Alright, this is more of a filler than anything, but I promise that in the next chapter, things pick up. I am not quite too pleased with this, but I thought it'd be nice to start introducing the cie'th now.

"How many?" Light asked from her kneeled position behind the small housing unit.

"A dozen maybe. There's three wandering around the front of the store, down the street." Noel pointed at the direction. He was crouching on top of the same building where Light, Caius, Fang, and Hope were behind.

"Alright. Do you see a path we can take?"

"There's an alley to the left, across the street. It looks clear."

Light nodded. "Cover us."

"You got it!"

She gave a hand signal to the rest of the group, then quickly and quietly dashed across the street, looking for cie'th Noel may have missed, then gave the 'coast's clear' hand signal and waited beside the alley entrance while Fang, Caius, and Hope followed. Noel jumped down from his vantage point after noticing the others made it safely and then joined the group as well, jogging backwards and scanning the area to make sure no cie'th tailed them.

Light briskly walked through the alley, Blazefire in hand, pointing it any anything that made a sound. She stopped as they reached the end of it, body pressed against the wall, and craned her head out to watch the three shamblers idly shuffling about in front of the large Moogle Mart they planned to raid. "Get ready."

They all nodded, already knowing what to do. Hope was the only one that was hesitant to do so, holding his knife in trembling hands. Light noted is body language, now wondering whether it was a smart decision to let him come with them or not. "You alright?"

"Y-Yeah. I'll be fine." He swallowed and waited as Fang, Noel, and Caius made quick work of the three cie'th in their way. He needed to be there, to get out of camp and do something to get his mind off what happened in Palum Polum. I'm not a kid anymore. He needed to grow up and learn to fend for himself and the others, if he wanted to live on, that is. It's why he asked to join the supply mission.

Light nodded, making sure to keep an eye on him then ran across the street to meet with her three companions, Hope following close behind. Luckily, the other cie'th down the street had yet to notice them. And if they did things right, they wouldn't.

They entered the abandoned mart, Light and Fang in front, Hope in the middle, and Noel and Caius bringing up the rear. Minus the boy, the four were a good team; experienced when it came to scouting ahead or sneaking into towns/cities to scavenge. Light had originally denied his request to join, but pity got the best of her, and he managed to convince her to let him come. Hope was young, but he was smart and a quick learner, so she trusted he would pick things up quickly.

"Noel, guard the entrances. Fang, Hope, Caius, you're with me." She lead them deeper into the Mart. It was bigger than it looked on the outside. And towards the back, it was almost pitch black due to the lack of electricity. "Be careful," she reminded them as they crept along. A cie'th could be hiding anywhere - passive until it detects food.

She came across one that was standing with their back to them, completely still and seemingly in some sort of sleep mode. Or perhaps just waiting for prey to pass him by. He wore the tattered clothing of the Moogle Mart uniform – an unfortunate worker at a chain convenience store when he died. Either way, Light finished it with a single stab to the head with her blade. It fell to the floor with a thud.

Hope stared at it as he walked past and placed his other hand on the holster where a handgun lay. It was his father's.

Soon enough, they reached the canned and junk food aisles. "Grab whatever you can." All the adults both carried a backpack and a side pack and immediately began to stuff as much as they could into their packs.

"Yeul requires medicine. I'll be in the pharmaceutical aisle," Caius rumbled in his deep voice.

"Could you grab some pain killers as well? If there are any." It was obvious who Light had in mind.

"As you wish." And then he was off.

"Um, I'll go grab some bottled water!" Hope called. Light nodded in approval as she checked the expiration date on a can of beans.

"Make sure ya watch where ya step! The nasties are sneaky like that, heh." Fang gave him a confident, reassuring smirk then resumed digging through a pile of cereal boxes on the floor for an unopened one.

"I'll be careful." He looked around, noticing that other suvivors must've raided the same store, as the aisle where the water was held was mostly empty. Nothing but a few stray bottles that were covered in grime. He ignored those with a small disappointed sigh and swallowed thickly. The only other place to look was in the back, where the freezers were.

With a flashlight in hand, he slowly made his way to the back, relieved to find that there were no cie'th in the way, and even more so when there were still untouched bottled and canned drinks on the shelves. Maybe a dozen in all, but it was a good find, indeed.

He stuffed as many as he could into his pack, barely able to lift it afterwards, but smiled as he hefted it onto his shoulders. I did something. I helped.

