The sound of gunfire continued behind them as they hurried into the safe room, one of the others shouting in agony before Tori slammed the heavy door shut. It was too late to save them, and their spraying bullets was only wasting what precious little they had.

He lay his precious cargo on the ground with her back against the wall at the back of the room, checking to make sure the Hunter that pounced her didn't do too much damage. She looked up at him with dark eyes and a smile that seemed out of place considering the situation. Her skirt was far more tattered than it had been before, and Tori looked down at the blood that stained his hands, seeing it came from several long gashes across her thighs.

He looked up at her with shock in his face, then took her face in his hand firmly, gritting his teeth.

"These are self inflicted." He growled, her head tilting to the side playfully. "Aster!"

"What? You seem so horrified, Tori. I thought it would make me more interesting." She purred to him, Tori jerking his head away when she tried to kiss him. "Doesn't it make me more interesting?"

"No." Tori breathed, standing and backing up a few paces. "No, it doesn't. It just proves how incredibly sick you are."

The memory of her Chesire grin made Tori jerk away in darkness, his movement making Ruby stir in his arms. She made a soft noise but didn't wake, a sigh escaping her as she rubbed her face against his chest and continued sleeping. Tori tried to force himself to relax, but all his muscles were tense and his heart was hammering in his ears. The familiar rage of the infection was starting to well up in him again… a bad sign.

He didn't dare leave Ruby there on her own, he didn't dare offer to take watch unless he could take watch with her, and right now, she was sleeping so sweetly he didn't want to disturb her.

Tori closed his eyes tightly and thought of the lullaby that Ruby had sung him during his coughing fit, the tune and the memory of her voice calming the inner rage enough for him to no longer worry about it getting out of hand. He could hear one of the other boys stirring somewhere in the room and figured it was very early morning, just before the sun rose for the day.

Almost time for them to go.

"Wake up." He whispered close to Ruby's ear, the girl stirring again and letting out another sigh. "Wake up, my beautiful Ruby."

Her pretty blue eyes opened and she looked up at him, frowning ever so slightly.

"It's still dark. I don't wanna…" She mumbled, rubbing her face in his chest again and growling. Tori let out a soft chuckle.

"It's better to get an early start, y'know?" He said, shifting to sit up and letting her stretch out. Tristan was groggily rubbing his eyes across the room, Joey, Aster and Darren were all missing, so Tori figured they were already up.

He stood and reached for his leather jacket, slipping it on after offering Tristan a good morning. Tristan grumbled one in return, the Smoker smirking as he moved out to join the others.

Aster was standing near the door with her gun, her eyes falling on him with a smoldering look as a smile split her features. That was the smile that haunted his dreams…

Tori felt a cold shiver slither up his spine.

The cold band of steel closed around his wrist as Aster put one hand in the center of his chest and pushed him onto the hospital bed, the other end of the handcuff locking around pole across the head of the bed behind him. Tori's eyes widened in shock, but before he could use his other hand to stop her, she put her knee in his gut and locked his other hand onto the pole with a zip strip, at last slapping some duct tape over his mouth so he had no way to stop her.

"Trust me, Tori." She hissed, her purple hair brushing his chest as she leaned down to kiss it. "I'm going to hurt you, and you're going to enjoy it. Then you won't think I'm sick anymore… you'll see things from my point of view."

She straddled his waist and pulled out a small razor blade, leaning over him again. He shuddered and panted for breath when she made the first cut, long and shallow, blood welling up on his stomach as she drew the razor down towards the waistband of his pants.

"You get your jollies torturing people, mind and emotion. I get mine torturing them in body, Tori. And this… well, this is the most fun I've had in years." She drew her tongue over the wound she had just made, Tori squeezing his eyes shut tightly. His skin was crawling, his heart was pounding, his stomach was churning…

"Tori?" Tristan's voice said, bringing him back to the present. "Here man, take it." He was attempting to offer Tori an extra side arm they had found in the room, the Smoker shaking his head firmly and patting his axe.

"I've got all I need." He whispered, turning to look at Ruby when she placed her hand on his arm.

"A'righ'." Tristan shrugged, smiling at him. "You ARE pretty good with that axe o' yours."

"He's had lots of practice." Aster murmured, looking for a long moment at Ruby before turning to open the door. Tori's hand gripped his axe, white knuckled, and he clenched his teeth so hard his jaw creaked, stepping out immediately after Aster to put distance between her and Ruby.

