Wow, lots of response to that last chapter! That's pretty awesome! Thank you all! Hope that you like this one too.

Disclaimer: I don't own FullMetal Alchemist, but I like to pretend that I do, hehe.

Edward's eyes fluttered open the next morning. Al and Roy were still asleep, so he was going to have to wake them up. He had seen someone coming with his spirit senses. Not matter what; he couldn't let them capture Al and Roy.

"Al, Roy, wake up, someone's coming!" he said as he aggressively shook the two men awake.

Al groggily opened his eyes and looked at Edward. Edward realized that his cloak wasn't on right, so he turned his face away from Al and readjusted his cloak. He wasn't going to force Al to have to look at his rotting, decaying face.

"What is it, Brother?" asked Al groggily as he let out a yawn.

"You have to get up and get away. Someone's coming, and they'll be here in a few minutes. You can't let them catch you!"

Al and Roy sat up, rubbed their eyes and yawned, and then stood up and started to try and make their way back into the woods. Their steps were slow, their heads were facing downward, and their eyes were at half-mast. They were just too tired to start the day like this.

Edward placed his hands in the small of their backs and gave them both a push. "You have to get moving NOW! They'll be here soon. Hurry!" He continued to push them both as fast as he could, which wasn't very fast, since he couldn't move his body very quickly. Finally, the two started waking up and moving faster. Edward tried to keep up with them, but couldn't.

"Don't worry about me," said Ed as Al had stopped to try and help Ed catch up. "They can't hurt me, even if they catch me, but they can hurt you. Just go, I'll catch up with you later."

Al was about to object when Roy grabbed his hand and said, "Your brother is right. They can't hurt him. We can't afford to have you get caught, however. We have to go." With that, he pulled Al's hand and led him deep into the ever-darkening forest, with all the trees so close together.

Edward continued to walk as fast as he could, but the forms of his brother and Roy were disappearing in the distance. He could easily keep track of them with his spirit sight, but that didn't help him to get any closer.

Suddenly, he heard something burst through the brush. He turned his head, and saw several military personnel come into sight as they tried to dodge the branches of the giant evergreens. He had to get away, and fast. Was he even capable of running? He could try at least. He picked up the pace, and ran faster than he had before tried in this body. It wasn't a terribly fast pace, but it was the fastest that he could manage.

"I heard something. Over this way, man!" Great. The men knew that he was around here now. He had made too much noise in trying to get away. He tried to predict their moves, so that he could slip out of their sight. His spirit sight helped, but this body was really slowing him down.

He felt the men coming closer. Any second now, they would see him. He readjusted his cloak, and continued running. At least he had been running in a different direction than Roy and Al went. If he got caught, at least he would have thrown them off their trail. Not all was lost.

"There he is, capture him!" The men were right behind him now. Unless he could come up with some magical way of escape, he would be caught any minute. He had to continue to try though. The father he got from Al and Roy, the better the chances for their safety.

Edward's shin caught on a large tree root that stuck above the ground. If only this body wasn't so slow, he could have predicted it. He felt himself falling, so he readjusted his body as best he could so that he could break as few bones as possible. Darn! If only he could just heal when he got injuries, he wouldn't have to strive so hard to protect himself.

He fell to the ground, and the men were instantly upon him. He was surrounded by these people who were all pointing their military rifles at him. He wasn't afraid of getting shot. They couldn't hurt him.

"We have you surrounded," said the man in charge of the group, "Now stand up and show your face, and you won't get hurt."

Edward stood up, but kept his cloak over his head. "You can't hurt me, and you really don't want to see my face."

The men pressed their guns closer to Ed and once again demanded that he show his face. Edward shrugged and pulled down the hood of his cloak. The men let out something that sounded like a combination of a gasp and a scream.

"Who are you?" The leader demanded.

"That information is even more difficult to deal with than the sight of my face," said Edward.

They demanded that he tell them anyway, so he took a deep breath, and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them back up again, he said, "I am Edward Elric, the FullMetal Alchemist."

"You LIE!" screamed the man, "The FullMetal Alchemist died a year ago!"

"Has is been that long?" asked Edward, "One doesn't notice the passage of time in the spiritual realm."

"You are NOT Edward Elric, and you are not dead! Tell us who you really are!"

Edward sighed. The idiot, didn't he knew a zombie when he saw one? No matter, he needed another body anyway, and this man had a high rank.

Ed clapped his hands together, and touched the man's gun, tying it into a knot. He loved doing that, because it made all the onlookers make funny faces.

"That should prove my identity," said Edward, "Now, to prove that I'm dead…" He thrust his hands onto the man's shoulders, closed his eyes, and entered the man's body. Edward's body crumpled into a head at his feet.

"That wasn't actually a zombie," Edward said inside the man's body, since he preferred that this story not spread everywhere. "Someone was just playing a trick on us. Pick up this body and wrap it up. We'll carry it with us until we find the proper place to dispose of it. We can't have nonsense like this runny around rampant."

The men nodded and followed Edward's bidding without a second thought. Good, the cover story was working well enough. They didn't suspect the possession.

(What are you doing in my body?) asked the frantic man.

(I need a living body, and yours suited me just fine,) replied Edward. (Your name and rank are helpful too, as it makes it even easier for me to hide from view while accomplishing my mission.)

(My men will notice something different about my behavior. You'll be found out!)

(And what will they do if they do discover me? They can't prove that it's not you giving them orders. I doubt they would want to face a charge of insubordination.)

"Come men," said Edward, "We must return to Central. I have just received word that our presence is required immediately."

The men under Edward sprang into action without a second thought. Edward watched them bustle about, impressed that he could command people at his age. How old would he have been, had he lived? 21? Yes, he should've celebrated his 21st birthday a few months ago. He sighed. Poor Al had lost his brother at the age of 19, and so had joined the military in the hopes of carrying on Edward's spirit. Ed wanted Al to just move on, and forget about him, but who was he to talk? He couldn't move on even in death, because he was always worrying about what was happening to Al. Weren't you supposed to be able to shed all your earthly cares and concerns when you died? If so, maybe he hadn't fully died yet, because he just couldn't let go.

"We are ready to move, sir!" said one of the men.

"Good work," said Edward. Good work, he thought, I hope that that's what I am doing right now, good work.

That's it for now. Review, and I'll update soon, okay? Yeah! Hehe

P.S. I may or may not be able to update as often as before, now that I finally have a job. We'll see though. I'll be able to update a lot more often though once my electricity is back on. I have a computer at home, just no electricity or internet access. Even if I have electricity without internet, I can at least save time by typing up my stories on the computer instead of writing them by hand, so I should be able to update often after a few weeks' time. Wish me luck on my job, okay?