Archive of Our Own

Sean Forge is a man of many secrets and traits.

He has many opinions and takes harsh decisions on a whim. He has committed errors that will haunt him forever, and is committed to fixing things even if he only breaks it more and more in the process.

He lies at the same pace he tells truths, and is used to working alone, even if being alone with himself is one of the things he dreads the most.

And even with all of this there is one thing that he carries burrowed on his chest, like a nail whose hammer lost its aim way too many times.

Sean refuses to believe in death. And like a dog running from his own tail, he lets it dictate his entire life.

“Sean, you are back. What took you so long?” Robert's voice is monotone, almost disinterested. He was hunched over, going through his backpack when Sean came through the hole in the window of the Mcdonalds they were taking shelter in. 

Now all his attention is all on Sean, and for all that his voice couldn't be more detached from his words, but the way he taps nervously on- Sean squints at the object - a flashbang grenade he remembers ransacking from a police station weeks ago - shows him all he needed to know.

He is worried.

“I had to take a weird route back, I-” He glances at the window. “They saw me, I had to run, you know how it is.” Sean shrugs his shoulders, hiding his arm behind his back. His breath is uneven and he indeed looks like he has run a marathon.

Robert raises an eyebrow, his silvery blue eyes dig holes in Sean's soul. He is used to dealing with Sean, he is used to assuming there is always something the man isn't telling him. He looks at the arm he is hiding and then back at the other man's face.

“Did- did they get you?” Robert takes a step back, the mere idea of it triggering his fight or flight mode.

Sean just huffs through his nose, shaking his head and smiling. 

“Me?” He sounds amused. “You know I am better than that, Robert.” He takes his arm out from behind his back, and shows Robert what he was hiding. In his hand he proudly spins a police baton.

Robert immediately relaxes, his eyes sparkle, looking at the weapon, but even so he raises an eyebrow, almost unimpressed. “Did you really miss your old baton so bad you ransacked a police station?”

Sean's smile just gets wider. “Me? Never!” He puts the baton in the between of his pants and belt, and starts patting his pockets, looking for something . “I ransacked a police station and a gas station, you wouldn't believe what I just found.” He takes a pack of gummy bears out of his pocket and throws it at Robert.

The man's eyes sparkle, brighter, he grabs the pack midair, not even looking at it, he meets Sean's smile with one of his own, the gear on his head turning. “Sean does that mean-?”

“Get your bags, Robert. We are getting a car.”

Sean is 14. 

There is something about being 14, and so free of guilt about the things your future self didn't do yet.

He is sitting on the living room's couch, his eyes closed listening to the old radio in the kitchen as it plays a song. It was fast and funny, the radio belongs to his mom, but it's his nanny using it, so the music is different from what he is used to. His nanny was cooking something, he never got to know what.

He is waiting, his mom should already be home. His dad said something about an all nighter at the labs, so he didn't expect to see him that day.

He hears something, the phone rings, the music at the kitchen stops, but the static of it stays, the nanny must have clicked the wrong button, she takes the call.

He hears a clatter, a plate falls in the ground and his head snaps to look at the kitchen door.

His nanny comes out, her eyes are puffy and she clutches the phone with white knuckles.

Sean was always proud of his great memory.

All he can remember from that day was the static of the old radio ringing in his ears, as his nanny hugged him, crying more in that moment than he cried the entire month.

Robert knows how to hotwire a car.

Sean feels very dumb. Because he knows how to do a lot of things, but not how to hotwire a car. You would expect he would be able to, with all the random stuff he knows and studied about, but Sean wasn't ever that into cars, he didn't have time. He knows how to drive, just not whatever type of car black magic Robert is currently doing.

Yes he knows Robert's former job was as a mechanic, yes he will still be salty because Robert knows how to do something he doesn't.

He was sitting in the passenger seat, bored, messing with the radio, when the crappy Dodge Ram pickup – that Robert put his eyes on like a kid unwrapping a gift on christmas night – roared to life.

Sean immediately got serious, if he was bored, now he was alert. The motor was way louder than he imagined It to be. “Robert-”

“-I know.” The blue-eyed man slammed his own door closed. “There is no problem making noise if they can't get us.”

Their bags are in the back, being company to the gallons of gasoline they were able to get from the abandoned gas station. If they take care, this car can serve them for a long time.

He put his hands on the steering wheel, just making sure he was in the right gear, before slamming his foot in the accelerator.

Sean grabbed his bench with white knuckles, as Robert dodged abandoned vehicles and other- more unsavoury things.

He is grinning, Sean can't help but grin too.

“So the plan now is…” Robert starts, his eyes on the road. He drives like someone who spent his entire life wishing they could break traffic laws and were now given the chance.

“Get to the bridge, get out… Eat some goddamn burgers.” Sean completes. All they need to do is to get out, it's all they truly need.

Robert nods. “And fries.” 

“And all the cheese!” Sean is way too excited about it. 

Robert side eyes him. 

The man just raises his hands and smiles sheepishly. “Okay, not all the cheese.”

“I will not carry you.” Robert huffs.

Sean shakes his head, huffing in fake annoyance, going back to messing with the radio. “A man can't even overdose on cheese anymore.”

“As I said, not carrying you.” Robert shakes his head, but the smile on his face says everything.

Sean Forge is 28 and he has the world in his hands.

He is at Forge Labs, it's his place of work, it's a gift from his father directly to him.

Some would call it nepotism. Having your own lab to command right after graduating is no easy feat. Well it is, when your father already owned it.

Sean calls it luck. A blessing, for him and for everyone else.

He knows he will do grand things. He is a man of ambition, charisma and extremely good looks. If you ask him.

Sean Forge, director of the Laboratory Forge of Research and Development, 28 years old freshly graduated from college, first in his class, with the highest grades in his entire state, Wants to fix the oldest illness that affects all living beings.

Some would call it nepotism. Sean calls it his destiny.

Sean never minded living in an island city before. He is used to the smell of saltwater, and even if tourists are annoying, he wouldn’t lie, it made people-watching way more fun.

Well, he didn't mind it before all but one bridge out of the city was blocked. Every gas station was emptied in days, lines of cars trying to get out of there, people in despair and desaray[[disarray]], ransacking any building for food and supplies they could find.

Sean remembers hiding, sleeping in random alleys and dodging the violence , the best he could.

He is still not sure how he survived, of all people, he shouldn't be lucky enough to keep living .

But well, when everyone was gone, he was still there. Walking alone through abandoned streets, just the occasional- to give him company.

To everyone there were two options at the time, you would go to the underground shelters- which or are all full, or wouldn't let Sean in to begin with - or you get out of the city altogether -which Sean doesn't own a car nor does he have anyone who cares enough to bring him with them. So, Sean ended with the third secret option; just keep going, day after day, abandoned building after abandoned building, ransacking what he could, just trying to survive.

It was solitary, it was miserable. But he made it do, and then he found Robert .

Robert who was also alone. Robert who he latched on like the leech he is, disguising himself as a friend, just so he wouldn’t be alone anymore. Robert who is driving both of them out of there.

He is still messing with the damned radio.

“Sean, give up. You are not going to find any radio station, it is all gone.” Robert huffs, his eyes twitch annoyed with the constant static of Sean torturing the old radio.

Sean punches it. “Stupid thing!” And for a second or two they hear music, a twisted old thing that reminds them more of a horror escape house than something to enjoy while traveling in a car, and then it gurgles, almost like a drowning beast, the radio makes a dying sound, turning off for good this time. “GODDAMNIT” He punches it again, but the radio doesn't make  even a peep anymore.

Sean crosses his arms, pouting on his seat. 

Robert just raises an eyebrow at that. “Are you happy now? It was already dead, you just killed it more.”

Sean's eyes flicker to glare, pissed at Robert. He opens and closes his mouth, trying to come up with words that will not escalate in a fist fight with the person driving the car, when his mind comes back blank, he just huffs once more, hitting his head softly against the car's closed window.

“How long until we get to the bridge?” He asks, mumbling against the window glass, sounding defeated.

“One hour, I would guess, I used to do this route before- everything .” Robert says calmly. “All the other bridges were blocked so the z-” Sean turns his head to look at Robert, glaring once more. “-Infected people wouldn't spread to the continent. So we are going to Queen Jamie's bridge on the west side. Last I heard they are doing a good job at filtering the people passing by there.”

Sean hits his head against the window again, he could use some music right now, the silence hurts his ears worse than any static, the motor of the car and the occasional- they pass by, are the only sounds when neither of them are speaking.

“I can't believe it's been almost two months.” Robert comments, breaking the silence, concentrated, dodging abandoned cars on the street.

Sean shakes his head. “It's been longer.” His voice is somber, and matter of factly. Robert raises an eyebrow, looking weirdly at Sean, the man just gestures at the window. “An- illness like this doesn't come out of nowhere. It has to have been going on behind the scenes for some time now.”

Robert huffs. “Do you think someone made the zombie-” Sean glares at him. “Don't look at me like that.” Robert berates him, annoyed with the man's insistence in beating around the bush. “I know you don't like the word, but it's clearly what is happening. You are insinuating that someone made the zombie apocalypse on purpose .” His hands are white holding the steering wheel. “You do understand how this makes everything more terrifying, right?” His voice shakes, Robert for all that he is good at putting on an uncaring front, he sounds scared . “ Someone did this.”

