Disclaimer: All FF:TSW characters are property of Square. Major Boyer is mine.

Author's Note: In an effort to un-abandon my fics, I'm doing a chapter of this because I'm in a somewhat comedic mood. It's hard to go back to writing a fic I haven't done in awhile! But I want to get stories finished, and this one only has about two chapters left after this one. I seem to recall promising to ntrophi awhile ago that I'd include Major Boyer in here. Something about a zombie queen? Just to warn you, this chapter's a tad bit twisted. I wonder what I was thinking when I plotted this out so long ago?

ZOMBIE LOVE

Part Three

Braaaaaaains…

The readouts on the monitor were peculiar; judging by the vital signs, the catatonic Ryan Whittaker was a healthy specimen. Yet he remained unconscious – oh, and then there was the gaping hole in his chest that, oddly, was neither bleeding nor showing any sign of healing. Aki's brow furrowed in confusion. According to her predictions, Ryan's body should have been exactly as it had before his spirit had been stolen away, injured, bleeding, but alive. Not like this.

Aki threaded her fingers through Gray's as she watched the monitors. She hadn't taken her hands from him since he'd awoken, feeling that if she let go, he might vanish again. This was going to be a problem when nature called, but she'd worry about that later. "Is he going to wake up?" Gray asked.

She frowned. Had Ryan's vitals matched those of a man in his condition, she would have told Gray that no, he probably wasn't going to awaken yet, but he'd be stable until they got him to the hospital. But he seemed so… normal. Breathing evenly, as if there wasn't a hole in one of his lungs. His vitals resembled exactly those of his squad mates when they'd first woken. How could he seem so healthy with a collapsed lung? It was as if his body had compensated upon resurrection, accepting it as the normal condition. Oooohkaaaay…

"We should take him to the hospital," Aki decided. She didn't know how she'd explain this, though, but if she wanted to keep up the charade that they hadn't died, but had just been undergoing treatment, she'd have to act as if Ryan was a normal patient. Even if this wasn't normal.

It was late, past midnight, so there shouldn't have been many people out in the halls. Aki had wheeled Ryan into the corridor and was halfway down the hall before she remembered she'd forgotten Jane and Neil. "The others!" she yelped.

"Others?" Gray repeated.

"Jane and Neil," she said, before she recalled that she hadn't yet thought of a reason that the two of them – and Ryan – were alive and well. Gray had seen the three of them die, and she knew that as soon as he accepted the fact that he wasn't dead, he'd wonder why they weren't, either.

"They're alive too?" His voice was excited at first, but she saw his brow furrow. "How? How are they alive?"

"It's a loooong story," she said, hoping that would suffice until she thought of a feasible explanation. "I don't want to think about it now. Let's just get help for Ryan and go home." She smiled at him sweetly, hoping it would be enough to dispel his suspicion. It didn't quite work, but it did shut him up for now.

"Where are they?"

Aki nodded towards the closed door. "In there."

"You left them alone in a confined space for a prolonged period of time? Good God… they've probably killed each other." Gray trotted over to the door, his stride still a tad unsteady. He flung the door open, revealing the two corporals. From Gray's alarm, Aki had half expected to find Jane with Neil in a stranglehold, but what they saw was worrying for its total lack of violence. Jane was pacing the small area, though she glanced up when she saw them and smiled at Gray. Neil was doing… absolutely nothing. He made no wisecracks, offered his captain no greeting, and in fact didn't even turn to look at them. He seemed to be studying the wall with a blank-eyed stare – and closer inspection showed he didn't even seem to be blinking.

"He's been like this since you left," Jane said. "He hasn't even insulted me! Even when I started throwing spit wads at him." For the first time, Aki noticed the line of white gobs stuck to Neil's back. They'd been precisely tossed in the pattern of a smiley face.

"Neil?" Gray said, waving his hand in front of the corporal's face. No response.

"Neil?" Aki tried. And now Neil finally responded with the fluttering of his eyelashes, and then he turned to face them fully.

"Oh, hey! I was just thinking," the corporal said. "What are we doing now, boss?" he asked Aki.

Boss? Aki wondered. That was peculiar. But she didn't dwell on it. It was probably just Neil's sense of humor kicking in. "We're taking Ryan to the infirmary; he needs to have the wound in his chest checked out."

Neil fell into step behind her, totally ignoring his commanding officer. Jane followed, looking rather unsettled by her confinement with her teammate. It had to be a side effect of his revival, Aki decided. Maybe he was still a little off, but in time, he'd be his normal self. She'd worry about that later. For now, she had to think of an excuse for why Ryan was alive after several days of being presumed dead. And buried.

Maybe she could just leave the gurney at the door to the infirmary, ring the doorbell, and run?

It turned out that the point was moot. In the short time they had left the gurney unattended, Ryan had awoken, climbed off the gurney, and run down the hallway, the sheet trailing around behind him. He made peculiar high-pitched noises that sounded vaguely familiar, and not very Ryan-ish. Or human, for that matter. Aki just stared after him, open mouthed, as he ran straight into a wall, comically smacking into it and sliding downward. He still had a slightly baffled look on his face when the other four caught up to him. Ryan held his hands in front of his face, staring at them wide-eyed, then made that hooting sound again.

