Author's Note: DON'T KILL ME PLEASE *shoves Chapter 8 into your face so you don't kill me for not updating in like two weeks*

I was so busy with working on cosplays and at my campground that I didn't have time to sit down and write this god damn chapter! But, I found time today and so I sat down and wrote! I'm still working on my Disciple cosplay (attaching sleeves to the shirt actually, everything else is done) and Nepeta is almost finished for Colossalcon as well! Ahhhh, wish me luck!

Oh, little side note; I've been talking to my crush a lot lately (ever since Friday actually) and I might be hanging out with them Saturday. (Wish me luck!)

OHHHH! Before I let you read the chapter, let me reply to reviews real quick! You can skip over the rest of this Author's Note if you would like to get to the chapter!

Reply to Oreoo: Firstly, yes I am better! Finally! More so now than two weeks ago actually! Secondly, thank you because I wasn't too proud of Chapter 7. Thirdly, YES I WATCH MARKIPLIER ISN'T HE AMAZING AND THE BEST YOUTUBER EVER?!

Reply to ThyRoyalAwesomeness: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy the story so far and adore my writing! It means a lot to me! Also yes, KatNep/KarNep isn't exactly everyone's cup of tea; but it is a really adorable ship and my absolute OTP. Also don't worry about the DaveJade, yaoi will come eventually I promise you. :)

Enjoy Chapter 8!

13 days have passed since the infection first started

"Augh! This fucking stinks! It hurts all over! Why the fuck would you do that?!"

Why did he do that? At first, there were no infected around them, and then as soon as they hit Yellowstone National Park in the northwestern part of Wyoming; infected surrounded them. They had managed to fight them off, but one bit the Scorpion girls arm just as they were finishing the fight.

And now that same girl sat against a tree trunk with that same arm not connected to her body.

Equius had decapitated Vriska Serket's left arm, and blood was everywhere.

"I…I do not know. The only thought that came to my mind was to decapitate your arm before you turned into one of the infected."

"WELL IT WORKED YOU ASS HAT I'M NOT INFECTED BUT NOW I ONLY HAVE ONE ARM."

"One arm is better than no arms."

"SHUT UP AND HELP ME CONTROL THE BLEEDING!"

25 days have passed since the infection first started

That event had happened over a week ago: Equius Zahhak had decapitated Vriska Serket's arm just to make sure she didn't turn.

True friends huh?

The older male slightly laughed to himself, and looked up from a room that he shared with a certain Capricorn male in the compound outside of Salem, Oregon to see a seventeen year old female poking her head in with an angry looking eighteen year old male above her; the female, he presumed, didn't know that the male was there above her.

The females name was Nepeta Leijon, while the male was named Karkat Vantas. The two were survivors, obviously, and along with them were about eight other people in the compound; not including Vriska and himself.

It was hard to believe that twelve people, all coming from different places around the United States, who had just met, were now living together in a compound during an apocalyptic situation.

There were seven rooms in the compound, each big enough to hold two beds; so what had happened when the original six had to make room for six more, they doubled up.

Dave Strider and John Egbert had paired up in one room.

Rose Lalonde and Jade Harley in another.

Nepeta Leijon and Feferi Peixes teamed up.

Karkat Vantas and Sollux Captor as well.

Vriska Serket and Kanaya Maryam.

And last but not least, Equius Zahhak and Gamzee Makara.

Speaking of two out of those twelve, what were Nepeta and Karkat doing in the Sagittarius' door frame again?

Nepeta spoke first, "Good morning sleepyhead!"

Equius gave a smile to her, saying back. "Good morning Nepeta. May I ask why you are stalking in my door frame?"

"No special reason! Just saying good morning!" The Leo gave him her signature grin, completely unaware of the cancer male behind her who was preparing to scare her. He WAS motioning to Equius to not let the Leo know he was there, and to not make eye contact with him so much.

"Well good morning, and Nepeta; are you aware of the-"

Equius did not have time to finish that sentence, as Karkat engulfed the female in his arms and spun her around. She screeched and scratched at the long sleeve shirt of the Cancer male, and the Sagittarius could only laugh.

It was no secret to anyone in the compound that something was happening between Karkat and Nepeta, but every time one asked either of them about their relationship; they would only say they were very close friends and wanted to protect the other.

No mention of a crush whatsoever.

Feferi and Kanaya had managed to make Nepeta spill SOME details of their relationship, yet the only big thing that came out of it was that the Leo had admitted to having a 'flush crush' (which is what she called it) on the male.

