distance." He replied simply. Not a moment later, the group was pulling through the large fence gates that led into Jersey Devil Refinery.

As they rolled to a stop, a rhythmic thump, thump thump, thump could be heard. They group couldn't help but peek out their windows, or in Addy, Alrrami, and 10k's case, over the top and side of the pickup.

"That's not a refinery," Murphy started, "that's a zombie factory." He wasn't totally wrong.

"Frackin' zombies." 10k mumbled, jumping out of the bed of the truck.

As everybody piled out of the cars, they noticed a large quantity of zombies lumbering their way towards a certain direction. The group all gathered in a semi-circle, watching.

"They seem to want something in there real bad." Garnett observed.

"It's that sound. Like bees to honey." Cassandra pointed out.

"Or Z's to shit." Murphy muttered, staying close to the cars. Warren looked over to Travis.

"You know about this?" She questioned, annoyed.

"Hey, all the easy gas is gone." Travis defended himself.

"So, what's the brilliant plan? Die, get eaten, go home early?" Murphy snapped from behind the group. Everybody ignored him, if they didn't he would already be tied down and gagged- at least in Alrrami's opinion.

"What's that smell?" Addy questioned, scrunching her nose up in disgust from the awful odor surrounding them.

"The undead and gasoline- both highly flammable, so no firearms of any kind." Garnett informed, putting his weapon away, encouraging everyone else to do the same; which they did so begrudgingly.

"So, how you wanna handle this?" Warren asked, looking up at her partner. Garnett started putting together a plan, thinking out loud.

"Well, first we gotta shut off whatever's makin' that noise." Warren nodded.

"'Kay, it's probably some kinda pump- but where?" She asked, looking around. Mack chimed in.

"Follow the zombies. They all seem to be headed to the top of that catwalk." He pointed to what he was talking about. Sure enough, he was right- it was like a conveyor belt of the undead. Addy moved to take her place next to Mack.

"We'll check it out." She decided, looking to the leader of their group.

"Then we've gotta have a sound that draws the Z's away from the pump so we can get the gas." Garnett explained the next part of the plan, looking between everyone, eyes landing on Doc.

"Sorry, I left my gui-tar back at Camp Blue Sky." Doc stated.

"A car horn?" Addy suggested.

"No, they'll all just head this way." Mack was right, the Z's would flood to the group's only means of escape in case things went south.

"Yeah, and so will every other dead-head within ear shot." Warren pointed out the fact.

"I have something." Cass piped up, digging through her bag and pulling out a small instrument that looked like a little metal music box. "Z's like high-pitched noises, the more musical the better." She explained, winding up the music box, letting it play.

As the sound rang through the refinery, all of the Z's suddenly became uninterested in the thumping, and turned to follow the new noise. Cassandra stopped the tune, and the zombies put their attention back to the top of the catwalk.

"Well, learn something everyday." Warren spoke, impressed.

"Great, you're our decoy." Garnett pointed to Cass, who nodded to show she accepted her task.

"I'll go with her." Travis spoke quickly.

"I don't need his help." Cassandra spoke defensively. Garnett shook his head.

"No, you need cover. Go with him and start the music when you get to the top of that catwalk." He watched as the two took off and looked to Mack and Addy. "You two get to the top on the other side and see if you can kill that noise."

He watched the couple leave, and looked around the remaining group. "Hey, where'd that kid and Alrrami go?" The remaining group looked around, just now noticing the two snipers were nowhere to be seen.

"Well, they were here a minute ago- oh, and his name is Ten Thousand." Doc informed the group of the new member's name.

"Well, they better be back by the time we're ready to go." Garnett stated, looking to Warren when she grabbed his arm, following her gaze to a large tanker not too far away.

"Hey, if we can get that tanker started and we can fill it up from the main tank, that much gas will get us to California." Garnett grinned and nodded.

"I like the way you think." He complimented.

"So, what should I be doing while you all are getting incinerated?" Murphy retorted. Garnett looked at Doc.

"Alright, why don't you take Mr. Congeniality here in the Suburban and get to a safe distance- just in case."

"What if... you know- zombies?" Doc asked, looking at his leader.

"This all ends in tears, you gotta get him to California." Garnett pointed to Murphy without taking his gaze from his friend, who nodded in understanding.

"Sure, no problem." He murmured, taking Murphy in the car, parking it a safe distance away.

Alrrami, who had taken her perch on the roof of a nearby building, was twirling a coin between her fingers- keeping a protective eye on her friends through her scope, which she had detached from her rifle so she wasn't tempted to shoot.

She watched as Cassandra was yelling back towards Travis, who was rushing to keep up with her. She made a mental note that if this guy made it through the mission, to talk to Cass about her history with him.

Even if he didn't make it, she had to know.

She then turned her attention to Mack and Addy as they killed Z after Z on their way up the catwalk. Alrrami smiled to herself, admiring how flawlessly the duo worked together, and how their combined skill made their efforts seem flawless. She could only hope to find something like that one day.

Her gaze then shifted to Garnett and Warren, who were working to start the tanker. They seemed fine so she turned her gaze back to Mack and Addy, who were currently in the most danger.

They had made it to the top of the catwalk, and were standing next to a massive gear-like mechanism.

Alrrami watched as Mack motioned to Addy's Z-Whacker, to which she quickly shook her head and seemed to tell him to find something else. He ended up grabbing some sort of old wooden post and jammed it into the gear that was running the pump.

As the noise stopped, she heard Cassandra start the music box right on cue. She couldn't help but smile at how flawlessly this seemed to be going. However, she wasn't about to say anything out loud- no need to jinx anything, after all.

