Chapter 9: The Night We Met - Part 2

I could feel something crawling around the jacket that Dante suggested I wear over the harness, and something told me it wasn't blood.

A boiling water and alcohol shower would never be enough for this level of disgusting. Not even bleach. Not even a sponge bath in r'ka blood.

X is gonna shit when I tell him all this. God… Paya? Whatever! Language and culture's a fucking mess in my head right now - either way, I can not bring him to a family dinner.

As we approached the main cavern where Kaia and I had originally talked, I saw masses of dark ebony filling the room.

We cannot fuck this up, I thought, Not again.

I took the needle-guard off the injector and put it back in the pouch, looked back at Dante carrying the body, took a breath, and entered.

The Queen was still in the same place, and if the dense crowd in front of her said anything, Xerxes was too. Even from where I stood, I could see the blood around their feet.

"Ah, I see you've returned. How do you feel, Alex? Cat got your tongue would certainly apply, wouldn't it?" She said. "That's how it would be said, isn't it?"

Cat's about to get blown the fuck up, I thought.

"Fuck you," I said. I could hear her chuckle, that deep echo lingering longer than I'd like in my head.

"You still have some fight left in you, I'll give you that." She pointed at the Yautja's body with a bony claw. "Tell me how that will help us, because all I see is future food."

"This here's a bomb - and a big one at that. When we're done clearing the town, there's a good chance the military's gonna come by, maybe go in guns blazing or send in a scout team to do some recon. Either way, when they're dead, they'll blow us like Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"But I can set this thing so it gets a bigger boom. We retreat back into the forests, set it off, and before they even have a chance to bomb it themselves, we'll have already done it. There should be so little left that it'll be impossible to tell what happened or where we went."

She nodded, thinking it over before saying, "And what makes you so sure it would wipe everything out?" I nearly scoffed.

"They're meant to destroy Yautja technology so thoroughly that nothing can be left over. It has to, or why even have a self-destruct function? It'll work and then some on a town with enough oomph."

"Not a bad plan… You've certainly proved your value to us." She practically hummed with satisfaction.

I nodded for far too long, neither of us speaking as an awkward pause filled the room. "Pretty please, with a cherry on top, as a humble request and not a demand, may I see Xerxes?"

She looked annoyed and ready to say no, before pointing and saying, "He's over there, but be quick. They're almost done sharpening and getting ready."

She didn't have to tell me twice. I speedwalked to the small crowd she pointed at, who dispersed and gave me a small path to go through. Nobody tried jumping me this time.

In the center was the familiar alien, sitting cross legged and mulling over his wounds which were no longer bleeding, specifically his remaining tail. He had certainly lost a good amount of blood, a good sized dip in the floor a few feet from him. Smoke drifted casually out of it.

He looked up when he heard me, and I could see his eyes with the blood crusted around his new opening. A beautiful green, almost fluorescent or neon. I could see the physical pain in them, maybe even the emotional, but I was entranced by their beauty.

That was about the only good thing, and even then, it was bittersweet. He had a new set of future scars covering his body all over, his tail blade was missing, and so were some fingers. The dorsal tubes on his back were also heavily mangled or missing entirely. Just two looked okay, or okay enough compared to the others. He had bandages over most of the cuts, the remaining ones already so small they didn't need any.

I wanted to hug him and punch him and scream at him in retaliation for what happened. But I did nothing, the two of us staring at each other for quite a few seconds. And before I knew it, tears were going down my cheeks once more - neither of us breaking eye contact.

"I trusted you…" I said quietly. "Why couldn't you trust me?"

He didn't speak, standing up slowly and carefully, before coming closer and closer. He stopped a foot away from me, looking down at me. I still refused to look away from his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Alex," He said just as quietly.

I launched myself at him, wrapping my arms under his and holding onto him by his shoulders, pressing my face into his neck and breathing. He was certainly taken aback by this, and I guided his hands under my jacket and around my waist, having him feel the pouches and the revolver. He still had dried blood on him that flaked off, but it was more of a weak acid against the jacket than the normal and I just couldn't be bothered by it. At least it didn't touch me.

"It's okay, X. We're still alive and that's pretty fuckin' amazing for today."

"I hurt you…"

"Yeah, well, I'll probably get hurt a lot more as the day goes on - Hell, we probably both will - so don't lose sleep over something that's gonna look real petty compared to later."

"Alex…"

"Think of it like this - if we survive, you'll almost certainly be able to get more than half in," I joked rather darkly. "You got that goin' for ya, focus on that." I could feel a split-second change in his mood that faded just as fast as it came.

"That's not funny at all." I heavily exaggerated a scoff.

"Who the hell would think it was supposed to be funny? I never fuck around when it comes to sex."

