AN: FINALLY THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION! That's right everyone I've returned to this site with a new story to boot. (Sorry if you guys were expecting an update to my current ones, but this came to mind and I had to write it.) The past few months have been particularly busy for me, I've recently moved in with my fiancée and then we got married about a month ago. I've also left my old job and started a new one that takes up pretty much my entire day. So in summary, my free time has been pretty tied up but I'm back now and will update when I can. Hopefully you guys enjoy this story as it features some characters from my XCOM 2 universe, just tweaked slightly. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: The Dead Walk Amongst Us

'How long has been? A couple months? A year? I'm not sure haven't been keeping track of time since this nightmare began. Then again there hasn't really been a whole lot of moments where we could track time with all these things walking around.'

These were the thoughts of a 6' 3'' Caucasian male as he rode in the shotgun seat of a beat up, tan 2010 Ford Fusion. He wore a blood red t-shirt with the Dr. Pepper® logo smack dead center, a pair of stonewashed blue jeans with rips at the knees, yellow Under Armour® sneakers, a pair of dog tags around his neck, and a backwards black snapback with the Baltimore Orioles® logo on it.

'I guess I'm lucky to still be alive with all this stuff going down. I also feel lucky that I'm not by myself, there is almost no way that I'd be able to survive on my own in this mess.'

The male was again lost in his thoughts as he gazed at each of his two traveling companions. The first was casually lounging in the back seat while taking a nap across the seat's entire length thanks to his 6' 5'' frame. He was wearing a black v-neck t-shirt, a black hooded biker jacket with the sleeves ripped off and the word "Loner" written across it in big red letters overtop of a red snarling wolf's head. He also was wearing black jeans and black combat boots. But the most striking features about him were his hairstyle and tattoos. He had a 6'' chestnut brown mohawk that ran down the center of his scalp coupled with matching beard dreads that reached the center of his chest. His tattoos consisted of barbed wire wrapped around the entirety of his right bicep, and a black wolf stalking its prey running the entirety of his left arm.

The other companion was currently driving with a tired expression as he vigilantly watched the road for any roadblocks or creatures. He was also 6' 3'' and wore a blood red ball cap with a hammerhead shark on it, a blood red jersey with a matching hammerhead shark on the front of it and the word "Frag" written across the back in big bold white letters, a pair of black track pants, and black Converse® high-top sneakers.

'I'm glad to have the both Loner and Frag here with me in all of this mess. Friendship and cooperation are essential now that the dead have risen. It's just a shame that none of our families' made it out. Then again Loner didn't have any family left, so maybe it wasn't as hard on him when the world went dark. Promised help never came, and we were left to pick up the pieces and survive in this harsh new reality. Loner and I worked our way south so it'd be easier to live with the warmer climate. Frag met up with us in Nashville and we agreed to head Northwest as the situation wasn't much better down South as we thought.'

The male paused in his monologue of thoughts to open his car door and smash a staggering zombie on his side of the car with a resounding THUD.

"Ten points man!" said Frag with a thick drawl as he smiled slightly at his video game reference before getting serious again as the male drifted back into his thoughts.

'We made it to Trumbull Valley and found the place deserted, looked as though a war had broken out with the giant crater evident at the mouth of the valley as well as what appeared to be a memorial planted at the side of the road under a tree. We had no idea where the hell to go from there, but we looted what we could and pressed onwards towards the Northwest. Hoping for a break, we may have finally struck gold. We've gotten a couple weak radio signals from radios but nothing strong yet, however I'm still holding out hope that Drucker County is the answer to our prayers for fellow survivors. I don't know how much longer...'

The male stopped his monologue as he rubbed his eyes to make sure that he wasn't being deceived by the sight before him. Limping along the road was a male who seemed to have seen better days as he was holding a bloodied golf club in his right hand with a yellow small backpack on his back. He was wearing a red beanie, had on a green plaid shirt with an orange hunting jacket, dirty blue jeans, and black sneakers. He was being followed by about five zombies each with blood flowing from their eyes and mouths.

"Frag are you seeing this?" asked the male in a quiet voice.

"Yes I am. Loner wake up we got action!" yelled the Southerner as the male in the backseat jolted awake and picked up a crowbar from the floor.

