FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New to the story? If so, please read the previous parts first! At this point, you REALLY should! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~CHAPTER 23~~~

...I'll do it...

...I'll fight. I'll WIN. And I WILL avenge you, Francis...

He didn't die right away, but in the end, Kyla and I knew it was unavoidable. She tried using her cryokinesis to freeze his wounded stomach and stop the bleeding, but the fact remained that there was still massive internal damage that just couldn't be fixed. All of us hybrids healed from wounds faster than humans, but it only worked so well.

Unfortunately, not well enough to repair a gaping hole in the torso.

It wouldn't have helped much anyway, seeing as ice treatment wouldn't have been very effective against another cryokinetic. Even if it did, it would've probably only delayed the Grim Reaper for another few hours at the most, considering that we were in the middle of a desert, and the only medical equipment nearby was inside the heavily guarded OGD complex.

But Francis went out peacefully when his time inevitably came. He had already passed out from the massive blood loss, so there was no more pain. And since he was able to get his final thoughts out to Kyla and I before he died, I knew that wherever he was now, he had left us on a good personal note.

The two of us stayed with him until then, each of us still holding one of his hands until they went cold. When he did die, Kyla broke into tears and buried her head into my chest, despite our armor blocking her from receiving any real kind of physical comfort from me. I wearily yet gently rubbed the back of her head and kept whispering that everything would be okay, even though I knew in the pit of my stomach that it was a lie. As several minutes passed, the ambient sounds of the hybrid vs. advanced zombie battle began to die down, with shrieks and moans being gradually replaced with legible battle cries and shouts of victory. I should've been happy that we were winning this skirmish after all, but all I felt in my heart was despair.

And yet, I found that I just wasn't able to shed any tears over my fallen brother in arms. I was trying not to let it happen earlier, for Francis' own benefit, but now it just refused to happen regardless. It might've simply been shock that wouldn't wear off, but the longer I sat on that rooftop with a despondent Kyla in my arms, listening to her sob, the more I began to hate myself for my own inability to express my sorrow. Grieving was literally the ONLY thing I was capable of doing when I thought Cali had died, despite my best attempts to make it stop consuming my entire being.

But now... Now one of the people who had helped me get through that grief, one of the best friends I ever had, was dead. And I couldn't grieve in turn for him.

I just want to let it all out... I need to let it all out... Because if I don't...

"I don't get it, Kyla. I don't know what's wrong with me..."

She sniffled loudly and looked up to me, though it was hard to look into her beautiful blue eyes when they were so red and tear-stained. "Huuuh? W-what's wrong with you?" she stammered.

I slowly pushed her away from me, leaving my hands firmly placed on her shoulders. "What's wrong with me is that I'm not doing EXACTLY what you're doing right now. I don't know why I can't just let it all out..."

Kyla dried her eyes and took a hard stare into my own. "What do you mean? You WANT to be sitting on this rooftop, crying like a five year old? I'm not exactly doing this because I WANT TO, you know!"

As her voice got louder and louder, I kept involuntarily backing away from her, not expecting a violent outburst like that. The air hung thick between us for several seconds before Kyla managed to calm herself down. "I'm sorry, Greg. That was uncalled for..."

I gently took one of her hands in my own. "I know, Kyla, I know. It's not your fault. But to answer your question, yes, in a sense" I sighed. "While Harry is like the optimistic, hyperactive little brother I never had, Francis was the wise, down-to-earth older brother I never had."

"I know how that feels..." Kyla slowly replied. "To have that kind of person taken away from you... It feels horrible and it makes you sick inside... But that's just what makes us human."

"That's my point, Kyla" I continued. "Back in that interrogation room, Isaac told me that despite our appearances, we're ALL still human on the inside. He was only saying that to justify his actions of course, but out of all the insane things he's said today, that was one statement I actually DO agree with. But only now am I really reflecting on it... I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wish I could just let it ALL out; rage, sorrow, EVERYTHING. Because I feel like if it stays all bottled up inside me, then I'll go crazy."