"...How are you cracking jokes right now? You suffered through torture and pain and it's like nothing happened."

I backed away to look him in the eye, those words setting something off inside.

"Now that's where you're wrong. Joking beats talking about the real shit, for now at least. And yeah, I went through some shit, and it'll be a cold day in Hell before I talk about it, but I've been through this rodeo for a little over a decade now and it's just another Tuesday at this point. So if poor jokes and swearing a fuck-ton keeps my shit together just that bit longer, then I'll make shitty fucking Holocaust jokes all day if I've gotta, X.

"I'm in an agony I've never experienced before, and not the kind you think. So don't you dare say that nothing's happened to me, because it sure as fuck has." My face was heating up as I spoke, and it was only when I finished that I realized how much of a prick I was acting like again.

"Fuck, I need to chill," I said, backing away, wiping my face and groaning in my hands, "Sorry."

He said nothing, looking off and away at something, probably Kaia. I shivered at the thought that she was watching us still, and I refused to look back at her. I'd get all the chance to look her in the face when she was dying,

"Hey, look at me, please."

His head tilted down, and I could see those beautiful eyes again.

"I'm calm now, I swear, Xerxes."

"You're terrified, we both are. It's okay," He spoke softly, wrapping me in his arms again. I sighed, laying my head on his chest and listening to his heartbeat. The sound was practically deafening in the silence, but I didn't allow myself to feel anything but calm towards it. An eternity of this moment and nothing else would be too short, and as I began to fear the acid was nearly through my jacket, I reluctantly pulled away.

The two of us just stared awkwardly at each other, waiting for the other to speak until I finally said, "Do you trust me?"

That same hesitance as the first time I asked. But this time, he said it with sureness and a curt nod, "Yes. I trust you, Alex."

I nodded as well, and before I was able to say anything more, I heard Kaia's voice boom throughout the cave.

"Alex, time's up," She said, and I turned towards her. "We need to start moving, come over here."

I gave a nod of reassurance to Xerxes, before walking closer to the three-story building. She told me to stop when I was about three yards away, bending down and wrapping two large, bony hands around my frame and lifting me up.

"What are you doing?" I said, fighting to hide the panic in my voice. I was defenseless, my arms pinned to my sides.

"In the event you are defeated and killed, you will not go to waste," She said as I neared eye level with her, "You will be implanted now so that if you do perish, you will be far along enough for the hatchling to survive."

Had I been told this an hour ago, I would've asked, 'Wasn't that what your cronies already did to me?', before figuring that I was gonna get something shoved somewhere where the sun don't shine again.

But now, I knew exactly what she meant. Though I was never on the Prime long enough to learn much about much, Frank and the Bad Bloods we were with that long year taught and even showed me the implantation and birthing process for the r'ka. That was their fast threat to get me to do whatever right then and there.

But I know now what horrible death this will incur, one that I hadn't even thought about the risk of until now, since I figured all the spider-fucks were in some other chamber or something.

She brought my face nearer to hers, a sinister grin spreading on her lips.

"What, are you goin' to do it? I thought you had those small crawly things to do the dirty work for ya."

"They're all gone," She breathed, "All of them did their job and shriveled up, and I've finished laying days ago so I could fight alongside you and everyone else."

I shook furiously, trying to get out. I knew I wouldn't, not in a million years, but it made it seem like I had no other option and that I was completely screwed as I started psyching myself up for the real escape attempt. I was less than a foot away from her now.

"Make it easier on yourself, stop squirming and open your- Oh, why am I being kind?" With the smaller claws close to her chest, she pulled on my chin and nearly pierced my cheeks ripping my mouth open. In a second, her secondary mouth shot down my throat, and I knew it was now or never.

Knowing that it would be much more difficult to affect her, I put as much power into the action as possible, trying to get her to do more than just release one claw from my side, but that was enough. I could feel her surprise turned anger in a split second, but it was in that second that I took the injector out and jabbed her in the neck, pulling the trigger.

The tube down my throat shot back out as I was dropped, Kaia roaring in pain and fury as I screamed falling over twenty feet and landing on my back. The wind got knocked out of me when I landed, every muscle in my back stunned and in pain as I coughed and spat the disgusting foul taste of her saliva out. I was positive I didn't feel her impant me, that I didn't feel anything but saliva go down my gullet, but I couldn't be sure.

She gripped and clawed at her neck, nothing able to take away the pain of her flesh melting around the injection. She stopped when she realized it was impossible to stop now, and as I saw the shadows surrounding me close in, she too reached down lightening fast to snuff out my light.