Aster had learned quickly just how to push Tori's buttons. She had learned what issues to press, what things to do to make Tori lose himself, completely drop his guard. She knew exactly how to get him so worked up that there was only one way out.

Tori couldn't be completely sure, but Aster may have even used him to kill two other survivors they had been with. There had been blood everywhere…

But at that time, Tori hadn't cared. At that time, release was his only focus and Aster had helped him reach it, again and again.

He was terrified of her.

If the infection hadn't ravaged their world, he was sure she would have become a different breed of monster, one behind closed doors, hiding in shadows. Here, in this hell on earth, Aster had no reason to hide.

In this world of monsters, Aster was just one more. Perhaps a worse one than the mindless, a smart and manipulative one, but one none the less.

Watching her now, wading into the battle with a cry and using her body to inflict pain and death, Tori felt ill. So he shifted his focus to something that mattered, kept his eyes and his mind on the precious jewel that was his release now, his world.

His world at the end of the world.

…

By the time they made it to the outskirts of the city, they were forced to stop and rest due to Tori's diminishing health. This coughing fit was worse than the one a few days before, leaving the Smoker so exhausted that he requested they set up camp right there and wait to move further in the morning. Ruby stayed with him, singing him a soft lullaby, and Tristan kept vigil over Tori as well, prodding at the fire they had made to keep warm.

Darren was standing watch, leaving Aster to speak to Joey off to the side in relative quiet.

"She's a pretty little thing, isn't she?" She whispered, nodding towards Ruby. Joey frowned up at her, shrugging.

"Prettier than you." The large young man muttered, Aster letting out a husky laugh. "She's got nice eyes. She's a nice girl. She's not a freak like you."

"I bet it's been awhile since you saw a girl like that, huh?"

"What game are you playing now, Aster?" Joey's voice had lowered and Aster felt the tension in the man rising. "If you're trying to tempt me-"

"Maybe I am." Aster interrupted, leaning back on the fence where she was sitting and resting her back against the tree behind her. "Maybe you ought to hear me out. After all, you know the world doesn't work the same way anymore."

"You're not using me to get to Tori. Ruby's not THAT great." Joey said dryly, walking away from her. Aster felt a stab of frustration, a muscle jumping in her jaw as she grit her teeth and watched his retreating back.

She obviously underestimated how smart the giant of a man was, and the miscalculation would be her last. If she wanted this to work, she had to stop being sloppy. Her focus was slipping…

Jumping down from the fence, she wandered towards the guard's booth nearby, making it appear that she was inspecting it for supplies. Darren glanced at her in the darkness and shook his head ever so slightly before turning his attention back to his watch, leaving Aster to gingerly pick up one of the broken pieces of glass from the guard's booth's broken window without being noticed.

She continued around the booth and moved back into the shadows near the fence, turning to look back at the fire and the other members of her 'party' as she selected a good vantage point on the fence. Getting comfortable, she smoothed her free hand over her leg and shivered ever so slightly.

One small cut, that's all she needed right now. One small cut, spilling a few sanguine drops, and she would be able to think clearly. Plan properly.

She was going to make Tori hers no matter what she had to do. She had killed before for him, with him, and the memory sent a thrill through her like nothing else.

Aster would have him even if it meant killing every living thing that stood between them. She had almost made him understand, had almost broke him and shaped him into her personal monster, but at the last second the monster grew a conscience and ran away, leaving her without an outlet for her own dangerous frustrations.

She didn't have an excuse for the rage she felt, couldn't blame it on a sickness. Tori had made it very clear to her in the beginning that she was immune and no matter how hard she tried or what she did to him, he would never be able to change that.

"You should be mine." She whispered, the fire reflecting in her eyes to give them a hungry, feral look.

…

"You're infected." She breathed, their lips still very close together, breath mingling and still slightly heavy from the kiss they had shared. "You didn't tell me you were infected."

"You never asked." He whispered back, one clawed finger brushing a stray lock of purple hair from her face. His other hand rested on her leg, and she offered him a smile that made him think of cats.

"You speak beautiful poetry, dark stranger… but you just proved to me that you can do much better things with that tongue of yours."

"What are you saying?" He asked.

"I'm saying I don't want you to talk anymore."

"I should have killed you when I had the chance."

