AN: I'm sorry this is so late and I kept you all waiting! I had a lot of stuff going on in the past couple of weeks but I'm finally here!

So, Freedom909 pointed something out to me in a review about how fast it seemed Enjolras developed feelings for Eponine, but I felt like I kind of needed to clear that up, which I hope I kind of did in this chapter. Thanks for pointing that out!

So, there's a scene in here near the bottom that wasn't going to be in here, but it is now. I almost cut it but it felt too important to lose. It's all going to get a little confusing from here, but stick with it and you'll all finally found out the uh, Enjolras parent situation….

Anyway, thank you all for the reviews. I've been meaning to reply to every single one and maybe one day soon I'll actually get on top of that! But they do mean a lot to me, so thank you! You guys are awesome!

Also, tiny bit of swearing in this chapter… but he deserves to swear a little bit… please don't hate me. I'm sorry. It just happened… I couldn't stop it.

Okay, go ahead and read.


They had waited until it was dark and their arms were tired from taking turns at clutching at the chain, even though it seemed unnecessary. The Walker on the other side of the gate hadn't made a single move, not even when Enjolras Musichetta had appeared to see what was going on and brought them all food to stop them going hungry, or when Feuilly almost fell out of a tree when he had a sneezing fit. No, the thing just stood there as if the world stood still around it.

Hours had passed, they had all lost count of how many, but now it was time. They'd worked it all out. Combeferre had hold of the chain again, and both Joly and Courfeyrac had picked up stick. Enjolras hadn't appeared, but Courfeyrac had informed them all he had gone to tell Grantaire that he could leave, but despite the much needed presence of their leader, this was their chance. If they didn't all get their timing right, this could end in disaster…

"Okay, we've got this," Bahorel breathed as he stood beside Jehan, both of their guns trained on the walker.

Courfeyrac nodded at Joly, both men raising their sticks. They both took off running, shouting and banging their sticks against the chains of the fence. The walker looked up, its head following the sound as everyone waited.

It moved slowly, making its way along the length of the fence. Feuilly swung his legs as he sat perched on a branch, waiting for it to far enough away before he slowly climbed down and stood against the trunk of the tree.

Combeferre yanked the chain out of the fence as Jehan moved forward, opening the gate. Feuilly ran, his feet pounding against the floor as he forced himself across the short distance to the fence. At the same time, on the opposite side of the compound, Grantaire would be leaving.

It was working perfectly, they could all see that- until of course more footsteps began to sound in the forest behind them. They all knew what that meant, it meant more were coming. His heart hammered against his chest as he grew closer and closer to the gate, ignoring the sound behind him as he concentrated on that opening not far from him.

He forced himself faster, he was almost there… A few meters at the most. He was going to make it, of course he was, he could almost reach the gate with his hand but then without warning, something lurched out of the trees, a flash of green and brown that took down the bigger man.

Bahorels yells sounded over the racket further down the fence as he threw himself forward, heading straight for the gate. Everything was shouting, Feuilly was screaming and suddenly there was a weight against Bahorel as he was thrown backwards, hitting the ground with a thud. Combeferre was on top of him, wrestling with him to stop him from running straight out of the gate.

"Get off!" Bahorel yelled as the doctor tried to grab at his hands. "Get the hell of me! They've got him, they've got him! Can't you see! What the hell are you doing?"

"There's nothing you can do!" Combeferre told him calmly as Bahorel kicked out at him, pushing the Doctor off of him as the boxer scrambled to his feet. "You'll get yourself hurt as well!"

"Damn it, I'm not leaving him!" Bahorel yelled as he ran for the gate. He grabbed at the wire links, shaking at it desperately as Jehan finished locking it. He grabbed at the smaller man, trying to stop him, all the while staring out at his friend. "Feuilly! Feuilly!"

"Stop it," Jehan told him quietly as he trained the gun on the back of the walker. "He's gone, it's too late. There's nothing we can do."

"We don't give up," Bahorel spat. "Open the gate! One of you has the keys! Who is it?"

Combeferre sat on the ground, looking up at his friend quietly. "Bahorel-"

"Shut up," he snarled. "We could have saved him!"

"He's already been bitten…" The doctor tried to justify. "We saw it, there's blood… It would have gotten you as well."

"Fuck you," Bahorel breathed, slamming his hands against the fence. "Oi! You!"

The walker paused as it turned its head slowly towards the noise as it crouched on the floor beside Feuilly. Jehan frowned as he placed his hand on the mans arm but he quickly shrugged it off, slamming his hands harder against the fence over and over.

