Ruby Ascot

Eastbourne, England

Ruby had known many kinds of fear in her life. The childlike fear of first dying her hair bright red which made her stand out in any crowd. The somewhat curious fear that came from first meeting Sabrina that day by the dumpster and eventually inviting the then homeless girl to live with her. The confused fear that came from the few days after the Epsilon Incident when she had no idea what was happening and being dragged along with Sabrina. The creeping dread that settled in her stomach during her time with Tanzi's vision, trying to save those survivors here in Eastbourne. That constant fear that something, somewhere, had happened to Tanzi.

Yet none of that fear quite matched up to the terror that Ruby felt in her heart when it came to moving past groups of the dead. Monsters that were once human but were now stained with blood, missing limbs or patches of flesh, still fresh in their death. The worst thing about the undead were their eyes. White and milky, as if they were blind. There was nothing in those eyes. Nothing but hunger.

Ruby was staring at one of these undead, standing on its own on a patch of concrete between two low shops. Its arms hung limp and its head lolled as it simply stared somewhere above where Ruby was crouched. Behind her were Steven and Isiah. Isiah was crouched, one hand on the wall to support himself. The doctor was kneeling as they waited, gently holding the still unconscious Isabella's head on his lap.

This was the first undead directly in their way since the hospital. Ruby had been leading Steven and Isiah through small roads and alleyways that she had become well acquainted with since her time in Eastbourne. Usually when Ruby saw an undead, or worse, a group of them, they would change their direction. Yet they could not turn back now. A group had moved to the exit of the alley behind them and started standing around like cows in a field, forcing them to go forward. It was just this solo undead now that they had to deal with.

"Ruby?" Isiah whispered from behind. "What—"

"Ssh." Ruby said gently but sharply. They had not spoken since leaving the hospital and Ruby wanted to keep it that way. She didn't want to risk making noise when there were impossible amounts of the dead in her city. She also did not trust herself to speak, still roiling from the revelation that she seemed to have some essence of Tanzi's ability.

They would have to take care of it.

Take care of it? Ruby scoffed at her own thoughts. That was just a polite way of saying to kill it. And he's not an it! Ruby had been battling with the thoughts ever since the hospital. The monsters had used to be humans, that was a certainty. Are they still humans? Or would considering their humanity be prime bait for insanity. They hadn't anything to bind this one with and they couldn't just shove it aside. It would make that high-pitched scream and then all the zombies in Eastbourne would be down upon them and that was that. Ruby didn't fancy giving the zombies an infinite feast on her body. If they could quiet the scream then they could risk being seen.

Ruby suddenly had an idea but she didn't enjoy the risk of it. Isiah and Steven had explained what being bitten did. It turned you into one of them. That's how it spread. The problem was Ruby didn't know if the infection would affect her. She had the Nectar of the Gods flowing in her veins yet would this bypass that? It would be fine. If she was careful, made sure she wasn't bitten, it would be fine.

She moved before she could persuade herself not to.

As she swiftly moved towards the undead, she slipped her jacket off and bundled it into her arms. Five paces away the undead seemed to notice her, turning with that blank expression. It opened its mouth – the start of the now familiar screaming – but Ruby took the final paces and pressed her coat as hard as she could into the undead's face, pushing the fabric against skin and pushing the undead back against the store front with a rattle. Sweat beaded against her forehead as she held her head against the undead's chest, its arms flailing wildly.

Despite the effort, it had worked! Ruby looked back and was happy to see Steven and Isiah had gotten the message, the two of them carrying Isabella through the alley and past Ruby. Isiah gave Ruby a worried glance while Steven seemed at least a little impressed. With the doctor and the porter safely passed, Ruby stepped backwards with the undead in tow, spinning around its flailing arms to get behind it and tie the arms of her jacket tightly against its skull. Ruby let go and took a moment to look at her handiwork – the bizarre sight of a muffled head bundled in her jacket flailing around without any attempt to remove the obstruction – before taking off after her cohorts.

The rest of the alley was thankfully clear as they passed through quickly but carefully, Ruby taking the lead again. She jogged to the end of the alley and crouched at a wall, peeking around the corner that was the main road leading through the hills and towards the Collado mansion.

Ruby clamped a hand to her mouth to stop herself from cursing. As Isiah and Steven came to a stop with Isabella, she knew that their good luck was too good to be true. A sea of the dead stood absently in the road, a great throng of bodies. Scattered around the road between the legs of the dead were torn body parts and splashes of bright blood. Whatever feast this party of the dead had been enjoying must have been completed and now they were all still, standing crookedly just like the undead in the alley.

