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~~~CHAPTER 9~~~

Several hours later...

We were on the road, with Francis driving a truck we managed to fix up. The same truck that held my still unconscious prisoner, who was now completely embedded into the truck bed thanks to some sheet metal I found. I was riding shotgun, with Harry in the back next to the husky hybrid. We tried contacting HAC Command numerous times and asking if anything was going on over there, but all we got was static. This seemed to confirm our fears that we weren't the only ones under attack, since there's always someone there to answer the radio. Hopefully we'll learn more when our 'guest' wakes up. I know I would've tortured information out of the tiger hybrid if I had to, but Francis said he could be _much _more persuasive with this guy if need be. I had to admit, I was glad I didn't have to be in that position anymore.

But the biggest concern in _my _mind wasn't the welfare of all my comrades. Since I know Harry and Francis aren't in any trouble at this moment, there's only one other hybrid I'm worried about right now.

Yep, you guessed it. I mean, it should be obvious at this point.

_Kyla... Wherever you are, I hope to God you're safe. _

I don't care if it's only been less than a single day, or that we don't even know very much about each other yet. I know I've just found love again, and I'll be damned if this apocalypse takes another person I care about away from me.

Our main goal now is to return to base on our own, since we would've been picked up a long time ago if this was any other day. Luckily, our earpieces can act as a tracker, speaking directions and beeping with increasing frequencies the closer we got to our base. Once we get there and flush out any uninvited guests, my teammates can do whatever they want to do, but I'm going to locate Kyla and her squad and make sure they're safe. I know she's more than capable of protecting herself, but it's these new enemies of ours that are the problem. If two of them had the same ice powers, who's to say that more don't have the same powers as the pyrokinetic that escaped from us? Against someone like that, Kyla wouldn't stand a chance, especially if her teammates get killed.

I _have _to change that.

We were cruising on a highway at the moment, which didn't have as many zombies around as the cities did. They watched us as we drove by, with some even starting to follow us, but they all eventually gave up when we were out of their sights. As for ourselves, we all had nothing to talk about. Even Harry was silent, wrapped up in his thoughts as he watched over our captive. But I know the reason why. We all now understood that today marks a great change in our war against the undead, because it's not a war against just them anymore. Starting today, all the rules have permanently changed, and with each new day, I'm sure we're going to experience the full extent of what that really means. That's a thought none of us had since we all woke up in new bodies thirteen months ago.

But a weak moan from the husky hybrid broke our collective chains of thought. "Hey, guys, guess who's awake?" Harry shouted from the back of the truck. "About time" I replied. "Francis, pull over here, and Harry, put on your serious face. It's time we got some damn answers." Francis drove to the side of the road as soon as there weren't any more zombies in sight and parked the truck. We got out and walked over to the back, where the husky was starting to snap out of his daze. He initially looked confused to see three of us staring down at him, and then realized he couldn't move his body. I only left his head free to move when I bound him to the truck bed so we could stare at him on an eye-to-eye level. He looked down and noticed that his chest plate was missing, though he didn't look upset by this.

_Maybe this guy has more willpower than the tiger hybrid and won't take the easy way out. Or, he's just a good actor and isn't giving us any signs. Either way, we need to put the fear of God in his eyes to get the info we want. _

"Rise and shine, buddy." I decided to speak calmly and sincerely, since I'm not trying to be the good cop or the bad cop. I'm the 'this is what's happening, so accept it' neutral cop. "I see you've noticed you're missing your chest plate. I removed it so you can't off yourself like the tiger hybrid did. He put up a good fight, but in the end he chose suicide over answering my questions. Bad move on his part."

Again, the husky hybrid didn't look bothered. But he was paying attention, which was all I need right now.

"Now, here's the plain and obvious fact: this truck is your jail cell. You can't move any joints, which means you can't use your powers. I'm the only one who can get you out of there, which I will do if you decide to cooperate with us. If not, then as soon as we find another car, I'll make sure to ditch this one somewhere full of zombies. And since only your head is exposed.... Well, I won't go into detail. You with me so far?"

He nodded.

_So far, so good. _

"Let's start off small. What's your name?" I asked.

"....Smith....." he answered.

"Ok. I don't want to hear your life story, Smith, and I don't want you to try and out-argue us. All I want to know is who you guys are, who sent you, and why. Plain and simple. It's the third time I've asked someone that today, and hopefully the third time's still the charm. Sound good?"

Smith stared at the sky for a moment, thinking over what I just said. But I could tell that he had already made up his mind earlier.

