John sprinted down the maintenance tunnel, the fluorescent lights illuminating his way eerily as he tried to find an opening back into the mall’s main area. He could hear gunfire from faraway, and the screams of the living mixed with the moans of the dead. He adjusted the tube-shaped weapon on his back and scowled, cursing the mazelike design of the tunnels. He rounded the next corner, following the sounds of the battle, and froze.

The maintenance corridor was crowded with zombies his own size, and his presence caused a mixture of growls and cries of hunger as the tiny sized horde began stumbling towards him. With his own shout of panic, he skittered on his feet, running back in the other direction.

The tiny ones must be going into the tiny sized areas, he realized, the whole mall’s compromised!

He heard more muffled screams from the mall’s main areas, and with a grimace he followed them, driven by a twin desire to find Barb, and escape his newfound pursuers.

…

Monica wept as she saw one of her fellow cheerleaders trip as they fled through the mall, she spared a glance backwards, and only caught a glimpse of the girl’s screaming face as rotten hands surrounded it, pulling it into the horde.

“CELIA!” she pleaded, “COME BACK!”

“She’s gone, fuck this!” a young man in a cheer sash shouted. He sprinted for the nearest escalator, then cried out in panic as a new wave of the dead shambled up it. He didn’t turn in time, and like a wave of rotting flesh they crested over him, filling the air with screams and wet tearing sounds.

“F-Fuck!” Monica squeaked.

“We spent too much time trying to hold them off,” Paula screamed, “W-We’re surrounded!”

The remaining few cheerleaders loyal to Celia fired into the mob of undead in a panic, watching the surging dead push closer, undeterred by their comrades being blown to pieces around them.

Monica shouted in a mix of primal terror and fury, leaping forward away from the rest just as the dead reached them. Ignoring the cries for help the final cheerleader leapt through the mob, pushing and sprinting with all of her might. She squeezed the trigger on her rifle, the final few bursts of gunfire clearing the smallest path through the forest of grasping rotten hands. With a deep breath she cartwheeled expertly through it, a routine she’d mastered through years of athletics.

She blinked, realizing she was free, and the dead were distracted by the meal her former teammates had made during their final stand.

“HA!” Monica shouted, turning to flee, “Later!” she squeaked in triumph. Then a sharp pinching sensation hit her ankle. She froze, looking down she saw a tiny latched onto her ankle, with a shriek she shook her foot, sending the tiny undead flying and letting a small droplet of red dribble down to her white sock.

“Oh fuck,” she breathed, “No, no, no, noooo!”

Numbly she sprinted through the mall, ignoring the spreading throbbing feeling of inflammation from her ankle. She quickly spared a glance down, seeing the black spiderwebbed veins from the tiny bite mark.

“Hey Monica,” Cassandra growled, cocking a revolver to get the girl’s attention. Monica’s head shot up just as the other cheerleader stepped out of a darkened shoe store, gun leveled at her. Peter poked his head nervously out of her tactical vest pocket, taking in the chaos.

“C-Cassandra,” Monica muttered, “W-We should go,” she jerked her thumb back at the horde of zombies, blooded with their fresh kills and still slowly but steadily shambling towards them a few hundred feet back.

“Where’s the rest of the squad?” Cassandra asked icily.

Monica gave a half-crazed chuckle, “They found a new team to be on,” she said, pointing at the encroaching zombies.

Cassandra’s gaze drifted down to the tiny sized bite on Monica’s exposed ankle, “Looks like you’re trying out for that same team now,” she said with a grimace. “Do you want me to…”

Monica’s eyes went wide, “N-No! I just clipped it on a piece of metal while running,” she lied.

“Monica,” Cassandra muttered, her voice going soft, “there’s no-“

“I just need to get to Celia in the security office!” Monica insisted, “she’s got a first aid kit in there, I-I’ll patch this right up!”

Cassandra frowned, but then sighed, “I’m looking for a tiny guy Monica, his name’s John, he came in here with Barb? I checked the Salon, someone cleared out all the tinies. Tell me where they are and I’ll let you go.”