Isiah shook his head upon seeing the sight while Steven gently put a hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"What now?" Steven asked gently into her ear.

"I don't… I don't know." Ruby replied, biting her lip. "The only way is up that road into the hills… We can't go around. The woods would be too dangerous. I…" Her voice faltered and disappeared. Their goal was so close yet Ruby felt like this wall of the dead was impassable.

"Maybe we should consider somewhere else to hunker down, wait them out?" Isiah suggested though even he seemed unsure of his idea.

"Where?" Ruby asked, looking past the bundled flailing undead to where she knew another group waited at the end of the alley. "We can't turn back. We can't go forward."

"Waiting may be our only option," Steven said. "At least this alley is safe for now, safe for our friend over there, but he's no danger to anyone. We can—" Steven suddenly stopped, his eyes narrowing towards Isabella tucked in Isiah's arms. To Ruby and Isiah's bemusement, Steven kneeled down in front of Isabella and placed a hand on the side of the young woman's face. Ruby followed his gaze and was astonished to find that Isabella's eyes were flickering open. They connected to Ruby's and Ruby smiled a genuine smile that felt natural to her lips.

"R-Ruby?"

"Isabella?" Ruby crouched next to Steven and grabbed Isabella's hand. "It's alright, I'm here, it's alright."

"W-What's going on?" Isabella looked at Isiah and then to Steven. Ruby could see panic starting to rise in Isabella's body. "Who…"

"It's okay," Ruby soothed. "This is Doctor Barrett and Isiah, they're help…"

Yet the panic took Isabella and she started taking in deep panicked breaths, tugging against Isiah's grip. Isiah tried to calm Isabella down and grabbed at her other arm but Isabella shot to her feet as if shocked with a yell that was far too loud. She stumbled and fell, clearly still weak from how long she had been bedridden. Ruby grabbed her as she fell, hugging her close. "It's okay," Ruby murmured, clenching Isabella tight in her arms. "It's okay, you're fine. You're in good company, you're fine. Just breath for me, Isabella, breath…"

Whether it was because she was too weak or because she listened to Ruby, Isabella started trying to control her breathing. Ruby could barely focus on her though. Instead she was looking past Isabella's shoulder to one of the closest undead, who was slowly turning around. Its milky eyes seemed to stare straight at Ruby and its mouth dropped open.

The screams cascaded like dominoes, bouncing from one undead to the next in a great wave of screams. Ruby clenched Isabella tightly, who jolted like a scared rabbit at such an unusual and horrifying sound. Steven and Isiah were as still as Ruby, staring as what must have numbered nearly a hundred heads turned towards them, screaming and screaming. The noise was so loud, the sight of them all looking at them so much a shock that it was all Ruby could do to hold Isabella tight, despite the nails digging deep into her skin.

Shake it off. Shake it off! Ruby broke out of her shock and knew they had seconds until the undead started to sprint at them. She practically threw Isabella towards Isiah, the stronger of the two. "Run! Take Isabella and run!" Isiah grabbed the violently shivering Isabella who was overcome with shock and took one look at Steven before gritting his teeth and taking off, to his credit lifting Isabella into his arms and sprinting as fast as his large frame could take him. Steven grabbed Ruby's arm but Ruby shook him off. "Go! With them!"

"Not without—"

"I'll be fine, GO!" Ruby practically yelled with so much force that Steven could only reluctantly pull away and take off after Isiah with one final look back. Ruby spun around to face the hoard and saw that nearly as one they had started running towards the mouth of the alley. Ruby braced herself, adrenaline pushing through her veins. She would be the distraction. Even if it would mean being torn apart a thousand times over, she would survive. She had to survive. "Come and get me!" Ruby yelled, spittle flying from her mouth. Isiah and Steven. Isabella… Tanzi. She would see them again. "COME ON!"

The first undead stepped foot in the alley when something that wasn't a scream blared in Ruby's ears. She instinctively stepped backwards as a massive white blur slammed into the hoard of dead, spattering blood and guts everywhere. Ruby nearly fell as she stared at the police van that had suddenly pulled up, its side door thrown wide open. It was blocking the alley completely and Ruby could hear the sound of the hoard screaming and smashing into the other side of the van.