"Yeah, you! Don't you touch him! Don't you dare! If you touch him, I'll finish you," he yelled, thrusting his gun through the gap in the fence, his hands trembling as he tried to hold it still.

"No, don't!" Combeferre told him quickly as he got to his feet. "We've never had a subject that has recently fed- They're more unpredictable, more prone to attacking. This could help us! Don't let Feuilly die in vain-"

"But he's not fucking dead, is he?" Bahorel demanded, turning his head to look at Combeferre. "That's what you keep saying. They're not really dead. There's still part of him in there. We could save him."

"If we managed to get the cure correct-"He began but Bahorel cut him off with a glare.

The man turned his attention back to the creature that was still staring at him, blood smeared down its face as it waited. "When this is over, I'm going to find you," he told it coldly. "You don't get to take my friends. You don't get to do this! We're trying to save you! Don't you get that?"

Jehan sighed, looking back at Combeferre. "Come on Bahorel, let's go back inside. Lets get a drink."

"I'm not leaving him," he told him quietly, his grip tightening on the gun. "I'm not going to just go back inside like nothing happened. I'm not going to leave him out here alone!"

"He's one of them now," Jehan told him, chewing his lip. "He'll be okay…

"So why isn't he moving? Why's that thing waiting to eat him?"

"It takes a little while for the infection to set in, but it will…" Combeferre told him gently. "And when it does…"

"Leave," Bahorel breathed, moving his gun out of the fence. He swallowed hard, aiming the gun up at the sky. "Go back inside."

Jehan glanced at Combeferre before nodding his head. "You know where we'll be…"

"Right," Bahorel frowned as he shot the gun. The sudden noise startled the creature and without warning, it darted back into the trees.

Combeferre placed a gentle hand on Jehans back as he stared at their friend, and slowly he guided him towards where Courfeyrac and Joly had headed.

As soon as he was alone, Bahorel sunk to his knees, pressing his head against the fence. Tears stung his eyes as he shook his head quietly. "Damn it," he spat. "You don't get to… you said you… You fucking promised me! We had a deal, we weren't going to leave each other like this."

He looked up quickly as a small groan escaped the others mouth and his eyes widened. "Feuilly?" He breathed, clutching at the fence. "Feuilly?"

"You think… I'd just leave you like that," the other man breathed from where he laid. At first he thought he'd imagined it, he had almost missed it but no, Bahorel had heard it. It was Feuilly talking. "I don't break deals, man."

"What the hell were you doing? You should have followed us. Why the hell did you stay up that tree?" Bahorel demanded, his fingers curling around the links. "Look what happened!"

The man laughed quietly, a raspy sound that escaped his throat. "I never did do anything the easy way."

"Don't talk like that," Bahorel scolded him. "Don't start talking like you're dying."

Feuilly lifted his head slowly, looking towards Bahorel. "This is worse than dying, isn't it?"

Bahorel paused, looking down at the ground. He had never expected that question, what was he even supposed to say to that? He wanted to say something comforting, he wanted to reassure the other that everything was going to work out, but he couldn't find the words. "I don't know…" He breathed.

Feuilly scoffed as he slowly sat up, the front of his shirt was stained red with blood from the bite wound on his shoulder. His shirt had been torn away, revealing the flesh beneath. It made Bahorel feel nauseous, not the blood… He'd seen plenty of blood before, and a handful of wounds that had been worse than this one, but not on his friend. Not like this…

"Hey…" Feuilly frowned slightly as he watched his friend. "It's going to be fine. Jolys going to find a cure and when he does, you're going to come find me and give it to me. Everything going to be fine."

"What if it's not?" Bahorel asked him quietly. "This is it, isn't it? This is what's going to happen to all of us, now…"

Feuilly stumbled to his feet, his body swaying unsteadily. He clutching his injured arm against his body as he slowly made his way towards the fence. His shoulder felt like it was on fire and his throat was dry, scratchy almost… But his friend needed him and he couldn't recall once that he had ever seen Bahorel look so… lost, so scared…

He sat down heavily on the other side of the fence, studying Bahorel silently for a moment before he lifted his hand, placing it over the others fingers that reached through the fence. Bahorel jumped, looking up at Feuilly but made no move to pull his hand away.

Feuilly smiled faintly. "I said I wasn't going to leave you and I'm not gonna, okay?"