“I don’t know!” Monica exclaimed, shifting uneasily as the zombies got closer. “Cass, come on he’s just some tiny-“

“I can hold you at gunpoint until your friends back there catch up to you,” Cassandra said, nodding at the undead, “or you can tell me!”

Monica licked her lips, “T-The basement, some of the girls and the mall workers went down there. T-There’s a half-finished subway station with a train and everything! Maybe they took the tinies down there!?”

“Cass,” Peter said quietly, “She’s…”

“I know,” Cassandra muttered, lowering her gun. “See you around Monica.”

“Yeah, you too,” Monica said, blinking in surprise as Cassandra took off towards the far escalator.

…

Celia leapt off the mall security cart, her hands trembling as she reached for the keys to the security office. She flinched as she heard the sound of gunfire and screams of pain and terror from the other side of the mall. With a sigh she forced the door open.

Her heart raced as she ran into her makeshift bedroom, throwing a wheeled suitcase on the bed. Diamonds and gold clinked against one another as she tossed her plundered jewelry into it. She zipped it up in a hurry, placing it next to the door as she grabbed a backpack that jangled with all the ammunition she’d stored in it.

“Time to go Johnny!” she called, grinning as she walked over to his cage. She froze, then did a double take. “John?” she asked, her voice rising angrily. She spotted the clipped bars, forming a perfect hole which had no doubt let the tiny man escape.

Oh that little fucker, she thought, seething as she started back towards the door, fine, stay here, get eaten…

She pushed the door security office door open, the cacophony of moaning dead shocking her as she wheeled her treasure loaded bag towards the still waiting mall cart.

“Celia!” Monica rasped, surprising her as the other cheerleader limped into view.

Celia paused, then put on her pep rally grin, “Monica! Glad to see you made it, did you not hear my retreat order? I was so confused when you all stayed back there! Did anyone else make it?”

Monica’s brow furrowed, and for the briefest moment, a hint of anger crossed her features, but then she meekly stammered an answer, “N-No, they uh… got caught.” Celia glanced down at Monica’s leg, where the tiny bite wound dribbled blood. “I clipped it on something when I was running away!” Monica said desperately.

“Yeah, okay,” Celia said casually, “Come in the security office and let me patch you up real quick, then we’ll get out of here.” Monica beamed, all but sprinting into the office as Celia held the door open with a smile.

“Thanks Celia- I mean cheer captain-“

*BLAM*

The bark of Celia’s handgun cut off the title, and Monica slumped to the ground with a fresh hole in her head.

“The answer to infection,” Celia muttered, blowing the whisp of smoke from the gun’s barrel.

“That was cold,” Barb’s voice came from behind her. The former NEET’s voice was low, gravelly, her throat dry from the exertion of the battle throughout the mall.

Celia sighed, then raised her hands, letting her pistol clatter to the floor as she slowly turned to face Barb with a smile, “Barbara!” she said sweetly, “Don’t you give me that look. She was bit, you know what has to happen after that.”

Barb was like Celia had never seen her, a steely look was in her eyes as she looked down the sights of the lever action rifle at her old bully, and none of the meekness she’d been so used to in the old world was present. A sheen of sweat covered her forehead, plastering her brown hair together as she slowly breathed in and out. Blood splattered the front of a white T-shirt advertising something called “Bleach,” the red splotches obscuring the main characters face, and across her back hung a curved katana.

“Where’s John?” Barb asked simply. Celia smirked, fighting mad laughter. “If you’ve hurt him, I swear I’ll blow your kneecaps out and leave you for the zeds!” Barb sneered, stepping closer.

“He’s right here with me,” Celia lied, her grin widening, “I put him in my cleavage for safekeeping Barb, tiny guys just fit in your bra so well, don’t they?”

“Yeah,” Barb growled, “Keep those hands up…” she slowly closed the distance between them, glancing at the zombies who had seemingly spotted them, shuffling as a rotting mass towards the security office. Barb felt a sudden wave of nervousness as she got within arm’s reach.

She leapt back a split second before Celia lunged at her, a mad look in her eyes as she gripped the rifle’s barrel.

