Before the kingdom (Bubbline)

Unearthing.

It was a long day in the warm spring sun. Marcy had unknowingly turned eight today. But, without realizing the exact date, and Marcy barely remembering her birthday, they just had no recognition of it. Although Simon had been writing everyday in his journal, the date was a tad innaccurate. Besides, simon never asked when her b-day was anyway.

Si and Marcy had been walking in the direction of the library and, scary enough, the bomb's remnants. Who knows how many bodies were infected in that area.

Ten minutes after Marcy calmed down, they were on their way. In fact, they walked for hours, only with seldom twenty-minute breaks for food and water. They were glad to take a break from hunting so they could focus on the main priorities. Instead of fighting of two of the three creatures they had seen that day, they snuck around the zombies the best they could. Being able to hide behind trees helped. Simon suggested hiding more often than fighting because the creatures couldn't see. Therefore, their hearing was their way of seeing. Killing or slashing a zombie down made too much noise, explaining why Si and Marcy hid more often than not. However, they had no choice but to use the sword on the third zombie that day, considering how close it came to hurting Marceline.

Miraculously, they ran a good distance before the group of others could catch them. They slowed down but kept walking.

"Uggh," Marcy groaned, "when will this day hurry up and be overrrrraaahh!"

Simon saw the green crater in the distance. "Don't worry Mar-Mar, we're almost there. "

"Where the mama-meter are we going anyways?"

"We...we're going to a library, remember?"

"Oh yeah."

He didn't want to tell her about the Bomb. She was already stressed enough, especially for her age. We couldn't have her getting so scared. Not again.

"But why is it so faarrrr? Why are we walking so muuccch." She sighed, "and-and my feet huuurrrt." She flopped her legs around like they were noodles.

"I can give you a piggy back ride, if you'd like. "

She started walking normally again and crossed her arms, feeling offended. "What? I'm seven, Simon. I'm a big girl, I don't need to be carried like a baby."

"And hey, like I said before, I would say yes to that question in a heart beat!"

She looked up at him as they walked.

"No one picks up this old sack anymore," he pointed to his chest. "You're going to miss being a kid, Marceline. You'll miss out on a lot of perks. "

"Oh, but Simon what difference does that make..." Simon saw the debris of the bomb getting closer, and he wasn't paying attention to Marcy as much. "Simon I'm sooooo bored, can we play a game?"

He stopped walking. They came up to a very low hill, buildings surrounding the crater ahead.

"What's wrong, Simon?"

He just stared.

"Simon?"

He guided her behind a tree, "stay here, Marcy."

She looked up at him.

"Just for a sec, ok?"

She nodded.

Simon quietly walked closer to the outer debris. On the other side, he could have sworn he saw something moving on the opposite side of the green gunk. He watched closely as it inched forward, its' skeletal structure coming onto somewhat fresh land.

Marcy sighed, "Simon, why are we-?"

"Shh, Marcy. And listen next time, please?"

Marcy had walked up behind him. She crossed her arms and whispered "uggh, whatever" under her breath.

Simon decided to ignore that remark to focus on the more important matter.

It started to turn around. "Marcy, nevermind that, just hide!" he hissed and pushed her behind a bush near The Edge. They saw the thing sort of stand up as the ooze caused it to steam with the process of mutation.

They slowly turned to look at each other. "Marcy...this stuff is doing evil things to people...if anyone is infected with it, even if they can still function, you can't trust them. "

"Mh-hm," she nodded.

***

The gum still had not chosen a name. She remembered so many things from the eatery, even why the sword was there. There were so many things unusual about her. The most intriguing, however, would be the hardest to explain the two, was that she was good. Even while containing the evil of the ooze, she was good.