Author's note: Took me a while to write this chapter. I was not sure if I should have skipped to the next day or not but I decided to just stay on course with not much time passing by. I also wanted to work on more drama between the characters instead. (Constant action doesn't always make a good story. Just look at Michael Bay's movies, ZING.) But other than that, I encourage you to review the story, I won't bite, much. So sit back and enjoy the story.

Chapter 6: Midnight Blues

It had only been an hour after the Mystery Crew left Gravity Falls. They didn't get too far since they were extra cautious on the road for any military around. The military.

Those thoughts about the military still didn't get out of their heads. After all that's happened to them in Gravity Falls, the infected, Soos's grandma, the town burning down, the incident with the military is what impacted them the most. They thought that the military would save them and everyone else in Gravity Falls. But instead of being rescued, they tried to gun them down as if they were just trash to them. When Robbie was begging the soldiers for his life they took it from him instead, as if human life did not matter at all. When they saw the aftermath of the bloodbath on that road, they hid their emotions. But deep down inside, everyone felt sadness, confusion, anger, they felt like they were betrayed.

The group could hear some explosions go off from behind them at Gravity Falls, making them turn their heads back to see the town. It still looked like hell even from the distance with huge, blazing fires covering several buildings. Then the group heard more vehicles coming their way, making them dash off the road to hide in some bushes off the side. The group waited and peeked out of the brush to see more military vehicles go down the road.

This time there was two Humvees, one all the way front and back, armed with machine guns and behind the Humvee in front are three supply trucks filled with soldiers and behind the trucks is an APC. After the military convoy left, the group went back on the road to continue their walk on the road.

"There's a lot of military going down this road." Said Wendy.

"If I had a map I would know where else to go." Said Stan.

"And if you went to get anything else besides those books back at the car, we wouldn't be stuck on this road." Said Wendy.

"I didn't have enough time! I would have been dead if I tried to get anything else!" Shouted Stan.

"Then why did you get the books instead of something we actually needed, like food or water? What makes those damn books so important?!" Shouted Wendy.

Stan then stopped and turned around to face Wendy with an angry expression on his face.

"Because these books are all I have to remind me of my parents! They gave them to me as a gift on the day they died!" Shouted Stan which made Wendy stop saying anything else. "Are you happy now?!" Asked Stan.

"Stan, I- said Wendy before Stan interrupted her.

"Just…let's just keep going." Said Stan.

Wendy said nothing else and Stan turned around and continued walking, hoping to himself that the lie worked. Everyone stayed quiet and took a last glance at Gravity Falls before moving on.

To everyone in the group it felt like they were leaving something precious to them leaving Gravity Falls. To Dipper and Mabel, they felt like they were leaving a place of magic and wonder, full of mysteries and beauty that are now forever lost. Gravity Falls was like a second home to the twins. To Stan, Soos and Wendy however, it felt like they were leaving their only home. They didn't know too much about anything outside Gravity Falls, the town was all they knew, and it was all gone in a blink of an eye.

"Let's go." Said Stan as he sighed with sadness and the group turned around to continue onwards, and never looked back.

Two more hours passed and the group still walked down the road while avoiding a convoy of military along the way. They couldn't see the town anymore so they thought at this point they left. The group was tired from all their walking, with bags forming under their eyes from lack of sleep.

"Grunkle Stan? I'm tired." Whined Mabel.

"Does anyone know what time it is?" Asked Stan.

Luckily Dipper had his wristwatch with him and looked at what time it is.

"It's midnight. Maybe we should get some rest." Said Dipper.

"The kid's right. We need sleep." Said Stan.

"Where are we going to sleep?" Asked Mabel.

Stan looked around and pointed off the road into the forest.

"There. We'll make camp in the woods. We don't want any military finding us." Said Stan.

The group complied and went into the woods but not too far from the road. They eventually found a spot and decided to make camp there. Although it will prove difficult for the group since they lost all their supplies they needed back at Gravity Falls.

"Wendy. Watch the kids. Me and Soos will be back to find some things for a fire." Said Stan as he and Soos left to go deeper in the forest to find things to use for a fire.

Wendy sat down by a tree trunk and leaned onto it with Dipper sitting next to her left while Mabel sat on Wendy's right, with Waddles right by her. As they set their backpacks down, Mabel's stomach then began to rumble and she clenched it with her hands.

"Do you think they'll come back with food too?" Asked Mabel.

"I'm not sure but there have to be berries in the woods somewhere." Replied Wendy.

"I hope so. Maybe I can make some pie out of the berries." Said Mabel with her usual happy go lucky tone.

"How can you make pie out of just berries? Don't you need more than that?" Asked Wendy.

"I taught myself how to cook bakery goods with barley anything when I was eight with one of those little baking ovens. Of course I had my brother Dipper to help out. Right Broseph?" Said Mabel.

"Right." Said Dipper looking at the ground not really paying attention to the girls.

Mabel then let out a yawn and stretched her arms up.