"I don't think you get a choice in all of this," Bahorel told him quietly. "I don't think you get to decide what you want to do after this…"

"After the infection takes hold," Feuilly finished for him quietly, nodding his head. "Maybe I don't… but you know what… In here, inside my heart… this is home. This is the only place that I've ever found somewhere that I want to be, and if it wasn't for all of this… I wouldn't have met all of the guys and I wouldn't have found you-"

"Don't get soppy on me now," Bahorel told him quietly, forcing a sad smile.

Feuilly shook his head as he leaned in closer. "No, this is important. I need to tell you this… I'm glad this happened, because I met you. You're my best friend and I know, no matter what… where ever you are, that's home and I'm going to wait for you… Whether it's for you to bring me the cure or if it's for you to join me, I'm going to be waiting right here for you…"

Bahorel frowned as he shook his head. "Feuilly, you don't know that…"

"I do," he told him quietly. "Because those feelings are stronger than anything else. It's stronger than this infection, and I'm not going to let it take this away from me. I'm not going to lose you."

"Feuilly-"

"Stop interrupting me," Feuilly chided him lightly, a grin spreading across his face. "I haven't finished yet-"

"Damn it," Bahorel snapped irritably. "Just shut up for one damn minute, will you?"

Feuilly scoffed, raising his eyebrow. "Way to ruin the moment, idiot."

"Just… shut up and kiss me," Bahorel ordered, leaning against the fence. Feuillys eyes widened in surprise, but even so he leaned forward until his lips found the others through the fence links. It was clumsy and messy, every ounce of desperation pushed into the simple action as Feuilly fingers tightened over the others as he held onto him, never wanting to let go.

He'd thought about this moment for so long. To kiss that mans damn lips, to shut him up for once. To be held in his arms and to hold him but every time they came close to it, Bahorel had shied away. He thought it was because he didn't feel what he did, but he had been so wrong. They had wasted so much time…

Feuilly froze as he opened his eyes, the salty taste pulling him back from his thoughts. At first, he thought they were his tears but he soon realised that they belonged to the other man. He pulled back, his expression softening. "Rel-"

Bahorel shook his head, yanking his hands back from the fence as he stood up. He grabbed at the gate, tears staining his face as he shook it. "Damn it," he spat. "I'll find the keys. We'll take you inside, we'll strap you to the bed until we have a cure… I'll come out there. We'll be together. I don't give a damn if it hurts, I'll be with you… and we'll be together…"

"Hey," Feuilly frowned as he got to his feet. "No, you know that's not an option, neither of them things… I don't want either of them… Of course I want to be with you, but I don't want to hurt any of you and if I'm in there, that could happen… and I don't want you getting hurt out here either…"

Bahorel shook his head, his hands moving to tangle in his hair. "I can't do this," he breathed, raising his eyes up to the sky. "I can't… I can't do this. Shit…"

"Listen to me," Feuilly breathed as he clutched at the gate. He glanced down at his arm, his veins were already beginning to dark under his skin, a spider web of black beneath the freckles of his arms. It wouldn't be long… "Rel, listen. It's going to be okay. I'm going to be okay. I'm going to be right here…"

"It shouldn't be like this! This is all just… It's some bad dream," Bahorel continued, squeezing his eyes shut. "We're all going to die here."

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you…" Feuilly told him quietly, his knuckles whitening. "Please, Bahorel. Come here."

Bahorel shook his head as he began to pace, his nails digging into scalp as his chest heaved. He'd held it together for so long, he'd convinced himself this would all be over soon and that nothing bad was going to happen and it had happened and now… His lie was crumbling around him. Feuilly was about to leave him and who next? Who would be the next to leave? Courfeyrac? Jehan?

He sunk to his knees in the grass, a sob tearing from his chest as his entire body shook. Feuilly watched helplessly from the other side of the fence. His mind felt fuzzy and there was gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach, a hunger that he felt would never end… Pulling him towards Bahorel… No, that was the infection talking. He could do this, he could fight it. His friend needed him.

"Rel, listen to me!" He called desperately, sinking to his knees on the other side of the fence. "This isn't over. We don't know that we're alone… We don't know that there aren't others our there… And Joly, and Ferre… They have the cure, it's right there… They just have to complete it… Please, Rel… It's going to be okay…"

As Feuilly talked Bahorel slowly began to calm, listening to the others voice as he stayed knelt on the grass. Slowly, he looked up, his eyes red from tears as he crawled towards the fence. He rested his cheek against the chain links, squeezing his eyes shut as Feuilly brushed his fingers over the others cheek. "I love you," Feuilly whispered.