"Okay. I'll tell you what you want to know" he replied. "I won't lie to you, but I don't know very much myself. Among other things, I know who sent us and why, but that's it. The rest you'll have to figure out yourselves."

"Care to elaborate on what you _do _know?" Francis asked.

Smith smiled to himself. "I know you three. I know your names, your ages, everything down to your personalities. I've never met any of you, and yet I know enough to say I've hung out with you for years."

"All right then, prove it" Harry challenged him. "What do you know about me, Mr. Smith?"

He turned to Harry and met his gaze. "Your full name is Harrison Allan Morris, but they now call you Subject Delta Four. You're nineteen years old, and turn twenty in five months. You have O positive blood, you're 5'10", and you weigh 130 pounds. You're free-spirited and fun-loving, and usually aren't serious about anything important, because you know your teammates will save you from any trouble. You see this whole apocalypse as a big game, and you think that collateral damage gets you a better score than everyone else. Shall I continue?"

Harry was shocked, as was I (though not visibly). It was just like Smith said: he might as well have been with us from day one. This is pretty fucking creepy.

"Uh, no, I think I'm good" Harry said. He was definitely convinced now.

Smith turned to Francis next. "You, Francis Westfield, also known as Subject Kappa Ten, are basically Harry's antithesis. You turned twenty-five last month, so happy belated birthday. You're taller and heavier than the other two, at 6'2" and 140 pounds. You're calm and serious, and carry out each mission like a true soldier. But maybe that's because you _were _a soldier in the US Army, and got back from Afghanistan right before Z-Day. War has made you colder, no pun intended, but it's also made you stronger than you've ever been."

Francis didn't seem very impressed. He responded by saying "Spot on, Smith. You're right; war has made me see how the world really works, and I can't say I liked the experience very much. But I kept a cool head, and survived my tour of the so-called 'War on Terror.' And I'm going to survive this one as well, thanks to the information you're going to start giving us. NOW. You've already proven your point, which makes me want to start by asking how you and your organization knows all this about us."

Smith chuckled. "But we can't leave out your leader, now can we?" He turned to me as he spoke.

"Eh, might as well let him finish showing off" I said.

This ought to be good...

"You're the leader of Team Omega, Gregory Martin Ossland, and are appropriately designated as Subject Omega Three. You stand at six feet tall exactly, and weigh 135 pounds. You were completely destroyed by the simultaneous loss of your family and girlfriend when the outbreak started, and figured the hybrid program would eventually put you out of your misery. But now, more than a year later, it looks like it hasn't killed you yet because, like Francis, what happened to you made you stronger. But it still haunts you and drastically changed your personality. If anything, you're just a twenty year old emo kid with superpowers."

Wow. He hit the nail on the head with that description, though I should correct him on how I'm not depressed anymore. But do I really care what his opinion of me is?

_No, not really. _

"Well, I have to say, Smith, you do know your stuff" I said. "But for now, let's focus on what we don't know rather than what we already know."

He sighed. "Fine. I apologize for being a pompous know-it-all."

"Don't worry about it. Just start talking."

For the next several minutes, we listened as Smith told us what he knew about his employers. He and the other two hybrids were sent by a rival pharmaceutical company known as Optimal Genetic Developments, who had also survived the outbreak this long thanks to fortified labs and secret bases of operation. OGD apparently has a long history of competition with HAC, to the point where it's gone from corporate espionage to full-blown war. Due to their accelerated research and development, they managed to create their own army of super-powered hybrids, and are planning on using them to wipe out HAC once and for all before unleashing them on the zombie population. They want to be the ones to save mankind from the undead, not us.

"Wait, this doesn't make a whole lot of sense" Harry suddenly said. "Why did HAC never tell us about OGD?"

"It's because your company thought ours perished after Z-Day. Well, we almost did, and even now we only have one active base left" Smith answered. "And before you ask, I don't know where it is. It's in the middle of nowhere."

My turn to speak. "So, you guys waited until just now to wipe us out? What were you waiting for?"

"I don't know, because I wasn't there from the very beginning. They came to the base of survivors I was at several months ago, and asked us if we wanted to join them. That's where they get most of their recruits; survivor shelters. But even if I was there all along, they wouldn't say. They only told us who our enemies are, and why we should be pissed at them."

He paused for a moment, pondering over something else.

"...For what it's worth, I have nothing against any of you. I can't hate people because I was _told _to do so, I hate people because I have grievances with them on a personal level. In an insane world, I hope that makes sense."