Karkat had not spilled any details, only admitting to wanting to protect the younger female from any harm that came upon her.

"Karkat that's not fair! I thought that game ended yesterday!"

"It ends today Nep, and I think I won the game."

A pout came from her. "Dang it Karkitty!"

Also the two liked to play games a lot that involved scaring and/or pranking the other.

They liked to play those games a lot.

"If you two want to be all lovey dovey can you motherfuckers go somewhere else?"

The voice came from behind the "lovers"; it belonged to Gamzee Makara, who was constantly taking some kind of weird medication or drug that made him sound like he was high all the god damn time.

The drug was not a prescription one, thank god.

Gamzee and his brother, Kurloz, actually created the drug themselves with ingredients found in nature. If Gamzee ever ran out, Kanaya knew the ingredients he used to make it and could create several more if need be.

Which they would have to get her to make it immediately, because Kanaya first hand had seen what happens when Gamzee isn't taking that drug.

He turned into a cold blooded killer.

If Kanaya ever died, oh boy would they be in serious trouble.

Karkat turned to the Capricorn with Nepeta still lifted off her feet in his arms. "Oh hey Gam."

"Hey best bro. Why in the motherfucking world are you holding Nep-sis like that?"

Nepeta looked up at Karkat, as did Equius from his place on the bed across the room. A faint red blush spread across the cancer males cheeks and he automatically put Nepeta back down. "N-No reason."

The Leo giggled and stalked out of the room as the Sagittarius was too focused on the Cancer and Capricorn.

Gamzee and Karkat spoke back and forth in the long hallway about 'Nep-sis', as Gamzee had dubbed her.

"Bro, if you like her so motherfucking much; why don't you just ask her out?"

"Yeah I'll totally go up to Nepeta fucking Leijon during an apocalypse and go 'Hey, I want to date you'. Yeah that'll go over well. Plus you know how much I would get teased from fucking Sollux."

"Sol-bro? Dude, didn't you hear? He might have some feelings for Feferi. If he teases you about liking Nep-sis, just tease him back about liking Feferi."

"I don't know Gam…I mean yeah Nepeta's kind of cute and all, but like I said we're in a zombie apocalypse basically. I just…I can't risk liking her and then she gets infected or killed…I would lose my shit if that ever happened."

"Kanaya, dear, what are you doing?"

The jade green eyed female looked up from her book on anatomy that she had 'borrowed' from the blonde who had attracted her attention.

"Oh, nothing, Rose."

"Stolen one of my books again have you?" A smile came from the nineteen year old; her tone being nothing near angry.

Kanaya smiled, giving a nod. "Perhaps so."

"Remember to return it when you're done with it." Rose remarked, returning to her work on, what looked like, an infected arm that had been separated from its owner.

"I will."

Really, it was quite quiet in the compound for once.

Rose was constantly in the lab coming up with new theories for the infection, while Kanaya stayed with her beloved and sewed up shirts, pants, or any clothing item that needed fixing.

Feferi and Nepeta were in their room gossiping about their respectable crushes on two males.

Vriska and John were doing the same, but gossiping over Nicolas Cage movies; strange of them really since it WAS the apocalypse.

Dave and Jade were either in the meeting room talking or in the room Jade shared with Rose making out; either of the two really.

Equius was working with robotic arm parts that they had salvaged from a mechanics shop the day before to; hopefully, make the Scorpion girl a new robotic arm for her to use in place of the one she lost.

That left three males: Sollux, Gamzee, and Karkat.

The three males were actually not present at the compound at that exact moment, as they were in charge of hunting for deer or any animal of some sort to bring back for a 'meal'.

Gamzee was taking another hit of his drug, and Sollux and Karkat were currently talking about two certain girls who were gossiping about them at that exact moment.

"So KK, you like Nepeta right?" Sollux lisped.

"For the umpteenth time, I'm not really sure if I do or not. One, because we are in a fucking zombie apocalypse. Two, WE ARE IN A FUCKING ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE. And three, I just want to protect her for some odd reason. She just…reminds me of someone else."

Karkat's thoughts drifted to a redheaded girl he had killed on day one of the apocalypse; Terezi Pyrope.

No matter how hard he tried and tried to forget her and push her out of his mind and move on; Karkat couldn't seem to do just that. He couldn't seem to just forget and move on. Yes, Terezi wouldn't have survived very long because of her blindness; but was that really an adjustable claim to have just shot her right then and there when she was infected? He could have just not shot her and left; closing and locking the door behind him and promising to hopefully find a cure to turn her back to normal.

