Blood flowing to his head–is what Caleb woke up to. His unfocused vision began to clear up as he was taken out of his unconscious state by the alarming loud music that roared throughout the vehicle. He tried moving, and realized that his hands were still handcuffed behind his back. The harder he tried to shuffle around, he felt a sharp pain in his right arm. In addition to his black eye and split lip, he had an extra injury that could probably risk his safety. He looked side to side, noticing the window to his right was broken. Scanning the streets as best as he could, Caleb looked around for the vehicle that ran into them. He didn't know what color it was, or how it look since it all took him by surprise, but there was a car nowhere in sight. Whoever the hell would ambush a car with two soldiers and a dead man walking was beyond him. He was sure he would have known if it were the Fireflies trying to help him escape, not to mention, hurting him in process wasn't something ethical of them. He turned his gaze to the two soldiers in the front seats.

Caleb examined James, who was safely buckled in just as he was. He followed his eyes from James' arms dangling to the ceiling, to the cracks on the windshield. The cracks webbed out from the left corner of the glass, leading Caleb's eyes over to Owen, which was a stomach churning sight. Initially not being buckled in, Owen's body was situated to the ceiling and his face was covered entirely with his own blood, coursing through the broken bones in his face. His body had to at least be broken in multiple places since Owen was practically folded like a slab of meat.

"Fuck!" Caleb hoarsely panicked, "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

Relentlessly wiggling in place, he began to slip out from underneath the seat belt. With it only holding a little below his thighs, he shimmied even more. Eventually coming to the most uncomfortable position he had ever been in, which consisted of his forehead touching the ceiling. He was able to freely maneuver his body to the far left side of the car and get the remainder of his legs out from the belt strap.

It was harder than he anticipated, and he rested in the corner, catching his breath for a couple of moments before moving another muscle. Practically squeezed in the corner of the back window, Caleb bent his legs and brought his knees up to his chin. Using his build and flexibility (which wasn't that great), he brought his handcuffed arms to the front by swooping them underneath his body. However, all that time was enough to get James to finally come to his senses. He cleared his throat and his lips began moving, almost like soft smacking. In the midst of recovering, James turned his head over and noticed Owen's body beside him.

Acknowledging Owen's grave injuries, James called out his name regardless. Foreseeable, Owen gave no response. James was both disturbed and surprised that he didn't even have to lift a finger to deal with Owen. Their situation pretty much concluded most of his plans for escaping, but the situation wasn't any better for James then from when it first started. Regaining some strength and fully recovering from his dazed feeling, he looked over his shoulder, directly at Caleb, who was squirming out of the back window.

"Hey…" James said weakly.

Once Caleb fully scooted out of the car and made it to his feet, he sprinted straight towards the trees. James, coming to a full alert, prepared to chase after him and not grant him the satisfaction of escaping.

"HEY! HE-" James immediately reached for his seat belt and hit the eject button, falling to his head. He used his forearms to break most of his fall.

With the position he landed in, he tried his hardest to avoid having any contact with Owen's beaten corpse beside him. Nearly pinned down on all fours, James attempted to push open the jammed-in door, but with every straining nudge, he made only made himself more fatigued. Caleb looked back as he was running, seeing James banging and pounding on the glass. His shouts couldn't be heard over the loud music, but it didn't stop Caleb from noticing the Clicker that nearly chomped off his neck.

With a shout, Caleb fell to his back and laid on the dirt. He panted heavily as the Clicker dived towards him with its arms out, croaking and shrieking loudly. There was really no way to take out a Clicker with your bare hands–let alone handcuffed. Caleb's only alternative was to run. Rapidly, Caleb lifted both legs with a massive use of lower body strength and pressed it to the Clicker's gut, pushing it back with heavy force. Like the soldier he was trained to be, Caleb quickly turned over and pushed himself up with both hands. With extreme speed, Caleb bolted back to the car and dived right back in through the back window. The Clicker, just outside was only smart enough to get most of it's shoulder inside. It screamed and clawed at Caleb, who flew kicks at its arms and fungus filled face every chance he got. Caleb managed to break a couple of its fingers, but it wasn't enough to make it flee. It only became more enraged.

James, positioned in the front seat, witnessed the assault in silence. It seemed like Caleb's position as bait was coming in handy. James knew that if he happened to make a sound, he risked his chances of being noticed by the Clicker since it was on his side of the car. Fortunately for him, the loud music only masked James' little noises. He looked back at Caleb cornered in by the other side.

"Fucking…" Caleb grunted, sending another kick, "Fucking help me!"

Uncertain to what he should do next, James' thinking was eventually stalled by a large object that caught his glance from the corner of his eye. With a double take, James took notice of a large pickup truck with a broken headlight and jammed bumper. While the attacks were going on in the back seat, the truck pulled up extremely close to the overturned car. James could see a group of men with their faces covered with gas masks, all jumping out of the truck–two from the front and three from the back trunk. From the driver's seat a woman walked out, her face being the only one bare. They each had shotguns and one of the men began to strut approach the car. Coincidentally, just as the music came to a stop, the pump action was heard, and the Clicker was instantly killed after being shot twice in the back.