_Well, that was flattering, to say the least. Now I'm glad it's this guy giving us information and not the tiger hybrid. This guy's just a soldier doing his job, not a patriot defending his homeland. _

Smith continued with "But anyway, if I had to guess, the reason we waited all this time is probably because we've finished our research on all of you, to the point where every one of us knows all your strengths and weaknesses. Again, I don't know how OGD got their intel on you, but they did anyway, and that's what's important."

The three of us took a moment to process all this information. We have a backstory, now we need to shift to the present.

"What I want to know," Francis asked, "is what's happening to the rest of us right now. Are there OGD agents attacking our allies everywhere? And what about the HAC bases? Ours didn't respond when we contacted them."

"This might not come as a surprise to you three, but yes, our agents are currently ambushing and attacking every HAC hybrid in the field right now, just as me and my squad did to you" Smith said. "As for your bases of operation, I heard rumors about our operatives using jammers to block incoming and outgoing signals. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but before we attacked you three, our superiors radioed us and said that a good number of your comrades are already dead by our hands. Probably wanted to raise our morale."

My heart skipped a beat. That was NOT what I wanted to hear just now.

Kyla... No...

I immediately lost my cool. I ran over to the truck and grabbed Smith's head on both sides.

"Who!? Who's been killed!? Did they tell you!? ANSWER ME! TELL ME SHE'S NOT DEAD!!!"

"Greg..."

"I-I don't know who you're talking about! They just said that between today and the day after tomorrow, they expect all of you to be terminated. I never knew who's dead by name, just by team name! And I didn't even catch the entire list!"

Now Smith was getting scared. I could see it in his eyes. But they also told me he wasn't lying...

"THEN WHICH TEAMS ARE DEAD? Is one of them Team Lambda? TELL ME NOW!!!"

"GREG!!!"

I heard Francis that time. I turned and saw him slowly shaking his head. Harry was just staring at me in disbelief.

They... They're right. I can't let my emotions get the better of me again... I have to stay sane and think clearly....

Smith calmly tried to reassure me. "Look, I don't remember which teams have been terminated and which haven't. Some of us planned on waiting until tomorrow to strike, anyway. Whoever you're yelling about, she's probably still alive right now. Stop trying to crush my head, and go find her."

After a whole minute, I let go of Smith and walked back to where I was originally standing, though I kept my back to him. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. My friends looked relieved to see me not go completely insane on our prisoner.

"Is there anything else we need to know, Smith?" I asked after a few more breaths. "Or are we done here?"

"No. I'm sorry, but that's everything I've been told. So.... Are you going to let me walk?"

I glanced at Harry and Francis, who both gave me nods of approval. I sighed deeply. "Yes, you cooperated fully with us, so I will release you. You've been good, so I'm sorry for what I just did."

Wait, I just remembered something else...

I walked back over to Smith and stopped right in front of him.

"But you have to answer one more question first. Who is Stryker?"

He seemed genuinely surprised to hear that question coming from me, which means that whoever he is, this Stryker character must be important.

"How do you even know of him?" Smith asked.

"Your partner shouted his name before he killed himself" I replied. "But by his and your expressions, I'm guessing this guy is important to your operation."

Smith nodded. "You're right. I've never met him in person, but Stryker is the head of OGD. He controls everything we do, and answers to no one. He was responsible for giving us our new bodies and our abilities, but we don't know how he came up with it. He also orchestrated the attack on HAC in the first place, so he's your real enemy here."

That explanation wasn't too far off from what I was thinking. But dealing with Stryker will probably become important later, for now we need to wrap this up.

_Actually, 'unwrap' is the better word here. _

I placed my hands on the truck bed, and made the sheet metal slowly peel away from Smith's body, freeing him from his restraints. He got out of the truck and stretched his limbs out, with the three of us closely watching him to make sure he doesn't try something. But he didn't do anything to make us think he'd attack. We spared his life, and he understood that. If there has to be the one enemy that's not really an enemy at all, it's this guy.

Smith pointed to the west. "You guys are driving in this direction, so I'm going to walk the other way. I won't call for backup or follow you. You'll never see me again, but it's for the best. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I'll find my own way home. Wherever that may be..."

Without saying another word, he turned and started walking away, just like he said.

"Smith!"

He turned around when he heard me shout his name.

"Thank you" I said.

He smiled. "You're welcome. Take care, Team Omega."

With that, he resumed walking away.

~~~

I apologize for the delay, but between Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend, can you really blame me?

On a more positive note, I'm overjoyed to have several new followers, and let me assure you that I won't let any of you down with this story. I write to entertain YOU, the readers, not just to entertain myself.

I'm also posting some of Rueger's works for him, so be sure to give those a read as well. Click here, would you kindly: http://rueger.sofurry.com/

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