"Alright, everything is packed up. We should be back tomorrow." Bryan was talking to Mei who had just shut the cargo door on his unit.

"Alright, call when you get there. Once you hit the valley you'll lose radio and cell contact, so be careful. Okay?"

"We'll be fine." Bryan said, getting into the driver's seat, looking over at Brea. "Ready to go?"

"All set." She said, fastening her seatbelt.

They were off…

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Brea let off a yawn. Sure, the snowy landscape was pretty, but she wasn't really one for scenery to start with. "We're right in the center of the dead zone." She said, turning to look at their GPS screen.

Bryan flicked a few switches, turning their bar and flashers on.

"Can't see much more than four feet in front of us. This snow is coming down hard."

"We could try the heat vision," Brea offered. "but it won't be of much use in the snow. We'll only see blue."

"Right."

Bryan checked his mirrors again. They had yet to see another car on this frosty patch of road. He was keeping his speed down per the weather conditions, but even so, Bryan doubted that even the ABS breaks would be able to stop them if he needed to stop fast.

"Looks like they're even keeping the military patrols in the garage. I haven't seen one since we left the city."

The small talk was just to pass the time. It would still be another two hours before they would reach the first of four security gates to get into the CFFL complex. The reason for going? They wanted to talk one on one with the team tearing apart Wolf's car and see first hand what they had found.

Bryan sighed, leaning forward again. "I'm about to pull over and see if we can't wait this thing out." Pulling the lukewarm coffee cup from its holder he sighed again. His speed went slightly lower is he put the car into low second gear, hoping it was get his traction up.

No such luck. Instead, everything remained the same.

"Damn it." Brea cursed suddenly, drawing Bryan's attention from the road briefly. "What?"

"Tire spikes are jammed." Bryan looked up just in time to catch a glimpse of the fallen tree.

He hit the brakes.

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"What do you want to eat, Kiddo?" Bill asked as Mei sat in the seat next to him.

Instead of taking her to their favorite and frequent diner, they took her to a family friendly place instead. It was nice and warm inside and the place was buzzing with business.

"Can I get the vegetable wrap?"

"You can have whatever you want." Bill then turned towards Mei. "You seemed worried."

"They should have called half an hour ago." She said, checking her phone for the sixth time within a ten minute block.

"Maybe they ran behind? It is snowing hard out there."

"No… Bryan had that thing planned down to the second. He told me that if they did run behind he would call before they hit the dead zone and again after they left it. He should be through it by now."

She felt Bill's paw grab her hand under the table.

"Then lets hope they are ok because we can't send anyone out there until the storm is over."

"I know." She sighed. "I know."

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Cold. All he could feel was the air seeping in around him and a small trickle of liquid for his forehead. He twitched slightly, seeing that he only pain he felt was nothing more than a dull aching, probably from a bruise.

He shivered slightly, his eyes flying open, look strait ahead at the completely cracked windshield. He groaned, reaching to his side to unhook his seatbelt before checking himself over to make sure he didn't have any broken bones and such.

Other than a small gash in his head, he found nothing wrong with him. He looked to his right, seeing that Brea was still out in her seat. He shifted slightly, moving to push his door open, only to find it jammed. He braced himself against the arm rest, lifting a leg and kicked it, forcing it wide open.

He groaned, going against the ache in his muscles, he limped slightly around the back of the car, getting to Brea's door he pulled it open after some work.

First thing he did was check her pulse. He felt relief wash over him seeing it was still strong. Next he found himself checking for broken bones, lacerations, things of that sort. Wiping a trickle of blood from his eye he kept working.

She was safe - she was alive - she was fine.

He sighed again, moving towards the back of the car, pulling one of the blankets from it he put it over her before trying the radio.

"This is five-five David to dispatch. Officer requesting assistance."

He got static back. He tried it again.

"This is Five-five David! I need assistance! Code three! Officer needs assistance!"

Still more static filtered through. He pulled his phone from his vest pocket, seeing it also had no signal.

"Damn it." He cursed again, trying to see if a flare would penetrate the white blaze, but no such luck.

He pulled the cargo door open, pulling a few more blankets out he secluded the back of the car with them, creating a barrier between the wind from the front, from the untouched - and unbroken - back. Finished he looked to see he still had two small and one large blankets. He set those aside when he heard a grunt coming from the front.

"Brea!"

There was a slight groan before she responded. "Yah?"

