Days had finally slowed to an endless crawl, for Crane at least. Brecken was always busy with doing things for the Tower, Lena had been occupied as well due to taking care of sick bay patients, and nobody ever really talked to him. He had already felt this loneliness inside his mind, where his own thoughts lashed out at him in an atrocious method.

And now, he was finally assigned a small mission. A little kid had apparently lost his action figure while playing on the rooftop. It fell off the building and could have landed anywhere. Finally having a chance to kill some time, Crane agreed to search around for the toy.

Here he was now, carefully looking around for any signs of the action figure. And just as he felt his patience starting to wear thin, he spotted something near some trash; a red cape. As Crane closed the distance from the object, he could see the sunlight glinting off the plastic of the toy. He picked it up, and began heading back to the Tower's entrance, when his hearing picked up a foreign sound. He listened more closely, and it began to sound like someone talking into a walkie-talkie.

Beginning to suspect, Crane began searching around the entire premises, trying to find the source of the noise. And there, on the street next to the Tower, stood a thug, his sights directed at the building. Needing to find out more, Kyle began sneaking towards the thug, trying his best to blend in with his surroundings. And thankfully for Crane, a Biter had grabbed the thug's attention, making him turn around for a short time.

Crane took advantage and began running, hiding behind a van. And when the thug finally killed the Biter, he began talking again.

"Do you really think we could pull this off. I mean, what if Brecken sends a few runners out on a night run?"

"Highly unlikely. I don't think he does night runs anymore, ever since he lost the last of his previous runners on His night run."

"Good. At least we can finally get rid of these Tower fuckers."

"Yeah, the Tower trash residents will finally become a literal pile of trash and rubble!"

And for a few seconds, silence rang out. Crane was about to surprise attack the man and interrogate him, but he began talking again.

"Do you think we have enough explosives to take down the entire building?"

"They were able to take down that Volatile nest using the same explosives. I think they'll do the trick."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's just hope we can do this job without any problems arising."

And that about did it for Crane.

In no time, Kyle began running out of his hiding spot and jumped into the air, landing right behind the man. The thug flinched violently and spun around rapidly, his face turning white at the sight in front of him. He began turning around to run away, when Crane gripped the man's shoulders and shoved him hard onto the floor. In desperate fear, the thug started to crawl away, not wanting to become a victim of the monster.

Crane planted a foot on the thug's chest and the man under him began to sob fearfully. Now, the interrogation began.

"What the fuck do you mean by taking down the Tower?" Snarled Crane, his face contorting into a ghastly mask of horror. Despite the fear the thug held, he also showed astonishment.

"Holy shit... it actually talks." The man whispered to himself.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"God dammit, answer me, you fucker!"

The man began to cry even more, but was able to hiccup some words.

"Okay, I-I'll tell you! Just please, don't kill me!"

"Get on with it then. I don't have all day."

After a few more hiccups and some heavy breathing, the thug finally mustered a bit more courage to continue.

"Okay. Our group has planned on taking down the Tower. We were going to bomb it, and hope that everyone, especially that fucking prick, Kyle Crane, would go down with it."

One small chuckle, and Crane suddenly slammed an open palm right next to the man's head, startling him.

"I don't appreciate being called a prick."

"Holy fuck, you're Crane!?"

"Yes, but that's not important right now. What I need are answers!" Said Crane. "And who's this group you're with. You look like the remnants of Rais's gang, or Kaan's failed attempt at restoring the group."

"No, I'm from neither. I used to be a part of Rais, but then he died. Then, a bunch of our men decided to go to the Countryside after hearing that you did so too. They met that guy you mentioned, Kaan. From what I heard and what you just said, they didn't make it."

"However, there were still a bunch of other men who didn't tag along. We stayed here, just surviving with the supplies that were stockpiled. Then, one of them decided to try and get things back up. We didn't even know who he was, since he was barely one of the new recruits. No name, no background, nothing. Yet, he was able to give himself the title of "Boss" and succeeded in doing so."

Crane gave a confused expression.

"Boss?" The word echoed in his head. He shook the thought away and continued.

"Are you all still settled in the Garrison?"

"Why? What do you plan on doing?"

"Nothing yet."

"Y-Yes, we're still settled there. We haven't tried leaving that place."

Kyle nodded lightly and began mumbling to himself.

"Jesus Christ, more fucking leaders. I hoped it would have stopped with Kaan." Kyle continued to run the new info in his mind when the sound of talking snapped him back again.

"You're the one who took our things. You took an Antizin crate..."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Hunter... He's pissed. Pissed about the whole thing."

"Oh yeah? Tell him he can stick my middle finger up his ass."

Giggling began erupting from the thug. He was growing insane due to the fear and the shock.

"Hunter says that he heard from a little birdie that the Tower recently got Antizin, so he speculated that the Volatile that took the supplies got killed and grave robbed. I guess he was wrong." The thug said, eyes widened fearfully and alert.

"He doesn't want to have the Tower taking his things so we decided to bomb it. We still have many explosives in the school, so why not?"

"And as for you...? He's going to come looking for you. He is going to find out that you're still alive." The thug began laughing hard, his throat already becoming sore. When the laughs died down, the man continued, his voice raspy.

"He has plans for you, Crane. He stopped after thinking you were killed, but now he will continue. His new weapon will finally become a reality! You poor fellow, unknowingly falling into Hunter's trap. Then again, hunters always catch their prey."

"He's going to catch you, use you, and finally make you his own!"

Crane felt himself grow frustrated now. He didn't want to allow himself to be used. He was used by the GRE first, then he was unknowingly manipulated by Rais. The Mother had also decided to use him as the one to call forth the God of the Sun. People used him, and they all affected him in some way. He didn't want to become a victim of another tragedy.

He was about to ask a couple more questions to the thug when he felt the infection start to edge itself into his mind.

"No, not now...!" Crane formed his hands into fists, scrunching his face and grinding his teeth together. And for a split second, he saw himself back inside the darkness of his mind. As rapidly as it had appeared, it left and the light of day came back.

He needed to leave, or else he would turn.

"Okay Kyle, take it easy... Just some baby steps." The runner whispered to himself and began doing what he told himself, but just as he started, the feeling came back. He groaned in anger and his vision began to blur and had an orange tinge to it. He couldn't move anymore. The only thing he had control of now was his vision and mind. But, they too, would be taken away from him momentarily.

And finally, Crane saw the light finally fade to nothing, and he felt himself plunge into his mind.


The thug didn't know what to do. Everything had suddenly become terrifying and dark for him. His mind couldn't handle so much in such a short time that he finally cracked.

And then he witnessed Kyle Crane begin to turn into the monster he was, yet the thug had no fear anymore. He saw it all, up to where the Volatile finally took over. It approached him, and it grabbed him by the head. Pressure was applied, and the thug wanted to scream. He could feel the pressure turn into pain, but now he couldn't scream. He had finally lost himself, and what the Volatile was killing now was the shell of a man.

And now the only sound the produced was a sickening crunch, the sound of eating reverberating through the street afterwards.