…

John’s heart pounded in his chest as he spotted a door reading “SECOND FLOOR MAIN CONCOURSE.” He’d run what he was sure was half the length of the mall, an impressive distance for a tiny. While he wasn’t in terrible shape, he was drenched in sweat, and the added weight from the weapon he’d stolen from Rhames hadn’t helped.

He pushed the button to open the door, and his heart leapt as he saw Barb and Celia wrestling with a rifle as a wall of zombies shambled closer with each passing second. The moans of his own pursuers jolted him out of his shock, and with gritted teeth he ran towards the struggling giants.

…

*BANG*

The rifle discharged as the girls tumbled over, struggling with the weapon. Barb landed with her back on the hard tile, grunting in pain as Celia snarled and pushed the barrel of the gun against her neck.

“GIVE IT UP!” Celia hissed, “I’m a fucking college athlete Barb! You’ve been living on chips and soda since middle school!”

Barb took a deep breath, then lashed her head forward, headbutting Celia directly in her nose, causing the other girl to shriek as her world spun from the impact. Barb rolled over, grinning madly as she reversed their positions, pinning Celia. Her forehead stung, but the trails of blood from Celia’s nose more than made up for it.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to kick your ass!” Barb hissed.

“REEEENNTTT!”

Barb’s eyes went wide and she looked up to see the undead form of her old landlady, Ms. Smythe, standing over her.

“SHIT!” Barb released the gun, scrambling up and backwards as she realized the horde of the dead was upon them.

“Game over loser!” Celia laughed, rising and cocking the lever action gun in one fluid motion that even Barb had to admit was impressive.

“RENT!”

Barb watched, stunned, as her old landlady gripped the barrel, pushing it away at the last minute. With a loud *BANG* Barb felt the whizz of a bullet just past her ear. The world seemed to slow, and while Barb wondered even then if she was hallucinating it, she could swear the zombie smiled at her.

Celia scowled, cocking the lever action rifle again and pointing it directly at the undead woman’s forehead. A second gunshot rang out, and Barb’s old landlady was laid to rest for a final time. Barb didn’t have time to mourn, Celia’s sights were quite literally on her next as the loud *click clack* of the lever action cocking filled the air.

There was a sharp pneumatic hiss, and then Celia was screaming in pain, clutching at her calf as blood welled from between her fingers. The rifle clacked to the ground, and the cheerleader shouted a curse as she limped away, letting the weapon be trod over by the encroaching undead.

“BARB!” John shouted.

She whirled around, seeing her tiny lover holding a large tube over his shoulder with a grin. A large gathering of tiny zombies were trailing behind him, welling out of a tiny sized maintenance entrance like frenzied ants following a trail.

Barb raced forward, her boot coming down on the tiny undead closest to John as she bent down to snatch him up. John felt like an angel ascending to heaven as her warm fingers embraced him, lifting him away from the reaching undead arms to safety. The two made eye contact a moment, each sharing a goofy grin.

“Hey,” Barb muttered, blinking away a tear as she tucked him into her cleavage.

“Hey yourself,” John greeted, feeling himself slide into the familiar sweaty breasts of the woman he loved.

Barb took a deep breath and reached over her shoulder, savoring the sound of her sword slipping out of its scabbard. The Japanese blade reflected her face for a moment, and where mirrors had always shown her an ugly loser, in the katana’s steel she finally saw an image of the person she’d always wanted to be.

Barb wasn’t an expert swordswoman, no matter how many anime she’d seen. Still, she moved gracefully through the dead, a dreamy sense of slow motion overtaking her as she cut down her undead assailants one after another, each slice perfectly slicing through an arm, a neck, a torso, whatever she’d needed. Her muscles burned with the effort, but it was far away feeling, like a fire on a distant horizon.

John watched, spellbound, as Barb carved a path through the giant zombies towards the Mall Security cart. He could hear her heartbeat behind him, and he found himself sinking further into the immense valley of her cleavage as her battle continued. Whatever will he might have had to crawl himself upward or maintain his position was wiped away by his awe of the massive battle taking place before him. Barbara, his savior, his goddess, slew the building sized monstrosities one after the other.