He turned around and froze. In his excitement, he failed to notice the cie'th that was lurking in the corner of the aisle next to him - alerted by the sounds of movement, the brightness of the flashlight, and his scent - until it was behind him. It emitted a low hiss, staring him down with empty eyes, and lifted its partially-crystallized, rotten hands.

"Ahh!" He fell to the floor, the heavy pack weighing him down, and the cie'th grunted and lunged at him.

The flashlight and the knife fell out of his hands. Without thinking, he grabbed his gun and pulled the trigger, imagining that it was just another target that Light put up for him to train on. The bullet flew clean through the head, and the body of the now-dead undead 200 lb man fell right on top of him.

"Hope?!" That was Light.

"I-I'm fine!" He groaned, crawling out from underneath the corpse, and panted, body shaking with adrenaline. I did it! I killed my first cie'th! He didn't have much time to celebrate; the signature wail of another cie'th rang throughout somewhere in the store. Soon, all the cie'th in the vicintity would come for the dinner bell.

"Shit! The hell happened, Hope?!" Fang shouted, as she and the others quickly made their way to him.

"I-I...There was a cie'th..." He glanced at the corpse on the floor. The flashlight had fallen out of his hand and lay next to the body, shining on it's deteriorated face. He picked it, as well as the knife, up and tucked them into his pockets.

"I told ya not ta use a gun unless ya 'ave ta!" A gun was too loud. That's why he had the knife. They killed cleanly and silently. He screwed everything up.

"Cie'th! Tons of them! Coming towards us!" Noel was sprinting towards the group, abandoning his post by the doorway as the silhouettes of the undead could be seen running to the windows, also wailing.

"We need to get out of here. Now." Light looked around anxiously as a shambler made it's way towards them - rotted mouth open; dirty hands raised up, ready to grab it's first victim; and clouded eyes staring right through them. Hope shuddered.

Fang stabbed it through its head with her lance then ran down the aisle. "This way! There's an emergency exit!" She kicked the door open, leading to an alley at the side of the mart.

They followed her out, but escape wouldn't be so easy, as cie'th were already crowding the entrance to the alley.

"Up there!"

Fang essentially picked Hope up and threw him onto a ladder about six feet above the ground on the building next to them. He climbed as quickly as his thin arms would take him, as the rest of the group took care of the quicker cie'th that already made their way to them.

Light went up next, then Fang, then Noel, and finally Caius.

Hope panted, placing his hands on his knees, then looked over the roof of the apartment they stood on. Dozens of cie'th had surrounded the building, wailing and reaching up at them, hungry. A few of them were smart enough to go through the open doorway, probably making their way up as they spoke. The rest would soon follow. "Wh-What do we do now?!" He fell onto his hands and knees. It was like Palum Polum all over again. Surrounded. Trapped.

Fang broke off a thin pipe and jammed the door to the lower levels with it. "We find a way out, that's what."

Light's mind was working in overdrive, coming up with and discarding multiple options. There was an abandoned car across the street, and the building next to them was just close enough to jump onto...

"Listen up!" They all gave her their undivided attention.

"I'm going to shoot that car. The minute they're distracted, we jump onto the next building, and then make a run for it. The forest is approximately half a mile west of us. It'll be easier to lose the cie'th there. Then we circle around the town and head back to camp. We stick together as much as possible. Clear?" They nodded. It was a simple enough plan. "And no shooting unless absolutely necessary." She cast a glare at Hope. Now she was regretting bringing him along, but he had to learn at some point. Survival comes easier with experience.

He looked down guiltily and gave another nod. "Right." He put the gun away and then gripped the knife tighter. He's practiced it tons of times. A stab - right though the eye is best. If not, an upwards strike through the chin or back of the neck works, too. But a live cie'th coming at you was different than the already-dead ones Light had him practice on. Much scarier up close.

The jammed door shook and broke ajar just ever so slightly as some cie'th threw themselves at it. Dozens of gray fingers scraped and scratched from the crack, curling at them, like the legs of some strange insect.

"Get ready." They all stood by the edge parallel to the other buildings, as Light aimed and shot the car. It took a few hits, but it exploded wonderfully, a few of the cie'th getting caught in the explosion, as the sound and movement attracted most of the others. Thank Etro they were stupid, working mostly on instinct.