I reached my hand towards her, pain going down and throughout my body as she stopped just before me. They were all around me, but no longer nearing closer, as they saw their Queen had it under control. I could feel that trickle going down my nose again, her mind overpowering my own and slowly letting her claw descend.

"You think that you can overcome me? You think that you can defeat me? It took you years before you managed to kill Frank, and you didn't even do it - your 'police' did it for you! And only when you let precious little Tony die did you finally put up a fight! Yet you think you can best me?! I've fought things much stronger than a little runt like you, AND I'VE GUTTED THEM ALL!"

I panicked, looking around the room for anything, anything at all. I twisted my head back, seeing them surround Xerxes as he spun in a circle to keep them back. When I turned back to her, I heard them tackle him to the ground, his pained screams ringing in my ears amongst his attacker's roars of carnal pleasure.

I couldn't see Dante with the bomb, and I realized that there was nothing, no-one able to help me. Her claw was dangerously close now, a foot, maybe two away and closing the distance fast.

"I'm going to make it quick for you just to get you out of my side - we'll just have to manage without you. But we're going to continue what we've always done to Xerxes, and then we're going to breed him like Dehta and Pan-G'kuayo and all the rest breeded you, hatchling."

My brain began to hurt worse than a migraine, but when I heard the two Bad Blood's names, I remembered everything. I remembered those cold and terrifying two years on that ship, where I was passed around by five Bad Bloods as payment for saving our asses and teaching Frank how to use most of their technology.

I can't… I can't let Xerxes go through that. More of that…

I won't…

I breathed faster and in short gasps, feeling the pulse build up once more. I put everything I had in forcing her back, struggling and straining and popping every vein in my body out in a moment of desperation and sheer willpower. The burning arcs of pain bore through my head, growing exponentially worse as every second ticked by, and it became hard to see as not tears, but blood, seeped out both eyes and down my cheeks. But it was working, her claw receding back as she struggled to move.

I could see them out of the corners of my blurry red eye coming near now.

"How is this-?" But she never had a chance to finish.

And in a final scream of agony, the pulse went off.

I wiped my crusted eye and opened it, seeing the semi-dried blood on the back of my fist. I wiped my cheek and smeared even more on it. My head throbbed like it was a whisper from exploding.

I must've passed out, I thought. With a groan, I sat up.

Kaia's towering body was still and on its side, a good hunk of meat missing from the side of her neck, shoulder, and head. It wasn't smoking anymore. Her clawed hand that reached for me what felt like seconds before had itself a good chunk as well, holding onto the missing piece from the hole in her side.

Nowhere near as big as I hoped, but what can you do?

On both sides of me was the horde of r'ka less than a step away, all fallen over and unmoving. I got lucky, really lucky.

I tried to mentally speak, a mistake that sent a sharp pain to my head the second I attempted. As I shakily stood up, I tried speaking vocally, which just came out as a mix of moans in different pitches. A sigh escaped me.

Picking up and pocketing the empty injector, I started stepping over each body and outstretched limb as I made my way to the pile holding Xerxes. None moved, even after I stepped on them, and after I dug through and tossed four other bodies on him, I saw his scarred body poking out. I moved two other bodies and grabbed him by the torso, just barely able to lift him on top of the others. The small amount of fresh blood on him didn't help any, and I was lucky I didn't get burned.

I dropped to my knees and pressed my ear against his chest, hoping that he wasn't dead.

Thump thump thump thump…

I gasped and shot back up, thinking, Oh, thank God. You aren't dead. As I finished that thought, I looked around and realized that none of them are likely dead.

We need to get out of here, now.

I started shaking him hard, trying to stir him awake while I unintelligibly told him to wake up.

Ineffective.

Come on, don't make me do it the hard way, X. I don't even know if I can. I lightly slapped him on the side of the head, then second, much harder one. I sighed when neither worked. Son of a bitch.

I got my head near his, staring at his open and unfocused eyes as I got into his head. It was agony, my vision getting blurry when I forced him back to the land of the living. But it worked.

When I could just barely handle the throbbing in my head and could refocus my vision, I saw that Xerxes' eyes were dilated and awake, scanning over my face. I smiled, tapping his shoulder before getting up and offering him a hand.

As he stood up, he spun around in awe at all of the still bodies. I saw him focus on Kaia, and I only knocked him out of his stupor when I tried helping him down the body pile. He stepped carefully, then less so when he realized that nothing short of an explosion would wake them.

Once we were on somewhat solid ground, I spoke moans to show I couldn't vocalize still, before tapping my head and pointing at him while shaking my head. He watched my action, saying nothing, and I feared something else.

Digging a pen out of my pocket, I wrote, I can't hear you, on my palm and showed it to him. His eyes read over it, before looking back at me and leaning forward, like he was trying to get a better signal like he was a radio. My heart hurt when I heard nothing, and I shook my head, looking down at my hand and adding, I want to hear you so much.