“HELP!” Celia shouted, falling to her knees and crawling away from the zombies as they cornered her against the wall. She looked around fearfully, lurching to her side as she tried to pull herself through the mall. Her eyes widened as she saw the column of tiny sized zombies John’s flight had drawn, and she screamed and kicked as they began reaching her. She screamed as she felt a needlelike bite on her hand as she swatted a wave of them away. In desperation she turned to Barb, who was boarding the mall security cart. “SHOOT ME!” she begged as the tiny zombies crawled over her, “S-SHOOT ME!”

Barb scowled, pulling her pistol, but the giant sized zombies lumbered into her shot, blocking it as they swarmed over what was soon to be a fresh kill. With a grunt she reached down and hit the button start on the mall’s golf cart, jetting away into the mall’s center.

Celia’s screams echoed behind them, “CHOKE ON ‘EM!” she screeched, her voice growing distorted from pain, “CHOKE ON ‘EM!!!”

…

This is heaven, John thought dreamily as they whirred through the still empty parts of the mall. I died and went to heaven. It certainly felt like it, sinking into the warm embrace of Barb’s breasts as they sped away from the hell that had consumed the mall.

Still, his conscious mind reminded him he had a few more parts yet to play, “BARB!” he shouted, “STOP THE CART!”

His world lurched and the titflesh jiggled against his body as she slammed the brakes, “Yeah?” she asked.

“There’s a train!” he said excitedly, “we can take it out of here!”

“A secret train!?” Barb said excitedly, “Like in Resident Evil 2?”

“Uh, sure,” John said, unfamiliar with the material, “There are a bunch of people down there, the cheerleaders who didn’t want to go with Celia, and the mall workers and tinies too!”

“Where!?” Barb asked, a smile coming over her face.

“Just downstairs,” John said, “they knocked down the wall behind the big fountain!”

Barb leapt out of the mall cart, scrambling down the central mall escalator as the sounds of the undead closed in from both floors. Something caught her eye as she ran past a small candy shop.

“It’s a little further,” John said, confused as she bolted inside, “What are you-“ he burst out laughing as he saw Barb throw open the door to a small cooler, snatching a green bottle out and then hurrying back out of the store.

“This could be my last one!” Barb laughed, twisting the cap of the Mountain Dew off with a crisp *hiss.*

…

“We’re so fucked,” Tammy muttered, listening to the echoing moans of the undead in the mall above them.

“Cut that out,” Cassandra said with a growl, “Barb and John will find their way back down here.”

The rogue cheerleaders and mall workers had taken her in without much issue, and she’d joined Tammy, rifle at her side, as the pair stood guard waiting for the final, and most important, stragglers. Peter chewed his lip nervously from his spot in her vest pocket, fighting a sense of helplessness like all of them.

“They’re dead,” Rhames growled, perched on Tammy’s shoulder and nursing a throbbing head wound, “everyone up there is dead. It’s risky, but you bigs need to start through the tunnels-“

“Don’t shoot!” Barb’s voice called. A moment later she emerged through the large chiseled hole in the wall, grinning and with John’s face happily staring out from his perch between her breasts.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Rhames muttered as Barb ran up to them.

“Everyone’s loaded up,” Tammy said excitedly, “How long until you can finish the wiring?”

“Just a few minutes,” he said, “Someone get me to the front cabin!”

“Come on Johnny!” Cassandra beamed excitedly, “We’re counting on you to fly us to the promised land!”

The cacophony of mournful and hungry moaning interrupted them, and the group looked in horror to see the wave of undead tumbling through the jagged opening they’d made in the wall. The dead were endless, streatching out into the mall and packed tightly into every corner as they buffeted against each other, slowly moving forward like a rolling wave of grapsing hands and gnashing teeth.

“I don’t know if we’ve got a few minutes,” Tammy said, her face white.

“Here!” Barb said, handing John off to the cheerleader, “Cassie, help me hold them off!”