She watched as a Z made its way straight for Mack and Addy and reached for her slingshot, only to watch it fall down a large tube behind them.

The couple looked down and seemed to be shocked. This made Alrrami curious as to what they were seeing, so she decided she would ask them about it later.

Suddenly, whatever Mack had used to jam the gear broke, and the thumping started again. All of the Z's that had been drawn to the music turned back around and started walking up the catwalk again.

The female sniper cussed under her breath and prepared for the worst, but was shocked to see Addy sacrifice her beloved weapon. She then noticed Addy help Mack up, who had a hand to his cheek as they ran. He must've been hit by shrapnel, but other than that he looked fine.

Alrrami decided to see what Doc and Murphy were up to, and watched as they played cards in the vehicle. Bored by this, she looked back to Garnett and Warren to see the young couple had joined them.

She watched as Mack moved to the passenger's side of the tanker; Addy climbed onto the ladder on the driver's side, and Garnett was standing on the step into the driver's door. Warren pulled the tanker up to the main tank and everyone got to work to fill the large truck with gas.

Alrrami watched as Mack ran to grab the hose- Garnett helped carry it, and in no time they had the hose onto the nozzle- the truck started to fill.

Suddenly, yelling could be heard from Doc's position and she looked over to see Murphy freaking out over a couple of zombies surrounding the car.

Doc seemed to have enough of this and decided to get out, piking the Z's. The female sharpshooter watched as Murphy locked Doc out and rolled her eyes.

"Nice guy." She muttered sarcastically.

Suddenly, Alrrami could feel rumbling under her feet, and looked around to see pipes rattling.

She watched as Mack and Addy jumped into the tanker as Warren and Garnett struggled to get the hose off. Suddenly, the tube that Mack and Addy had looked down before burst, and sludge-covered Z's flooded out. She watched everyone grab poles and anything else they could find to defend themselves.

Then, she heard Doc yell. Alrrami grabbed her slingshot to take care of the Z that had grabbed him, but before she had the chance to line up her shot, it fell to the ground. Then another one, and another. She followed the trajectory and saw 10k using his own slingshot to help her friend out.

Once the last one fell, she grinned and said in unison with Doc, "1,060!" She noticed 10k spotted her, and she gave him a two-finger salute, which he returned, causing her smile to grow. Suddenly, the car sped off.

"Of course that coward would run." Alrrami sneered. He didn't even seem to think twice about Doc's safety.

The teenager gathered her things and raced to ground level. Just as she found her way to Doc, she watched as Murphy managed to crash the car. Garnett rushed to grab Murphy, clearing zombies as he went; he ended up having to punch Murphy a few times to stun him before dragging him towards the rest of the group.

Just as they reached a safe distance- the tanker exploded, zombies caught fire, and all hell broke loose. Since everything was already on fire, the group pulled out their guns and fired into the Z's, none of them missing a shot.

Everyone ran to their cars, and decided it was safe enough to catch their breath for a moment. Murphy was the one to break the silence.

"So, we didn't get the gas?" He asked, getting nothing in reply. "Oh, who screwed that up?" This got him glares from everyone in the group. He seemed to understand as all he could say was, "oh, sorry." Warren sighed and looked to Cassandra.

"So, where's your friend?" She asked, Cass scoffed quietly.

"He didn't make it; and he wasn't my friend." Operation Bite Mark was caught by surprise when a nearby pay phone started ringing. Who would be calling at a time like this? Who could even be calling at all? Garnett decided to find out.

"Hello... Sargent Charles Garnett... It's goin'... Still alive... Please tell us where to drop him off... California?... No, wait. That ain't gonna happen. We have to go some place closer... Can I speak to someone in charge?... What do you mean problematic?"

"More puppies and kittens!" Warren warned, everybody pulling out their weapons.

"Why can't I speak to somebody at the lab? What's going on?... Are they even still alive?" Garnett paused while CZ spoke.

After what felt like an eternity with the approaching danger, the man let out an annoyed huff, dropped the phone, and followed the group to the cars. As they approached their vehicles, another explosion rang out, and Addy's beloved Z-Whacker flew through the air, hitting a zombie in the skull on its way down.

"Look! Awesome." Addy was quickly reunited with her weapon. "Never thought I'd see this thing again." She admitted with a chuckle as she followed everyone into the car. Alrrami couldn't help but wonder where 10k was. As if on cue, she watched as he appeared from around a building and rushed towards them.

"Wait, here comes the kid!" Doc grinned.

"Found these." He said as he handed two full cans of gas to Doc.

"Kid, you're a God!" He beamed as he handed Addy and Alrrami the cans of gas so they could set them in the bed of the truck with them.

"Yeah, well hurry up!" Warren warned, eager to leave. 10k joined them, as well as Cassandra, in the bed and took a seat in Alrrami's favorite spot. Deciding it wasn't worth fighting over, she sat across from him.

Minutes later, they were driving down the road in peaceful silence. To the girl's surprise, 10k was the one to break the silence; he looked at Cassandra and spoke sheepishly.

"'Scuse me, ma'am?" He waited for Cass to acknowledge him before continuing. "You have a finger in your hair." Cass seemed grossed out, and slowly pulled it from her hair, tossing it over the side of the truck. Alrrami couldn't help but laugh at the way 10k decided to tell her, and her laughter seemed to be contagious as Addy joined in. She even saw 10k smiling at her. 'Damn,' she thought, 'he's got a nice smile.'

Operation Bite Mark was on the road again, to raise hell everywhere they went.