"You alright?"

"I think so… man, my head hurts."

He heard her combat boots on the ice as she made her way slowly towards the back of the car.

"What are you doing?"

"Giving what I could figure out, the complex is more than an hour and a half away. Even with all of our endurance training and your fur, it still wouldn't be enough to make it alive. But at the same time, the city is four hours back. No way back there either."

"So we're stuck?"

"Not at all." He said, not turning around to look at her as he kept working.

"So? What's the plan?"

"Radios are down as well as the phones. The car is totaled and the GPS system has no power."

Brea glared at him. "You really suck at giving good news, you know that?"

"I'm not done. With the snow coming down the way it is, there is little of no chance of Military patrols on this road for a while. To top it off, anyone from our department will be hampered by the storm so I doubt they'll try anything either until the snow lets up. We're stuck her."

"Again, not anything in there sounded good."

"Well, thanks to Krystal being a mother, she snuck to the unit before we did. Look, food." He said, holding up a bag. "Better yet, drinks. I've set some stuff up here, we should be fine until the storm passes."

"Are you sure we'll be okay?"

"Yah." He said, taking a step aside; showing her the area he had made.

"Typical male." She scoffed. Bryan just raised an eyebrow. "Not like that." He said, hopping in the back, motioning for her to come in with him. He shut the door behind them. "Come on, military one-oh-one. One must share body head with another soldier when in a situation of extreme cold an no extraction." He said pulled a blanket around the two of them as the huddled in the back of the car.

"You make it sound like you're enjoying this." Brea said, reaching across the car for the medical kit, turning back to him.

"To be honest? I'm not. I'd much rather be sleeping in a bunk right now." He watched her treat the wound on his forehead.

"Yah, yah. Be that way, but all I'm saying is, if it wasn't for the circumstances, this might actually be enjoyable." She stated, putting the kit back and snuggling in next to him.

"Now who's enjoying this?"

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"Alright, now I know something is wrong." Mei shouted, running down the stairs.

"Whoa, wait! What's going on?" Jackie asked, setting her laptop of to the side, standing up.

"I just talked to CFFL, Bryan and Brea never arrived, they are four hours overdue! I'm going out there."

"No you are not!"

"What if something happened? What if they are injured out there!"

"Brea is a tough girl and Bryan is smart. They will be fine for the time being. We will alert General Pepper that they have disappeared. When the storm settles enough they will send out a team. They will be fine Mei."

Mei growled while pacing around the living room, destroying small random things. With a final feral growl, she hit the elevator call switch, heading for the shooting range.

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Brea had managed to drift off to sleep while in the so called comfort of the back of the unit. Meanwhile Bryan was wide awake, completely unable to sleep at all. They had huddled into the back of the unit, keeping close in order to share their body heat.

He had to admit, from that day in the lab where he had found himself taking a bagel from her mouth, to today. Though, lately their close encounters had been come more frequent… if not even close to what others would call flirting…

He had to look down at Brea, fast asleep next to him.

Could it really be?

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4.5 Hours Later

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"The snow has died down. I'm taking off." Mei announced, being quickly followed by Jackie and Bill.

"Alright, hold on. We're coming with you." He called after her, grabbing his jacket and an extra one after the hook for Mei. He had just made it to the car as she put it into drive. She mashed a few buttons on her control panel turning on her tire spikes, lights and siren, speeding off - taking the same route Bryan had planned out for him and Brea.

"Dispatch, this is eight-eight-seven. Show me code three, I'm going out to look for Bryan and Brea."

"Copy, good luck."

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Somewhere in the back of his mind he thought he heard a siren. He just groaned and rolled over, something warm and fuzzy pressed to his back, he just drifted off again.

Bryan would see wish he would have stayed awake. The reason? His team was never going to let him live this down.

Mei slammed on her breaks, skidding sideways slightly. She jumped out of her car and ran for the crashed unit. She looked in the passenger side, seeing that no one was there and no blood was there either, she sighed slightly, looking towards the back, she saw that blankets were pinned up to the roof.

"What the…" She questioned, moving towards the back, she pulled open the cargo door.

"Bill! Jackie! Come over here!" Mei called, not turning from the scene before here.

Only thing Bryan saw when he woke up was Mei staring back at him, and there it was! That dammed smirk!

It took him a minute to come to his senses before quickly shaking Brea awake.

