A/N: Just a heads up, but since she's reverted, 'Yellowjacket' will from now on be referred to as Riley.

Al Drin Hoshizora: Yes, she's back.

MrScourch: She's special because she's the main character... in all seriousness, though, Riley had to spend a portion of the story piecing together her memories before she could finally fully revert. The other, more intelligent Others didn't really spend that much time trying to fully retrieve their memories, even if they did have some recollection of their past.

Korrasami: What?

NexusOscura: Hm. Maybe being a zombie in this world WOULDN'T be all that bad.

I am a burglar: Don't you dare.

Antha1: She hasn't switched sides so much as formed an alliance with both.

Gloyd Orangeboar: Are you psychic?


Nearly twenty minutes, the streets were once again vacant. On the roof of multiple buildings, Others were crowded on top of them building, overlooking the streets. Another portion of them with within the buildings, staring out the windows.

Within the Freak Hideout, all the Freaks were huddled up within the building, many of them holding guns. After the entrance had been demolished in the previous battle, the Freaks had used the armored buses as a way to block the entrance to prevent the ferals from getting through.

Within the buses, the gunners had their guns pointed out of the shattered windows and aimed at the streets, waiting in anticipation for the ferals to show up.

At the higher section of the building, Riley stood with her closest allies, staring at the streets where she knew Sawbones and the freaks would be coming from. Her parents were standing next to her, each of them holding Riley's hand. Behind them, Ghoul and Noose stood with Blackjacket and the other four.

In the same room, the Boss was sitting in a corner, loading one of his guns, when Pale Girl wondered up to him. She glared daggers at him.

The Boss stared up at Pale Girl, his stoic gaze not leaving. "Look, I really understand your pain," He explained to the young girl. "What me and my dad did was wrong. But now, worse things are at stake. The whole city."

Pale Girl's face softened, and the Boss got up. "I was hoping we could put the past behind us, just for tonight," He explained to her. When Pale Girl didn't respond, the Boss handed her one of his guns.

Pale Girl stared at him suspiciously, and hesitantly snatched the gun from him. She then turned away from him and stared out the window overlooking the streets.

As everyone watched, their breathing slowly stopped. Everything went silent.

On the streets, the sound of heavy footsteps began to echo throughout the hideout. As the sounds of deranged cackling filled the ears of everyone present, there was no doubt that the ferals had arrived.


Sawbones stood at the edge of the Freaks area. Behind him were hundreds upon hundreds of ferals, all of them frozen behind him, waiting for him to give the signal.

Sawbones growled, suspicious at the emptiness of the general area. Slowly, he turned to the swarm of ferals before him. Letting out a screech, he aimed an arm down one side of the street. Immediately, a section of the ferals tore down that street. Then, Sawbones pointed his finger towards the opposite street, and another portion of the ferals rushed down that end.

Then, Sawbones pointed at the main street, and the rest of the ferals rushed down the street towards the Freaks hideout.

Instantly, the once silent air was replaced with the sound of deafening screeches as the swarm made itself known. They overturned cars and dove over vehicles as they scrambled towards the large Freak building.

Soon, the Freak building was in sight. As they advanced at a rapid pace, they could see the gunners in the armored buses, their guns facing them. In spite of this, they persisted. After all, the gunners couldn't shoot all of them.

At the top of the Freak building, the Boss rushed to the window next to Yellowjacket. As he saw the swarm fill the streets, he shouted, "Fire!"

Instantly, the gunners began shooting out the broken window and towards the swarm as they scrambled towards the building. The ferals at the front lines were quickly shot and collapsed on the ground, more ferals tripping over their bodies.

In spite this, the ferals persisted, shoving through the cars or jumping over them. As they rushed towards the building, they picked up glass shards or stones and hurled them at the armored buses, some striking the gunners and throwing off their fire.

Within the building, the Freaks watched as the gunners before them tried to hold off the ferals. Margaret stood next to her mother, the two huddled together for comfort.

On the streets outside, blood sprayed on the walls and streets as the ferals continued to rush forwards amidst the gunfire. Though several of them had been wounded or killed by the gunfire, hundreds more came. It soon became plainly obvious that the outnumbered gunners wouldn't be able to hold them off forever.

Suddenly, Riley rushed towards the window, and she raised her hand in the air and shouted, "Now!"

The ferals heard Riley's scream, and they briefly halted their charge to look up at her. It was then that they saw the Others appear at the roof of the buildings surrounding them. Despite their decayed minds, they soon realized that they had been fooled.

Instantly, several Others threw lighters down at the streets. As the lighters landed on the pavement, the streets were set aflame, a wall of fire rising around the ferals. It was then that the ferals realized that the ground below them was drenched in gasoline.

The fire spread across the streets, and the ferals either fled the fire or tried to run through it. Their bodies, lit aflame, rushed towards the hideout and were promptly shot down.

Many of the ferals escaped the fires grasp, and they began to smash through the doors and windows leading to the buildings around the hideout. The ferals started diving through the broken windows and doors and crawled into the building to reach the Others.

Within the buildings, the Others met the ferals and engaged them in battle. Some of the Others hurled televisions, chairs, or other hard objects at the ferals as they swarmed into the buildings. More Others met the ferals in combat, tackling them and grappling with them. They knew the ferals couldn't infect them.

The Others continued to spray tanks of gasoline on the streets to enlarge the fire and force the ferals to retreat. As the fire expanded in size and heat, the ferals began to screech in agony. Despite this, some managed to make it to the armored buses. They rammed into the buses, trying to break into it and then pass through towards the hideout.

The gunners tried to shoot the ferals as the approached, but they couldn't get all of them. A few ferals punched through the walls, and some gunners were grabbed and pulled out of the buses.

As the ferals were now close enough for the gunners to see them, some of them had to stop and gape in awe. The ferals were truly monstrous-looking creatures, covered in wounds and some missing limbs.

The gunners had seen Others before, but even they were horrified by the sheer grotesque of the ferals. Their briefly surprise allowed the ferals to begin to swarm the buses, smashing through the windows and doors. Others climbed over the buses, and began to make their way towards the building.

As the Freaks saw the ferals start to make it to the entrance, they immediately started shooting themselves. The few ferals that made it through were gunned down within moments.

"We're doing it!" Margaret said to her mother in brief joy, gripping her hand. "We're pushing them back!"

However, within moments, the Freaks' joy vanished.


Riley and her friends stared down at the streets, watching as the ferals before them were either burned to death or gunned down. For a moment, she was relieved that they were actually winning. It seemed her plan was working.

Then, she, and everyone else in the room, heard screeching coming from a different section of the streets.

Riley's skin paled, and she slowly looked out the window and towards the street on the right of the building. The others did the same.

She gasped as her fears were confirmed. She saw, on the left and right of the building, more ferals converged down the streets which hadn't been dowsed with gasoline. And they were heading right towards the building.

"Sawbones tricked us!" She said in a panic. "He didn't send all of them to the main street!"

While a few gunners were stationed at the sides of the building, they were quickly overwhelmed by the ferals. Some of the Others on the buildings tried to hurl weapons down at the ferals to keep them away from the hideout, but there were too many.

In seconds, the ferals reached the sides of the building. They began to smash through the windows to gain entry into the building. Others used their claws to climb up the side of the building towards the higher sections.

Slowly, the ferals began to chip away at the armor of the building, and managed to create an entrance.

Then, they spilled into the building.


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