Sean huffs, hugging himself, defensive. He doesn't look at Robert when he says, “Man made? Obviously . There is no way an illness of this type would advance as fast to be able to do what it did without someone noticing, at least some papers would be written before the shit truly hit the fan.” He shakes his head. “On purpose, though? I don't think so. Someone fucked up badly, Robert. Someone did something incredibly stupid and now an entire city is paying the price. But I don't think it was on purpose.”

“People are dying, Sean.” Robert isn't sure why he needs to point it out.

“Don't you say, captain obvious.” Sean rolls his eyes, he sounds uncaring, but his hands shake with the reminder. “There is no fixing the dead, now all we need to focus is getting out of here. The chances someone on the continent is already working on a vaccine aren’t zero .”

“Do you think there is a cure?” Robert asks, breathless.

“For death?” Sean taps his fingers against the door of the car. “Once, I thought so. Nowadays? I think we should be glad for the time we have to live. When something dies-” His head snaps to look at the window again, as they pass two or three infected that were stumbling around the road. “It stays like that, whether we want it or not.”

Robert opens his mouth to retort, his lips are pulled downwards, in an uncomfortable grimace. He is interrupted, his feet hit the brakes when they hear-

BOOM

Something exploded, Sean slams his door open. The urge to look, stronger than any sense of self preservation he may have. The explosion was far from here, but he needs to-

BOOM

“SEAN WHAT IS HAPPENING.” Robert appears at his side, he has a metal pipe on his hand, screaming to be heard with all the noise.

Sean snatches Robert's free hand, not sure if to try to drag him to safety or for the sole human purpose of seeking comfort. He looks around, paranoid, another bomb hits the ground on the other side of the city, and with dread he realizes what in the world is going on.

“They are bombing the shelters.” He isn't sure if he said it out loud or not. His lips move, air leaves his lungs, but everything is drowned by the sound of death that comes in a second wave directly from the sky.

“WHAT?” Robert screams, not being able to hear Sean with all the noise.

“THEY ARE GETTING RID OF US, ROBERT.” His eyes are dry, he feels like he should cry, but despair was always more like a desert than a river. Looking at his best and only friend he can't help but feel like this can't be the end. They have known each other for only two months. He is everything Sean has. This can't be the end of it.

“WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE.” He screams, he doesn't feel like he needed to say it, but Robert nods, looking wide eyed at the building collapsing far away.

Death is man made.

Sean likes to think so at least. He wouldn't be doing what he is doing, if it wasn't the case.

His entire life, he has been working to prove this point.

He shakes another vial, tapping his finger against the glass of the syringe before grabbing his next specimen.

Hope 67 squeaks, being grabbed by the scruff, the rat is old, four years old, in ripe age to fall dead and never wake up again. Sean is quick, but methodical, needle on, put the mix in, and then needle out. The rat is now put in a separated terrarium, for observation.

Death is man made.

Sean observes the old rat exploring its new enclosure.

It has to be. It's the only answer .

As it turns out, it wasn't the end.

Sean is messing with the radio again.

After the explosions- and oh god, who did they anger for them to not even try to save the survivors, killing everyone instead. -He and Robert got back to the same old routine as before. Loot, fight and survive. 

Fortunately they weren't close to any of the shelters, whoever decided to explode everything knew where the shelters were, they had a clear objective when bombing the city. They got out of the rain of death most unscathed, everyone else, though…

Sean doesn't think about it, he tries really hard to not think about a lot of things now.  

Robert is driving them around one of the non destroyed parts of the city. They are trying to find a new base, as it turns out, their Mcdonalds is gone, a pile of rubble, and nothing else, and so is a good part of everything . The bombs were clearly meant to get rid of the infected- and everyone else. 

Whoever stupid person in command that decided to do that, clearly didn't understand the most basic part of this infection.

Death is man made.

The infection festers on death, trying to bring back what is no more. All those bodies of people in the newly collapsed buildings became new chambers of infection, both he and Robert noticed that the amount of infected has increased a lot since. Principally around where the former shelters used to be.

It's bad, saddening, depressing, kinda lonely, but at least he still has Robert.

“You know that if before you didn't manage to make it work, now the chances are even worse right?” Robert says, not taking his eyes off the road.

Sean huffs, punching the old radio before leaning back onto his chair. “We need to find a CD shop, Robert.” 

The other man just raises an eyebrow. “In 2024, in the middle of the literal apocalypse?” He says, incredulous.

Sean crosses his arms, pouting. “It doesn't have a USB entrance, I am working with what I have.” He sounds in pain. “A man can dream.”

“Dream more realistic dreams, Sean.” Robert rolls his eyes, amused.

Sean smirks. “I was never good at that, Robert.” He hunches, back at messing with the radio.

Humans are truly creatures of habit.

Like every single time before, all they hear is static. Robert doesn't even get annoyed anymore, having gotten used to the sound at this point. Sean clicks buttons, and scrolls at the tiny controller, hoping to find something . 

There is a saying, about doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.

The radio crackles, spurging to life in a way it never did before. The audio is bad, but they hear a voice, finally something.

“Hello? Hello? Can someone hear me?” 

Sean freezes, he looks at Robert, this isn't music.

“This is my daily attempt at communication with the main continent.” There is a sigh, the voice sounds tired. “If you can hear me, please send a signal back. This is Sergeant Legundo, resident of Scenario Islands. This is a request for help, there are non-infected people alive on Scenario Islands, we request rescue.” 

Robert and Sean freeze, they didn't heard of any other survivor since before the explosions, Robert holds the steering wheel with white knuckles, now trying to find a safe place to park. They need to hear this and he isn't sure how much he will be able to hear before he crashes the car with how much his hands shake.

“Currently me, and another ex-military, codename Shadow Mech, are living in an improvised shelter on a former residential suburb, at Saint Joy street. Living with us we have three civilians, all proven to be 100% free from the infection. One of them is a tourist from Norway, Kim U. Guy, he came to visit family, and got stuck in this mess, another is- was a minor, Ryan I. Tyler, he turned 18 last week, he said he wanted to join the military, has a good head on his shoulders, he is my neighbor and took shelter with us after his family got infected… The third one is also a resident from the city, born and raised here, Sneve S. McDinglebert, he survived the explosion of the shelters, I helped him patch up his own burning face.” 

There is a pause, it's clear this is a plea for the humanity of whoever is listening.

“I repeat, we ask for rescue. We have enough space for a helicopter to land. I don't know who approved the bombing of the island, but you all fixed nothing . I repeat, there are good people here. Please , most of us don't deserve this.”

The broadcasting ends, the radio gurgles like a dying beast, Sean and Robert look at each other, something heavy leans in the air.

Sean passes a hand through his hair, looking at the deserted street they parked in. “Saint Joy street…”

“Do you- do you want to go there?” Robert's voice is monotone at the point of being flat, he taps his fingers against the steering wheel, looking around, making sure no infected will encroach on their improvised parking spot.

Sean breathes in and out. He isn’t sure why, but Robert always seems to trust him to have a plan.

“Two military, three civilians, one of them is a tourist.” Sean mumbles going over the information. He puts a hand on his face thinking. “Legundo is clearly trying to get rescue, a way out . They bombed the last bridge, the only way out is by the sky or by boat.”

“With this assortment of people, you would think they would be more inclined to actually do that.” Robert points out. “They did mention the fact the tourist is Norwegian, Legundo is probably banking on Norway wanting the guy back.”

Sean snaps his fingers. “He is clearly messing with radio waves, I am not sure if it's incompetence or simple despair, but he did reach our radio, he is trying to get in contact with the continent, it clearly didn't work yet .” He leans his head against the car window. “My mom used to collect radios.” Sean comments, closing his eyes momentarily. “I picked up a lot from her, bet I can help this Legundo guy to get to the right signal.”

Robert hums. “Do you want to go there, Sean?”

He opens his eyes. “I refuse to die here, Robert.”

This is Sean Forge, lead researcher on Forge Labs, the date is xx/xx/2024, this is an audio update on my personal project; Miracle.

Hope 67 has been the most successful specimen yet.

It's been slowly recovering a more juvenile like strength. It's slow, but at the same time way faster than expected.

Its fur is silkier, and it has lost the bald spots it acquired with old age. One of its legs had gone limp before its first dosage, but today I saw it using that leg to climb a hard to reach place on its enclosure. Some X-rays are needed.

Hope hasn't shown any abnormal growth on its body, and its organs still look to be in the right place. 

When compared with scans from Hope 27, and Hope 45, I can finally say that we got rid of the problem that caused the quick deterioration of flesh and organs.

Hope 67 will stay separated from the other Hopes until I can make sure it's truly stable.

Project Miracle is every day looking more like a success.

I will change the world, this is everything humanity ever dreamed of.

End of recording.

They had to park their car some streets far from the location the supposed shelter is. 

The streets are full of holes and cracks, half destroyed buildings fill the place, blocking their most direct path to the shelter.

Robert wanted to try driving on a parallel road, but Sean refused, knowing their gas is limited and they don't have any way of knowing if there is any road that would get them there, walking is the best option .

