Sorry for the longish - not really - wait. I've been distracted and stuff. I've also been preoccupied by my Legend of Korra fanfic. Go check that out if you're part of that fandom. It's a Borra fanfic with a main character as an Equalist. Oh, look at me... advertising my fanfictions in other ones of mine. I'm so desperate sometimes. :I

Anyway, back to this. I hope you guys like this chapter because Alex finally brings out the big guns... kinda. Not really. No, sorry. He jumps...? That's good enough, right?

No?

sry

Alex jumped backwards from the approaching infected, doing a backflip off the ladder and landing in a crouch. Since he was the one that disturbed her, she would focus entirely on him and not on the others. That was a good thing, at least. Better him than the- he shook his head. He really was thinking like a human too often now. With a side glance at the other survivors, their weapons raised and shooting at the Witch that was clambering down the ladder. So what if one of them died? Plenty of humans had died during his infection, many by his own hand.

Regardless, he had promised Cross that he would bring these people to safety and that was one promise he would have to keep. The witch landed on the metal platform and instantly ran toward Alex, her scream harshly clanging around the area. He dived out of the way just in time to escape her claws. They others were slower to shoot now, afraid they would hit him. He dashed toward the metal barrier, getting up on top of it and judging the gap over the elevator shaft to the open doors. He could practically feel her claws digging into the bag of his legs as she bore down on him, so he coiled his legs and leapt.

He landed on the floor outside the open elevator door, landing with a roll. The witch attempted to follow after him, almost making it all the way across, too, but Alex whipped his shotgun off his shoulder, took aim and shot a round right into her chest. The impact threw her back in the air and she fell down the shaft, her screams still echoing through the air until she hit the silent elevator below, smashing into it with a loud thud. It was quiet after that, nothing but the shaky breath of the other survivors could be heard for a while, but then the sound of a radio cut through the silence, reminding them of just why they were heading up to the roof.

"Keep moving," Alex ordered them gruffly, making his way back to the open air shaft to rejoin them. They snapped out of their stupor and awkwardly bumbled over to the ladder, making their way up the ladder. By the time he caught up to them they had already climbed up the second ladder to the roof. He joined them up top and they stared down at the infected milling about on the other parts of the roof. Pulling out his pistols, he started the killings. He shot the ones closer first and the ones whose interests were peaked came running.

Alex hopped down to destroyed helipad with ease, clearing the distance. He landed softly though, careful not to crack the pavement. He would save the cracking for when he was beating the heads of infected into walls. They cleared a path to the radio and Zoey picked it up, answering the pilot on the other end. Alex picked up some extra ammo, restocking his depleting supplies. As soon as he got rid of these humans, though, he would never run out of ammo. He readied his guns with a click and put them back in their places,

As he walked over, he heard the pilot tell Zoey to call back when they were ready. The others quickly got more ammo, exchanged guns, and prepared themselves before Zoey picked up the radio again. She glanced over at Alex for approval and he gave her a nod, heading towards the stairs to go to the roof. Once up there, he was glad to see a Minigun station at the edge of the roof pointing out over in the direction of the helipad, where the swarm of infected were most likely to come from. Louis would sure be happy that it was there. He heard the radio call downstairs end and they stomping of feet as they all rushed up the stairs to join him on the roof. Louis let out a happy noise, running over to the Minigun to get behind it.

Roars echoed through the building. The swarms were coming. It was time to get ready. Alex swung his shotgun off his shoulder, turning on his thermal vision so he could see the first sign of the infected crawling onto the roof. There, to the right. They were climbing up onto their level. Louis swung the Minigun over so the barrel pointed at the approaching horde. He started it up and it took a while for it to heat up but once it did, it ripped though the infected like they were nothing. He couldn't hold it forever, though. The muzzle was already turning a bright red, showing that it would overheat after a certain amount of time. The rest of the group shot the straggling infected that escaped the Minigun's bullets in the head to keep them at bay. The Minigun stopped, its whirring slowing. It had overheated and now the next group of infected was coming from the other side.

Alex ran over the pipes connecting their roof to the one next to them, firing down at the running infected with his pistols. It was easy enough to keep them at bay with both of them. When he had ammo that is. He slipped out the empty magazines and was sliding more back in just when the Minigun whirred back into action, mowing down the infected that were in range. At that moment a roar split the sky and the building began to shake. A Tank was coming. Alex sighed. Out of all the infected, the one he hated the most was the Tank with the Witch in close second. They were the strongest of the special infected, so it was harder for him to fake it all when fighting them, but he would have to put that mask back on again for this one.

A building away, the shadowed being watched them, taking especial interest in the man in the leather jacket. He was… different, unique. He was unlike anything it had seen before. All the toys it had played with before, teased, had broken. But this one stood up to the storm. In fact, he even smashed through it with ease. He was stronger than anything that had been thrown at him, he was a monster himself. The shadow smiled, a devious plot forming in its mind. It summoned some more infected to put its plan into motion and then drew back farther into the darkness to watch its idea unfold.

They had finally defeated the Tank and the pilot of the helicopter told them they were almost to the hospital. All they had to do was hang on just a little longer. If they could do that, they could get out of there and the humans would survive. Just a little while longer. He could handle that. As though he thought it too soon, the whole building shook and they had to stumble to keep their footing.