He hissed quietly, taking my right hand gently and the pen, writing shakily and sloppy, Okay. He tapped the word before tapping himself and me, before adding, Need to leave.

I looked at him and nodded, the pen back and writing on my left, Need Dante. He read it, looked around quickly, then took my hand and started walking.

I wanted to hold him, to try anything to possibly get him to hear me, to wipe the blood away from his face and bandage his eye, but we couldn't waste any time. Nobody's dead, and we don't need to be around when they decide wake.

I moved fast with him in tow, maybe a bit too fast, but I was not going to squander this opportunity.

Luckily, Dante wasn't far away or deep in the crowd of bodies, and when Alex saw the Yautja body, he broke off and headed for it quickly.

I dragged him out a ways away from the crowd, before dropping down beside him. Everyone wasn't quite asleep, but more in a coma, and likely a temporary and short one, too, but it was still fairly easy waking Dante. He shot up and looked around, seeing all the bodies around us.

"…We are alive? How is this even-" He stopped suddenly, spotting Alex press various buttons on the body's wrist gauntlet. "By the Queen-Mother, he did it… Is he okay?"

"He can't hear us or speak, at all. His tongue should be able to function soon, but it's going to take a while to repair his link to us." I shook my head slowly. "And his eye… What happened back there, Dante?" He sighed.

"He could not stop talking, until one of them had enough and took his tongue. When he retaliated, his eye was next."

"Damn it…"

"Here, hold on." He walked into the crowd of sleeping bodies, getting low and waking one, their head raising slowly. "Are you feeling okay? Do you think you can wake the rest and get them out of here?"

"Yes… I think so," She spoke. She stood slowly as Dante walked back. He stopped beside me, the two of us watching the few good wake up.

"You know, he never did break, though."

"What?" I said, terribly confused at the sudden statement.

"After they had hurt him, when he got back up after they left, the first thing he asked was if we were going to kill Kaia. After I helped him unlock some traumatic memories of his past to figure out the bomb, he cracked, but he never broke. You kept him from breaking, Xerxes. You were the thing he was fighting for this entire time, and he would not delve into madness knowing you would continue to suffer."

"What are you saying, Dante?"

"He is hurting, Xerxes, and the physical wounds are nothing compared to the mental ones. Like I said, he never broke, but he cracked, and I think anymore trauma is going to send hm over the edge, especially now that he does not have to worry about Kaia and you."

"I can handle him; I won't let him give up."

"I hope so, Xerxes," He said, "Don't let each other go, and fight everything that tries to change that."

"We will." Dante started walking off as Alex stopped pressing buttons, writing on his arm now and walking over. "I offered you and him a spot with the rest of us, wherever we go. I do not see him taking it, though you may be able to convince him." Before I could reply, Alex had come over, showing us his arm. It was a little hard to make out over the blood, but it was legible.

Approx. 30 seconds when activated. Is that everyone?

Dante nodded. He wrote one more word.

Ready?

We both nodded, and he turned and ran to the body. Twelve others, out of the three-hundred closer to four, were awake now. I knew others like Dante and I we're here, but I didn't know it was that many. We're the anomaly, we're not supposed to be the way we are, so twelve out of a few hundred was massive.

And it was amazing that we were all leaving, too.

Dante spoke quickly, "Everyone, come on, we need to leave, now!" No one hesitated and few looked back, Dante and the twelve running quickly for the exit.

I sprinted to Alex, seeing his finger hover over a gently flashing button. He looked at me, fear in his eye, and I took his hand. I intertwined our fingers tight, leaving our pointers side by side so that we would both press it. He looked terrified, all of a sudden darting forward and kissing me. It was short, but he was gasping for breath when he pulled away, eyes wide as he nodded. I nodded as well, the two of us looking back on the bomb and pressing the button.

We ran as fast as we could, stepping on arms and legs hard and quick. Alex gripped my hand tight, managing to keep up his pace well enough at my full sprint. I could hear beeping from the center of the room, slowly getting faster, but I didn't focus on that.

We got out of the main cavern fast, running uphill in the hall. Our breaths were hard, the two of us putting everything we had in getting out of here. I could barely hear the beeping, but I knew we had about half our time limit left.

Bodies in the walls on our left and right, none awake but not all dead. I could feel Alex slow at the sight of them, wanting to help them, but they were already doomed and we could do nothing about it, so I pulled him hard and made him keep up.

I could just faintly see it get brighter, my eyes painfully adjusting to it the further we went. I could hear the pouring rain, see it flood down the slippery slope and into the hive. Our running had slowed down at the steepness, the two of us no longer holding onto each other and scrambling up the hill, grabbing fistfulls of hardened resin.

