AN: Microsoft word hates my writing style. If you haven't noticed, I do that sentence fragment thing to describe emotions and things as they come, because that's what things sound like in my mind if I want to get the emphasises correctly. But yeah, I actually watched the music video for E.T. during this chapter, which is funny because I actually haven't listened to that song while writing since the prologue. Either way, I loved the video, especially since I recognized the alien at the end of the video because I saw him on the Tyra Show when she was talking about black models with albinism, so I thought the video was artistic genious. But yeah, Enjoy the chapter (there's some kickass zombie action at the end).

3

Neliel:

Dreaming is such a fickle thing. Some people do, some people don't. These images that the mind conjures as we are resting, is a secret that even thousands of years of science could not fully uncover. Dreaming. I've always done it. When I was younger, dreams were my portal out of reality. Nowadays, dreams are terror.

The sun shines over my head, beaming its warmth across my face. Today is supposed to be a good day and lucky for me, the weather seems to feel the same. Cars whiz by in front of the hotel and all the people below look like ants. Traffic is one thing the future will never be able to undo. Not that I'd want it to.

My bags are packed, my passport already on the bed. I don't have much. Never did to begin with. I just want to start over, no strings attached. Where am I headed? Switzerland. For how long? Who knows? Why am I going? They… are neutral ground. Neutral… is good for me. Not to mention it lowers my chances of being found out. If I can just go to a land where no one knows of my prior existence and pretend that all of my life before never happened, then I'd truly be something akin to happy.

I plan to head to the airport at noon exactly, not one minute too late. Make a call to Szayel, tell him good bye one last time, and I'm out of here. These plans bring me so close to destination, but in minutes I feel so far away. Time passes by logged with years of tension and exertion. In no way is my attention span relatively short, but doing nothing was wearing me down.

TV on. Channel: CNN.

A racially ambiguous woman sits on the screen, face grim with the latest news on what the public is referring to as the Z-virus outbreak. Z for zombie, but no one honestly knows what the virus turns its victims into. All I know is what I've seen on TV: they look leap high, are unnaturally strong, are visually offensive, eat normal people, and they eat each other.

Lucky for me, the virus outbreak happened after I had been put under Szayel's care, or else I would be at risk for infection. However, I am not which is good seeing as the total information on the virus is lacking. Plenty of people have their own theories ranging from the virus just passing and receding back into its dormant state to the zombie apocalypse being in the works and the whole world is going to die. Does it affect plants? Who knows? But I do know a secret, a one up on everybody about the virus, probably one of the most dangerous things about me seeing as it is one of the things that Szayel told me that I am under no circumstances allowed to tell anyone. And the secret is…I'm immune.

The TV flashes with a short feed of a group of the infected running through a small town in Texas in the dead of night. The town was close to the state's northern border and nearby military forces were able to make it to the area quickly enough o take down the infected before they could move on to their next destination. 12 dead, 58 injured all 58 newly contaminated victims. According to the news caster, all the injured were taken into military custody to keep them form harming others. Even though the woman never says it, I know what this means. The virus is not only spreading across the country, but its making its way towards spreading out of it. No one has ever come out and said it, but it's blatantly obvious that we are getting to close to facing out biggest secret fear, the virus spreading into neighboring countries.

3 minutes before 12, the program ends. I gather my only suitcase, pull out the extendable handle and wait by the door. My mind is on an erratic countdown, my soul that of an overexcited child. Only 2 more minutes which turns into 60 more seconds, then 3, 2, 1. My hand is already on the doorknob, twisting it open so I can head into the hallway one step into the real world.

I take the lift down into the lobby, an excited skip in my step as I walk. I check out, smiling at the receptionist the whole time. Bypassing the automatic sliding doors, I go through the old school revolvers, enticed by their simplicity. And just like that, I'm out into the city.

The warmth of the sun is hot on my skin, practically glowing in its beauty. Down at the nearest intersection, a man plays the guitar half naked. Across the street, another man selling zombie survival kits. He rants on and on about how it's the end of the world and we should be prepared to fight for our survival. I'm half tempted to buy one, just to see what's in it, but I think against it. All the stuff's probably idiotic anyways.

The city enthralls me, amusing my very soul. I feel like a creature from out of this world, experiencing Earth for the very first time. Everything is so new to me, while at the same time, familiar because I'm positive I've been here before. It's all so confusing but nothing would make me happier than if this moment were to last forever.

Smiling, I hail a cab, actions mimicking those of a woman before me. I climb in back, rambling off the name of the airport. The driver takes off and I watch the buildings swish by like a mini film, a slideshow of a distant past. Its great, fun, lovely. And then we stop moving. A low string of curses slips out the driver's mouth, followed by rushed, irritated words in a foreign language. I glance around, looking into the streets, and am tempted to curse as well. We're in traffic, more so than is normal, even for a terrible accident.

The cab driver rolls down the window to yell to the car next to him, "What's the problem?"

The driver in the cab next to him looks stunned. No. More than that. He looks like he's just been told that he only has three more hours left to live. And then he tells, 2 words slipping out his thin lipped mouth. "Virus outbreak."

I sit there, shocked, dazed, and confused. The words have trouble processing, even in my upgraded mind. Not that I don't understand them, they just don't make sense. Last I checked, the closest encounter of the infected took place in Texas and there's no way that some of them are free and running around the East coast already.