Then again, would he have been able to make and keep that promise?

The cancer hadn't even thought about developing a cure for this god damn infection, much less how to deal with it.

They had already learned from Equius and Vriska's experience that decapitating a body part that has been bitten by an infected person would stop the infection right in its tracks, but what if there were other ways to get infected?

What would they do then?

The eighteen year old male shrugged and looked at his lisped roommate who was now speaking. "…I mean seriously how long is it gonna take you to get over TZ? I know you only told me about her a couple times but I can gradually piece together that you obviously liked her a lot."

"Sollux it's not that fucking easy to get over a dead girl. You of all people should know that."

A moment of silence.

Sollux shrugged after a while and then continued, "Well yeah. But I'm gradually getting over…AA. I know she's up there watching me like a hawk, and I don't think she would want to see me mourning over her death every second of the day."

"Can you guys not all up and talk about motherfucking relationships?" Gamzee's stoned voice spoke. "We got a hoard of infected coming."

Karkat peeked around the tree he was leaning up against, and saw the hoard Gamzee was talking about.

It wasn't just the regular old hoard of about five or ten they were used to dealing with in the past; oh no.

It was a hoard of about thirty or forty of them.

Sollux apparently saw it too, because he said aloud their thoughts; "Holy fucking shit."

Gamzee looked at Karkat. "Bro, what are we gonna do?"

Karkat didn't even look at his best friend. He just stared at the hoard, before finally saying:

"We need to warn everybody before that hoard gets there, because if we don't; everyone's going to end up dead."

LIST OF DEAD CHARACTERS SO FAR:
ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE TROLLS AND KIDS ARE DEAD UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED (This includes Ancestors, Alpha Kids and Trolls, and Guardians)
Terezi Pyrope (Former Girlfriend of Karkat Vantas)
Tavros Nitram (Former Classmate and friend of Karkat Vantas)
Aradia Megido (Former Girlfriend of Sollux Captor)
Eridan Ampora (Former Best friend of Feferi Peixes)

Did you enjoy the chapter? ::::) The chapter wasn't necessarily all about Vriska, but it should have been because obviously Chapter 8.

I wanted this chapter to focus more on the question I got a while back about amputations and the development of Karkat and Nepeta's relationship, plus I just wanted all the alive characters in one god forsaken place!

So because of my wants and desires, Chapter 8 came about! I think I did pretty good with this chapter; touching on what I wanted to and getting to have a little cliff hanger at the end. B)

Okay, so I've realized also that the relationship statuses of the alive characters can be a little confusing, so here's a list of the relationship statuses of the ALIVE characters!

Karkat Vantas: has a crush on Nepeta (will not admit it to anyone but Gamzee) and is best friends with Kanaya and Gamzee
Sollux Captor: has a crush on Feferi (not open about it but is hinted at)
Nepeta Leijon: has a 'flush crush' on Karkat, is best friends with both Equius, Feferi, and Jade
Kanaya Maryam: in a relationship with Rose, is best friends with Gamzee and Karkat
Vriska Serket: undecided relationship, hinted at potential friendship with John
Equius Zahhak: is best friends with Nepeta only
Gamzee Makara: is best friends with Kanaya and Karkat
Feferi Peixes: is best friends with Nepeta
John Egbert: undecided relationship, is hinted at potential friendship with Vriska
Rose Lalonde: in a relationship with Kanaya, is the sister of Dave
Dave Strider: in a relationship with Jade, is the brother of Rose
Jade Harley: in a relationship with Dave, is best friends with Nepeta

I hope that makes it easier for you guys to know the relationships of people as of this point in the story, that list and the Dead Characters List will be updated as the story progresses on!

Also, please be patient with me! You guys are doing a marvelous job of waiting for me to update and I'm honestly so happy and pleased that you guys are! Next week is my last week of school, and its finals! All this week I'm busy studying for them (which I should be doing right now) and working on my cosplays for Colossal! This weekend I have a party to attend to Saturday and then I believe hanging out with my crush afterwards, and spending the night at their house. (wish me luck!) And also remember that I work on Saturday's after that party and have no good internet up at my campground!

So for the next week or two I'm busy! So please please please please PLEASE be patient with me and updating! I'm not trying to forget this story or discontinue it, I promise I won't do that! It's just that my schedule is getting a little bit more busy with summer drawing near so its the constant shift between one project to another to another to another!

Thank you for your love, support, and understanding! I hope you can bear with me until the next chapter comes out!

Until the next chapter, see you! :33