Nearing the top, I saw Dante and the first he woke up at the peak, the two reaching out to pull us up. As they grabbed us, they both started to snarl and hiss, our sister saying, "Watch out!"

The second Alex grabbed her hand, he was tugged back down forcefully. He screamed in pain, and as I got up and over, I helped pull him out. I could see down where we came, seeing that one had woken up and was digging deep into Alex's leg, pulling him down with him.

The other and I each had a hand, and my stomach lurched when I saw him slip from her grip. But it was when he dug at his left side and pulled out his weapon that I saw he had let go, and in a quick movement, he aimed and fired twice, my former brother's body going limp and sliding down the slope with two holes in his skull. We could hear others coming, but we could feel the earth tremble and shake, our time having ran out.

I heaved Alex the rest of the way out, the other and I supporting him as we sprinted the rest of the way. "Go, go, don't stop!" I shouted. The exit was there in its blinding glory, and it wasn't soon enough when I felt the rain hit my body.

We made it an extra five steps before the mouth of the cave exploded and blew us deeper into the woods. I lost Alex, having been separated by the blast before skidding to a stop in the mud on my side. I groaned and hissed softly, looking at the dark sky with a blinding pain that I grew used to quickly.

There was a lingering pain, a phantom of it that didn't truly exist, but that I certainly felt. There was a moment of agony as the hive died, a second of suffering screaming, until all was silent and life was dead. It hurt, but it was nowhere near as painful as it should've been. A massacre had just taken place, one paramount to our survival and many others, and it was frustrating that it didn't hurt more, like life being snuffed out should be painless. It just didn't feel right, especially if we took out the Queen.

We should all be in agony, but we're not; it's the equivalent of a deep scratch - it hurts, but it isn't life ending.

Doesn't matter, I thought, getting up and looking around. Others were like me, getting up slowly and examining the area. I could hear many of them unable to believe we'd made it out - I could hardly believe it myself.

I saw him, not that far from me around a large tree, carefully standing and leaning on the tall plant. He looked at the now collapsed cave and started laughing hard, a loud sound over the rain that had everyone staring at him. It got harder and harder, until it quickly turned into choked sobs that shook his body.

I grabbed him and held him tight, kissing him gently near his ear. Everyone still stared, but no longer was it due to his strange laughter, but in understanding. I could barely hear Dante silently mutter in the background.

"Shed your tears, brother. We all have."

Our crowd of fifteen moved with haste, Xerxes and Dante helping me along. We wanted to get as far away from the cave as possible, and I really didn't care if this was or wasn't the right way home, I just needed to get away at the moment, too. Injuries would be looked over soon - I guess a few others got into scrapes like X did when I was taken away. All of this was told on my arm in terrible handwriting.

After that, I don't know. And honestly, I don't care.

I just did what I could - grit my teeth and kept walking.

My shoes were muddy and waterlogged, my socks soggy and wet, each step slightly sinking into the mud. I held my injured leg behind me like it was broken, feeling the warm blood slowly trickle down to my socks or drip into the mud with the rain. It burned, but it just blended into the general ache over my body.

I started to hum American Pie at some point, and after the fifth time, I got stuck on This'll be the day that I die, looping on that same beat for who knows how long before giving out and stopping where I stood. We had to have been far enough by now, and I just shook my head when they looked at me. I didn't need to check my watch to know we'd been walking for the better part of an hour.

The bandage encasing my tongue felt loose for a bit now, and I pulled it out slowly and carefully. They set me down beneath a tree with a large enough canopy to catch the rain, the hard resin still on my back not making it very comfortable. Xerxes was behind me, letting my head rest on his cross-legged lap. He took my makeshift eyepatch off gently as I felt my pant leg get rolled up. I could see him visibly grimace, his eyes dilating just slightly.

"Jesus, that bad, huh?" I cracked, my voice breaking but not as bad as I would've thought.

He hesitated and shook his head, carefully wiping away the blood on my cheeks. I sighed at the gentle grooming, enjoying the simple feeling of his fingers running over me. Closer to my eye, he reached for a leaf and used that softly.

When he stopped to start making the bandage, I looked down and saw Dante and another tending to my leg. The other, who I believe was the once who tried pulling me out of the cave earlier, was doing what X was doing - using wet leaves to wash the blood off. Dante was making his own bandage, carefully wrapping it around my leg when he was finished. As I said my thanks, Xerxes tapped my shoulder gently, and when I looked up, I saw he was finished and ready to apply his bandage.

"It is going to be a cold day in Hell before we do this again, alright?"