But they are. I know from the sound of shattering glass and the metallic shriek ringing out from the infected, that tortured cry I've heard over and over again on video, that they most definitely are 100% here. I don't have to see the glass breaking to justify it, but I key in on the area almost 3 miles down the road anyways. And its chaos.

The glass of one building has already been broken through, the infected who must have jumped through it ripping people out of there cars. I don't get the chance to zoom into the 10th floor window of the building across the street before that one shatters too. Infectee #2 invades the scene, leaping from the shattered window, landing on a taxi down below, denting the roof and sending its driver into a plethora of helpless screams.

Eyes twitched uncomfortably and I zoom back into normal sights, observing the panicked state of the cab driver. He's still cursing up a storm in a different tongue, now mixed up with the chant of, 'I gotta get outta here.' Behind us is a long line of cars, which I'm sure have the same goal in mind to get out of the area, but due to the traffic, they can't.

I hear another inhumane shriek, this time radiating form a few cars down. There was no way the other two infected got here that fast, meaning that there must be a third, possibly more than that. It crouches on top of a sleek car, hissing madly at all the people around it. They all scream, some rushing out of their vehicles, others getting caught up on the way out, while the ones too frozen in pure terror just sit around and do nothing. Then there's the guy in the vehicle next to the crushed car that runs at Infectee #3, baseball bat in hand.

His face is red, chest heaving, as he swings madly at the creature. For a moment, it looks as if he's about to kill it, smashing its head off in the street, but the weapon is ceased in mid air, the metal shaping to the emaciated creature's bony hand. It rips the bat out of the now panicking man's fingers, effortlessly tossing it through a nearby car's window. In one swift movement, he leaps onto the man, attacking him so quickly it's hard to see what's going on.

Blood spurts out beneath the creature, human legs kicking out wildly, his efforts to break away echoed in his screams. It has no effect and in less than 10 seconds, the man is silent, body still and unidentifiable as something that ever was human.

By this point, the man driving the cab I'm in is desperately trying to evacuate himself from the area just like everyone else. He fumbles with his seat belt, trying to rid himself of it's vice grip. When it finally does get unbuckled Infectee #3 is ready for an accompaniment to the meal he just ate. Eyes tuned in on the cab driver, he leaps. Body paralyzed in fright, I can't figure out how to get my vocals to work. I'm just there watching, watching terror take place before my very eyes. Just like last time.

The oblivious cab driver works on getting the door to open. He finally figures out the mechanics of opening it, one foot out the door, when Infectee #3 punches through the glass of the windshield, hand closing around the driver's neck. It pulls him through, tearing his skin with the not so smooth exit. The creature snaps the man's neck, razor sharp teeth delving into it and I can't stand to watch any longer. Instead, I fumble for my seat belt, unlatching it and sliding over to the door of the car. Door opened, I tumble out, scrambling to my feet in a poor attempt to get away.

Heart pounding in my ears, I've just touched the sidewalk when the creature decides that I should be its next target. It launches itself off the cab, tackling me onto the ground. Rolling over onto my back, I swing blindly at its face, missing completely. My human hand pulls up on its black hair, robotic hand working on pushing its face away from my person and I take this opportunity to take a mental snapshot of what it looks like.

Skin stretches tightly over its body, stretching thinly with its every erratic movement. Its body is emaciated, ribs extremely defined. A gel like coating covers it whole body, not quite slippery but nowhere near adhesive, giving its features a warped glow. Rows of overly sharpened teeth gnash at me in attempts to rip out a chunk of my flesh, mouth hissing, lips dripping what I can only imagine to be saliva. And its eyes, black all around, even in the usual white space, save for a tiny whit dot, trained on me, right in the center of the eye.

Despite the creature's frail outward appearance it was relatively strong pushing back on my arm with an overpowering force. I let go of its hair, striking it across the face a few times to stun it, before rolling on top of it with my full body weight. It shrieked, arms clawing at my skin, as my robotic limb further ground its head into the concrete. Pain rakes down my human arm, tingles down my robotic, but I push it all out of my mind.

I let go of its head momentarily, only to bring my fist smashing down into its face. The screams below me fill my ears as its limbs lash out again. Pain, confusion. For a split second that familiar look runs across its face. Half a second later, it's gone with my fist crushing into its skull once more.

Silence. Around me everybody is gone long gone. Below me lies a once human body. Dead or alive, I don't know. I don't want to know. The pain kicks in, shakes racking my body. My arms are bleeding and I'm sure the same goes for my back and for one moment it's happening all over again. One moment, one second, one minute, I don't know how much time it is, but I let it out. Teeth clenched, I scream, the sound mangled in my throat. And then it's over.

Anxiety floods my body, my brain kicking into auto pilot. I rise to my feet, step over the body, and run. Feet heavy, blood pulsing wildly through my body, lungs on fire. Paranoia. Did anyone see what happened? Was it caught on video? Am I going to be executed?

I run faster, vision blurry. For a moment, I think I'm about to pass out, that I worked my body, mind, and emotions more than they can take. But then I feel the tracks of moisture running down my cheeks, warm kisses on my skin. Tears. Something I haven't shed since my waking and here they are coming down like a water fall.

Alone. Scared. Anxious. I push harder.

AN: This doesn't really feel up to par with my other chapters but I like it anyways. I'm excited for the next chapter though because they finally meet...oh yeah, and Grimmjow sees an angel. Amazing.