"Um… is it my imagination, or does he sound like a Phantom?" Jane asked. Aki blinked. Now that she mentioned it, the noises did sound like a distorted version of a Phantom's cry. Gray leaned forward to help up his sergeant, but the man batted his hand away, his confused look deepening as his hand hit Gray's arm with a solid thwack. He made that strange hooting cry again. Okay… this is weird… Maybe there was a flaw in his revival, perhaps because of his injury. But one out of four isn't bad, is it? Gray's okay, at least. And that was what was important.

"Do you think the doctors will be able to help him?" Gray asked as Ryan again shied away from his touch.

Suddenly, it didn't seem like such a good idea to have trained medical personnel checking Ryan over. The wound obviously didn't pain him, his vitals were stable – and how could it be explained that he had come back from the dead thinking he was a Phantom?

"The wound isn't that bad," Aki said frantically. "I can probably stitch it up. Just let me go to the lab and pick up some medical supplies. Here – take my apartment key. Jane knows where I live; she'll show you the way. Take him there, and I'll come as soon as I get the supplies." She turned around and sprinted off to the lab before Gray could ask questions. She had no idea what to say to him right now. Ryan was his best friend; seeing him like this must have been painful.

It took her a few moments to realize that she was being followed. She thought at first Gray was trying to get her alone, so he could question her privately, but then she realized her pursuer was Neil. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I thought you'd need help, boss," he said cheerfully.

"Uh… right," she said slowly. There was something strangely reminiscent of a loyal dog in his attitude. Had Neil always been so eager to please?

Back in the lab, Aki rummaged through the cabinets, searching for medical supplies. Neil hovered around in the background, watching her unblinkingly. She got the impression that if she ordered him to jump off the roof of the building, he'd gladly do it. She wished she'd at least told him to keep watch, however, because just as she crawled inside one spacious cabinet after a package of bandages, an unpleasant voice came from behind her. "Dr. Ross… how interesting to find you in the labs at this hour." Aki jumped, banging her head on the steel cabinet's ceiling. Swearing softly, she backed out and, rubbing the swelling bump on her forehead, she stood to face Major Boyer.

The cold-eyed major had been rumored to be in line for General Hein's position as commander of the New York USMF division, and was pretty high-ranked here in Houston. From his arrogant attitude, one would think he was the highest ranked man in the USMF. "I was just… checking on an experiment," she said. Neil nodded emphatically, his head bobbing so forcefully she thought it was going to fall off.

Boyer arched one eyebrow. He clearly didn't believe her – maybe it had something to do with all the medical paraphernalia scattered over the table – but he decided to humor her. "Since you're here, I need to ask you a few questions. Dr. Sid didn't show up at a Council meeting today. His assistant, Betty, said he wasn't going to be at the lab, but he didn't give a reason. And when she went to look for him, he wasn't at home. Now, I normally wouldn't give a damn about the whereabouts of a scientist, but the Council pressured me to look into it." He heaved a long-suffering sigh, as though he was doing them a great favor. "Did Dr. Sid say anything to you today about something that would keep him from the labs? An appointment, a family emergency, something that would keep him away all day?"

Aki frowned. It wasn't like Dr. Sid to pull something like this; even in an emergency, he always let someone – usually Aki, since she was the closest thing he had to family – know where he was going. "He didn't say anything to me." She tried to remember if her com had had any messages on it when she left, but she didn't think so.

"When was the last time you saw the doctor?"

"Last night. He didn't say anything that made me think he was going to be gone." There was something about the look on Boyer's face that disturbed her; he was hiding something from her.

"Last night…" He seemed to savor the words. "You were here pretty late last night, weren't you?" he asked. "The security recordings showed arrived just after the labs started emptying, and that you didn't leave until almost morning. And that you left with someone who didn't arrive…" He glanced over at Neil, but if he recognized the corporal for who he was, he didn't say anything. "You seem to have had a busy night."

The security cameras! Aki mentally kicked herself. How could I be so stupid! While there weren't any in the labs themselves, they were in the halls, and any comings and goings would have been recorded. It meant Boyer had seen her leave with Jane the previous night, and with the others earlier. And he'd know, if he scrutinized the entire tape, that she hadn't arrived with any of them… If he was really ambitious, he might have seen her arrive with their bodies! And from the look on his face, he'd definitely seen something. "Ah, well…" she said, flustered.

"It's late; you seem too tired to think straight. Go home, Dr. Ross," Boyer said. "But I'd like to speak to you first think in the morning. My office, seven o'clock sharp."

Aki gulped. "Right," she said weakly. He was definitely planning to further review the tapes, otherwise he wouldn't have let her off so easily. He wanted to find something to hold against her… It was no secret that Boyer shared his predecessor's disgust with the scientific community, and he had the power to discredit them. He'd probably love to humiliate the 'savior of the world.'