"The hell was that? Some kind of earthquake?" Louis yelled, keeping his grip on the Minigun steady as they waited for the next wave of infected to wash over the rooftops. Alex shook his head. It didn't feel like an earthquake… it felt more "manmade." Like what he would do back in New York. Something big was coming and it probably wasn't friendly. The shaking continued and the others grabbed onto a support to keep themselves up. Without hesitating, Alex took a running leap off the roof they were on, landing below in a roll, jumping back up on his feet. They others moved to follow him, but a quick shout from Alex put them back in their place.

He clambered over the helipad and glanced down the side of the building, dreading what he would see. Five Tanks. Five Tanks were climbing up the side of the building. But they were quiet. No roaring, no screeching, just quiet, meticulous climbing, their weight still causing the building to shudder despite their planned climb. It was as if the creatures had been taught a few tricks. One of them looked up and spotted him. He heard a grunt come from the creature and its muscles coiled as it prepared to leap up to the rooftop. They both moved at the same time, Alex and the creature. It threw itself upward to the roof while Alex threw himself back, flipping in the air and skidding over the helipad, his fingertips pressed against the concrete as he crouched, preparing himself for its attack.

The other infected Tanks joined the first one up on the helipad and the rubble around it. The survivors on the other side of the rooftop sucked in their breath in anticipation at the same time, audible to Alex's acute hearing despite the distance. He could also hear something in the distance. The unmistakable beating of a helicopter's blades. The pilot was nearing in to the hospital, but he wouldn't be able to pick up the survivors with these Tanks in the way. He had to lead them away from the helipad so the humans could have a clear path to where the helicopter would be sure to wait for them, even if would only be hovering on the outskirts of the helipad. There was no way for it to land on it, with half of it turned to rubble.

The Tanks were all looking at him, their attention no where else. His predator instincts went into overdrive. These Tanks were after him and there was no way he was going to let them bring him down. The smallest of smiles curled at his lips as he studied the infected. This meant that there was something out there, something better than them that was controlling them in some way. That thing was targeting him. Did it know him from the last infection or was it just interested in him. In any case – he looked out past the Tanks – that just meant that whatever was controlling them was watching them. They had to be near. He glanced back behind him and just barely saw it, the glow of something on the roof of the other building.

The first Tank roared, charging forward toward Alex, who nimbly jumped out of the way, breaking into a run toward the back of the roof which, unfortunately, also lead to the humans. The Tanks followed, grunting and still causing the whole building to shake with their movements.

"The helicopter's coming!" Alex yelled to the survivors, who were shooting at the chasing Tanks to no effect since there were so many of them, "I'll distract these idiots and you make your way to the helipad!" Zoey opened her mouth, so he added, "No questions, no protests. Just go!"

The other three didn't even think twice, they just ran toward an alternate route and Zoey had no choice but to follow them, casting glances back at her Professor as they ran to the helipad. These Tanks were definitely after him and only him. Now was the time to check just how much they wanted him. As the length of roof in front of him shortened, he felt his biomass gathering in his legs. No time to take back what he was going to do now. He heard Zoey yell his name as he neared the edge, probably certain he was about to throw himself to his death. He almost wished he could see her face when he jumped, though he had probably seen the same look on the faces of soldiers back in New York. He got ready to jump and in one release of power, leapt of the roof, soaring through the air.

He reached the targeted rooftop with ease, his landing causing the concrete to crack under his heavy density. Behind him, he heard the Tanks roars change pitch as they fell to the street below. They had tried to jump after him like the mindless creatures they were. They had been under orders to take him down, though, really, Tanks hadn't been the most subtle of predators. If it had been his call, he would have gone with an army of Hunters. At least they were more stealthy and precise than the clumsy Tanks. His eyes locked on his prey, which was backing away from him slowly, still hidden in the shadows, but bright in his thermal vision.

"Enough of playtime," he growled at the infected and it stopped moving, staring at him, "It's time for you to be consumed by me. I think you've been what I've been searching for. You're the one who will actually have information for me."

The creature smiled at him, moving out of the shadows, its form seeming to be twisting and curling, as if the infected was made of the very shadows it had been hiding in. The darkness curved up over the thing's head like a hood and he could make out the glow of eyes underneath the inky blackness. It reached out an arm, its hands looking much like Witch's, though its fingers looked less dangerous and long. Its skin was pale, as though it hadn't seen light in months, which was entirely plausible due to its twisting cape.

And then it spoke, its voice seeming to come from nowhere, yet everywhere at the same time, and its voice was not one, but many, "We have been watching you, we have also been needing you. You are not like the others, you are unique. Join us and you will prosper in this new world," It swam forward, now inches from him, but he didn't flinch, "Fight us, though, and you will fall," it placed a clawed finger to his chest over his heart. That is, if he had a heart.

Behind him, he heard the helicopter arrive. At least the humans were getting a ride out of here and on to safety. He swatted the arm away and the infected growled at his action.

"Yeah, I seriously doubt that," he sighed, wrapping an arm around the creatures neck and jumped backwards off the roof with the infected still in his grasp.

...and then he died. The end. :D

Please review if you liked this chapter and the next one should hopefully come out before I go on vacation on the 8th, but no promises. My life's about to get way more busy with college and stuff, so I can't promise when new chapters are going to come out and such.