"About fucking time! Let's light this candle!" said the tattoo-clad male in a gruff and angry voice as Frag drove the car directly at the male before hitting the brakes at the last second and spinning the car around him before slamming it into the lead two zombies as the three of them exited the vehicle in unison to attack the other three undead. Loner made quick work of his with a hard swing from a crowbar as it knocked the zombie off balance as it fell to the ground and he stomped it's head in with his boot. Frag moved in on his rather quickly and ducked under an errant grab before stabbing his machete into the creature's throat and dragging the blade upwards through the skull and dispatching the zombie. The third male just calmly drew a M1911 semi-automatic pistol from his waistband as he sent a .45 caliber round into the final zombie's cranium dead center as it fell backwards to the ground lifelessly for the second time in its existence.

The trio then turned to the man being chased by them as he slumped to the ground in exhaustion.

"Thank goodness you guys came along. Those fuckers have been chasing me for a good distance." he said in between labored breaths as he drank an energy drink he pulled from the inside pocket of his hunting jacket.

"Where'd you come from anyway?" asked Clay gruffly as Frag was still examining the corpses of the felled zombies.

"From the old Vogel House just a mile or so North of here. My home base came under attack from a horde and I managed to escape to find help. As you can see I didn't get away exactly unscathed but not terribly worse for wear." said the male gesturing to his ankle.

"But where are my manners, I'm Jason Gordon, but everyone calls me Jace." he said as he shook hands with Clay and the unnamed male.

"I'm Clay "Loner" Levandowski said the muscular teenager.

"My name is James Watkins, but everyone calls me 'Watts'" said the Dr. Pepper t-shirt teen. As he offered a smile.

"We'd be happy to help liberate your settlement under the condition you let us join your community." said Watts as Jace's eyes lit up.

"Really!? Sweet we're happy to have some more help and able-bodied individuals." said the male as he hobbled over to the car and hopped into the backseat on the driver's side.

"I can guide you guys there, but I need to apply a splint to my ankle first so I'm not going to be of much help in a fight." he said as he looked down at his bum ankle.

"Don't worry about it, we've got this." said Clay confidently as he hopped into the driver's seat and started the car up.

Watts in the meantime had walked over to Frag who was still crouched down over the dead zombies.

"What's on your mind Mitchell?" asked Watts as he crouched down next to the Texan.

"Something ain't right here man." he said as he motioned to the dead zombies. "These here ain't normal zombies even by zombies' standards. They got blood oozing out of them and they seem far more deadly than other zombies we've encountered." he said as he took off his ball cap and scratched his head.

"Yeah I noticed that as well." said Watts as he swiped some blood up with his fingers and swirled it around between them before wiping them on his pants' leg.

"Maybe our friend here can enlighten us on them." he said turning and motioning towards Jace who'd finished putting a splint on his ankle.

"But first we need to focus on rescuing those trapped survivors." he said as the two hustled over to the car and jumped in the shotgun seat as Frag jumped in the backseat behind Watts as the car took off down the road towards the Enclave.

== Ten minutes later ==

After a short drive following Jace's directions, the car stopped on a hill overlooking the house from the South as the four had gotten out to set up their next move. Loner was looking through a pair of binoculars as Jace had drawn a rough sketch of the place for them in the dirt beside the car.

"What we dealing with Loner?" asked Watts as the taller teen turned around towards them.

"Looks like a giant clusterfuck to me. We got at least two screamers, a juggernaut and on top of them 10 of those blood oozing fuckers. Looks like there's a room barricaded on the upper floors with two people inside, one of them is hurt bad though." said Loner as he handed in the binoculars.

"Alright I think I've got an idea." said Watts as he moved them over to the diagram. We're going to have to draw some of them away from the house before we make our breach. Loner you're our best driver so you'll be the distraction. Crank some 5FDP and get them to follow you about two miles from here before blowing that car up. It's served its purpose and wasn't going to much farther anyway." he said pausing as Loner nodded at his orders.

"Once they're gone, Frag and I will breach the yard and try to take down the stragglers. Jace you're going to need to hit some good shots on the Screamers and Juggernaut to buy us time to deal with the others. If they get to us, it's over." he said as the other two nodded.

"Great let's get this thing done so we can finally settle down in permanent place." said Watts as they set off to accomplish their tasks. Watts moved to the trunk and grabbed the gear they had set up in the trunk before closing it and tapping it to give Loner the sign to move in for his part of the plan.

"You sure he'll make it back here okay? He's only seen the place once." said Jace as they watched the car approach the house before stopping and honking the horn loudly. The zombies inside looked over at the new disturbance. A few seconds passed before "Under and Over It" was heard blasting across the previously quiet plains as the car took off at a moderate pace so as to not have the zombies lose interest in it as six of the blood covered zombies followed the noise leaving behind just two of them, the Screamers and the Juggernaut.