He nodded quickly, ready to put it on. He pulled back my resin-matted hair and placed it on, the material sticking with ease to my skin. The pain was still there on both, but it hurt less by some small margin. He leaned over and gave it a gentle peck of the lips, pulling away and looking me in the eye.

"God, you're sweet. You know that?" He nodded and pecked me on the lips.

"How's your eyes? They've gotta hurt some, don't they?" He nodded again, slowly this time. "Bandage them, please. They're beautiful, but don't keep yourself in pain."

He grabbed my arm, acting like he was writing something, and I handed him the pen. He took it and my arm, and when he finished, it read, Pain tolerable, can't see with bandage, can heal slowly.

"I… Oh. Crap, and only you know the way back. We're heading in the right direction of home, right?"

He nodded.

"And we still have a ways to go, don't we?"

Another nod.

"Well, shit… They are gorgeous at least."

He pecked me again, his thin lips on mine for longer this time.

Others moved about and around us, treating the wounded, keeping watch, or staying close to each other and likely talking. The sky was dark, all the stars hidden by the rain. It sort of made me realize how little I've stopped to even look at them. I was gonna have to make that happen when it was actually clear out, but until then, I focused on the light flashes hidden in the thick gray.

"Those people on the walls, they… They were at the party. I remembered some of their faces, X. I… Jesus, we gave them mercy, right?"

Instead of nodding, he wrote, We did what we could.

I sighed as I spoke, saying, "God, I hope you're right. I really do." A moment of silence passed, and then another, before I continued. "I… I've gotta tell you something, Xerxes."

He tilted his head to the side, certainly interested somewhat.

"Back when Dante was getting me to the bomb, after he freed me, he wanted me and you to come along with him to wherever his new hive's gonna be… He probably told you all of this already, but… I- I can't. I want to so, so bad, X, but I… I have this terrible feeling that if I come with, everyone's going to die. I can't have that on me, I'll go insane if it does.

"But I… I can't make you live in hiding among an unknown-" He stopped me mid sentence with the palm of his hand covering my mouth, leaning in close so that we were face to face. Still having the pen, he looked away to write on me again, but he did not back up or remove his hand. Only after further covering the back of my arm with writing did he pull away his hand.

I intended to go with you before this offer, Alex, and I still do. Wherever that leads us, I don't care, I just want to go with you. You don't have to make me do anything, I'm here for good.

When I looked back at him, he leaned forward and kissed me before I could even say anything, our lips softly wrestling. He had me gasping for breath again when he pulled away, our faces still less than an inch apart.

"…I don't know what to say, X," I breathed, "You're amazing, truly something else. How you deal with my shit is beyond me."

He didn't write anything else, placing the pen in my hand before dragging me up and onto his lap, my back against his warm chest. He wrapped and locked his arms around me, resting his head on my shoulder.

"Shit is gonna be so weird once we get on the road. We'll figure it out, though, I know it."

He placed a single finger on my lips, and when I felt a tug on my brain, I realized what he was doing.

"What, haven't you talked enough? Maybe I want to get a word in edgewise, X," I joked.

He growled low.

"Fine, fine."

The tug got harder and harder as the minutes went by, until it started to hurt. I didn't say anything and kept my cool, until we were about ten minutes in and it had devolved into full-on agony.

"X, you've gotta stop! Fucking Christ it hurts!"

He didn't, and I started gritting my teeth at how much it felt like my head was going to explode. It stayed like that for another minute or two before peaking, my brain feeling like an ice pick was poking around. I groaned quietly in pain, until it started to subside quickly, leaving a dull throb as a reminder. Both of my hands clutched my temples, a small imprint left over from how hard I pressed down on them.

"God… Tell me it worked and that the mental skull-fucking is over with, X, please."

"It was a lot more peaceful when you couldn't speak, I was able to actually think a little." I laughed quietly, more of a chuckle than anything.

"My voice is a fucking lullaby and you know damn well that you love it." I smiled real big when he started laughing, too.

"Ha! You wish! I could screech and roar a symphony better than your 'lullaby' of a voice."

"It's a literal headache to hear your voice, but God am I glad I can hear it now." I sunk back into him and relaxed, the throb still there but gradually lessening in intensity.

"Are you okay?"

"My head hurts and I'm half blind, so it could be better I suppose… But that's not what you meant, is it?"

"No."

"I take it Dante told you about how we were able to figure out the bomb?"

"Yes."

"I'm okay right now, but I'll explain everything later. I just committed genocide and I would really rather just sit here by you, okay?"

"Deal."

A few seconds of silence.

"Actually, let me up for a moment, would you?" He did.

The pain in my leg was still there, but I could definitely walk on it now. I rolled the pant leg down, or at least the tatters that remained, before stretching my limbs and popping my neck, letting out a deep breath.