Her attention was quickly drawn back to the one undead that had made it, running straight towards her. Ruby could barely even think when the front of the undead's head blew open, spattering bone and gristle over Ruby's face. It slumped to the floor and Ruby looked to driver's window to find a man holding a pistol in a firm grip. A man who was strangely tall and thin. A man with white hair slicked back over his skull. A man Ruby recognised as Detective Inspector Nathan Furrow, his bright ice-blue eyes staring at her.

"In!" Nathan Furrow barked and Ruby looked back. She saw Isiah and the doc nearly halfway down the alley, too far away now. Although she thought she could see the shape of another van, far down the other end where they had come from, she couldn't be certain. She looked back at Nathan. "They'll be safe. Trust me!" Trust him? Ruby remembered a time when she first took the capsule of Nectar that gave her the inhuman healing abilities. She had been so angry, angrier than she had ever felt before and would ever feel again, and was going to kill Zach Dryer for such a foolish reason when Nathan Furrow had shot her in the neck. The man hadn't known she was going to heal but he had shot her anyway. Could she trust a man who was fully intending to shoot her dead?

"So many dead…" Bodies were lined outside the Eastbourne General Hospital, bagged and tagged like exhibits in a museum. There must have been hundreds and that was from the hospital alone. Ruby had seen so many more bodies in the streets, crying children over their parents, parents mourning their children, friends, families, united in grief. Tanzi was gone, plucked away from her by Joshua Valentine and his shady group of DSI agents. Jade had gone with her band. Naomi had stayed with Zach, near catatonic. Ruby was alone again and had found herself sitting on a bench and just watching as police, firemen, paramedics and civilians alike all collected the dead to line on the car park.

"A great cost." Ruby hadn't even realised the Detective Inspector had sat next to her. His long lanky frame was leaning forward, fingers pressed against each other. His face, if possible, was set more in stone than usual, cold icy blue eyes staring at the sea of dead. He looked worn out, Ruby realised. In her short time knowing the man, the Detective Inspector had never shown his age but now Nathan Furrow looked like the fifty odd years he must have been. "Too much. Even one is too much."

Ruby didn't know what to say to him. It was all over now, all said and done. She, Naomi, Jade, Tanzi and Zach were the only survivors, more than she could have hoped, less than she wanted. All five of them had the Nectar flowing through their veins now. They were something more than human. Finally she settled on a simple apology. "I am sorry about Carol and Timothy."

Nathan closed his eyes. "They were wonderful subordinates."

"…So what now?"

"Now we live. You live. I live. The world keeps turning no matter how much we may wish it to stop. I have a lot of paperwork to fill in. I was told very clearly to stay out of the causes of this explosion by that Department so I suppose it will all be written away by what they say. Gas explosion…" Nathan could only scoff. "I will continue to do as I can. Do my job. What about you, Ms. Ascot, what are you going to do?"

Ruby shrugged. "I don't know, really. Without Tanzi here… I don't know. I guess I'll stick around, continue work, help people where I can. Naomi is thinking about forming a survivor's group so I might attend a couple of those, give my input, you know. Like you say, do what I can."

Nathan simply nodded and stood, brushing off his suit. He went to take a step then paused, turning around to look down at Ruby. His expression was strange, as if he was unsure how to formulate an emotion. "I wanted to apologise to you, Ms. Ascot. For what happened at the crash—"

Ruby held up a hand. "No harm no foul. I wasn't myself. You gave me my warning, I didn't heed it."

"Nevertheless… I have ended many lives in my career, accidental and otherwise. It is strange to know that your life would have ended by my hand was it not for that Nectar of yours. It is a guilt I should not feel. You understand that I intended to stop you, no matter what?"

"I understand. You had a choice as far as I could see it. Do nothing and let me kill Zach. Do something and stop me." Ruby grinned, cracking a smile. "I would have shot me too."

Nathan chuckled low in his throat and walked away from Ruby, leaving her to sit on the bench, looking over the black-garbed bodies.

"I trust you," Ruby said, running up to the side of the van and pulling it open. She was surprised to see three other men and two women inside, filling the space. One of the men and one of the women were officers going by their uniform. Another pair of man and woman were hugging each other tightly, while the final man was looking at the other side of the van pointedly, where the horde were smashing their bodies against it. Some dents were appearing as it started to buckle. Ruby slammed the door shut and the van reversed at speed, nearly throwing Ruby to the floor. As she sat down next to the lone man, she could only hope that she could trust Nathan, that Isiah, Isabella, and Doctor Barrett would be safe.

A/N:- Well, it's a surprise for me to do a random chapter, but here one is. Hope you're all keeping safe and hopefully next will be sooner rather than later...