"Greg..."

I slowly took her other hand in my free one. "But... let's not make this all about me. I know you know how it feels to lose someone like Francis because... Cali told me what happened to Ross. I'm so, so sorry that happened, Kyla."

She said nothing and just stared off sadly into the distance. I wanted to cheer her up somehow, despite my own sorrow aching in the back of my mind. It hurt to see her like this. However, the fact remained that there was still a job to do. Francis wanted me to finish the fight, and would probably take it as a personal insult if I let my grief, or apparent lack thereof, over him get in the way of stopping Isaac and OGD.

"You do know we still need to go back down there and help everyone else" I said. "Are you able to keep fighting?"

"I don't know" she answered. "Hang on a sec..."

After thinking it over for a moment, Kyla cracked her knuckles and flexed her superpowers by shooting a blast of ice across the roof. It wasn't a very big blast compared to what I'd seen her do earlier, but she seemed satisfied enough with it. A few more similar blasts were enough to confirm her readiness.

"Yeah, I think so" she said. "I don't have a lot of steam left, but it should be enough to get us back down to the ground and handle the zombies. If Isaac's gone back inside the base, we shouldn't go back in after him; he'd have the upper hand. But he can't be controlling the zombies as efficiently from the inside, right?"

"Or maybe even not at all" I replied. "But I don't care, because either way, I KNOW I've still got some fight in me. There's just one thing I need to do first..."

I walked back over to Francis and kneeled down in front of him.

You've helped me with so much over these past months, old friend. But I need your help one last time...

I placed my hands on his chest plate; focusing on something I'd done a thousand times before. However, once Kyla saw what I was trying to do, she grabbed both of my hands and purposely broke my train of thought. "What the hell are you doing!?" she shouted.

I chose to not look into her eyes as I spoke this time; choosing instead to gently worm my way out of her grasp and slowly continue my work.

"I'm honoring him, Kyla. I'm doing exactly what he'd want me to do..."

"But you could literally walk across this roof and find a pipe or something and use that!"

"Kyla, I made our chest plates out of purified metal, remember? They're the best possible thing for me to work with; easy to mold and easy for people to have me fix. I know he'd want me to use his for a new sword. Please, just let me do this."

Defeated, she sighed and stood back up, watching with silent, solemn awe as my newest sword began forming from Francis' cracked chest place. It inched its way up hilt-first, taking the form that was most familiar to me and easiest to wield. Like the pervious sword I created; the one that Isaac stole, I wasn't hard-pressed for time, and was able to put in much more effort than usual. As the weapon become more and more complete, I opted for a wider, yet more streamlined design than before, as to make sudden blocking easier. And after deciding on a total length of approximately four and a half feet, I was done.

I respectfully left a thin band of metal wrapped around Francis' gaping torso as the sword finished solidifying, and motioned for Kyla to grab the hilt as I mentally separated the tip from my friend's body. I climbed back to my feet as she held the large blade in front of her, eyes wide with amazement. It was rather plain overall on the exterior as far as most of my creations went, but the way the sunlight made it glow was particularly stunning.

"It's so... shiny. It's beautiful, Greg" Kyla said as handed it back to me. I was unsure of the reason, but as I held the sword in my hands and stared at our reflections in the steel, I could feel the inner strength and resolve necessary to wield such a weapon gradually returning to me. As if my weapon as alive and wanted to lend me its power. "It won't be for too long" I replied with a burning resolve. "When I find that monster, I'm going to shove this through his gut and see how he likes it. I don't know if that would be poetic justice or not, and frankly, I don't care. What I DO know is that he's hundreds of feet below us and protected from all sides. But NO amount of zombies and NO amount of fucking nanobots are going to protect Isaac from ME. I swear it on my life, here and now!"