Fang, Light, Noel, and Caius easily jumped across the six-foot distance to the next building.

But Hope only looked down, knees suddenly weakening and the pack seemed to grow heavier by the second. The drop was about three stories high. Probably enough to kill him if he fell.

"C'mon! Let's go, man!" Noel beckoned with his arm, the others were standing by the door on the roof of the other building.

"I-I don't think I can make it!" He fell to his knees. "Just-Just go on without me!" He tried to sound confident, but it came out as soft and scared as he felt. So this is how I'll die.

"We're running out of time!" Light was growing impatient. The cie'th wouldn't be distracted forever.

"Dammit, Hope, cut the bullshit!" Fang backed up a few feet, then sprinted and jumped over the gap once again, picked him up – pack and all - then threw him over, where Caius caught him. By then, the jammed door flew open and cie'th flooded through, growling and groaning and heading right for Fang.

"Fang!" Light transformed her Blazefire into it's gun form and shot a cie'th in the head that was centimeters away from sinking it's teeth into her leg. She leaped over the gap once more, landing in a crouch with a grunt, and the five made their way through the door of the second building, down the stairs, and out the back entrance.

Some of the cie'th on the street were quite angry that their dinner had played such a nasty trick and seemed particularly aggressive. Others were busy burning to ashes, stumbling around in confusion as to why the world was suddenly so hot and bright.

"Run!" Light didn't need to say it twice.

They each sprinted as quickly as possible to the safety of the trees that were half a mile too far away.

Caius cut off the head of a cie'th that jumped out of an alley in front of them. Noel sliced the arms of one off just before it grabbed him. Light shot three ghouls that were gaining behind them. Fang lanced two and tripped another with the body of one she stabbed. Hope tried to keep up.

Eventually they made it, and after some time, managed to lose all the cie'th in the thick cluster of trees.

Hope stared at the ground most of the way back. "I'm sorry, guys..."

"Don't worry 'bout it." Fang patted his head.

"We got what we needed, and we got out alive. That's what matters." Light gave him a reassuring nod.

Noel grinned and slung an arm around his shoulders. "We're chased by cie'th practically everyday anyways. No big deal."

"A mistake is a lesson learned," said Caius, walking silently behind them, like a giant shadow.

How could they be so nonchalant about this? I almost got us all killed. He focused on keeping up and not how heavy the pack was. His back and shoulders hurt, his legs trembled and ached, and he was ready to drop – but he couldn't. If he wanted to survive in this world, he couldn't be weak anymore. So he shut his mouth, ignored the uncomfort, and trudged on with them.

They made it back to camp later than was originally expected – the sun had just set and nighttime was waking up - but came back to their family and friends with weary smiles (even Light included! But her's was much less noticable).

"The scavenge was a success. We've got enough food, water, medication, and supplies to last us until we reach the Palamecia," Light announced. The rest of the group cheered, and the supplies were divided amongst them. Everyone had their own pack to be responsible for, but most things they shared.

"Here, Serah." Light handed the bottle of painkillers Caius got over to her.

"Oh, thanks, Sis." She looked at it uneasily, as if hoping she wouldn't need it, but hugged the elder Farron anyways.

"Get plenty of rest. We need to get up early to head into Eden. We'll be going through Hell, but if that's what it takes to reach the Palamecia, then it's worth it." She frowned, brow furrowing slightly in concern. "Have you...felt anything?"

Serah smiled, always amused by how uncomfortable Light seemed when it came to the topic of her pregnancy. "It kicks sometimes. But otherwise, we're doing fine."

Light nodded, much relieved. "That's good to hear."

"And don't worry, Snow is taking good care of me. He'll be a great daddy." She grinned at how Light's eye twitched then narrowed ever so slightly.

Her next sentence seemed forced. "I'm sure he will be." She turned to walk away, but not before wishing her a good night.

"Oh, and do you and Fang think you guys can tone it down? I am in the tent right next to yours, you know." She giggled as Light stiffened before muttering something and walking away quicker. It was joke of course, but Serah wasn't blind – she saw the two sneak away into Light's tent after dinner last night. And the numerous other times the two have conveniently disappeared for a while when everyone wasn't paying attention.

She only wished Light wouldn't have to hide it. The world ended – no one cares.

Hell, if it hadn't, they'd be throwing them a party and welcoming Fang and Vanille into the family.