Tori's voice came through the shadows to Aster long after the others had gone to sleep. They had decided to let Aster take last watch, and by that time, Tori had recovered from his coughing fit.

"Would you have been able to, Tori? With all that's between us?" She was sitting on the fence again with her gun laying across her lap, the smoke from a cigarette curling around her head.

"Got any cigarettes?"

"That's a stupid question…"

"Got any I can have?"

"Things have changed." Tori growled, looking over to make sure Ruby was still alright.

"Hindsight, huh? Think you'd be able to kill me now?" Aster smiled at him when he turned his eyes back to her.

"I would do it right here and now, and I honestly don't think the others would be too fussed." Tori replied, pushing himself to his feet stiffly and moving into the woods to relieve himself. When he returned, Aster had moved from her perch and was standing near the fire, near Ruby, gazing down at her in a pensive fashion.

Tori tensed, his steps becoming a little quicker, and Aster turned to face him as he approached.

"What's she got, huh? What's she got that I don't?" She asked him simply, taking another drag from her cigarette.

"A conscience." Tori replied without missing a beat, taking Aster's arm and moving her away from the sleeping girl. "I don't trust you, Aster."

"I never asked you to."

"Trust me, Tori… I'm going to hurt you, and you're going to like it."

"How long have you been with these boys?" Tori glanced at her as he spoke, seeing that she was taking her time in answering, smoking her cigarette and looking away from him. Before she could answer, however, he let out a soft grunt of amusement. "Not long enough for your tastes, I suppose. Not long enough to try and break them?"

"They're smarter than you."

"They're not sick. They've got control."

"You make poor excuses, Itoria." She turned her dark eyes to him, narrowed them, her mouth twisting slightly. "Poor excuses for what you've done."

"At least I'm trying to find pardon. You've stopped giving a damn about what you've done." Tori's voice dropped lower, into more of a growl.

"That's because I'm not sorry, Itoria." She hissed, tossing the butt of her cigarette into the fire and turning to face him again, stepping a bit closer. "I'm ridding the world of the less worthy. And at one point in time, you were there by my side, helping me."

Tori stared down at her, clenching his trembling hands into fists. His eyes were black, but Aster didn't seem even remotely nervous about this, still smiling up at him.

"You. Used. Me." Tori whispered, Aster stepping a little closer.

"I'll do it again, too." She whispered back, Tori taking in a slow breath. "I'll do it again, Tori. You just watch me."

Darren stirred at that moment, sitting up and looking over at them, so Aster drew away, still smiling, and moved to wake the others. Tori watched her kick Ruby just as she kicked the others, gritting his teeth. His hands clenched so tightly now, his knuckles were white.

…

"You've been sorta distant." Ruby and Tori were walking at the back of the group today, and Ruby spoke very quietly so that only he could hear her. "Clingy… but distant. Is there something you're not telling me?"

"You know better than to ask, Ruby. You're the one who keeps telling people I'll tell them my stories when the time comes." Tori remarked, Ruby's expression a little put out when she looked up at him. "I'm sorry. I don't want to talk about it just yet."

"Will you eventually? I'm really worried about you, Tori." Tori looked away from her, not wanting to utter the biting remarks he caught behind his teeth at the last second, about how he had told her in the first place that they needed to run, how he had told her he wasn't ready to face the ghost of his past that was slowly beginning to torture him into losing himself again. He didn't want to tell her that she never should have fought him.

Somewhere along the line, Tori had lost something. Again.

"I'll tell you when we get away from these people." He whispered to her.

"When will that be? Tori, why can't you just tell them the truth? Then that girl will have nothing to use against you!" Ruby hissed, catching his hand and pulling him to a stop. "You never ASKED to become like this, and they've seen you fight alongside us, rescue us! You killed that Tank when you could have left it to kill them!"

"They might not see it that way, and something tells me they're not as forgiving as you, Ruby." Tori knew he was just making excuses.

He was terrified. Again, terrified. The fear was more gripping than the rage and he didn't know how to deal with it, so he shut it in himself and tried to push it to the back of his mind.

If he played Aster's game, he would get his chance to finish what he shouldn't have ever started.

He just didn't know how to tell Ruby that.

"We shouldn't fall too far behind." Tori murmured, pulling away from Ruby and moving forward again to try and catch up to the others. Ruby paused only a moment before hurrying along, not wanting to get left behind.