I never left my reflected eyes in the sword for a moment as I spoke, as if I was making more of an effort to promise those words to myself than to Kyla. I turned back to her and was happy to see a great deal of worry and sorrows seemingly melt away from her expression, replacing themselves with admiration and a fierce resolve of her own. With a determined look on her face, Kyla lowered my weapon and grabbed both of my shoulders. "No, Greg. Nothing is going to protect Isaac from US."

EXACTL--- Wait, what?

My mind was already racing, but it suddenly felt like Kyla had slammed the brakes and made my brain crash clean through the front windshield. "W-what do you mean 'US?'" I blurted out.

She sighed disappointedly, since the reason was blatantly obvious whether I wanted to acknowledge it or not. "What I mean is that I'm GOING to help you defeat Isaac, Greg. The fact that he killed Francis is bad enough, but don't forget that he was originally trying to kill me to get to you, so he could corrupt you into whatever horrible thing he's become. So this is my fight just as much as yours. You can try to tell me different, but in my heart I know it's what I have to do."

"But, Kyla, I---"

"Don't EVEN say you can handle him on your own. I'm not trying to insult you or anything, but you cannot beat him by yourself. That armor of his makes him strong, but we found its weakness, remember? It's ICE. The stuff I can literally pull from thin air!"

"But I... You..."

She finished my sentence for me: "YOU have no argument here, Greg. End of story."

She was right, though. Statistically, the odds would be in our favor if we fought Isaac again with this new strategy, especially if he had no more zombies to distract us with. And even without Francis, I knew there were another few cryokinetics in our group. All the signs pointed to 'let her help you,' but there was one harsh fact that remained; if given the chance, Isaac would most likely try to kill Kyla again. He would kill her to get to me, and now armed with his own knowledge of how to defeat us, he might succeed.

I can't let her go through with that... I won't. When the time comes, I'll fight Isaac on my own terms; with no Kyla in harm's way.

Kyla could see the indecision on my face, but she snapped me out of my thoughts by pushing me towards the edge of the rooftop.