Cassie nodded, unslinging her rifle and joining Barb as she pulled her pistol, firing into the encroaching crowd of ghouls as the remaining cheerleaders and mall workers scrambled onto the packed subway car. The pair quickly cut down the few zombies that had managed to get through the makeshift subway station entrance, but more roiled like a frothing sea just beyond it.

“We need something bigger!” Barb shouted over the howls. She gritted her teeth and slowly lined up each shot, fighting to keep her hands steady as she fired, causing zombies to jerk back as her bullets slammed into them.

“Tammy looted almost all of Celia’s armory,” Cassandra shouted, turning and running toward the train, “Let me see if she had a machine gun or something!”

Barb nodded, keeping her focus on the brick hole in the wall, if they swarm past that they’ll fan out, Barb thought, blinking sweat out of her eyes, then they’ll rush us… and that’s it…

Inside the train Cassandra listened to the screams of terror from the panicked passengers as they watched the battle outside, knowing if the zombies made it past Barb, they’d be trapped like rats in the tin can of the subway car.

“She needs a belt fed weapon or something,” Peter called over the din, “Cass, did Celia have anything like-“

“This,” Cassandra said, her eyes going wide as she found a long unopened case, the crown jewel of the weapons and gear Celia had plundered from the rogue biker gang when they’d first arrived at the mall.

“Holy shit,” Peter whispered, “Y-Yeah, that’ll do it!”

…

“Barb!” Cassandra called from one of the open subway car doors, “Catch!”

Barb turned around just in time to see a large tube thrown towards the air to her, and her eyes went wide as she took in the rocket launcher. With her heart beating wildly and a giddy feeling in her throat Barb took the weapon, kneeling as she flipped the eyepiece out to aim it at the station opening.

Game over, she thought grimly, squeezing the trigger.

There was a hiss as the rocket propelled grenade flew out of the tube, bucking Barb slightly with the force of its departure. The explosion nearly knocked her on her back, and the orange plume of fire and the boom that followed singed her face and drowned out the cries of the dead, leaving nothing but a smoking ruin and scattered zombies.

Barb couldn’t help but laugh, though through the ringing in her ears she couldn’t really hear herself. She numbly turned around to see the train’s lights come on, and as her hearing slowly came back the *clack clack clack* of the subway starting to leave the station jolted her back to reality.

She threw the spent rocket launcher to the ground, running as fast as her tired legs could carry her. With a yell she threw herself from the platform at the last open door, and Cassie’s arms wrapped around her, pulling her inside just as they slid shut behind her. Cheers erupted through the car.

“Barb, are you okay?” Peter asked, poking his head up excitedly as Cass helped her to her feet.

“Y-Yeah,” she muttered, her legs suddenly feeling like jelly. “Whew,” she sighed, swaying slightly, “It’s uh… been a long morning.”

“You can say that again,” Cassandra muttered.

“Where’s John?” Barb asked suddenly.

“He’s up at the front,” Rhames growled. Barb looked down to see the tiny police officer was still holding a red rag to his head, “Tell him I want my needle gun back.”

“Will do,” Barb chuckled, slowly walking through the car.

It was a surreal experience, seeing people look at her with a sense of awe, of approval. She felt like waving meekly, and she squeaked in surprise as a burly middle aged man clapped her on the back and thanked her for saving their lives.

“A-All in a day’s work,” Barb said sheepishly.

She passed the small basket where the remaining tinies were, and even they were giving her smiles as she passed. She felt her heart swell as she finally turned the latch that opened the subway conductor’s cabin.

John was on the floor, a haphazard spool of wires dangling over him. He turned to look up at her, a warm smile on his face. They just stared at one another a moment, listening to the clack of the subway tracks, before Barb closed the door behind her, locking it with a *click.*

“We made it,” John said with a smile and a tired voice. He leaned into Barb’s grasp as she reached down to wrap her warm fingers around him, drawing him up to her face as she slumped into the conductor’s chair.

“Yeah,” Barb whispered, gently playing with his hair, ruffling it with the tip of her finger. A sly grin spread across her tired face. “You know,” she said slowly, “I really should give you a bite check…”

“Excuse me?” he protested with a laugh as she grabbed his arm, lifting him up and dangling his body so she could get at his pants. “You were closer to those zombies than I was!”