Robert has a metal pipe in one hand, having the other free in case he needs to reach for the flashbang grenade they stole from an abandoned police car so many weeks ago.

Sean is spinning his police baton, looking paranoid around. 

With their bags, they can't go fast, so the trick is to go slow without making any loud sound.

They saw some infected walking by the other side of the street, but different from how some zombie games may make you believe, the infected aren't that much of a threat. You just need to deal with them carefully, they are mostly blind, so it’s with sound you need to be more careful. The problem is; they are many and when they do notice you, they are fast .

Sean grabs Robert's arm, slowly guiding him to the inside of another destroyed building, using the barely standing walls to escape the line of sight of the infected. 

He can feel Robert’s breath close to his neck, their hands are clammy holding each other, it's hard to not feel fear sneaking around, trying to dodge the walking corpses of what were once people. But for as gruesome that it is, they are used to it, no words are said, as they don't need them to act together in this situation. It's a wonder how Sean knows Robert for only two months, and yet he is already one of the most meaningful relationships Sean ever made in his entire life.

Robert freezes. “ Behind .” He whispers in Sean's ears, who turns, slowly, looking at the lonely infected stumbling through the building they are using to cut the road. 

It's female looking, it wears torn charred clothes and its entire right arm is missing. One of the victims of the explosions.

They fasten their pace, careful to not make a noise. Their backpacks feel suddenly way too heavy and loud shaking on their backs, Robert’s hand is still held tight against Sean's.

Robert hunches, tapping Sean on the back, he grabs a rock and gestures at the infected. Sean takes a sharp breath, but nods, agreeing with the wordless plan.

He throws the rock at the other side of the building, the infected turns, hearing the sound and stumbling blindly in its direction.

Sean tugs Robert's hand, they are not done yet. With the way things are going, their little excursion may drag through the night.

They have to keep going.

Hope 67 is being moved to the main enclosure today. 

Since the beginning of the testing with live specimens we never got such great results, I am very hopeful- ha . For this one.

Right little buddy?

Now to start step two, the Miracle vaccine is supposed to be spread through the skin to skin contact. The moment Hope 67 is put on the enclosure, all the other Hopes can be considered as actively dosed with the vaccine.

I can't wait. I will show everyone, we will do it, we will cure humanity from its biggest illness. 

Forge Labs will be the first research lab to cure death .

“That is barbed wires.” Robert observes, his hand hovers over the fence.

“And this pit was clearly dug recently.” Sean comments.

Robert snorts. “If you can ever call it a pit, we jumped through it with our full bags.” He points out.

The moon is high in the sky, they have been walking through most of the day and now night. This is the place from the transmission.

“It's meant to keep the infected out, not humans.” Sean hums. “I think this is the place the Legundo guy was talking about. Former residential suburb, by the gothic-looking iron fence I would say rich people suburb.” To prove his point he taps his baton against one of the bars, it's solid metal.

Robert raises an eyebrow. “And do you think they circled the entire thing in traps?” He puts his backpack on the floor, probably looking for his tool box.

Sean Shrugs. “If this was made before the explosions? It is very plausible, to the quantity of infected we had before the explosions, this would be enough.” He kneels closing Robert's bag, as the man approaches the fence with pliers.

“Makes sense.” He starts cutting the barbed wire, so as to make a gap for him and Sean to pass. “Most of this disaster can be blamed on the mass hysteria. A bunch of people watching way too many zombie movies and mass evacuating the city ignoring the quarantine alerts.” 

This is a discussion they had before, for all that Sean likes to gaslight himself that this isn’t the zombie apocalypse, he did enjoy their late nights theorizing of where everything went wrong.

Robert grunts, taking the barbed wire off. “Sean, give me a hand here.” He jumps, climbing the metal fence.

Sean is quick to help, dropping Robert's bag, and helping the man to get over it.

“Okay now pass me the bags.” The former engineer asks.

Again Sean is quick to comply, throwing one bag, and then another. And after making sure everything is alright from that side, he jumps, grabbing onto the fence and climbing it with the ease of someone who has done the same thing way too many times.

Robert huffs, raising an eyebrow at Sean's effortless stunt. “I still don't understand why you are so good at breaking and entering of all things. Didn't you say you used to be a white collar worker?” He complains, putting his bag back into his back, and giving Sean his.

The former ‘white collar worker’ just rolls his eyes. “My father always insisted I should do some exercise even if I did end up doing chair warming work.” His smile is nostalgic. “I did Hapkido.”

Robert huffs, amused. “Still doesn't explain the breaking and entering, I remember that time at the department store, there is no parkour-like karate bullshit that would make a man do that unprompted.”

“A man has to have his secrets, Robert.” Sean shoulders him, smiling. “Also it's Hapkido, not Karate, my former master would have your butt for this comment.”

Robert rolls his eyes, kicking Sean in the shin. “Sure, Mr. Miyagi.”

Sean punches him in the arm, smiling. “Asshole.” 

Robert slams his shoulder against Sean. “Idiot.”

Sean grins, he looks like he may put his arm over Robert’s, he freezes instead. Both of them do.

Okay maybe they got a bit distracted with their banter. There was a micro forest around the ‘shelter’ and there was no infected around, so they may have fallen too fast into banter mode. Which can be a mistake in the situation they are currently in.

There is light, a medium sized suburban house pokes through the canopies of the man made forest.

“We’re here?” Robert asks, unsure, his voice is flat again, he squints his eyes, and extends his arm, just to make sure Sean will stop walking for sure.

“I believe so.” Sean puts a hand on Robert's shoulder, they are both nervous. There is a reason both of them were scavenging around and not on the shelters- which ended up exploding , but even so. “Do we know if they will shoot on sight?”

Robert turns his head to glare at him. “Is that an option?” His voice cracks, clearly not expecting that line of thinking.

Sean shrugs. “There are two military men, we just invaded their ‘safe’ shelter, and we live in America. The chance they have guns isn't zero.”

Robert looks like he will burst a vein at Sean's logic. “You go first.” He says, at the same time he goes back to walking, Sean right after him.

“ Be ready to drop the bags and run, they are not worth our lives.” Sean whispers, Robert nods, silently.

A silhouette moves at the window of the house. It's way too dark, but they both see the moment the person realizes they are there.

They freeze, silhouette perfectly still at the window, for a second or two, before closing the curtains. They can hear a slight scuffle. 

Sean eyes as Robert grabs the flashbang. In the same way he has his own secrets to keep, some days Sean wonders what passed on Robert's life for him to be so ready to defend and attack, what made him scavenge on an abandoned city with Sean of all people, instead of seeking proper shelter.

“Halt!” 

Both of their heads snap to look to where the voice came from. On the ceiling of the house, a hooded figure stands. They have a big snipper-like gun on their shoulders.

“Hands up, if you are not a Zombie put your hands up now!”

They shout, Sean freezes at the word zombie, but complies with the order, he had the foreshadowing of putting his batton back into his belt before this. Robert wasn't that lucky, he raises his hands, flash bang and all. Clearly ready to arm and throw it if needed.

The figure on the roof lowers his gun, still holding it, but now a bit less tense.

“This is a private camp!” They shout, making sure they can be heard from their place on the roof. “State your name and what is your business here! Do not approach the house, I repeat, do not approach the house!” 

Sean temptatively puts his arms down. “ Even with a radio, their voices aren't the same. This isn't Legundo. ” He whispers.

Robert follows his lead, putting his arms down, the guy in the roof clearly didn't notice the flashbang grenade. “I bet my car that this is the Shadow guy.”

“Our car, and yeah. He barks orders like a stereotypical military man.” Sean nods, agreeing.

He now moves, just a bit, enough to not make Shadow raise his weapon again, putting himself in between Robert and the house, being the best of the two at projecting his voice, he takes the lead.

“My name is Sean!” He shouts, the figure in the house tilts his head, clearly listening. “And this is Robert, we came here after listening to a radio transmission from a man called Legundo. We are both survivors, and we mean no harm!”

“You got Legs’ recording?!” He sounds surprised, Shadow puts his weapon on his back, crouching on what must be a ladder down from the roof to inside the house. “You two stay there!” He points an accusatory finger all the way from his place on the roof. “I am getting down, Legundo will like to hear it.” And he vanishes inside the house.

Robert looks at Sean, and Sean looks at Robert.

“That's good?” Robert asks, the grenade is back into his pocket, he taps his fingers against it, nervously.

Sean shrugs, eyeing the possible exits of the house. “It's better than being shot on sight.”

Robert kicks him into the shin again. “Stop saying that.” He berates. 

Sean rolls his eyes. “Make me.” His smile is sharp, teasing even in the middle of a nerve wracking situation like this.

The door of the house slams open, from there comes Shadow Mech, the man is wearing a dark hoodie, the sniper is still strapped on his back. Following him comes another man, he is taller than Shadow, his face is covered in plasters, but his two dark eyes look sharply at them, he is carrying a pipe with a knife strapped to its tip, an improvised spear.

Both men stop at a safe distance from them.

“Good God, Shadow. Are you sure they aren't infected? I've seen trash cans that smelled less of death than them.” The bandaged man complained, waving his free hand in front of his face as if to get rid of the smell.