"Come on, stud. We'll worry about that rematch later. For now, let's go back to our friends..."

~~~

Ironically, by the time Kyla and I had made it back down to the battlefield, nobody seemed to need our help against the advanced zombies. But though we had won the battle, everyone was noticeably worn and tired, unable to go any further. I took one good look and ordered a full retreat; which thankfully nobody had a problem with.

We didn't retreat very far, but we felt there was enough distance between us and the OGD base to let us recuperate in peace. Out of the forty-something of us that left HAC to storm the enemy's stronghold, a quick head-count revealed that only twenty five were remaining. Twenty five beaten, bloody, and bruised hybrids that would rather be anywhere else and doing something completely different.

Twenty five hybrids that I suddenly found myself in charge of after realizing there were no team leaders left, sans the mute Brent. Nobody had called me out on it, but in my mind I knew it was inevitable that I would eventually have to lead these soldiers back into the fray.

But I was in no mood to lead anyone anywhere at the moment. I sat by myself, away from the group near a shady rock formation. I closed my eyes and leaned back, trying to relax, but it proved impossible. All I wanted to just shut my mind off and simply 'exist' in peace. But my mind was still swimming with activity, trying to make sense of everything that had happened throughout the day. In just under twenty four hours, I had been captured, interrogated, betrayed by a close friend, beaten to within an inch of my life, and had almost lost my second girlfriend at the cost of losing another close friend.

How am I supposed to rest after enduring all of THAT? How am I supposed to freaking LIVE after all that!?

I squinted my eyes shut even tighter as if it'd help shut everything out of my head, but a sudden familiar whooshing sound forced them open again.

It was Cali. She had teleported over to my spot.

She said nothing, just sat down next to me and cuddled into my side, gently taking my hand in her own. I reached over to brush a strand of hair from her face, making her smile and making those bright green eyes that I loved shine. But as much as I loved seeing her enjoy my company, my mind was still in turmoil.

"I'm sorry, Cali" I said after a long silence.

"Hmm? Sorry about what?" she replied.

"I'm just... I'm just so sorry I got you involved in all this... The zombies, the death... HAC and OGD... I'm sorry for all of it. I wish we never left my apartment on Z-Day..."

"But then you never would've met Kyla. Isn't that right?"

"Are you defending my relationship with another woman?"

Cali rolled her eyes and groaned. "That's not the POINT, you big dummy. My point is that everything may seem bad, but you've still got Kyla, and you've still got me. Both of us are gonna help get you through this, and the three of us together are going to help everyone else WIN this thing. That's a promise."

"Somebody say my name?"

We both turned to the right and saw that Kyla had discovered our small hiding spot.

"Hey, Ky" I said.

"Hey, guys... You wouldn't mind if I joined you two, would you? I just... really need some company right now."

Cali, sensing that Kyla was really asking her for permission to join us rather than asking both of us together, smiled invitingly and motioned for Kyla to sit down.

"Of course you can, Kyla. I wouldn't even dream of hogging Greg at a time like this."

Kyla turned to me. "Greg?"

I didn't respond with words; instead I gently took Kyla's hand and pulled her down to the ground. Like Cali, she placed her head on my other available shoulder and I moved my free hand to hug her waist. She sighed with relief, happy to have herself wrapped in my warm embrace once again. "Thank you, Cali. I know Greg would never object, but I just wanted to make sure you'd be okay with sharing him right now."

My original girlfriend chuckled. "You're welcome and everything, but you've only got half of the entire idea here, Kyla. I know you want Greg to make everything feel like it's all going to get better, but you've got ME here, too."

"I know... And I DO appreciate it" Kyla replied.

"But..." Cali continued, "If I can change the subject, can you guys tell me exactly what happened on that rooftop? I know something... bad... happened, but I'd still like to know.

I quickly recapped the events of the fight with Isaac to Cali, sparing Kyla the burden of having to relive the fight. But by the end, I found I was unable to describe anything without my temper flaring up, especially after telling her what Isaac did to Francis and almost did to Kyla.

"I STILL can't freaking believe what's happened to Isaac! We were such good friends! Not just because he brought me up when I was down, it was also because we connected so damn well! We actually taught each other how to swordfight! And by that extension, that means I'm even MORE responsible for what happened to Francis!"

"Greg..." both girls said in near-unison, stopping me before I went on any further.

"I know, I know... I'm sorry I rant a lot" I groaned. "I shouldn't vent all my anger on you two. You don't deserve any of it."

Kyla sighed and nuzzled her head slightly harder against my neck. "No, Greg, you're wrong. We're your girlfriends; we care about you and WANT you to get these things off your chest. We're willing to listen, aren't we, Cali?"