Caleb, who flinched in surprise, covered his face as droplets of blood scattered on his denim joggers. Slightly uncovering his eyes and sitting up, Caleb found himself speechless. Were they allies? Within that second, Caleb was yanked by the leg and pulled out of the car. The broken remains of glass that were still attached to the window made deep thin scrapes on his back and made small tears in his clothes. Caleb shouted while ultimately being exposed to the outside. Being bound by handcuffs, he was clearly in no position to face the stranger who mounted himself on top. Grunting and struggling to fight free, Caleb managed to sway off a couple of punches until a powerful one was delivered right to his face. He tried to fight inevitable feeling, but his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he was out like a light. The man who was somewhat larger than Caleb, lifted his body and tossed him over his shoulder. He transported Caleb over to the vehicle and dumped his body into the trunk as if he were slaughtered meat.

James, at this point, was completely shocked by what he was seeing. Staring directly at the woman of the group, it was clear that she was the one calling shots. She lifted her arm and pointed directly at the car. Taking notice of the others, James looked over to see another one of the men approaching his side. Without hesitation, the man broke through the glass with the bum of his shotgun. The glass shattered on impact, and James tightly covered his eyes and turned his face away. Using all his strength and body mass to his advantage, he fought as hard as he could to not be apprehended. Without warning, another man approached him and quickly dragged him out the car. Clearly he was heavier and immobile. Using his skillet of self defense, James jumped up and threw up his fists. All five men lifted their shotguns, and James wasn't stupid enough to think that he overpower them. Slowly, he calmed his stance and brought his hands up to mid level, showing his palms.

With the snap of the woman's fingers, James was frisked like a smuggler. All weapons, including his bag, was snatched away from him and tossed into the back with Caleb. The woman, only standing a couple of feet away, could be noticed sizing up James, which made him feel very uncomfortable.

Her appearance is what surprised him. She wasn't crazy looking–at first. She had clean complexion like porcelain, possessed long thick blonde hair, and piercing green eyes. What threw James off is the moment she smiled. Softly giggling, she revealed an ugly mouth full of brown stained teeth. To add to the grotesque appearance of her mouth, she freely smoked a cigarette. Tossing it down, she stepped on it.

"Hello…" she said calmly. Her voice was low and very raspy, but managed to give off an assertiveness to her. It was in her stance. Her gestures and postures, "I don't know much about your friend there, but you'd be perfect."

She turned and strolled back to her truck. James furrowed his eyebrows and looked back and forth at the men that surrounded him before he decided to speak,

"Perfect for what?"

"You'll see," she simply said without turning her back, "It's a surprise."

From the back, James felt a hard blow to his head that brought him to his knees in pain. He rested his palms on the soil beneath him and looked at the woman, who turned her back to him one last time just before he was given a final strike.


Waking up with an aching stomach due to hunger, James struggled to roll on his back and blinked his eyes repeatedly to make sure there was nothing wrong with his eyesight. Turns out, he was just in a room of pitch darkness. Strangely, he felt fully rested, which wasn't a good sign once he thought back about the situation he was in this morning. Wasting no time, James helped himself sit up and examined the room once his eyes got use to the dark. He was in, what resembled, a small cage. The cage possessed a chained door that served as an entrance and exit. The room was faintly lit, and there were about one small lantern just outside the gate. James groaned, bringing himself to his feet. The floor was very hard textured and made of a material he could only describe as concrete painted over with a very thick layer of paint. His boots squeaked almost move he made.

There were no windows in sight, the air was humid and dry, and it smelled very unpleasant. He swatted at the horseflies he could hear buzzing at his ears every now and then. Bringing himself closer to the gates of the small cell, James grabbed it and shook it with all his might, hoping there would be some signs of budging, but there was nothing. James looked up and down the hallway that fell into complete darkness the further it was from him.

"Hello?" James' voice echoed. He wanted to call out again, "Hell–"

"No one there," A clear voice said behind him.

Nearly yelping from fright, James turned around and saw a body resting up against the gate within the shadows. The body turned and slowly walked out, revealing himself to be Caleb.

Overcome with a temper he hadn't let out since he last punched Sid, James, without hesitation, took the bet he was confident he would win. Huffing out his chest, he aggressively stomped towards Caleb, which eventually turned into a full out hurtle. His veins popped out of his forehead and neck as he yelled in the process, sending a powerful hook at Caleb's head. Caleb, with ease, ducked and turned around in the process of passing underneath James' arm and stared at his back.

"Stop," Caleb said, placing up his hands in defense. Miraculously, his handcuffs were removed, "Stop! I don't want to fig-"

He wanted to calm the situation since fighting would help neither one of them, but as if he were almost maddened by rage, James continued to charge at Caleb–who could no longer differentiate the soldier from an Infected. With full force, James tackled into Caleb, lifting him while simultaneously slamming him to the ground. With the deep scratches already in his back, Caleb let out a loud grunt and took a moment to experience the pain before returning his concentration on James. James, showcased all his strength and lifted Caleb by the jawline with ease, slamming his back to the cage gate about three times.