“ Sneve .” Shadow glares at the other man, his voice has a warning tone to it, that makes the other man shut his mouth up even if for a bit.

Sean looks like he may complain, he glares at Sneve ready to argue. Robert puts a hand on his chest, stopping him.

“They cut off the water from most places in the city, we were more worried about surviving than about our smell.” He explains through gritted teeth, it's obvious Robert also didn't like the comment, but he knows they can't afford to fight with them at that moment.

“Baby wipes are a-” Shadow puts a hand over Sneve's mouth, he smiles tensely at Sean and Robert.

“You said you intercepted Legundo’s transmission?” He changes subject, close like this, they can see Shadow has an eyepatch on his right eye.

Sean nods. “On our car radio, we were trying to find a shelter for the night when it started playing.”

“In a car radio.” Shadow looks deadpan at Sean. “You managed to tune into a military level transmission, with a car radio?”

Sean shrugs, and Robert sighs, gesturing at him. “He was messing with that thing for days, I can still hear the static of that radio if I close my eyes.”

Sean glares annoyed at Robert, but holds the words he wanted to say, instead he puts a salesman smile on his face, brushing off Robert's comment. 

”I was a radio hobbyist before the uh- infection. I know some tricks here and there.” He looks at his nails. They are crusty and chipped . “But also your radio is probably not well configured, if you are trying for days and didn't receive an answer yet it's probably some fault of the machine-” He looks up, his brown eyes meet Shadow's singular black almost purple eye. “-or of the operator.”

It's kinda risky to badmouth the skills of someone who looks to be one of the leaders of this ‘camp’, but Sean is an old dog on the innuendos of social games like this. 

They have no reason to take Robert and Sean in, it's a tiny group, they don't know how many resources they have, and if they will be able to feed two more people. Establishing themselves as people who can help, is one of the best ways to go.

“And you can fix the radio?”

Sean jumps, the voice comes from behind, without thinking he grabs his baton and turns, Robert does the same. 

There standing in the shadows, is a man. He is tall, not as tall as Robert or Sneve, but taller than Sean and shadow. He has striking green eyes who squint behind slightly cracked glasses, in the dark they can't say if he is bald or just shaved. He holds an axe with his right hand, and Sean's eyes flicker to look at the handgun strapped on his waist, he probably has more weapons on him that they can't see.

That must be Legundo, the voice is the same.

Sean keeps the smile on his face even if nervous. “Well, yes.” He tilts his head to the side. “As I said, I know how to operate a radio and Robert-” He gestures at his companion. “-is an engineer, if it really is the case of a mechanical fault, he can help.”

Legundo squints, stepping close to the duo. There is something on the man that makes Sean stay on the tip of his toes, but he was never one to be intimidated by others, he puffs his chest and fixes his posture as the military seizes him up.

“Put your weapons down.” Legundo commands. “That includes your grenade.” He briefly glares at Robert. “And your bags, Sneve will carry them inside. I don't have a problem opening our shelter to both of you, but I hope you understand that we do need to check you two for injuries, we can't risk an infection.”

Sean looked ready to argue, he really doesn't like Legundo’s tone. Robert raises an arm to stop him from talking. “We will get our stuff back, right?”

Legundo nods. More than the intimidating figure, he looks tired. “I just want to make sure everyone is safe, we will not steal any of your items. You have my word.”

“It's a pinky promise.” Sneve adds, gleefully, he gestures for them to pass the bags. Robert does as requested, Sean hesitates but does the same.

Sean for all that he hates it, he never was one to discuss with being overly cautious when dealing with stuff like this.

Hope 67 is having a great time. The other hopes accepted its presence without any big fight and all the hopes look to be adapting well to the Miracle vaccine. 

From this bunch only Hope 67 was actively dosaged with the vaccine, but the other hopes look to be also being affected by it.

Hope 70 looks to be stronger than it used to be, and Hope 72 and 73 look to be regaining fur they had lost due to old age.

Hope 69 was blind from both eyes. I am still not sure how, but its cataract receded. 

It needs further testing.

Overall, the Miracle vaccine is a success.

Mom would be proud. I need to tell dad.

They did get their stuff back.

More than that, they received a bed and access to a working shower for the first time in months.

Sean was flabbergasted, there was to be a trick. But no. There they are, in a room that used to be owned by Legundo’s neighbors, Robert and Sean look at each other.

“So, what's the plan?” Robert asks, he is sitting cross-legged on the king-sized bed. 

There are a lot of houses on this ‘camp’ and they could theoretically sleep each in their own room. Legundo offered after all, but at this point both got so used to sleeping where the other can see, that it would be weird to sleep in separate rooms.

Sean looks through the window. “We pass the night, Legundo said we could use the shower.” He sniffs himself, scrunching his nose with the smell. “You can go first.” He looks at Robert, it's the first time he actually stops to take in how dirty and ragged they are, has it been truly only two months? “And tomorrow I will look at Legundo’s radio, if everything is alright we can fix it inside the camp, and he can call for help and everything will be fine and dandy. If not, we will decide what to do when the time comes.”

This is bad.

This is BAD.

Project Miracle was an error, Project Miracle is an error.

Oh God.

I need to destroy this, I need to destroy everything.

Sean wakes up with Robert's feet in his face.

It's weird, he is comfortable, not yet safe, but the safest he has been in- a long time, if he is being honest with himself.

He looks up, and a white ceiling meets his eyes. He looks down and Robert is still a mess of limbs and blankets.

He could stay like that forever, he knows he shouldn't.

“Robert, get out.” He elbows the sleeping man.

Robert jumps from his lying position, startled blue eyes looking around confused by his surroundings. “Sean where-? what?”

Sean grabs his shoulders, just to stop the frantic movement. “At Legundo’s shelter, they gave us a bed. We are safe for now, you can relax. ”

With each word Robert does indeed relax, calming himself before elbowing Sean back. “You are lucky I didn't sleep with a knife this time.”

Sean snorts. “Your trust issues are showing. Robert.”

“Go fuck yourself, Sean.”

Both of them snort at that. Some things never change.

A knock on the door, both of them freeze.

Someone tries the handle, it doesn't budge.“Uh, hello?” A voice comes from the other side of the locked door. Sean's bag sits by it just in case locking it with a key wasn't enough. “My name's Ryan, Legs asked me to call you two for breakfast.”

Neither Sean nor Robert answer, the silence stretches.

“Uhhh-” Ryan sounds awkward and a bit uncomfortable. “We always eat together, so y’all are welcome to join us.” A bit more silence. “It is in the house in front of this one, same layout as this, hard to miss. I will uh- be going.”

“We will come out in five.” Robert says, deciding to take pity on the awkward soul that was sent to fetch them.

“Yeah!” Sean agrees. “We are just-” He looks at how he and Robert are still weirdly spread on the bed. “Doing our morning routine. Yep! We just need some minutes to change.”

More silence.

“...Okay.” You can hear the cogs in Ryan's head spin. “Just don't take too long, Kim has the habit of eating all the eggs.” They hear footsteps as he walks away.

Sean looks at Robert.

“Ready?” He asks, getting up from the bed and stretching, looking at the sun that escaped from the window’s blinds. It's early.

“For social interaction?” Robert asks sarcastically, getting out of bed a bit more slowly, stretching his limbs before rummaging through his bag, looking for a new shirt to put on. “After being stuck with you for two months I am ready for everything.” He snarks.

Sean just smiles looking at Robert. “You love me.” He says, confident.

“In your dreams.” Robert retorts with a lopsided smile on his face.

“Well, a man can dream, Robert.” Sean snorts, the shitty smile never leaving his face.

“Dream more realistic dreams, Sean.” 

At this point this feels like a script.

“I was never good at that, Robert.”

They- they didn't approve of the end of the Project Miracle. 

The higher ups are pushing back, this- this is my life's project, and I just want it to burn .

These things, they are not alive anymore. Oh god. I wanted to disprove death not- this.

The higher ups threatened to pass it to another person in case I dropped it. I- I can't.

I will need to keep working on it. This- this is a bad idea.

For anyone listening; my name is Sean Forge, leader researcher at Forge Labs, and the person responsible for the Project Miracle, for the record, this wasn't the path I wanted this project to took, I will do my best for it to stay contained at the lab, in case it leaks- I am sorry, I tried my best.

It's been one week since Sean and Robert got to the shelter.

Legundo’s camp consists of six houses they repurposed for their own needs. The area is surrounded by an old gothic fence that they filled with traps. It's probably one of the safest places in the island being almost completely free of zombies and far enough from where the bombs hit that everything is mostly intact.

The first house is the one Sean and Robert slept in. It is apparently one they were mostly using for storage. Kim the Norwegian guy used to be the only one to sleep there before both of them joined the group.

The second house and the one in front of them is Sneve and Shadow's house, it's the one they saw on the night they arrived, also where the group reunites to eat their food. They normally rotate who cooks for the day, as Robert and Sean came to discover after being integrated on the group's routine after a day or two.

There is also a tiny pen full of chickens, by Sneve and Shadow's. 

Sean could complain he is getting sick of eating eggs everyday, but it's at least food that is fresh and not rotten, way more than what he used to have on the road with Robert .