“You’re right!” Barb said in mock horror, “you’ll just have to check every inch of me…”

John gasped as the giant fingers finally worked his pants off, and Barb didn’t even try for subtlety as she tore at his underwear, brutally ripping them off and playfully flicking the ruined fabric away. Her eyes lit up with excitement as she saw his erection spring free, and with a giggle she pinched his body, her fingers under his armpits as she slowly dangled him over her face.

“Nope, no bites,” Barb whispered, her warm breath billowing up to him as he swayed over her mouth.

John gasped as he felt her pillowy lips slurp his lower body in, letting him descend into the warm wetness of her mouth and stopping just at his torso. Her tongue darted out, exploring and playing with his lower body like a piece of hard candy while her amused eyes looked down at his top half, sticking out like a lollipop stick as he writhed and moaned.

Barb released her grip on him, playfully sucking him in and out, but never drawing him all the way in. John grunted in surprise from the sensation, his eyes crossing as he was suddenly slurped down to his neck, sticking out of those soft pink lips like a flowerbud as a tongue as large as his entire body played with his most precious parts.

“BARB!” he gasped, letting his body writhe even as her tongue easily pressed him to the roof of her mouth. “B-Barb I’m going to-“

*Slurp*

He was sucked entirely into her mouth at the exact moment her tongue playfully teased him to orgasm, and he screamed feebly into the void as she won the battle with a furious flick of the massive wet tendril against his manhood.

“MMMMM” Barb moaned, pushing her tiny toy against the roof of her mouth while she slowly sucked every last bit of his seed off him. The sounds of her satisfaction rumbled through the humid cavern he was trapped in, and her tongue continued to toy with him, causing his pleasure to spike to almost uncomfortable levels as she milked every last bit of seed he could produce, all of it eagerly swallowed down the vast tunnel of her throat.

With a wet *pop* he was ejected from Barb’s mouth, landing in her palm and coughing on her spit as she looked down at him excitedly.

“Ready to do my bite check?” she asked in a sultry voice.

In spite of his orgasm a moment before John felt himself rising to the opportunity, “Yeah!” he said with a grin, “I can’t have you infecting all these people after all!”

Barb chuckled as she pulled her bloodstained Bleach T-Shirt over her head, exposing her bra and the expanse of her toros, sweaty from the day’s exertion. “What would you do if I was bitten tiny?” With a smirk she let her shirt fall to the ground.

“Ask you to eat me while you’re still sexy?” John managed with a weak smile.

Barb just laughed, arching her head back, “Seriously!?” She wheezed.

“Maybe,” John giggled, sitting up in her palm and looking down to the floor where Rhames’s needle gun rested, “If, If mind you, a guy had to pick his demise… well, eaten by a sexy girl? There are worse ways to go.”

“You sick little tiny,” Barb taunted. “Luckily for you I’m still one hundred percent human…” She brought his saliva coated form down to her immense cleavage, a pair of mountains that jiggled in time with each *clack* of the subway tracks as they raced towards freedom. “Check in there next!”

John felt himself slipping downward as he was dropped in the center of her chest. Her oily sweat seemed to aid her breasts in their mission to suck him downward, and he stuck his arm up feebly, grapsing for anything as Barb gently kneaded her chest, letting the pillowy flesh suck him up.

“I thought you’d have learned by now; you can’t get out of my tits!” Barb taunted, gently shaking them on the sides and further trapping her tiny lover.

John felt her slick skin against his own and gasped as his descent brought him to the peak of arousal once again. The rich earthy droplets of Barb’s sweat splashed across his face, filling his mouth with a salty taste as her laughter echoed above him.

He was shifted up and down, rising and falling like a ship at sea as she gently jiggled her breasts. Each tiny motion of the soft pillows on either side of him sent a jolt of renewed pleasure through him. Every few seconds he managed to fight his way up, gasping for air and getting a glimpse of Barb’s lustful and smug face, her expression only inflaming his passions further as she giggled at his plight.