Tori glanced behind him to make sure Ruby was alright, then turned his eyes ahead, his footsteps falling a little slower when he noticed Aster was watching them. The dark look in Aster's eyes made him reach behind and take Ruby's hand, pulling her a little more closely to him for protection.

…

"What did you do?!" Tori's howl was terrible, but Aster hardly even flinched, meeting his eyes with a sneer, baring her teeth.

"I didn't like the way you looked at her. I didn't like the way you spoke to her!" The girl shouted in return, the sound of the horde outside almost drowning out their words.

"So you left her for dead?! We needed her help, you do want to escape, don't you?!"

"That's right Tori, shout yourself into one of those fits you keep having! I'm not gonna hold your hand while you attempt to cough your lungs out again!!" Aster let out a yelp when Tori backhanded her, sending her crashing into the wall behind her and sliding to the floor. She remained still for a moment, rather dazed, then she looked up with a blazing expression on her face.

Tori's black eyes bored into hers, and he reached down to pick her up by the front of her shirt, a deep growl escaping his chest.

"Stop doing this to me!" His voice was barely recognizable as something human, his free hand closing over her throat as he slammed her against the wall behind her. "Stop pushing me to this!!"

"But it's so easy." She gasped. "And think of the rewards, Tori. Think of how we're going to solve this problem! Think of it-" She gagged and clawed at his hand as he tightened his grip, his snarling face inches from hers, the feral expression truly making him look like a monster. He continued growling, slowly releasing his grip as her feet scrabbled at the floor, then he seized her hair in his hand and spun her to face the wall, slamming her into it once again.

"Some day… I'm going to kill you. And I won't feel bad about it, Aster. I won't." He hissed in her ear.

Aster's face split into a wicked grin as she heard buckles and zippers undo, the sound of the horde outside becoming nothing more than background noise as Tori took what he wanted, what he needed from her to make the rage go away.

It would have been easy for him to open the door, to go back out into that swarm and kill until he was covered in blood and utterly satiated…

But he was in her control, completely under her thumb despite the fact that he was the one jerking her head back and pressing her hard into the wall as he thrust into her, teeth sinking into the flesh of her shoulder and neck, the growls that escaped him making the whole act that much better.

The feelings that awoke in her from the dream still lingered as they descended the hill to the house by the water the next day, Aster unable to keep the dreamy smile from her face. She had some pretty scars from that night, and she couldn't recall ever screaming so loudly before. The horde hadn't stopped howling at their door until the small hours of the morning…

She turned to walk backwards once they were down the hill, waving the others onwards a little more quickly. Ruby and Tori had taken the rear again, their hushed arguments music to her ears.

Not all was peachy in paradise, it seemed. Perfect.

The house they came to was a little run down looking, probably a really nice place before the infection hit. Now the windows were boarded and there was blood smeared on the front porch and the ground outside. Half of the railings on the deck were broken, and one of the walls had been boarded up, as well as a large section of the roof.

"Cheery." Joey grimaced as he headed up the steps and into the house, Darren standing on the porch to wait until everyone else arrived. Aster also strode in, putting one hand on Joey's far shoulder and tracing her fingers across his back to reach the shoulder nearest to her, the larger young man tensing. She offered him a wicked smile and strode up the stairs, her heavy boots making a hollow noise.

Joey stared after her, then moved to open the door under the stairs, checking for supplies. Outside, Tristan and Darren were shooting a few stray zombies, the former letting out whoops of joy everytime he got a headshot.

Ruby and Tori strayed down to the waters edge to continue their conversation, Tori making sure he was closest to the house so that his back was to it.

Aster moved onto the upper deck and looked around, nodding in approval.

"There are a few bedrooms here, and real beds. We'll take watch shifts, this place should be safe enough to rest a few days." She called down to the others.

"Did you find a radio?" Darren called up to her, the purpled haired girl nodding with a shrug.

"I found one. It's broken, though." She replied. "We might have to take a few days to fix it." She wandered back inside, tossing the screwdriver she held in her hand on the table next to the sparking radio, her smile turning dangerous as she moved back down the stairs.

…

…

…

Author's Note!!

Seems like Aster's got a plan!

Just wanted to note that all the parts in italics are Tori and Aster's memories, just to clear up any confusion y'all might be feeling! Thanks again for reading, I hope you continue to enjoy the story!