The third one is the house which Kim just called, ‘Ryan's parent's house.’ All the doors and windows have wood planks dead bolted to it, and by the occasional growling and creaking coming from it, they can take a wild guess of what is inside.

They don't know a bunch about the other houses. Mostly are locked and abandoned, the group is tiny and they basically exist around the four first houses in the suburb.

There is the fourth house, the one Legundo shares with Ryan, the same one his whole radio system is.

Talking about the radio.

It's been days , Sean has been going over it again and again .

It's a classic military radio, bulky but portable, to be used in camp. Something Legundo kept in his garage from his days in the military. It even has the stereotypical camo job.

“Testing, testing. This is Sean speaking, can someone hear us?” He messes with the radio, changing stations, he even swapped parts, trying to discover what is wrong. Static is all they hear, only the godforsaken static.

Sean slumps on the chair, putting the microphone down. He looks at Legundo, who is looking at him, dejected.

“Nothing. For all that I know about military radios, or any two way radio to be honest , we should be getting something .” Sean passes a hand through his hair, it's frustrating for him to admit he can't do something, principally to Legundo. He may not know the man for long, but it's clear to everyone in the camp that something just didn't click for both of them.

“Who are you trying to contact anyway? Some military base by the coast? The same ones who exploded us or something?” Sean spins in the chair, head hanging by the back of it, now looking upside down at Legundo.

Legundo just raises a hand and pinches his temple, he looks tired. Everyone in this camp looks tired, it's just the current state of spirit when being trapped in this living nightmare.

“No.” Legundo shakes his head. “I don't know who was the idiot who decided to bomb a bunch of innocent civilians, but they are the last people I want to know that there are still civilians on the island.” He slumps in the chair.

“Yet, your broadcast was pretty- uh, general, they could have heard it.” Sean points out, a bit of judgment slips onto his voice.

Legundo glares at him. “I have been trying to contact a buddy of mine, he owns a helicopter. After days with no answer and with cellphone signals out, I tried to broaden it.” He crosses his arms. “Let's be realistic, Sean. We will die if we stay here, the chances someone will rescue us is as big as the chances they will bomb us again.”

Sean crosses his own arms, still spinning on the chair. Maybe it's an act of disrespect and petulancy, not looking directly at Legundo when talking, or maybe he just needs to fidget a bit. “So you are gambling the lives of everyone here?” He looks at his fingers and starts counting. “Shadow, Sneve, Ryan, Kim, me, Robert?” His voice becomes dangerous at the end. “Pray tell, what is the chance they will rescue us?”

Legundo frowns. “Not zero.” He says. It lays flat on their metaphorical table, dangerous in a way Sean knows they are walking in knives. “Same chance they will bomb us again.” Sean looks like he will snark something out, but Legundo raises a hand, shutting him up. “I don't want to fight, Sean.” He glares. “I know what you are doing, and it will not work.”

Sean stops spinning, he looks Legundo in the eyes, now more serious than before. His eyes are dark, his shoulders sag with pure tiredness.

“The radio is busted.” He says without fanfare. “Probably the same thing that blocks cellphone signal is blocking the radio waves of getting out.” He doesn't sound sure. For all that Sean would love to have all the answers, he used to fix old radios to remember his mom, not this. “But tell me, how are you so sure your buddy would get the signal?”

Legundo sighs. He takes Sean's place by the radio and starts messing with it, more out of habit, than hope he will get somewhere. “We served together.” He explains. “Loony who got me this piece of junk after I was forced to retire.” 

Sean doesn't lose the glance Legundo shoots at his left leg, prostheses were never his field, but Sean can admit the military can do a pretty good job at prosthetic limbs. He remembers a time he thought he could cure things like that.

“It wasn't even from my squad, nor his . I have no idea from who he nabbed it from, but we never got into trouble so…” Legundo shrugs, smiling, it's cracked and broken, but not entirely sad, remembering safer times. “He thought it was funny if we had a secret line, instead of talking like normal people, so we used this.” He knocks his fist lightly against the machine. “I know he still has it.”

Sean looks at the radio, and then at Legundo. His mind flies thinking about what they can do, because they can't give up, Sean gave up once and- everything happened.

“Do you think…” His words feel like lead on his mouth, he has an idea, he has a bad idea. “Would you be able to tune with Loony’s radio, even if not with this junk?” He also knocks his fist against the radio.

Legundo looks at Sean, his sharp green eyes try to read him, perhaps if he stares enough he can look directly inside the other man's head without the need of conversation.

“Yes.” He answers slowly. “But you yourself said, the radio is blocked. What is your plan?”

Sean smiles, it's sharp and a bit unhinged. “The old radio tower, the one by the docks.” He puts his hand together, and they shake, a bit jittery. “It's big and close enough to the coast that we would be able to contact him.”

Legundo looks at Sean, his brain processing what the other is proposing before glaring at him. “Do you want to die?” He blurts out, incredulous. “The dock is near one of the shelters they bombed. Everything is destroyed-”

“-Not the tower.” Sean interrupts masking his own nervousness with an unwavering smile. “Me and Robert passed by it a bit after the bombing. We were by car, some streets aways, but the tower is still intact, we can still use it.” He explains.

Legundo doesn't sound convinced. “You are aware what became of the civilians in the collapsed shelters, right?”

Sean grimaced. “Infected, all of them. The pile of corpses became a echo chamber, I am well aware how it works, Legundo .” He glares, biting his own tongue before he says more than he is comfortable with sharing.

“You are not bringing my men to that death trap.” Legundo puts his foot down.

Sean blows a raspberry at him. “Not ‘your men’.” He says with a mocking tone. “Me and you.” He gestures broadly. “The smaller the group the better, we sneak in, do the broadcasting, and then sneak out.” He glares at Legundo. “I am not risking anyone's life if it's not needed to.”

Legundo crosses his arms, but by the way he inclines his head it's clear he is considering it. “You have a car, right?” 

Sean nods. “With enough gas to do the trip without problems.”

“Okay.” Legundo closes his eyes, massaging his temple. “I have a map of the city somewhere. Guide me through the route you think it's the best for us to take, and tomorrow morning we will go out.” He looks at Sean. “Sean. This is an order, you are not allowed to die, am I understood?”

Sean snorts, of all the things for Legundo to demand of him, this is a pretty ironic one. 

Asking for the man that refuses to believe in death to not die.

He could act offended by Legundo blatantly trying to order him around, perhaps escalating it into a verbal spat that would do nothing but use an iron brush on his own naked ego, instead- for the sake of going forward with his idiotic plan -he makes a mock salute, purposely using the wrong arm. 

“Aye-aye captain, I was not planning to, now where is that map?”

It has bitten me, I am not even sure who of the Hopes it was, but one of them has bitten me. This- this isn’t good.

The Hopes- these things can't even be considered alive anymore.

Project Miracle was never supposed to end like this.

I- I need to do some blood testing. I feel fine, no abnormal strength, or any indication that the solution is taking effect on me. But-

I don't want to die.

Death is man made, Sean, take a hold.

I am sorry.

Robert wasn't happy Sean was going without him. Nor was Shadow happy with Legundo and the ‘Suicide mission, what the hell, Legs.’ that both of them decided to embark on, but it takes a fish to understand a pond, and both men were already set on going.

To Sean this is just one more stake for him, he has to be successful, because Robert is waiting for him, because if he isn’t successful everyone at the base will probably die, because he really does want that burger, and because he has yet to properly pay for the consequences of his actions.

Legundo is driving. It's not that Sean doesn't drive, he just prefers to not be the one behind the wheel. It's less stressful.

Instead he is doing something way more productive while letting the man with the prosthetic leg drive.

“Oh my god, I now understand why Robert keeps complaining about static.” Legundo groans out loud, his eyes are glued on the cracked pavement as they get closer to the area they agreed upon parking.

Sean just shrugs, not yet bored of the radio. 

Some would say that doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results is a dumb thing to do. Sean never claimed to be intelligent, with exception of all the times he indeed did.

Sean keeps messing with the buttons, even if not finding good music or any music at all, messing with something is always better than messing with nothing. If you ask Sean at least.

“We are HERE.” Legundo slams his foot in the breaks, parking in their agreed spot. Ready to get out of the car before something in him breaks and he kills the other man instead.

Sean turns off the radio without fanfare, static still rings in their ears way after the radio is dead silent. He looks serious at Legundo, even if the sly smile from having tormented the poor man stays glued on his face. 

“Follow me, do what I do and what I say. I know you are used to being in command, but I know how to sneak in between these things, so just follow my lead.” He practically orders, if it was Robert he wouldn't need to have said anything at all, both used to this drill at this point. 

Sean can admit; he forgot how much you need to talk to make others do what you want. There is a reason project miracle was so understaffed, he was never that good of a team player, even if he wished he was.

Legundo glares at the commanding tone Sean uses, he can't help but look up and down at him. “And what makes you so different from me in that regard, if I may ask? I survived just fine until now.”

Sean just crosses his arms, meeting Legundo's glare with a glare of his own. “You quarantined during the first wave, Legundo, sir.” He says in a mocking tone, bragging almost. “I was homeless. Believe me. I know how to sneak. It was that, or dying .” He shudders at the word.