"Uh… hey guys! Good thing you're here."

"Hmmhmm…" Mei mused while Jackie giggled.

Oh yes, he would never live this down.

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They pulled to a stop outside the complex. Brea and Bill immediately covered their noses. "Oh man, this entire place reeks of blood." Brea said, eyes darting around her.

"I don't see why… the place looks normal enough… even if it is completely secluded from the rest of the city." Bill stated, looking around him as well. Not a single soldier was walking the grounds. No patrols, nothing.

He looked back to his left again, seeing Bryan jogging off towards one of the military trucks.

They met him at the truck, he seemed to be staring at something in the truck. It was charred black, almost like it had been burnt from the inside out.

"What is that?" Jackie asked, staring at it in horror.

"It's a burnt body… but… my god… it appears to have been ripped apart before it burnt…" Bill was horrified at the sight of such acts, and this, really had him going.

"Man… this is not good. In all my years in the service… I'm never seen anything like this before. Its gruesome… even to me." Bryan stuttered a few times during the sentence, thus making his point even more apparent.

"What do you want to do boss? Should we head into the complex and see what's going on? Or should we retreat?" Jackie was reaching for her weapon as she spoke while Mei was jogging back towards the unit to grab what M4s that had put away.

"We'll enter, see what's up. If it seems like we're over our heads, we'll call in the military."

Bryan grabbed one of the M4s, running for the main entrance. Before he hit it he looked off to his right. A bright flash of red had caught his attention. He turned the corner, seeing two large vehicles sitting there.

He read off the side of them, four large letters glared at him in their bold white off the navy blue.

"FEAR." He whispered aloud, just as Bill came up behind him.

"Something is going on… FEAR is a military branch few of us really know that much about. I can tell you, however, it stands for First Encounter Assault Recon. Few years back, couple places got hit by things… unworldly by our standards. Security tapes showed spirits, ghosts, demons even - attacking people and places. Chances are, they're here because of something bad."

"Alright… but me and Brea have been blocking the main entrance since yesterday. And if what Mei says pans out - then how did they get here?"

"We can figure all that out later. Lets get inside, see what we are dealing with."

They had busted down the main entrance, clearing the first four hallways. Bodies were laying about everywhere. Some had the same gruesome effect like the one in the truck outside, a lucky few seemed to have been shot.

When they had entered the building, it had been warm. But now, they could each see their own breath. This added to the eerie affect of the place as it was. Blood was everywhere. It painted the walls with its respective species' color.

Jackie stopped suddenly, freezing completely in her movements. She was looking at a glass surface. Bryan backtracked to see what had caught her attention.

He stopped in shock as well. In the mirror just behind Jackie's image was another one. The black fur and ravage red eyes were staring at them. Right at them without any compassion what so ever.

"Police! Let me see your hands!" Jackie suddenly yelled, aiming her pistol at it. Feeling foolish for aiming at a mirror, Bryan did the same for support. The others soon caught up.

That thing was grinning at them now as its blood claws were now apparent.

"Hold your fire." Bryan called, watching it closely.

The thing disappeared as it allowed the mirror to play back the last moments of the FEAR team. Just at it ended, there was a low growl heard by them all, as something threw them down the hall, and out the door, slamming it shut behind them, blood dripping down from the top frame.

Jackie got to her feet before jolting to the side, throwing up anything she had eaten before their trip.

Brea just layed in the snow, looking strait up to the sky. Mei was taking deep breaths, trying to avoid the same ordeal Jackie just had, while Bill was the first back to his feet, trying to shake the images off as best he could.

Bryan had gotten onto all fours, crawling over to Brea.

"Hey, you alright?" He asked, giving her a few slaps on her cheek.

"I felt… I felt all their pain… their fear… they were scared to death Bryan… they had seen many things, but this… my god." She gasped before the tears came clinging onto him for what she thought would be sweet salvation.

"What are our orders?" Mei asked, staring back at the door, blood still seeping down it.

"Well something really, really doesn't want us in there. Best we can do is alert General Pepper… we just simply aren't equipped to handle this situation."

Bill was helping Jackie back to her feet while Mei followed close behind. Brea still refused to move, so Bryan had to sling his rifle over his shoulder, picking her up bridal style and carrying her back to the car.

It would be a long ride home.

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Back at the house, Bryan set Brea down in her bed, taking a step back. The girl was still shivering from fear. This had really gotten to her.