Bahorel sniffed as he nodded his head, the palm of his hand pressed against the fence and Feuilly mirrored him, their fingers linking together. "I love you too, man."


The sun was beginning to set in the distance when Grantaire finally stepped out of the building and made his way down the small path towards the metal gates. He waited a few moments before they opened slowly and for the first time in what felt like years, he no longer felt trapped. He was free to go wherever he wanted.

He took a deep breath, glancing back at the building over his shoulder one last time, making sure there was no part of him that was going to regret this decision before he finally stepped forward, his foot passing over the invisible boundary of the compound.

He forced himself forward, not bothering to look back again as he followed the road, heading away from the place he had been forced to try and call home. Somewhere out there he would find his new home, whether that was alone or with other survivors but home was not here. Not with these people.

He reached the fork in the road and paused, glancing at the town ahead of him and then at the road that led off in a completely different direction. He hadn't travelled this road often, he had never had the need to leave his town before… but he couldn't go back there now. That place held too many memories of people he knew he'd never see again. This was his chance for a new beginning.

He turned, glancing warily at the forest that lined one side of the road as he walked. He was starting to regret not taking the gun that Jehan had tried to press into his hand. He had to give it to the guy, despite being slightly annoying, he had a good heart and even though he had managed to piss off most of the people in that damn place, Jehan had tried to give Grantaire the best chance to survive out here whilst everyone else turned their backs on him. He was going to miss that guy…

But there was no use of thinking about him now, or any of them for that matter. They were part of his past now and he had to look out for himself and no one else. It was the only way he was going to survive.

It didn't take him long to pass the edge of the forest, but by the time he had it was slowly starting to grow dark and despite wanting to get as far away from this place as he could, he also wanted to stay alive for as long as he could out here.

He frowned slightly before turning to the wall and pulling himself over it, landing in a patch of nettles on the other side. He swore under his breath as he kicked at them, scratching at his skin as he continued moving.

When he was younger the school he had attended was on the other side of this field, and behind that was a small shed that he had spent most of his lessons bunking off in so he could smoke. It was a sturdy little thing, out of sight of the school just on the edge of the forest.

He'd managed to work out a way to lock it from the inside by wedging a screwdriver behind the handle, and if he was lucky it would still work. There was no way anything was going to get him in there, unless of course there was something already in there… but once the whole zombie thing had been on the news, most of the kids were kept at home and eventually the school closed. If he was lucky, no one had felt drawn enough to wander back over there in their undead state.

He was almost there, he could make out the outline of the shed in the distance when something else caught his attention. At first he assumed it was one of them and he was already working out his escape in his head. He slowed down his steps, kept his head down and tried to stay as quiet as he could but the closer he got, the more familiar the figure looked.

He'd never seen any of them things laying down, only the ones that Combeferre had shown him… but that had been different. He paused, glancing at the shed and then back at the figure laying not too far away from the forest.

"Damn it," he groaned as he looked around. He warily made his way across the field, occasionally glancing up at the sky to see how much time he had left before he would be thrown into complete darkness and left stumbling around with no idea which way to go.

On the plus side, he couldn't see any blood… Which meant she hadn't been bitten, which hopefully meant there weren't any of them hanging around and that she wasn't going to wake up and chew his face off… But she didn't look very alive, either.

He took a deep breath, slowly picking a branch up off the ground and poking her in the arm with it. The brunette let out a small groan, her hand shifting to try and brush away whatever it was that was disturbing her.

He exhaled as he crouched down beside her and shook her, looking around quickly. "Oi," he hissed. "Wake up."

He waited a few moments before shaking her harder. "Get up! You can't just sleep out here. You're going to get yourself killed!"

Well, that was it then. She wasn't waking up and she wasn't moving and he really didn't have time to wait around for her. He had to look after himself, first and if that meant leaving her here, then fine.

He stood back up, glancing back down at the girl before he began walking, heading towards the shed in the distance. He only made it a few feet before he stopped and looked back at her, chewing his lip.

"For Gods sake," he groaned as he ran his fingers through his hair, staring at the shed ahead of him. It was slowly being swallowed by the darkness that was closing in on them and he knew he didn't have much time left.

He quickly turned around and strode over to her before shaking her again. When she made no attempt to move, he grabbed hold of her roughly and picked her up into him arms effortlessly. "This is it," he told her coldly as he headed towards the shed. "In the morning I'm leaving you, whether you're awake or not. You can get yourself out of this, I'm not letting you weigh me down."