Legundo looks taken back by that, not sure what to say in answer to that. “Why didn't you go to the shelters?” He can't help but ask.

Sean just shrugs, memories of stumbling drunk on alleyways pass by his head, seeing corpses stumbling through the street and knowing it was his fault, not taking shelter almost like a form of self punishment, seeing how long he would last, he isn’t telling Legundo that.  

“You know how well the shelters turned out to be in the end.” He cracks his knuckles and grabs his backpack, putting his hand on the car's door. “Let's be grateful I didn't go to them. Sneve's face isn't the worst that could have happened and we both know that.”

This is my last recording. 

To whorever poor intern may find my secret log, I am sorry it came to this.

The Miracle solution is currently inactive in my blood system. What happened with the rats apparently doesn't affect human beings. I hope.

I don't trust this. They are contracting more people, I've heard plans that they want to lay me off. 

I CREATED project Miracle, they can't do that. They won't let me stop the project, and now they want to get rid of me? Sorry, I can't let it happen.

If I am going, I will take everything here with me. Since my father- since I lost my connection to the heads of Forge Labs and all its sister labs, everything has been going to hell, this isn't the same place it was when I joined it, so many years ago.

As I said, I am sorry. All I wanted to do was help. Instead, I created a monster, but I will fix it. I promise.

This was Sean Forge, I really hope they change the name of this lab when it's gone.

Sean remembers sneaking through the first wave of infected. They were far less than now. 

But still, he remembers the adrenaline coursing through his veins, the guilt. He remembers seeing the mass panic and evacuation. Propaganda all around the place, asking, begging for people to quarantine, for people to stop being dumb idiots that believe everything is like a zombie movie or something.

After weeks things kinda calmed down, shelters were set in place and the military was slowly evacuating the island.

Sean remembers walking through abandoned streets, ducking around walking corpses, scavenging food and ‘equipment’ day by day, all alone, dull inside, nothing more than a husk, not that different from the putrid corpses walking around. 

He remembers finding Robert. He remembers their uneasy alliance. Two men that couldn't go to the shelter each for their own reasons, Sean was good with not asking questions if Robert did do the same.

He remembers the first time he grabbed Robert's hand, silently guiding him through a market full of infected. He knows how they move, he knows what they can and cannot do. They may not be rats, but he studied this infection long enough to take a bunch of guesses that just ended up being right.

He created the infection, and it lays dormant in his own beating heart.

There is trust to be put there, on his ability to understand the monsters of his own creation. 

When he was younger he thought he would be the one to guide humanity to a better future. Now he knows he will ever be known as the one who ruined everything. 

Dr. Frankenstein never knew his monster well enough. And everyone still thinks the monster is the Frankenstein himself.

Legundo’s hand is clammy against his, it's annoying how familiar and unfamiliar this entire situation is. 

His calluses are different from Robert's, one hand roughed by war and other by fixing cars for days on end. His hand is more squared and his grip is strong, but it's so painfully obvious he is ready to let it go at the drop of a feather. 

He can feel Legundo’s breath against his neck, his body so close he can feel the heat coming from it. Normally Robert runs colder, this is new, one point for Legundo, he would be a better blanket.

He never realized until now, but Legundo’s left leg has a slight creaking to it, he flinches when it creaks a bit more loudly than before. Sean looks around paranoid, no infected is moving in their direction for now, they are safe.

They are currently going through the docks, ducking around containers trying to get to the other side. 

Their plan is simple and straightforward, as simple and straightforward as a Sean Forge's plan can be. 

Legundo parked the car by the remnants of a Denny's some blocks away. They skirted around the area of the explosion, jumping the fence into inside the dock area, which even with some collapsed parts is still stable enough for Sean to feel like they can go through it on foot. Going by this path, they can skip the entire part of the city where one of the infected eco chambers currently resides and go straight to the radio tower.

They hoped that with the metal fence around the dock, perhaps less infected would be there. They aren't that lucky.

Sean stops, gluing his back against a bright blue metal container. Legundo follows his movements as Sean slowly looks over the edge of their improvised hiding spot. He can see the fence they are supposed to jump, he can see the radio tower, looming like a golden fat pig in the distance, he can see a group of almost ten infected all agglomerated on the path they were supposed to take. He needs a distraction , only a rock will not suffice this time, they need something bigger.

His eyes land upon a ladder that is leaning against another container in the opposite direction they need to go and he has a bad idea. 

He turns to Legundo, he looks at the man's prosthetic leg and then at the fence that is so close but so fair at the same time. He saw Legundo climbing one of these, he isn’t slow but he is also not fast enough, not with that quantity of infected around.

“I have a plan.” He whispers directly into Legundo’s ears. There is no shame in proximity when their lives are at risk. “Stay here.” He gestures at their hiding spot. “I will run and distract the infected, wait for me to pass the green rusty container and then I need for you to run okay?” He takes a quick glance at Legundo’s leg. “Don't play the hero, this isn't a sacrifice, I need you to jump that fence, I will meet you on the other side shortly after. Am I understood?”

Maybe there was trust to be put there after all. 

Legundo lets go of his hand, nodding at Sean, he moves his lips, a silent ‘don't die’ being said, knowing any sound is risky, this is all he has to ask.

Sean nods, smiling, he gestures with his fingers, counting 

One

Two

Three

He bolts directly to the green container, slamming his hands onto it, never stopping running. It makes a loud, terrifyingly loud , sound, all the infected in the area turn towards it, some run, some stumble, some drag their barely working corpses with bloodied arms.

Legundo takes his cue, running through a now empty street, jumping on the fence, trusting Sean to just get there , not looking back as he hides, ducking inside a nearby container waiting for the other.

There is trust there, if nothing else.

Sean runs, he probably attracted the attention of all the infected in the area and more. Exactly what he needed . 

Now all he needs is to get to the stairs and then he can- Sean shouts, pain flares on his left arm, without thinking he swings his bat using his right arm, hitting an infected straight in the face.

A child.

For some reason- that Sean never had the time to research -the younger the infected, the faster they are. A seven year old looking corpse just bit him in the arm .

He barely has time to ponder, about how stupid this is, after so long dodging his own creation he gets bitten, just like that, it's over.

He doesn't let his world collapse yet, his body moves without time for thinking as he grabs onto the stair and starts climbing it. Infected can't climb, not like that, but Sean isn't one to take chances. Even if everything feels futile and numb, he feels a surge of strength on his entire being that he knows isn't something good, even if it makes him feel amazing . 

He pushes the stairs, dropping it on the ground, it pins a corpse against the pavement and he couldn't care less . 

Sean doesn't give himself time to think, he starts running again, now jumping and rolling through the dangerous gaps in between containers trying to reach the fence through the high ground, all while corpses stumble on the pavement of the docks, trying to catch a man that is already way too gone, to everyone but himself. 

Blood flows sluggish from his wound, it's a tiny bite, minuscule to a point that you could slap a bandaid there and it probably would look okay, it's the end , he knows Legundo carries a gun, he knows what needs to be done when someone is bitten. Sean needs to go back to Robert, he promised.

He only thinks when he is already at the fence, and god what a dumb thought it is.

By his place so far up, he could just jump from the container, skipping the fence all together and rolling on the grass of the other side to lessen the impact. Instead, he misses it.

He jumps, slamming his injured arm against the sharp side of the fence, being thrown almost like a ragdoll by his own momentum, landing face down in the grass. His arm hurts like a bitch.

He groans out loud, everything hurts, he hears Legundo running in his direction, crouching by his side, mumbling a panicked chant of ‘oh my gods’, while helping him sit down.

He doesn't look at Legundo, instead he looks at his arm. 

It's caked in blood, a long deep gash goes all through it, there is no sign of the bite, there is no way to prove this isn’t the only injury he has sustained. It's perfect.

He looks at Legundo, spitting a piece of grass that got stuck on his tongue and smiling, confident as always.

“I told you I would meet you at the other side.”

“Hello? Hello? Can someone hear me?” 

Legundo starts, at this point it feels like a little ritual, surrounded by darkness, shouting into the void, to ask alone if their lost voices can be heard. But now he isn’t alone, Sean is sitting at his side, arm bandaged up, using Legundo’s blue coat as an improvised sling.

He is also not in the dark, the radio tower has a generator, and an actual door they can lock. Now it's just Legundo, Sean and radio equipment that Legundo barely understands how it works, but Sean guarantees it is doing what it is supposed to be doing. So he trusts it.

“This is my daily attempt at communication with the main continent.” His voice shakes, since Sean and Robert got there it isn't daily anymore, but at this point he needs his little rituals to feel complete. “If you can hear me, please send a signal back. This is Sergeant Legundo, resident of Scenario Islands. This is a request for help, there are non-infected people alive on Scenario Islands, we request rescue.” 

He puts the microphone down momentarily, he looks at Sean who is messing with another radio thingy, he is clearly in pain flinching every time he moves his arm in the wrong way, but he is focused, and Legundo would be a hypocrite if he asked him to take it easy.

He takes the microphone again.