Likewise, Cali also tightened her hold on me to emphasize their point. "Of course we are. We're tough, we can take it" she said with a smile.

I chuckled and kissed both of their heads. "I know you both are. I guess even now, I'm still just trying to be chivalrous. But if anyone can get me through all the death and betrayal, it's you two."

"There's still a lot I don't know, though. From what I remember, you said Isaac was one of the first friends you made at HAC, right Greg?" Cali asked.

"Not exactly" I answered. "It's funny... I often used to tell Harry that he was the first official friend I made at HAC, but that was usually just to apologize for one of my violent outbursts or something. In actuality, that statement was only half-true... Harry was my first buddy, so to speak, but not the first friend."

I closed my eyes and tried to remember more clearly.

"Without a doubt, the first real friend I made in the apocalypse was Isaac..."

~Roughly one year ago~

"I hate you. I hate you SO much..."

And yet, my words bounced right off of my inanimate target. No surprise; as 'inanimate' was the key word there. But I was so focused that nothing else seemed to exist, just the two of us.

Okay... This time, I'm going to get it RIGHT. I've been in this goddamn training room ALL DAY, so hopefully I'll start making progress any time now.

With both hands firmly gripped on my large, yet admittedly crude sword's hilt, I stared intently at my make-believe foe; a rubber humanoid training dummy I commandeered to help train my still-developing skills. It was one of those big, pink dummies that boxers use to practice their punching, although I was using it for a completely different purpose. One that didn't involve punching as much as decapitating. Any idiot knew that the only way to definitively kill a zombie is to destroy the brain, but a simple beheading would at least cripple them permanently. And since I didn't have projectile-based abilities like most, this was what I'd have to stick with.

While I had already gotten the hang of molding sharp, though currently unsophisticated weapons out of metallic objects at will, and already possessed the strength to cut clean through solid objects, using these abilities in conjunction with the speed boosting was something completely different all together. My ferrokinesis was there from the start and was easy enough to use, even if it 'lacked finesse' according to my trainers. But that secondary power of mine had only recently finished developing, and it was proving to be a giant pain in the ass to control.

No, controlling it wasn't the problem; the problem was actually using it correctly and timing my slashes with the quick bursts of speed.

For the sake of my own survival out in the big, bad, zombie-infested world, I HAD to get this right.

Maybe the twenty-seventh time's the charm...

I took a deep breath, held my blade up high, and dashed towards my target.

Three... two... one... SWING!

SWISH!

I put everything I had into that one powerful swing; all my strength, all of my resolve, all of my everything. My mind was racing so quickly that I couldn't even feel if I had actually scored a hit or not. I hoped that I did and just wasn't able to actually feel it, as my trainers said might happen with my elevated senses being stressed like that...

But when I stopped myself just shy of slamming into the wall, I turned around and saw that the training dummy still had its head. I half-believed that after a few seconds passed the head would just fall off its shoulders in slow-motion, but that didn't happen either.

I had completely missed. Again. AGAIN! A-FUCKING-GAIN!!!

"JESUS CHRIST! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME!?"

And as if I wasn't feeling bad enough, my own mind proceeded to automatically answer my question for me as snidely as ever:

Oh, like it isn't obvious, mister hyena-man?

EVERYTHING! Everything is wrong with you, that's what! Just look at yourself! You became a half-human monstrosity with superpowers that you can't even use properly, and your handlers expect you to be ready to fight the zombies soon?

BULLSHIT! At this rate, it's not gonna happen!

And for WHAT, anyway!? Everyone you know and loved is dead, and even after this is all over, there's no going back to the way things were! No magic potion to make you human again, nobody to look past the fur and love you for who you are, no nothing! What's the POINT of all this? What's the point of ANYTHING anymore!?

"WRAAAGH!!! There IS no point, that's WHAT!!!"

I frantically stabbed my sword into the ground and clutched my head, screaming in agony as every single one of my misfortunes ran through my mind at the same time. One part of me begged for it to stop, while another part of me just let it go on, hoping that I'd suddenly get a brain aneurism and be put out of my unending misery.

But of course, nothing happened. All I was doing was shouting like a madman in a room most likely equipped with security cameras at numerous angles, broadcasting a horrific show for whoever was watching me on the other end.

