"Is she going to be ok Doctor?"
"She's dying, you know this. I'm not going to sit here and lie to you boys and say oh yes she going to be fine. No, she only has a couple months to live. I suggest you come to grips with that because you know who she's going to be calling for on her death bed," He left.
When he had left, the Lost Boys, that's what Kathy called them, congregated together to discuss the recent events.
It was in this state that Monica found them. She sneaked up behind Robbie and poked him. He jumped and made a yelping noise. All the boys turned around.
"The doctor was here," Nicki said.
"About Kathleen," said Morgan. Monica's previously playful face turned serious in the time lapse of a second.
"What did he say?"
She looked around the group.
"What did he say?" Monica asked. Judging from the looks she was given from the lost boys, Monica's face showed pain, sadness, and suffering. But that only lasted for a split second,
"How long does she have?" Monica asked calmly.
"A couple of months, he wasn't specific. Just that she's not going to drop instantaneously," spoke Jack from the shadows.
A momentary pause in which nobody said a word and everyone in the group was thinking about how they were going to tell this horrid piece of news to Kathy.
"We won't tell her," Monica said finally.
They looked up in surprise.
"That's an order, boys. You will not tell her. Kathleen already has enough on her plate with the new hunt coming up and the one starting tomorrow. It will just distract her. The last thing we need now is a distracted navigator. You understand?"
"Yes ma'am!"

Kathy had always called them the Lost Boys. She was a truly amazing person, with such a big, caring heart. Monica snorted ahh the irony of having such a big heart and yet of dying every day because it was too weak. Monica's bitterness at Kathleen's fate was not alone. Every one of the lost boys felt exactly the same way.
It was night in the barracks. The moon light shone through the cracks in the ceiling and peeked down between the bunks onto Monica's face. Monica was around eighteen years old with fair skin, brown, straight hair, and a largish nose. Her brown eyes were usually cold and calculating but now in the darkness they were sad. One could guess that her mind was dealing with depressing things. And it was; her mind was wrestling with her command. Monica was the leader of the command which included the lost boys and Kathy. The Lost Boys consisted of: Nicki, Alan, Morgan, Robbie, Jack, Cameron, Dennis, and Thomas. Each had their own personality and story. To tell about every one of them would be to swallow all the water on this planet.
Eight Lost Boys, one captain, and one navigator this is what made up the command. Kathy was the navigator and Monica was the captain. Every day or so the command would go out and perform a hunt. On the hunts, they would try and stay alive while killing as many zombies in one location as possible. It was a hard and difficult job but for the world to get back in order after recent events it was the only way. Armies were now not killing other armies but the zombies that had started running amuck since they were infected in WW3. The interesting thing about the armies was that anyone between the ages of 13 and 75 could be in them and usually were forced to be in them. Monica's command was made up of some extremely tough teenagers that were like a family. That's why with Kathy dying, the command was a wreck.

Monica was in charge of drill the next morning. The air was damp and the grass was slick with dew. The command ran around a bit then did basic stance of a normal hunt. They were half way through a drill when Monica shouted for them to stop and ran over to Kathy. Kathy was on the ground lying motionless.