Wrapping his brawny hands around Caleb's neck, James powerfully squeezed his throat until Caleb showed signs of gasping for air. It was difficult to think straight when you were in the midst of being beaten to death. Caleb began to struggle and felt his face begin to tint red. Attempting to smack or pry off James' hands was of no use. Almost like a defense mechanism or instinct, Caleb's adrenaline began to kick in once he made the staunch choice to fight back. He could feel his pupils dilate and his heart begin pumping warmly to every vein in his body.

The main rule was survival, and Caleb wasn't going to be undermined by a soldier again considering his history with them. It was apparent that James was more of a brawler, whereas Caleb had some combat up his sleeves. Therefore, he used it to his advantage.

Reaching towards the air with his healthy, left arm, he twisted his upper torso. Bending his arm, he delivered powerful jabs with his elbow to James' forearms. It nudged James' nearest hand out of the way and loosened the clutch from Caleb's neck. Releasing his hand to quickly place it on his throat again, Caleb didn't give James the opportunity. Caleb used his arm to swing his elbow powerfully at James' throat, causing him to fall back with a deep cough and hoarse gasp; almost tearing from the pain. Caleb ran forward and reached for James, wrapping his arm around the back of James' neck and following up into a headlock. Being slightly bent and captured underneath one of Caleb's armpits, James was kneed multiple times in the stomach and chest, each hit becoming more intense.

Hearing James' painful cries exhilarated Caleb, confirming that he was indeed more skilled than anticipated. He was satisfied to let James know that in a fair match. Following up with a release and powerful knee to the face, James uncontrollably stumbled back slammed towards the back of the cage, James was seen holding his stomach in pain. He clenched his eyes, teeth, and panted heavily as he nearly fell to the ground. As usual, he sweated abnormally. Using the cage to hold himself erect, he faced Caleb's direction again. Staggering back and forth after recovering, he wiped his mouth free of any excess saliva knocked out of his mouth. Again, charging forward with his fist up, he halted to get enough momentum behind his strike. Lifting both forearms just in time to block it away, Caleb ducked as another hook swung over his head. As James threw his final punch, Caleb moved to the side and held it as James fully extended out his jab. While in contact with one another, Caleb turned his back to James and used his left arm to quickly reach underneath James' armpit and clutch his entire arm. Quickly, James was tossed over Caleb's back in a judo flip. He practically slapped the floor so hard, he might as well have been apart of it.

James was lying weak and breathless on the floor. He positioned himself to lay on his stomach and placed his arms out in front of him in as if he were prepared to push himself up.

"Even I know when to give up," Caleb said regarding his current feelings of no longer wanting to fight.

He could've continued if he wanted to but he didn't want to fight any longer because his number one priority was getting the hell out of wherever they were. Once things were over and done with, James and Caleb could either go their separate way and never speak again, or continue their fight from where it left off.

But James didn't give a proper response. Instead, he silently sat up and began inspecting his bloody nose. He thought it would have been broken considering how he got his ass handed to him just now. James was so drained he didn't have the option to fight, but he had a little too much pride to socialize with a traitor. Caleb cleared his throat and all James could do was give a glare that reflected true agony. In all honestly, he was disappointed in himself to let anger control him like a loose cannon. He could never kill anyone else before, so why the sudden urge? It was potentially human or human potential.

Within that moment, a loud clapping was heard just outside the cage. The same woman from before came out of the shadows. At the sight of her, James quickly made it to his feet and walked to the fence, being face to face with her.

"Wow," she said, following up with an ugly cackle, "I've never been so turned on in my life."

"Let us out!" James demanded.

"I can't do that…" The woman said, revealing a hidden country accent with her words.,

"Look, whatever you want, you have the wrong person. I-I'm a soldier, he's a Firefly and was supposed to be killed," he pointed back and forth between Caleb and himself, "He should be locked up, not me. Take him."

Having the cage separate the two of them, James became aware of her expression lacking any sign or empathy or remorse. Even if she did or didn't know James was a soldier, she could have cared less.

He wanted to know more.

"Who are you? And those men?" James asked, genuinely curious.

She paused for a moment, giving another devilish smile that looked as if she were possessed.

"I'm Beth," she introduced, "And those men were my brothers. I have a lot more."

"Are…" he hesitated, "...Were you a soldier?" James asked, referring to her use of the word 'brothers'.

"No, no, no. Never," Beth shook her head.

"Then who are you?" James asked a little more belligerently, "Why the hell are we here?"

Beth may have looked like a bit of a lunatic, but she wasn't the one to disparage. She crossed her arms and a much more serious look awoke on her face.

"The ceremony."

"...Ceremony?" Caleb reacted nonplussed.

"You two are offerings."

For the first time, he and James exchanged looks that could tell they were on the same page of uncertainty.

"Wait, what the fuck are you talking about?" James said, clearly getting frustrated at what he was hearing.

"When the time comes, you'll see."

Taking off without removing her eyes from them, she exited the area, vanishing into the darkness as her footsteps faded off as well. Once it was clear that she was gone, James looked over at Caleb and delivered a heavy kick to the cage in anger. He wanted to get the hell out.