Bryan heard footsteps coming down the hall, he turned around just in time to see Krystal come into the room.

"Oh, my." She gasped, nearly pushing Bryan out of the way to get to Brea.

"You have seen something horrific… even for you." Krystal said, placing a paw on her forehead. "Oh my… I see now… you felt their pain… you poor baby…" She closed her eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath through the nose, before quickly leaning over the bed to throw up in the trash by the side.

Krystal leaned back up, taking another deep breath. "I've healed what I can… but I fear she many carry a scar forever." She whispered, shaking her head slightly.

"What did you do?" Bryan took a step forward, looking over Krystal's shoulder.

"I erased some of the images from her mind… but a few of them got too deep into her mind. Only time will heal those."

"Thanks." He offered, about to follow the blue vixen out of the room before he heard Brea called out to him.

"No… don't leave me here… please…"

He turned around, seeing tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

He was back at her side, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Just stay here… I don't want to be alone."

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"I cannot put her on active duty like that. She's too emotionally unstable." Bryan was talking to everyone else in the living room. He had waiting for Brea to fall asleep before calling a meeting with them.

"She saw the same things we saw… why is it affecting her the most? I always figured she was stronger than the rest of us." Mei was still trying to figure out what was going on herself.

"Death… should one ever return from it, they will fear its forms. Today… Brea came face to face with what she was fearing all along. From Kasey's death, to Brea's resurrection, she has yet to have to face the gate master herself. Today… she was forced to see him in his most hideous form." Krystal was right at home in her area of expertise. Life, death, and the circle in between was what she knew better than anyone else in that room.

"Gate master?" Falco asked, folding his arms over his chest.

"Yes. The gate master is the keeper of the keys to heaven and hell. From what I have been able to gather from her memories… you all saw his hell form. Its very rare for his hell form to appear to anyone. Though… I've been told that it comes before great losses are about to happen."

"So what? He predicts the apocalypse?" Fox asked, looking over to his mate.

"Something to that affect. Though, I have to admit, this is something new. He's never been known to actually interact, touch, the living. Never mind killing or taking over something before. This leads me to believe something is very wrong…"

"Really?" Jackie scoffed. "What was your first clue?"

Krystal ignored the comment, even if Jackie received several glares from those around her.

"No, you see… the gate keeper is a thing of numbers. He just hates it when they don't match up. He must be very, very angry to do what he has done… which can lead me to believe that many, many dead have been resurrected… though not to an extent like Brea was."

"Alright… I'll bite. If that's true - then why didn't he get mad when Brea came back? Wouldn't that throw off his numbers?"

"No. Brea was not forcefully brought back, which means that she never passed through his gate, but nearly… sat outside it. If someone were to bring back many, many dead, they would have to pull some from the depths beyond the gate-" Krystal was cut off by Dean.

"Thus seriously pissing off our resident grim reaper. Alright… now what?"

"Well… there is not much we can do. Unfortunately, until Brea gets better, we'll be down a crew member."

"I'm fine!" Brea's voice yelled from the stairway. They all turned to see her standing there, glaring at them. "Never consider me weak."

"We are not saying that you are weak. We are saying that you need some time." Jackie offered, standing to help her down the stairs. Brea shrugged her off.

"What I saw… what I felt… what I know… I can deal with it. I will learn to deal with it."

"And until you do, you will remain here."

"But Bryan I-"

"That's an order, Brea. I won't have you getting killed because you hesitated because you got scared. Until I deem you fit for patrol, you will remain here."

Brea growled, heading back up the stairs. Bryan followed her.

He stopped outside her door, hearing sobbing coming from inside. He stepped in silently, coming up behind her.

"Brea?"

"You don't know how scared I was… seeing things through their eyes… feeling what they felt. And… I keep telling myself that I won't let it affect my job, or me! But… how do you forget something like that?"

She was looking at him in the reflection of her mirror. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she spun to face him, quickly pulling him into an embrace, crying into his bullet proof vest.

"You don't forget it Brea… it's like your first kill… you just need time and you'll be back to normal. I promise you… you'll be fine soon."

He was trying to comfort her, wrapping both his arms around her to add to the attempt.

"I'm scared, Bryan."

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"Sir?"

"Yes… what is it?"

"Well its just… we have finished our testing… it was a complex success."

"Good. Proceed with out plans."
"As you wish."