"I'm sorry but I'm not going to let you go on the hunt tomorrow," Monica spoke while she sat on Kathleen's bed in the infirmary.
"Are you mad? You need me!" Kathleen's voice spoke from under a multitude of covers.
"I'm sorry, Kathy," Monica stood up and walked to the door, “And Kathy, I'm going to have to report this to the squad leader."
Monica left the room. She walked along the corridor a bit then stopped. Kathy had run after her. Kathleen, a tall, slender girl of 15, looked extremely fragile in her infirmary gown, which was shapeless and nearly the color of her skin, pushing her pole with wheels which connected her to her blood supply. If Kathy had been dressed as she normally was, then any passerby would not know that she was deathly ill. She looked like a normal teenager with dirt blond hair and pretty blue eyes. Kathy was the typical blond Barbie doll except less tall and stupid. The only things that were outward appearance of her disease was that she was a fair bit thinner and malnurited than a normal girl of her age and the fact her cheeks were somewhat sunken in which was only distinguishable when she smiled. Kathleen's bare feet smacked against the floor as she ran to catch up to Monica.
"You can't just report me. It would be a crime against your family."
"What family?"
"Your command is your family, Monica. Believe me or don't, it's true and you know it."
"They would thank me for getting you the care you need."
"I don't need it. There is nothing those doctors can do to save me now. This family is the last family I will ever have."
"You're not going to die, Kathy."
"I know I'm going to die. There is no use pretending what isn't true. And don't give me that look, you know I'm going to die. You heard it from the doctor."
"How did you learn that?" Monica breathed.
"Didn't need to be a genius to figure that out, it was easy enough. It had been weeks since the doctors did all my blood work and stuff. I knew they would be coming around soon. I already knew at the time I was dying. I could feel it whenever I was feeling vulnerable like right before I went to sleep at night. And then that day, I knew something was wrong when I came back from the gun check I just knew it. Everyone acted normal but I knew their true characters. I realized then that the doctor must have given them the news and they weren't telling me so they didn't break me. And I thought how cute. Until it dragged on and on. I can feel their secret when I walk into a room and the boys abruptly stop talking. I can feel it in the hushed whispered at night when they think I'm asleep. I can see it in their eyes when I talk to them and in their smiles when I laugh with them. Only you have been uncaring. And because I know you I understand what your doing. You're hiding the truth from yourself. So listen to me and listen to me well when I tell you this, Monica, I am dying and when I do I want you to know that I don't blame you for any of this in fact I love you and the lost boys for all you've done, good or bad. I just want you to know that."
And with that she turned and walked away with her gown flapping and her pole's wheels wheeeeing on the floor.

Monica didn't tell the squad leader and she didn't forbid Kathy from coming with them the next day on the hunt. In fact, Monica tried her best to stay away from Kathleen and her demonic fate.
Life went on. The command did hunts. The lost boys played pranks and cracked jokes. Monica tried to ignore Kathy. And Kathy tried to stay alive. Thus two months past.
It was dark outside when the command came in from one of their hunts. It had been a hard, nasty hunt involving some zombies digging up some graves to eat their occupants brains. The command had cleaned the whole affair up but were still shook by the episode. It was then while they lay in bed trying to go to sleep that Kathy grabbed Monica's arm.
"Will you promise me something?" Kathleen whispered in he darkness.
"Yes but what?"
"Promise me that you will cremate me. I just couldn't bear being put in a box in the ground at the mercy of the zombies. Will you promise to do this for me, as a parting gift?"
"I promise, Kathy"
That was the first time that Monica had talked to Kathy in two months.

Four months later and a few days or weeks, Kathleen died. Her brave heart finally gave out. She had lived for seven months after she realized she would die. Her command was in pieces. Monica was fired from being captain because she didn't let her squad leader know that Kathy was dying. She was demoed and put on kitchen duty. The lost boys were having to deal with two new members added to their command. But at least their new captain was actually an old lost boy, Alan.
One day shortly before Kathleen was due to be buried, Alan got a surprise visit from an old friend, Monica. She was there bring him his meal but she wanted to do more than just that.
"I don't know if you know this yet but if you don't or if you do I'm going to tell you anyways. Being captain of this command isn't just running around yelling orders. It's being the Peter to the lost boys. It's about being there when Nicki's nightmares wake him up, about disciplining Morgan when he gets out of line, about taking care of each and everyone of them. And the most important thing of all is to always keep promises you make to them, whether they're dead or alive."

That night at midnight, the lost boys and Monica ran up the hill to the mortuary. It was pitch black and they bravely got Kathy's body out of that disturbing place. And in the full moonlight, they piled wood on top of a pile and placed the beautiful Kathleen on top of that pile. She looked relaxed and at peace in death and more healthy than they had ever seen her in life. Alan lighted the torch and it was passed around the lost boys until it reached Monica who lighted the pile. Smoke billowed up into the air as Monica's last promise to Kathy was for filled. And so Wendy departed from Peter and the Lost Boys in a puff of smoke.