But I didn't care. The only thing I was capable of doing was just raging mindlessly until I passed out. I angrily kicked at the top part of my sword sticking out of the ground, breaking it clean off and sending it flying right into the training dummy. It embedded itself deeply into its chest, finally giving me some satisfaction of scoring at least ONE hit.

After I was able to collect my thoughts some time later, I found that I was curled up against the wall opposite to the door, head wrapped in my arms and metaphorical tail between my legs. It was almost like I was stuck in a trance, but the sudden loud sound of the door opening amidst the silence snapped me out of it.

While in my lowly, pathetic position, I couldn't see exactly who had entered the room, but I could certainly feel that person staring right at me. I didn't know who it was or why he or she was here, but I automatically envied them for simply not being me and having my problems.

"Hey, uh, you okay man? I heard screaming coming from this room and just wanted to make sure nobody was getting murdered or anything."

Nope, nobody's getting murdered here, pal. Because the only other guy in this room is already dead inside...

It was a male voice, one that sounded like its owner was approximately the same age as me. But though the voice reflected an obvious hint of sarcasm, probably intended to break the thick ice between the two of us, it also reflected genuine concern for me. I would've just brushed him off by not responding, but even my ever-persistent inner jackass seemed to simply not give enough of a damn to do so.

I slowly lifted my head out of my arms so I could see who actually cared enough to talk to me, and found that it was a black wolf hybrid that I didn't recognize. He was wearing a standard-issue HAC hybrid uniform like I was, though the top's default lack of sleeves showed that he had several circular, blue patches of fur on his shoulders. Relatively uncommon on HAC's hybrids, in the grand scheme of things. But that wasn't the interesting part. The thing that made him really stand out to me was that he also had a large, crudely shaped sword with him. Sharp like mine, but rudimentary enough to make a blacksmith want to cry.

"...You've got a sword too, huh?" I muttered. "You another ferrokinetic that can't fight worth a damn?"

He grinned and walked over to me, lowering his right arm to help me up. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm actually, one, a technopath, and two, not as bad of a fighter as you are."

Getting slowly drawn into the conversation, I wearily grabbed his hand and let him pull me up from the ground. "What do you mean by 'not as bad as me?'" I asked. "I've never even seen you before."

"I figured as much" he replied. "My team and I have only been here for two days so far. We were originally from one of the smaller HAC subsidiary bases. You know, the ones that only make the hybrids, not train them. That's why we're here now, at the big HAC complex that looks like it came right out of a cheesy sci-fi movie."

"That's cute, but you still haven't answered my question, wolfie" I retorted.

He chuckled. "I was building up to it, Greggie."

"Aaaand you know my name already..." I sighed. I then realized exactly where the conversation was going, but chose to draw it out of him anyway. "Let me guess, the guys upstairs sent you down here to shut me up and make me stop moping. Am I right? Is there no part of this goddamn place where I can just blow off some steam in PEACE!?"

Almost as if attempting to keep me from breaking down again, the wolf hybrid grabbed me by the shoulders and took a hard stare into my eyes. "Greg, listen to me. What I heard from this room wasn't 'blowing off steam' as much as 'full-blown psychotic meltdown.' Yes, it's true that one of our superiors, who shall remain nameless, asked me to talk to you as a favor shortly after I got here. But do you know what I'm gonna do? The opposite of that."

He let go of my shoulders and took a step back, allowing me some breathing room.

"...What do you mean?" I asked him for the second time today.

"I mean that rather than ME trying to understand YOU, we're going to try and understand our SWORDS instead. We'll train the day away; you and me, here and now. It'll take your mind off of whatever's been ailing you. And speaking from personal experience, swordsmanship develops WAY more efficiently when practicing with someone. I know a few things about swordplay, but I'm betting you'll come up with something that'll benefit us both down the road. I'll teach you and you teach me. What do you say?"

I stood still for the longest time, replaying his offer over and over in my head. I only just met this hybrid--- hell, I still didn't even know his freaking NAME, and he was being all nice and helpful right off the bat. Unlike the ineffective grief counselors I had talked to on several occasions, this guy seemed to actually care that I had issues and wanted to help. He could've just followed his instructions and shut me up, but he didn't.

He's treating me like an equal. He genuinely wants to help me...

This guy is a friend. And I REALLY need a friend right now...

"You'd help me out? Like a friend?"

Smiling with a sincere, almost palpable kindness, he offered me his hand once again. "If a friend is what you need, then friend I shall be. I'm Isaac."

I shook his hand and began to smile myself, for the first time in quite a while. "Nice to meet you, Isaac."