"Loner is the best tracker and also toughest person I've known my entire life. If there's anyone who can get this done, it's him." said Watts confidently as Jace nodded at the statement.

"Alright let's move out guys. Jace hang back a bit and start shooting once we rush towards the first zombies." ordered Watts as the two slowly approached the front yard of the house. Once the two were within a foot of the gate, they stopped and looked back towards Jace who was lying prone on the ground next to a dried up watering hole located in the center of a roundabout directly in front of the house. He drew his .22 caliber rifle and pulled back the bolt to insert a round and slammed it home before giving the thumbs up to the two of them.

"Let's roll!" shouted Frag as he charged into the fray and tackled one of the two blood covered zombies before stabbing it in the cranium with his machete.

"BAM!" a shot rattled off as one of the Screamers' head exploded from the round that Jace fired as he started reloading while Watts went charging in and took down the other blood covered zombie with a Kukri stab to the right temple.

The other Screamer was getting ready to shout as Watts drew his pistol and fired a round that exploded the Screamer's skull. With all the targets down, Frag rolled to his right to avoid the charging Juggernaut as it ran straight into the metal fence with a loud crash dazing it.

Watts and Jace started firing off as many shots as possible to the creature's head as it fell to its knees due to the constant shots raining down on it. Seeing his chance, Frag leapt into action and ran up to the creature before jumping on its back and repeatedly stabbing his machete into the creature's skull, until it finally penetrated the brain and he ripped the entire head off with it because it was stuck.

With the immediate threat dispatched, Watts threw Frag his pistol as the two waited for Jace to hobble over to them before entering the ajar sliding kitchen door at the rear of the house. The three slowly cleared each room before ascending the stairs. A lone straggler was quickly dispatched by Watts on the left hand side of the top of the stairs in a storage room area. The trio then turned to a locked door on the right hand side of the second floor that Loner had earlier stated contained the trapped survivors.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Jace approached the door and knocked on it, before hearing a pump of a shotgun and a round entering the chamber.

"SCATTER!" shouted Frag as he pushed Watts down into the storage room, before landing beside him and Jace dove through the open sliding door onto the stairs leading up onto the back deck as a shotgun blast tore through the door and impacted the wall behind where the three were previously standing.

"Jesus H. Christ! It's me fuckers!" said Jace as a voice rang out from the other side of the door.

"Jace! We thought you were dead." exclaimed the female voice as she slid some stuff out of the way and opened the door to reveal the bedroom's interior to them.

The female in question stood at about 5' 7'' and was of Latin decent. She had tan skin, long black hair drawn back into a ponytail reaching the middle of her back, she wore a brown blouse, black yoga Capri pants, and pink Sketchers®. She was still holding the aforementioned pump shotgun and had a black tiny drawstring bag on her back.

"Dottie lost consciousness about 20 minutes ago. She got swarmed by a bunch of those plague zombies. Don't think she's going to make it." the female said as she motioned to the heavily breathing woman in her late 50's with a poorly bandaged bite mark on her neck. She wore a gray t-shirt, a pair of black jeans, and black sneakers. A red bandana was torn up and tied around another bite mark on her left arm.

"Damnit! If I hadn't heart my ankle I'd been back sooner. I'm sorry Manni." said Jace as he punched the wall.

"It's alright Jace, you did your best. At least you're okay." said the now named Manni as she patted his shoulder in a show of support. She then turned and noticed the other two males who were dusting themselves off.

"It seems as though you brought reinforcements. Hello gentleman, I'm Manuela "Manni" Castillo." she said with a slight bow. The two males followed suit and then also introduced themselves.

"Salutations, I'm James "Watts" Watkins."

"Name's Mitchell "Frag" Fragman, we're just happy to help m'am."

"Yeah they and another male found me and eliminated my pursuers before coming back to help me." said Jace as he motioned towards them.

"Can you guys carry her out back onto the picnic table, it's kind of our makeshift medical tent." the two nodded and gingerly picked her up with Frag grabbing her feet, and Watts grabbing her shoulders.

The two carefully traversed the back steps as they gently laid her down on the tale as Jace looked her over closely before her breathing all of a sudden just stopped and her body went limp.

"Guess that's it for you Dottie. I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough to save you." whispered Jace as he closed her eyes with his fingers and moved to grab his rifle.