“Come!” she ordered, “seriously, just let go, how long do you think you’re going to last!?”

“I…” he grunted, his body going rigid as Barb let out a laugh. His strength left him with the second orgasm of the day, and he gave Barb a pitiful look as her sweaty tits swallowed him up.

“Poor tiny,” she mused, “you survived the end of the world but you still can’t handle a pair of tits…” she sighed and leaned back in the chair, putting her hands behind her head. “Crawl out of there,” she ordered, knowing the tiny man resting at the bottom of her bra could hear her.

“Mmm…” a muffled refusal echoed up from her bra as John let himself get comfortable.

Barb raised an eyebrow, “Oh really?” she laughed, “You’re going in my panties John, and if you get up here by the time I count to twenty you can go in the front! Waste my time and you’re going in the back, and it’s been a long day John, you know just how sweaty my sweet ass is!”

She burst into laughter from the tickling sensation of the tiny man struggling upwards through her boobs.

…

…

The train rattled along the tracks, raising out of the tunnel and bathing the two lovers in a warm pink and orange sunrise above the smoking ruins of the city. Looking at the charred ruins and wandering dead below, it was almost like they were in a chariot above the clouds, zooming blissfully above the danger and horrors that the rise of the dead had brought.

The mood in the passenger car was similarly somber, and a feeling of relief washed over them all as the train carried them out through the suburbs, leaving the towering skyscrapers behind them like forgotten tombstones. As the housing subdivisions passed by outside the window the steady *clack clack clack* of the train tracks beat a steady rhythm, filling the air in the absence of words as the survivors, Cheerleaders, Mall Workers, Tinies, Giants, all gazed silently at the hell they’d escaped.

Cassie found herself idly reaching up to where Peter sat in her vest pocket, stroking the back of his head with her thumb as the dead world whizzed by.

“End of the line’s coming up!” Barb’s voice called over the intercom as the houses and shopping centers of the suburbs grew sparser. Fields began to replace subdivisions, instead of gas stations, restaurants, and boutiques, they saw trees and brush. The train began to slow, the steady beat of the track growing slower as they rolled into the final station on a line that had never officially opened.

“Would you look at that,” Peter laughed with a smile, pointing at the large sign outside the desolate subway station.

Cassie saw it too, and couldn’t help but join him in chuckling, “Kaufman Real Estate Presents: Fiddler’s Green Townhomes and Condos,” she read off the large billboard, “Coming Soon!”

“What’s an oar?” Peter joked as the subway doors whooshed open.

“Last stop,” Barb called, pushing the conductor cabin door open with a grin. As she said it there was a sudden clicking noise, the lights of the subway flickered, then went dark forever, leaving them bathed in the early morning sunlight. “Looks like the city power finally failed,” Barb muttered.

“Where’s John?” Cassandra asked.

“Safe,” Barb said with a wink as she adjusted her sword, and quickly hiked her pants up, driving her tiny passenger closer to herself.

“I can’t believe you’re the person who came out on top in all of this,” Rhames said, sitting on one of the train’s windowsills with an expression that was halfway between awed and annoyed. “What the hell did you do before the end of the world? Were you in law enforcement? Special forces?”

Barb just laughed, “Not in Education, Employment, or Training,” she recited.

“Son of a bitch,” Rhames muttered, shaking his head. “Cheerleaders and NEETs… Son of a motherfucking bitch…”

“Okay everyone!” Cassie called, clapping her hands over her head, “We’re out on the edge of town, but let’s not lose our cool, there will still probably be a few zeds even way out here. Everyone take a weapon from the stash-“

“Even the mall workers?” Tammy asked uncertainly.

Cassandra rolled her eyes, “Yes, everyone, there aren’t any mall workers or cheerleaders now, it’s just us.” She smiled, “We’ll find shelter and food before the day’s end, I’m sure of it! Come on!” She turned to Barb with a grin, “can I count on you?”

“Always,” Barb said with a nod, “let’s not waste any time, after all it’s the only thing we’ve got left!”