“I repeat, this is Sergeant Legundo and this is a request for help. I currently have sheltered with me; another military, codename Shadow Mech, and five civilians, four locals from the Scenario islands and a Norwegian tourist who got stranded here. We have enough space for a helicopter to land, no one in our group is infected. I repeat, we are free from infection, bombing the shelters didn't help, please.” He breathes in one and lets go in three, when he started doing these broadcasts weeks ago, he would cry mid talking. “Me and one of my men are currently at the radio tower located by the south docs, we will be waiting for an answer, please, if you can hear us. We are all good men, we don't deserve this.” He doesn't see how Sean tenses. Legundo puts the microphone down, and Sean turns the volume of the radio up. Static fills the room.

They stay in silence, Legundo looks at Sean and Sean looks at Legundo. Both look like shit, Sean is covered in his own blood and Legundo is covered in Sean's blood from patching him up, it was a mess but it was the best he could do.

“Sorry for the coat.” Sean gestures at the blue jacket that is now more brown than blue. He looks pale. “I know it was important for you, I don't think I ever saw you without it the entire week I’ve known you.” He snorts, time is weird in the end of the world, every minute is years when your death can reach you so easily.

Legundo shakes his head. “It's fine.” He says, simply. He looks unblinking at the radio, his glasses are cracked and crooked, but he doesn't raise a hand to fix it. “Your life is more important than that.”

Now it's Sean's turn to shake his head. “I injured myself in a stupid way-” He starts.

“You did a hard jump while running from a horde of zombies you attracted, just so I could jump a fence, I wouldn't call it stupid.” Legundo interrupts.

Sean flinches at the ‘zombies’, looking momentarily offended, he opens his mouth to say something, perhaps an jab, to change the direction of the conversation, his eyes avert Legundo’s, something on the static changes, his head whips to look at the radio, frantically he starts messing with the buttons.

The static subsides, it's weird how hollow everything feels when it is gone, instead, a crispy nasal voice comes from the radio equipment. 

“Legs? Is this really Sergeant Legundo? This is pilot codename Loony I am speaking from my own personal radio.” We are alone and no one is listening, is left unsaid with those words.

The radio crackles a hint of static back, both Legundo and Sean take a sharp breath. Legundo rushes for the microphone.

“ Loony?! It's me, yes! It's me. Oh god . ” Legundo is shaking, he is holding the microphone and his entire body shakes .

“Oh my- Legundo! I thought you were dead! Omg, you are alive, You are ALIVE!” The voice on the other side of the radio also didn't look to be doing that good.

“Yes, yes I am. I wouldn't die from something like this. You know me better than that.” He jokes, Legundo is glued to the microphone, a smile warps his features.

Loony snorts. “Okay, mister 100 days.” Even with the crackling of the radio you can hear the amusement in his voice. “What took you so long to contact? They- they announced that all the island was gone.” There is a pause, as Loony takes a deep breath to gather his feelings. “-You and everyone there were announced dead, how are you still- alive? Legs, why did you not evacuate?”

“You know I couldn't.” Legundo's voice is soft, some sort of sadness clings to it. 

Sean isn't sure he should be listening to the call like this, by the way Legundo looks at the microphone it's like he forgot Sean was even there.

“Yeah, I am aware.” Loony says, resignated. “Always the hero, you were supposed to be retired Legs, they even got you and Shadow some fancy retirement home.”

Legundo shakes his head. “And you kept going, even after I was gone. We both know you would do the same.”

A snort, Loony stays quiet for a second or two. “I never claimed I was better.”

Legundo looks at his own hands, before looking back at the radio, something on his demeanor changes, there is a reason they are here.

“Loony, buddy. When you say they announced the Island is all gone. Did they talk about the bombs?” He can't help but ask.

There is a sharp hiss; something falls in the ground, on Lonny's end. 

“Bombs?! What- Legs no. There is no talk about bombs, all that was explained to the general public was that the infection had overtaken the island, they lost contact after the last squad was infected so the bridges were put down.” There is a pause. “I tried to dig it, but everything is so closed right now, I am not- I don't have clearance for the island operation. They are preparing a mass funeral, your family sent a request for a special ‘hero grave’, I was called to do a speech…” Loony rambles, blurting information as if he is trying to puzzle things together in real time. “You said something about them bombing the shelters, I was panicking trying to put the radio to work, but you did say something about a bomb and a shelter. There were no bombs mentioned. Oh god did they- they told everyone that the island was gone, that the infection had won.”

“ Liars .” Sean hissed, Legundo whipped his head to look at him, being reminded that the world isn't just a radio and a pink haired man, at the other side of the sea.

Sean barely pays attention to him, more looking at the equipment than anything else. “They lied, someone is trying to cover it up. Three to four weeks ago, all the shelters without exception were bombed and destroyed, killing almost everyone there. This wasn't the infection, everyone is dead and it wasn't the infection this time.” He explains. 

‘ Death is man made’, repeats itself on Sean's head almost like a maniacal chant. He doesn't like thinking about death, it brings the worst on him.

“What.” Loony's voice is cold, almost bloodcurdling. “This- this can't be. Legs, who is with you?” He asks, still trying to put his mind in the information he just received.

Legundo pinches the bridge of his nose. “This is Sean, he is a radio operator.” He explains.

Sean feels the urge to correct him, he isn’t a radio operator, he is a radio hobbyist, it's different. But he stops himself, there are better places for this, and best Legundo holds him as ‘the radio operator’, than ‘the one who ruined everything.’

“He is one of the civilians I mentioned, we hijacked a radio tower so I would be able to make this transmission.” He takes a deep breath. “Loony, they killed everyone.” His eyes are bloodshot but Legundo refuses to cry again. “Me and Shadow were escorting some civilians when it happened. Bombs started falling from the sky, it was war all over again, but this time coming from our own allies, it fell directly on the shelters, it wasn't the infected, Loony. Someone higher up just decided to get rid of us.” His hands shake, he looks determined at the radio. “Loony, how is your helicopter?”

“Broken.” Loony blurts out. “But I can fix it, you said five people, right?” You can hear the lines of a plan being put together.

“Me, Shadow, Sneve, Ryan, Kim, Sean and Robert.” Legundo corrects him.

“Oh right, so seven people, one helicopter, eight counting with me. I am assuming we can only do one trip before we are caught.” Loony runs through the math out loud. 

Sean observes as Legundo enters in the same rhythm as Loony.

“We are staying in the same place I was living before, at Saint Joy's. It was fortunately not in the explosion range.”

“The kid's park! It has a flat enough area-”

“Shadow and Ryan already cleaned it, that was what I was referring to when I said we have enough space for a helicopter.”

“Perfect, any injured?”

“Not for now, Sean has a gash on his arm, but we don't need a stretcher.”

“Good, I need to call some people. But it's doable, Legs I can do it.”

Legundo's hand shakes, he looks at Sean and smiles, hope isn't an expression Sean had seen Legundo carry yet, it's not that bad looking on him. 

“How long do you think?”

“Give me one week to fix my helicopter and to get a route to there. In one week be prepared to grab everyone and go. No heavy bags, we will already be over the number of people I am supposed to carry with a helicopter that size.” They hear some scratching, another thing falls in the ground, it sounds like a can. By the breathing, it's clear Loony is closer to his mic now. “I will get you out Legs, I will get everyone out. I wasn't called the Loonatic pilot for nothing.” 

“We will be waiting.” Legundo laughs, a full blown laughter of joy. “Is your hair still pink?” 

He isn’t sure why he asks that, just trying to check, it's been some time since Loony visited after all. So many things changed, he wonders how it would feel if Loony is somehow stuck in time.

Loony laughs from the other side of the radio. “Is your leg still silver?”

Legundo snorts, shaking his head. “I changed it to a carbon one last year.”

When they make it back- because somehow they did make it back, even with Sean struggling all the way with his injured arm. -Legundo made sure to give everyone the good news, all hell broke loose when the words “We did it, rescue is coming” left his mouth.

He saw Shadow and Sneve hugging, Sneve actually took Shadow off the ground, spinning the military man, who shouted startled, pushing Sneve, trying to get free, their impulsive hug escalating into a mocking fight.

At the news Kim just downed his entire can of beer, slamming it at the table he was sitting by, only seconds before Shadow and Sneve comically slammed at it, breaking the wooden table in two. Kim laughed incredulously as the two grown men now rolled on the floor, laughing and commemorating in the most stupid way.

Legundo shook his head amused, he took Ryan in a one armed hug, careful to not smudge blood into him, letting himself enjoy the moment, the young man was beaming, accepting the hug, laughing at Shadow and Sneve's idiotic fight, and so was Legundo. The group looked overjoyed.

Robert jumped at Sean, hovering over him, looking at the injury on his arm. His eyes were hard to read, he jumped one foot to another, not sure if he should get farther or closer to him, his fingers tapped nervously against his pocket. Sean is almost sure the grenade isn't there anymore, he hopes so at least, he needs to get Robert a better fidget toy if so.

“Did one of them get you?” He didn't beat around the bush, dread lacing his words in a way not even his usual monotone could save it.

“Wow.” Sean shook his head in fake offense. “Not even a hi, Sean. I missed you, Sean. I am so glad you are back, Sean.” He could see Robert's shoulders becoming less tense at his drama-filled complaining. “You know me better than that. Do I look like a corpse?” 