"Here let me do it. A rifle seems a bit overkill." said Watts quickly as he picked up his pistol. Jace acquiesced to the suggestion as Watts stepped up and aimed at her forehead.

"Requiescat en Pace Dottie." said Watts as he pulled the trigger and her head shot up due to the force of impact from the bullet. After the deed was done, Jace covered her with a sheet as the others hung their heads in a unified moment of silence.

BOOM!

An explosion then rocked the area as they looked to the eastern horizon to see a fireball looming up towards to the sky.

"Looks like Loner went too far with the explosives again Watts." said Frag as he admired the fireball.

Watts could only shake his head as he slapped his forehead.

"Yeah he's been this way since we were kids, there's no point in trying to change him. Let's go ahead and get our gear from the drop-off point while they start getting things back online." said Watts as the two of them headed back towards the front of the house.

Manni was understandably shocked at the laid back approach of two of her savior's attitudes towards their friend's actions. She then turned and whispered to Jace:

"What have we gotten ourselves into?" Jace for his part could only turn to her and shrug his shoulders.

"I have no idea, but they might be our best chance of surviving this fucked up world." he said as they started to pick up the pieces of their disheveled home base.

== Later that Evening ==

The four group members had just finished setting everything back where it belongs and getting the new guys' things set up in their new digs when they heard a knock on the back metal gate. The four froze and stood up on the back deck looking down to see a hooded figure standing there. Jace and Manni both drew their firearms, but Watts held up his right hand to tell them to wait as he stepped forward.

"Flash!" he said strongly but cautiously.

"Thunder!" came the gruff response as the figure lowered their hood to reveal Loner in all of his glory.

"Now open the goddamn gate!" he said as Watts made his way down and opened it for him as he strolled inside while Watts locked it behind him. The two then proceeded to double high five before doing a simultaneous backflip.

"Nice to see you in one piece brother." said Frag as he saluted his friend.

"Same here cowboy." he said as he walked up the stairs behind Watts.

"Clay 'Loner' Levandowski at your service." said Loner as he introduced himself to Manni with a wave.

"Manuela 'Manni' Castillo, was that you earlier with the explosives?" she asked as he nodded.

"Yeah I got a little overzealous with the grenades and gasoline, but it made one hell of a boom. We'll just need a new car." he said as he stroked his beard dreads.

"There's one in the garage next door, we can fix it up tomorrow." said Jace as he headed inside and the others followed suit.

"I do have a question for you guys. Earlier you mentioned something regarding 'plague zombies' which I assume are the bloody zombies from earlier. Can you guys enlighten us on them because this is the first we've seen or heard of them?" said Watts as Jace sighed.

"Yeah they're basically highly infectious zombies that were infected with a blood plague. Too much exposure to them and you'll die without the cure for the disease. Thankfully we know the cure, but we just don't have the necessary ingredients to make it at this time." said Jace.

"Where do these things even reside?" asked Frag as he was concerned about this super zombie.

"We've discovered that they are centered around things called Plague Hearts. They're basically giant beating hearts that have infested different buildings around the area where they then spawn these zombies. Once the heart is destroyed, that particular area will be cleared of them. If we manage to take out all of the hearts, then the whole county will be clear of them for good.

"Shit." said Loner as he shook his head.

"Yes succinctly put." said Watts as he paused and processed all the new information he was given. He then looked around the room and then smiled.

"But we did sign on for this, remember we did promise to help on the condition you let us join your group. So we're not going to abandon you to accomplish this task alone. We're a wolf pack and we don't abandon each other." he said with strong conviction.

Jace and Manni could only smile as they looked at the three males who were smiling back at them and standing with their hands on top of one another in a huddle. They then stepped forward and joined them in the circle.

"Loner lead the cheer." said Watts as the tall man cleared his throat.

"Wolfpack on three! Wolfpack on three! 1! 2! 3! WOLFPACK!" they all shouted in unison as they raised their hands to the sky. Watts could only look around the room and smile as he thought to himself.

'Looks like we found ourselves a home. I can only hope this is the beginning of a bright future for us in this messed up world. Let's do this!'

AN: And that's a wrap on this chapter readers. It feels good to get back into the swing of writing again. I can't wait to get back to doing this weekly and give you guys a story to follow again. Speaking of that, remember to leave a favorite, leave a follow, tell your friends about the story, and leave a review to let me know how I'm doing. I love to hear from you guys. Anyway I'll catch you all in the next update, this is "The Nasty One" signing off!

-PRAK #TheNastyOne