"Why the hell am I still wearing this?" I said, taking my deadman's jacket off and tossing it off into the darkness. I took the harness off, too, hanging it on a low branch.

I stepped out from the canopy and into the rain, letting it wash off the rotten blood and stink on me. I wiped furiously at anything that felt like it was moving, finding a maggot or another creepy-crawly here and there.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt rough but gentle hands on my shoulders, completely unable to hear Xerxes come up behind me. I could feel him try and dig his claws under the resin on my back carefully, trying to pry it off. Once he got it started, it just peeled off like dead skin in hard chunks that he'd have to pry off again. It hurt and felt sensitive where it came off, like I had a light rash or a thin layer of skin was missing. It felt good nonetheless.

"Thank you, good God that feels so much better," I said, turning to face him. He made to remove the chunks from my hair, and I grabbed his hand in a flash. "Hey, wait now, that stays. I'll have to cut it out, but I'd like to look somewhat normal for whoever's gonna be home. I can just put a hat over it then."

"Hey Alex?"

"Yes?"

"Your eye."

"My… I don't have any scissors."

The blade of his tail came up from behind and dangled over his shoulder, a sinister grin on his face. I slowly took a step back.

"I don't want my hair cut, goddammit."

"Alex."

"You don't even know how to cut hair!"

"Alex…"

"If you're not careful, the lack of hair'll probably kill me!"

"I don't have to read any of your first aid journals to know that's bullshit, Alex."

"X, please!"

"You better be careful, Xerxes, or one day you'll wake up and find out that I put some long-lasting fluorescent pink shit all over you." My hand ran over the roughness of my head now, all the hair missing and only a very short amount of stubble remaining.

At least he kept it even.

"You better be careful or you'll wake up one day and find that you're missing hair from a lot more than just your head."

I couldn't help but gasp at the possibility, before giggling and outright laughing at the idea of me being completely hairless and him being bright pink instead of his dark, dark blue. I was dying laughing, much louder than earlier, though I could hear X giggling with me, too.

And then that stopped dead in its tracks when we both stopped suddenly, the two of us looking at each other seriously. The air seemed to go still as we listened, distant thunder and rainfall masking most sound. Nothing abnormal was heard, not this entire time and not now, but it was like a change in the air.

"You feel it, too?" I said.

"Yes. We need to leave, now." I started for the hanging harness, Xerxes right beside me. "Dante, we need to leave. Alex and I are having a bad feeling about staying any longer."

"We were just about to leave. Everyone is feeling it, not just you," He said.

The second I got to the harness, I dropped it over me and pulled out the revolver. I popped the cylinder in and out with a click real fast, seeing the remaining three rounds. I pulled the hammer back as I brought it up in a one-handed aim, grabbing Xerxes's hand tightly with my other.

"Jesus Christ, I don't need perfect vision to know there's eyes in the dark."

"There's certainly more here. Just stay calm and keep that gun ready."

Didn't have to tell me twice.

We moved slowly, our eyes darting throughout the woods and trees surrounding us. We only made it four steps before Xerxes tackled me to the ground, the blur of r'ka passing me by in the corner of my vision. A groan escaped me at my leg crashing into the ground like that, but it didn't stop me from bringing the gun up and shooting the already charging creature in the head.

The good news was that I only needed to pull it once, a hole in his head kindly making him stumble and fall to the ground.

The bad news was that the gunshot was going to attract unwanted attention.

The worse news was that the flash revealed the unwanted attention was already here and hiding in the dark.

"Shit, c'mon, go, go, go!" I yelled.

The two of us scrambled up, pushing and pulling each other up and sprinting as hard as we could.

We did not hesitate, the two of us running as fast as when we ran out of the cave, hand in hand, I did not let the pain in my leg slow me down any. When we ran through where the group was, I let him go and turned and fired off my last two shots, dropping one in dozens of others.

"They're here! Everyone follow us and don't stop!" I yelled even louder, my throat getting raw.

I didn't even look back to see if they were following us, running shortly behind Xerxes now and trying to catch up.

I looked down briefly to reload, and when I looked back up, I saw him pinned against a tree, struggling against his attacker. I didn't dare stop if any were behind me, and it was all too likely that I could shoot Xerxes by accident. I pushed harder in the mud, gritting my teeth as I went as fast as I could, holstering the gun and pulling out the dagger.

As I quickly closed the gap, I bounded off a fallen tree and drove the dagger into his head, the two of us falling to the ground. The sharp blade had no resistance at all, and as my hand sank into the mud to lessen the impact, I found that half of his head was hanging on by mere tendons and nerves. It sliced so much so fast that all the pressure in his blood was lost, none shooting out and hitting me, though it did try to eat the metal.