There were a million thoughts running through Courfeyracs mind as he stormed down the corridor, heading straight towards the doors. All of this, everything that had happened was Enjolras' fault. They needed their leader but apparently he had other things on his mind. Didn't he understand? Didn't he understand how much they all needed him? He was going to get them all turned!

He threw the doors open and crossed the distance to the watch tower, forcing the door open as he headed up the stairs two at a time. He stopped at the top, looking at the man that sat beside Enjolras. He scowled slightly as he glanced at the blonde and then back at the other man. "I've got it from here," he told the bewildered man. "Go. Get some rest."

Enjolras frowned as he looked up at his friend. "You're not on tonight-"

"I need words," Courfeyrac replied sharply, turning his gaze back to the other. The man quickly jumped from his seat, stammering a goodbye towards Enjolras before edging around Courfeyrac and down the stairs. Courfeyrac waited until he heard the door shut before he looked back at Enjolras. "What the hell are you doing?"

Enjolras slowly stood up, his arms crossing slowly against his chest. "What do you mean?"

"What are you doing?" Courfeyrac repeated, throwing his arms up in the air. "What is this?"

"I'm on watch… Are you feeling alright? Should I fetch Joly?"

Courfeyrac scoffed, his eyes widening. "I need Joly? You're the one that needs Joly! Where were you?"

"When?" Enjolras frowned. "What's happened?"

"They got him!" He told him bitterly. "They got Feuilly! He's one of them now and you weren't there! We needed you and you weren't there!"

Enjolras' eyes widened as he pinched at the bridge of his nose. "I didn't know…"

"Of course you didn't! You were sat in here, like you have been for days now!"

Enjolras sighed, looking towards the window. "How is everyone holding up?"

"Maybe if you had been there you would know," he replied quietly. "Bahorel… Bahorels torn up over it and Jehan… You should have been there! Why weren't you there Enjolras? We need you to lead us!"

"I wouldn't have been able to stop it, even if I had been there…"

"Maybe if you stopped acting like some love sick puppy-"

"What's that even meant to mean?" Enjolras deadpanned as he looked away from the window.

"You're sat here acting like you mourning her going is going to bring her back. She's gone. Any feelings she had for you are gone as well. Just let it go. Let her go."

Enjolras frowned as he turned back to him. "I don't have feelings for her- I admire her, yes. She's smart. She wants to learn, she doesn't dumb herself down in a male dominated society like some girls do. I don't have time to get wrapped up in some kind of relationship. Not now, not ever probably… I got her wrong when she first arrived here-"

"So, what? You're sick of hating every person that walks in here at last and now you want to play the hero again? You've got over your stupid self-loathing and decided it's time to do something? It's too late! Feuilly is out there now, he's one of them. You screwed up and you failed him-"

"You think I don't know that, Courfeyrac?" Enjolras snapped. "I fucked up. I let her go, and I let him get bitten. That's two more of them and two less of us. Instead of saving people I'm making them into bait. That's not what I wanted!"

"You need to get over this," Courfeyrac told him coldly. "You're not your parents. There is nothing you can do-"

"No, there is something I can do. I can reverse this. I can undo it! This isn't what was meant to happen!"

"You aren't your parents. You don't owe anyone anything but I know that doesn't mean we shouldn't try and sort this but you shouldn't be doing this because of what your parents did-"

"I owe everyone this," Enjolras replied. "I owe everyone for what happened. Don't you understand? The reason all of this happened was because of my parents. You don't understand that, do you? You're not the one watching the human race being wiped out because your parents caused it. My parents messed up, it got out of hand. There was a breach- The infection was never meant to get out of that lab but it did and you know why? Because of me. I went in there. Even though they told me not to, I had to know what was going on and you know what I saw? I saw experiments. I saw test subjects. All of them, strapped down to the beds and I didn't fucking think, okay?"

Coureyrac froze, staring at him silently. "You've never told me this…"

"I never told anyone. The cctv was down, no one knew who did it. They assumed it was an activist group. I helped them escape and they took the virus with them. I didn't know… no one knew this would happen. They thought it was a cure for cancer. They thought they could make a virus that would cause blood cells to multiply… but it didn't. It was some kind of… parasite that changed them…"

"You don't have to tell me this," Courfeyrac told him quietly. "I don't need to know…"

"Yes, you do!" Enjolras told him. "Everyone should know! It was people like her, like Eponine… They were young, the test subjects… Some of them were just children. They paid for them. My parents paid for them! They thought they had better chance of studying the effects on young, healthy subjects… By the time they realised what they had created, it was too late… The subjects were out of there, running around and passing it on… I caused this."