~~~

As the day went on and the two of us accomplished more and more training, my spirits rapidly lightened up. One thing was for sure; the two of made a shit-ton of progress as far as fighting went. When Isaac said that it was easier to practice swordsmanship with a partner, he wasn't kidding. In just a few hours, the two of us had attained a perfect grasp on basic attacking and guarding, as well as how to rapidly repair our weapons while fighting. And despite not having a secondary ability of his own, Isaac had helped me successfully time my speed boosts with my slashes, allowing me to FINALLY decapitate the fucking training dummy from earlier.

I picked up the pink, severed rubber head and kicked it across the room, reveling in my accomplishment. Isaac chuckled and patted me on the back. "And THAT'S the way it's done. Now you just have to do that about a million times a day every time you're out in the field. Think you can handle it?"

"I do NOW, thanks to you!" I exclaimed. "God... This was the most fun I've had in a long time, Isaac. I'm better with my sword, and I just feel more confident about being deployed now. I feel GREAT. You don't know how much this means to me..."

"Come on, don't get all sentimental on me now" he laughed. "But if you think you're the best swordsman in the world after ONE day of training, then think again. Because I know I don't think either of us is. We need to keep this up as long as we can before they send us out there. Especially since my teammates have completely different superpowers and get different training anyway."

"Same here" I replied. "And I agree, practice DOES make perfect. 'Specially if it's the only thing keeping me happy and sane..."

"Greg..."

He thought he was trying to stop me from going off again, but that wasn't my intention this time. "No, just listen... First of all, I still feel like a dick for lashing out at you way back at the beginning. And I know it's probably obvious by now, but I do apologize for it."

"It IS obvious, man. Don't worry about it, though" he chuckled.

Him... I can TELL him...

I sighed deeply and continued. "But that's only half of it, Isaac... I know you said earlier that you didn't want to try to understand me, but I feel like I need to tell you why I'm so fucked up... I just need to tell someone because I feel like it'll help ease the pain, and you seem like the type of person who can listen to me and say exactly what I need to hear. That makes sense, right?"

Isaac thought it over for a second before nodding in agreement. "Yeah, I guess it does. Sometimes the people who you think can help you only make it worse, like friends or family, but more often than none does the unbiased, outside party swoop in and make everything right. And in this case, that's me."

"So you'd be willing to listen?" I asked.

"By all means" he replied. "But you clearly have one hell of a skeleton in the closet, by the sound of it."