Boyer turned on his heel and strode away, and Aki turned to gather up her supplies. She didn't want to stay in the lab any longer. She asked Neil to grab a few items, then realized with surprise that he was no longer in the lab. She frowned, wondering where he'd gone. Then she shrugged. She didn't have time to worry about him right now. She gathered up the last of the equipment and left.

XXX

Major Boyer sank into the desk chair, feeling rather smug. Dr. Ross was up to something illegal; he didn't know what yet, but he had the feeling that when he exposed it, she'd lose her credibility, despite all she'd done for the world. Boyer normally wouldn't care about the actions of a scientist, but Aki was one of the few who was a threat to his position. With Phantoms out of the picture, the military control would begin to slip, and soon they'd lose their hold on the world. Scientists and their ideas to save the world would become more useful, displacing the military. It would be irritating, to say the least.

Boyer intended the military to remain the top dog for as long as possible. He just needed to figure out what it was that Dr. Ross had done that he could use to his advantage…

His door creaked open, and Boyer looked up, annoyed. Who would dare enter his office uninvited at this hour? He scowled at the man who had been with Dr. Ross, the thin, pale man who looked vaguely familiar. "I'm not seeing anyone at this time," Boyer snapped. "Get out of here…" he trailed off.

"Corporal Neil Fleming. And you will see me," the man fairly purred. Fleming? Wasn't he one of the soldiers who… "You are planning something bad for my master," he said, crossing the room to place his hands on Boyer's desk. He stared into the major's eyes, and there was something in their depths that unsettled him. "I can't let you do that."

His master? What the hell is he talking about? "If you mean Dr. Ross, I'm merely investigating her activities," he said calmly. "It's quite a coincidence that she's engaged in peculiar nocturnal activities in the lab, and then Dr. Sid suddenly disappears." He wasn't afraid of the corporal's threatening posture; Boyer thought he could snap the thin young man if it came to hand to hand combat – and unlike Fleming, Boyer had a gun within reach, in an open drawer.

"You're right; the two events are tied together," Fleming said calmly. "Dr. Sid was sticking his nose where it didn't belong, so he had to be taken care of." And suddenly he smiled, a wide, mad grin that made Boyer's hackles rise.

"Are you saying that Dr. Ross killed Dr. Sid?" This was much better than Boyer could have hoped for! His hand wrapped around the butt of his gun – scrawny or not, he wasn't going to give Fleming the chance to fight, or escape. If Boyer could just persuade him to say this before the Council…

"No, no… don't be ridiculous! Dr. Ross would never kill Dr. Sid! He's her mentor! Her friend! I'm the one who killed him." There was a fevered gleam in the corporal's eyes. Boyer began to feel the first stirrings of alarm; madness gave a man strength beyond his normal capabilities. "He would have tried to stop my master, and I can't let anything stand in her way. So I killed him. Do you want to know how?"

There was a com device next to the gun; Boyer tapped out the emergency sequence by feel, then put his hand back on the gun and pulled it into his lap. Fleming leaned forward, until his face was nearly touching Boyer's. The major found he'd already drawn back as far as he could go; he couldn't pull back from that sinister gaze. "I ate his brains," Fleming said confidentially. Boyer brought up his gun, leveling the muzzle with the corporal's temple. "Just like I'm going to eat yours."

When security arrived five minutes later, all they found was a bullet hole in the wall, a pool of blood on Boyer's desk… and chunks of something that looked horribly like gnawed brain tissue…

XXX

Gray and Jane had restrained Ryan by the time Aki arrived at her apartment. She set down her burden, asking, "How is he?"

"Surprisingly strong for someone with a hole in his chest." Gray was massaging something that looked like a bite mark on his arm. "Where's Neil?"

Good question. "I had him go get Dr. Sid," she said quickly. "He's better at this than I am."

Gray accepted her excuse as Aki sorted through the materials. "Anything I can do to help?" he asked.

"No… I should be all right." She eyed Ryan's thrashing form warily. He certainly wasn't acting hurt.

"Mind if I take a shower? I feel… well… unclean." Peculiar phrasing, Aki thought. But then, he'd been dead for a few days; he probably had some mold he needed to wash off.

"Go right ahead." Aki turned her attention to Ryan. She unbound his wound, frowning at what she saw. It looked different than when she'd checked it last. It wasn't healing, it wasn't worse, it didn't seem to be bothering him at all. Aki began to stitch it up, and was half done when she heard a shriek from the direction of the bathroom. She and Jane whirled around, and Gray rushed out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped loosely around his hips. His expression was one of pure panic.

"Aki! It… it fell off!" Gray's voice was strangely shrill.

Aki stared at Gray blankly. "What fell off? Did you break something in the shower? Don't worry, the landlord can repair anything-"

"I don't think he can repair this!" Gray began to unwrap the towel around his waist.

"Oooh, baby, take it off," Jane purred from somewhere behind Aki. Aki shifted position, not wanting to let Jane see.

"What are you doing?" Aki asked. "You shouldn't be doing this here-" The towel slipped down Gray's bare legs, and Aki gaped at what she saw. Or, rather, what she didn't see.

"It just… fell off," Gray repeated weakly, and he wasn't referring to the towel. "Aki… what's wrong with me?"

To Be Continued…