Before the momentum of jumping, stabbing, and landing could fully leave me, Xerxes was grabbing me by the back of my arm and getting me to run again. I could hear roars and screeches back the way we came, closer than I'd like to admit. I just wish I could tell if they were our guys' or not.

Either way, they neither got closer nor further.

Fifteen minutes of pure running, ducking, dodging, and weaving between trees, and I had to slow down to catch my breath.

"X," I gasped, "We gotta be getting close, right?" He still gripped onto me and was all but dragging me along for the ride.

"At least another ten minutes. Just keep going!"

"Another-?! Xerxes, I've great stamina, but not as good as y'all's. And I can't get the damn car hotwired in time if they're on our asses like this the whole way there - they'll eat us alive before I even have the steering column opened up!" He finally started slowing down himself, and I started sucking in air deep and fast.

"What do we do then? Fight and hope for the best?"

"Somehow it's even worse than that.

"I need you and all the others to keep them busy. Doesn't have to be fighting, y'all can just lead 'em around, give 'em a tour of some nature or something, fuck if I care."

"They lead them around, I stay with you."

"No dice, love. You know the way back - they don't. Don't argue with me, we gotta do this now."

"Damn you, Alex Danar," He growled. He hugged and kissed me fast. "Go, be quick." We made to start running our separate ways.

"I dunno who's who, just tell some to get with me and keep me covered!" I shouted, the two of us running off.

I could hear two others running beside me in seconds, the three of us going full sprint. I could make the ten minutes without taking another break, I think.

"Y'all got names?" I asked. I didn't have to shout as loud now, most of the horde sounded like it screwed off. Most.

"Taz," He said.

"Maka," She said.

"Taz, Maka, when we get to the house, I need you two to guard the perimeter and make sure nothing comes my way. I've gotta get someone out of the house before we leave, but I'll be as quick as I can."

"We're not wasting more-"

"Taz," Maka interrupted, "He has risked his life to get us free, you can wait if you need to."

He was silent.

"Thank you," I said.

She was silent, too.

By the time I faintly saw the house, the sounds following us were quieter, less in intensity and volume now. It was still there, of course, but better than earlier.

The two broke off, starting up their perimeter as I crept up to my bedroom window. It was unlocked - all of them were, why would you lock them out here? - and I slid it open quietly.

I jumped up and pulled my ass in, carefully stepping on my mattress and onto the floor. The sudden warmth made me shiver some.

Opening up my closet, I put on a long sleeve gray shirt under the harness and a light red jacket over it. Now I just had to hit the garage for some wire strippers.

Shit, there's no way they'd all fit in that tiny car. Maybe my truck, but they'd have to hold out for so long it'd be more worth it if they just ran.

One problem at a time, kid.

I sighed. "Showtime!"

I ripped the door open and let it slam on the wall, hearing her and some guy stop mid-conversation.

"Cassandra, we gotta leave right fucking now!" I shouted, ducking into the bathroom. The mirror looked like a breath away from cracking when I turned the light on.

Even the rain couldn't wash away all that blood.

"A-Alex?" I heard her say.

I shook my head and opened it, grabbing a prescription bottle of painkillers given to me after Frank stabbed me, the bottle never opened. The lid had a 2 written in black, a reminder of how many to take since I tore off anything revealing this as the good, potent shit that it was in hopes that Cassandra wouldn't take any random unmarked pills, which she didn't.

Good thing, too. She could've gotten real fucked up on these if she did.

I had them saved for an emergency all this time, and I was glad I forgot to pack them up with everything else.

I popped the cap and took three, washing it down with the tap and then some before pocketing the bottle as she came in.

"Jesus Christ, kid, what the fuck happened to ya?"

"You need to listen to me," I started, "It's not safe here and we have got to go!"

"We're not going anywhere."

Time stopped. My heart dropped hard.

She did not say a word, and if she was now, I didn't hear her.

All I heard was my crawl of a heartbeat.

I could visibly see the color drain from me in the mirror as I shot out the room.

Down the hall, in the kitchen, was a lone man. A light beard and bloody bandage on his leg stuck out immediately.

And then he turned, facing my way.

No.

I got a good look at him.

No, nonononono...

I felt violently ill.

How…?

The man continued, "Long time no see, Alex."

I stood frozen, the whole world shutting down around me as the fear, and the pain and the loss flooded back to me.

"Don't you miss your dad, son?"

As always, thanks goes to my beta-reader and editor, Incurser. He writes some, too, on here and DeviantArt. Go ahead and give him a gander. Might as well, it's gonna be a very hot minute before the next (and possibly last) chapter is uploaded.