"I do... It all started when I woke up on Z-Day..."

~~~

I decided to not bore the girls with a flashback-within-a-flashback, so I decided to end my recollection right there. As I expected, both had a ton of questions to ask me, which I wasted no time answering. By the end of it all, Cali had fallen asleep and Kyla looked like she was about to follow suit. I myself wasn't very sleepy, but I closed my eyes anyway. We all knew that tomorrow was going to be a big day, though after everything we had endured from the past however-many hours, it was hard to imagine how tomorrow would be any better or any worse.

Come on, Greg. Don't be an idiot; it ALWAYS gets worse before it gets better...

But Kyla suddenly moving against my side snapped me out of my thoughts. She slowly began to inch her way upward, looking at Cali from over my shoulder. She observed the sleeping redhead for about ten seconds before deciding that she wasn't waking up anytime soon and calmly sat back down next to me. I was about to question why, but Kyla answered my question FOR me by gently taking my head in her hands and kissing me deeply and lovingly.

...At least, it started off that way. She slipped her tongue between my lips and invaded my mouth, practically dragging my own tongue forcefully into her own hot mouth and making it dance around hers. No moaning came from either of us, and no groping or lower-body movement followed. It was just a single, amazing kiss from out of nowhere. I was aware that she was purposely doing it behind Cali's back, but my mind was in no position to ponder on that. It was amazing for the time it lasted, but as quickly as she started, she pulled away after only a brief minute.

"What was all that about?" I chuckled while trying to regain my breath.

She grinned sheepishly and snuggled back into my side. "I dunno... I just really needed that after a day like this, and I figured you'd want the same thing."

"Okaaay..."

But then, out of nowhere: "Greg, can I ask you something? Something about the fight with Isaac earlier--- that you might not want to answer..."

Oh, I get it... That kiss was just to butter me up before you drop a bomb on me...

Regardless, I chose to answer her anyway. "By all means, Kyla" I replied. "I don't want there to be any secrets or misunderstandings between any of us. Not anymore. What do you want to know?"

Kyla took a deep breath and began to speak, though I could gradually tell that I was going to regret my words. "You remember how right after Francis and I got onto the roof, right after I saved you from falling, that Isaac was rambling on and on before he sent those huge zombies after us?"

"Vaguely" I answered. "Francis kept taunting him and I kept trying to reason with him."

"Yeah, that... But there was one thing he said that's been stuck in my head all day, even with everything else that's been going on." Her voice seemed to get lower and lower as she spoke.

I titled my head, trying to place it. "Umm, what exactly was it?"

But much like ripping off a bandage without warning, she just blurted it out: "Greg, he was saying that if you were in his position, you'd do exactly what he did."

...That?

Fuck. Yep, that's quite a bomb you just dropped on me. Ka-fucking-BOOM. I just HAD to press...

"Kyla, that's---"

"I know, I realize how messed up it sounds, but... What you just told us about your history with him made me realize that you two really are very similar... And he just sounded so sure of himself, too. Greg, you... You wouldn't go down that path, would you? Even for Cali and me?"

And then, it all came flooding back. All at once, despite my best attempt to block it, it all came rushing back into my head:

'One of them grabs your head and tilts it upward, giving you the last opportunity you'll ever get to look into Kyla's big, blue eyes as they fill up with tears. She's forced onto her knees and a gun is aimed at her head. You both know what's going to happen, and you both know there's nothing either of you can do about it.'

My words could only crawl out of my mouth as grisly scenes swam around in my mind. "Would I betray..."

'Your throat is so dry you can't say anything to her; all that comes out is rasping. You can't even say goodbye to the one you love. And she knows it, making it all the more heartbreaking for both of you. One of the soldiers counts down from three, and yet it feels like an eternity passes between each number.'

"...everything and everyone I knew..."

'THREE: You try to break free from the enemy's grip, but it's useless to resist.

TWO: Kyla takes a deep breath and stares at the ground, ready to just give up.

ONE: And at the last second, she screams "I love you!"'

"...just for love...?"

'BANG!!!'

It was over just as quickly as it started, appropriately ending with that imaginary, yet horrifyingly impacting BANG. I shuddered and tightened my grip around Kyla's slender body, desperate to hang on to her and reaffirm to myself that she was still with me.

"Greg? What---"

"NO." The response came out of my mouth automatically and loudly before I could even think it over.

"No, what?" Kyla asked, jarred by my sudden spasm.

"NO as in I would NOT make the same deal with the devil that Isaac did. I don't know if you two'd be upset or not that I wouldn't choose to save you, but I know you'd never forgive me when you learned what the cost was! And I'd never be able to forgive myself either! It wouldn't be wor---"

Kyla quickly pressed her finger against my lips and shushed me before my stream of consciousness woke up Cali. "I get it, Greg, I get it. And I'm glad. I mean, that's what I was hoping you'd say, because you're too good of a person to lose your way in life. I know you are."

I sighed deeply with regret. "You're wrong. I have lost my way before, Kyla. But among others, you helped me find it once more. I'm never going to lose it again. NEVER."

Kyla looked satisfied by my answer, but still upset on the outside. "Oh, we were having a moment and I ruined it by opening old wounds! I'm sorry..."

I tilted her head up towards mine and lightly kissed her lips, instantly calming her down. "It's okay, Kyla... It's okay. As long as you're here with me, it'll always be okay..."

We said nothing further and eventually fell asleep, finally putting a hopeful end to another horrible day in the apocalypse. But as I drifted away into sweet unconsciousness, I found that there was only one hybrid that my arms were wrapped around instead of two...

~~~

~~

~

AG here once again.

...Wait, AG? Nah, I don't like it. Sounds too similar to Ajay... People may get confused...

AWESOME GREG here once again. I realize it's been quite a while, but what can you do... Life in the not-apocalypse has been crazy. But I'm just happy to be back with another chapter, which I sincerely hope was worth the wait. That, and the other thing I've uploaded...

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