"I'm going to bed now. Nighty night." Said Mabel as she lied her head down on Waddles, who also fast asleep, and didn't take long to fall fast asleep on the pig herself.

Wendy then let out a small giggle at the sight of Mabel asleep on Waddles.

"I guess your sister is more tired than hungry huh Dipper?" Asked Wendy.

Wendy saw Dipper looking down at the ground, hugging his arms around his knees.

"Hey Dip? You okay?" Asked Wendy with concern in her voice.

Dipper turned his head around to face Wendy.

"Huh? Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Said Dipper as he turned his head back to the ground.

Wendy could tell by Dipper's face that he was not fine at all. The kid is only twelve years old and he's seen a lot of things that no kid should see at all. Same with Mabel but unlike Dipper, Mabel can still see the bright side of things. Dipper is a whole different story.

"What's wrong? And don't lie to me because you're not okay." Asked Wendy softly.

Dipper let out a huge sigh and turned his head to face Wendy again.

"Everything. The town, the infected, the military, everything just… went downhill so fast. When we saw what was going on back at the shack I knew it was bad but… I didn't think it would be THIS bad." Said Dipper.

"It'll get better." Said Wendy.

"No it won't get better. Did you see what happened to all those people that were sick? They were just killing everything they saw, and the army is probably worse than the infected since they would rather shoot first than save anyone." Said Dipper with sadness in his voice.

"Dipper." Said Wendy softly before Dipper spoke up again.

"Look at where we are now. We're in the middle of the woods with no food, no water, no shelter and there's military that'll most likely kill us driving all over the road, the only thing giving us any sense of direction of where to go. The only reason we're even going anywhere is because I said California, since the best place I know about besides Gravity Falls is my home in Piedmont. I don't even know if Piedmont is even safe or if my parents are even there. I can't even imagine how Mabel will feel if- oh God." Said Dipper as he started to rock back and forth in fear and started to tear up.

"I don't know if we're going to live or not 'sniffle' I just want to go home." Said Dipper as a few tears started to roll down his eyes.

Wendy then pulled Dipper close to her and hugged him which surprised Dipper and made him blush. Dipper knew that Wendy was trying to comfort him right now. But what surprised him is that he's never seen this kind of side to Wendy. She's showing a side as if she was more like a caring mother which made Dipper blush even more at the fact that Wendy is like this towards him. Wendy looked directly at Dipper's eyes while keeping a calm expression on her face.

"I know what you're going through right now Dipper, I feel the same way you do about all this. I don't know where we're going, how we'll get there and I don't know what happened to my family either. But even if we don't know anything, you can't just give up and let the world break you. When the world fights you, you fight back harder, not just for your sake but for everything you care about." Said Wendy as Dipper nodded at her. "You need to be strong Dipper, and to always have hope no matter what. Alright?" Said Wendy in a serious yet soft tone.

"Alright." Dipper said softly while Wendy gave him a warm smile.

Wendy then realized how close she really is to Dipper while hugging him and both Dipper and Wendy took their arms off of each other and turned their heads around, trying to hide the blush on their faces. Mabel kept an eye open the whole time and saw the entire conversation between Dipper and Wendy and smiled to herself as she went back to sleep.

Stan and Soos then came back with a lot of twigs, sticks, and rocks to set up a small fire. Stan and Soos set down the materials and began setting up a fire.

"Good thing I joined the boy scouts when I was a kid. You ever been in the boy scouts Soos?" Asked Stan.

Soos ignored Stan and just kept setting up the rocks with the twigs and sticks making the makeshift campfire for the group while Stan frowned. Stan knew that Soos was still mad at him for what happened back at Gravity Falls with his grandmother, he knew that sooner or later Soos would go back to normal but right now, Soos would have to deal with it his own way.

When the campfire was finally finished, it didn't look like much. It was fairly small and really couldn't last too long but it was still just enough to last for the rest of the night. Stan got two sticks and started to rub them together to start a fire while Soos sat down by the campfire.

"How are you doing Soos? You okay?" Asked Dipper.

Soos just nodded at Dipper without saying much.

"Are you sure Soos? You've been really quiet lately." Asked Dipper.

"I'm fine dude." Said Soos.

"Okay then." Said Dipper, too tired to insist any longer.

Stan eventually got a fire lit from the sticks he rubbed together and put the sticks in the campfire and started to blow on them. The fire eventually grew large enough to keep everyone around it warm for the rest of the night. Soos set his backpack on the ground and lied his head on the backpack as if it were a pillow and went to sleep while Dipper and Wendy did the same. Stan sat by the fire and looked around to make sure there was nothing around the woods that would threaten the group. Stan then set his backpack on the ground but opened it first to check the journals while everyone was asleep.

"Don't worry. I won't lose you. I promise." Said Stan as he zipped the bag up and lied his head down on it.

As he began to close his eyes, Stan wondered if things were any better outside of Gravity Falls in California. But he knew that there was only one way to find out.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls or The Last of Us.