Robert smiled, a bit more calm. “You are covered in blood.” He points out, concern drips from the comment, even if said in a joking manner. “And you do smell like one.”

“Jerk!” Sean punches Robert with his good arm. “I fell from a fence, are you happy?”

Robert raises an eyebrow, eyeing the arm. “Weren’t you a kung-fu master or something, how did you feel from a fence?”

“Hapkido.” Sean corrects, his eyes twitch. “And also it's none of your damn business, maybe I was just feeling like eating grass, you know?”

Robert snorts. “Sure, Sean.” His eyes flicker back to the arm. “How bad is it?”

Sean grimaces. “I think I may need stitches, me and Legundo only brought normal bandages with us.”

“I am not stitching you up.” Robert says without missing a beat, seeing the look Sean is giving him. There is trusting someone unconditionally and there is sewing your best friend's flesh.

“I am a mechanic not a doctor.” He looks around, his eyes fall into Kim, who looks to be going for another beer. He grabs Sean's good arm and starts marching in the Norwegian's direction. “Lucky for us our house mate is more than just a man walking into the fastest route to early liver failure.”

It's in bed, his arm with twelve new shining stitches, a warning from Kim to take it easy and laying at Robert's side that it finally hits him.

He was so focused into getting that damned radio broadcast to work, and then to get himself and Legundo back, that he barely had time to think what it means- to be bitten a second time.

Sean may be a master in self gaslighting, a natural liar that didn't hesitate to lie to everyone on the camp, but even he can admit that there is no lying to himself about this.

He can feel how his body feels warmer than normal, feels the deep unsettling urge to wander, to move, to get out of there, because he feels strong and full of energy, and Sean being the responsible for all this mess, knows this is just stage one.

So he gets out of the bed, careful to not wake Robert up, he puts a jacket on, covering his arm, he decides to go for a walk. 

It's fuzzy, weird, his brain doesn't feel right. He stumbles through the roads in between the houses. Looking at the dark sky, he can hear crickets and other creatures enjoying what is probably the only zombie free place on the city, it's beautiful, peaceful in a way he never thought he would see again, he knows it will not last, but for now he can enjoy.

Sean wonders how it would be, to get free from this place, to get free from his own sins. He knows there is no escaping the hell of his own creation.

He walks in circles around the houses, not sure for how long, he feels feverish and restless, his arm has gone over the stage of hurting and is now numb, he fears taking his coat off and seeing his own flesh rotting in the seams.

He feels hungry . He ignores it.

They have 6 days until Loony comes.

He makes it back to their bed, Robert is sitting cross-legged looking at the door, it's hard to read him when it's so dark.

But he knows he owes the man no explanations, and Robert doesn't owe him anything either. It's their deal since day one. 

Sean doesn't say anything, he ponders for a second or two, hesitating on the foot of the bed, but keeps his jacket on, he sits, before laying his head on the pillow, his face towards the wall, unable to face the man he would trust with his life.

Robert sighs, laying down again, they still have some hours of dawn before having to wake up. His hand taps Sean's shoulders, and he grabs his fingers, squeezing. 

“Good night, Robert.” He whispers, it's the minimum he can do, say a polite good night, even if it twists his stomach like being stabbed. Robert doesn't know, Robert can't know.

Robert doesn't respond, but he leans his forehead against Sean's back, and it's enough for now. It has to be.

Sean wishes time could stop right there . Unfortunately, time is all he doesn't have right now.

Breakfast was weird, Sean picked at his eggs, feeling nauseated.

He blamed it on the pain taking his hunger away. Even if this is the most hungry he ever was in his entire life.

Kim asked if he cleaned his stitches and if he needed help doing it.

He just shook his head, lying was easy, telling what everyone wanted to hear was easy. It always was.

He knows he doesn't have long.

Sean is hunched over a bathroom mirror, he is sweating bullets, and looking like crap. His hair is tousled and his lips were almost blue from the cold even if he feels so darned hot. 

He took his jacket off and felt almost like throwing up, the stitches are infected, his entire injury is infected, it smells like death and rotten things, he can see how pale his skin in that area is. His veins are blue, pulsating almost. If he had any hope that the second time would be like the first he was wrong.

He needs to get out.  

Logically, Sean knows that, that is it. That he is done for, it's his time, and how fitting would it be to die by the thing that was supposed to cure death. 

He knows he should throw the game, tell the people in the camp, and hope they have a merciful way of getting rid of him.

But Sean is stubborn, always was, always will be, his heart beats out of his throat with the idea of dying- Death is man made, I made this. -So he takes the best other option, he is getting out , he is running out of this camp. And if he dies, he dies. But he refuses to let other people take it from himself. 

So he takes his bag, leaving anything Robert would use better than him behind, and with no notes or anything explaining what he is doing, he decides that that is it.

He knows Robert went with Kim and Ryan to reinforce the walls, just to make sure no zombie would sneak into their camp.

He has no idea where Sneve, Legundo and Shadow are, but he needs to go now , and less three people is better than less none people, if you ask him.

A big failure in his plan, though. Is that Sean didn't expect how fast the infection would truly spread in his body, he crossed the main street, sneaking through the back of Sneve and Shadow's house, intending to take the fastest route to his and Robert's car, when his legs just collapsed under himself, he felt his heart beating faster and faster, almost like a pump in overdrive, his vision blackened and he swear this must be a cosmic joke of some sort, because when his sense of hearing went out all Sean could hear was the familiar static of a radio out of tune.

“Good god. SHADOW COME HERE! NOW!” Sneve shouts.

The blonde paces in front of their chicken coup, he looks around, paranoid, before jumping on the pen and kneeling by what he found.

“Sneve!?” Shadow slams their backdoor open, he has his sniper on his back and an axe on his hand. “What happened???”

“ Oh Shadow.” Sneve cradles a bundle of feathers and blood on his gloved hands. “Some bloody bastard Zombie killed Caroline.” He raises the corpse for Shadow to see. 

The military hisses, the chicken head is nowhere to be found. He puts two fingers measuring one of the holes on the chicken's corpse. 

“Human teeth,” Shadow says, feeling his heart jump through his throat. “The zombies entered here somehow, I will go tell the group looking at the walls, you go grab Legs and make sure Sean is still in bed. I have a bad feeling about this.” His voice becomes serious, more commanding. Both of them remember how pale Sean was this morning, Kim confirmed he was free from bites, but it's not that hard to come to a gruesome conclusion.

Sneve jumps out of the chicken coup, he kneels, putting the corpse of the chicken by the side of the house, so he can take care of it later.

“We shall revenge you, Caroline!” He shakes his fists, looking disturbed at the corpse. He looks left and right confirming that Shadow is gone, before whispering under his breath. “Your feathers were white and crispy, and your eggs were big and round, thank you for your services, oh Caroline the chicken, may Deez take care of your soul.” He gets up, turning his back to the chicken corpse. Time to check if Sean is still alive.

What a hellish world to live in.

Sean came back to himself covered in blood, biting on the corpse of one of Sneve's chickens like some sort of animal, he shouted, letting the mangled thing go. His hands shook, and he breathed deeply. Somehow his heart was still beating, terrifyingly slow, terrified of what was happening to him. He spat the blood on the ground, and felt disgusted with himself with the fact that it didn't taste that bad.

Fuck this, he isn’t getting out before losing himself. There is no way he is getting to the car before losing his mind.

Somehow no one saw this, he was still alone, no living soul around- without counting the other chickens who are hiding terrified on their pens -Sean jumped out of the chicken pen, and in broad daylight covered in blood and feathers, stumbled in the direction of the house he was strictly told to not go, Ryan's old house . Not that he would, all doors and windows were bolted anyway, but if he isn’t wrong-

“I knew it!” He mumbles to himself, yanking the door to the basement open, it opened way too easily for something no one has supposedly touched in months.  

It's an outside door to a basement that isn't connected with the main house. All the houses in this neighborhood have one, it just felt fitting coming to the one that is already being used to store corpses. 

He can still hear the steps and grumbles coming from the main floor, but that was expected, what wasn't expected was what he would find inside the basement.

There is a cage. He isn’t sure what else to call that, but it is a cage, clearly someone built it, it's the perfect size to carry a human being, it looks sturdy enough for it. It dawns on Sean that perhaps the people here did have a plan in case one of them got infected.

“Sean, what are you doing here?”

Legundo’s voice startles him, he didn't hear him coming. His mind too foggy and his objectives too single minded to notice the man following right behind him.

Slowly, painfully slowly he turns to look at him. Sean sees the exact moment Legundo sees the blood, he sees the exact moment he notices his uncovered rotten arm that he never bothered covering with the jacket again.

He feels cornered, Sean looks in between the entrance and Legundo, how Legs position himself in front of the door.

“Legundo, I can explain-”

“So you did get bitten.” Legundo’s tone is not as accusatory as it is resigned. “Who is this blood from?” He is way too calm, his voice is flat, suddenly Sean remembers Legundo isn't only the leader of the camp, isn't only the guy he begrudgingly has started calling a friend, he is also someone who fighted in the war, someone who saw death in a way not even Sean's warped science could try to save.

“Legundo, get out of the door, I will get out of your hair and you will never see me again. Please. ” Sean begs. His brain is a mess, he doesn't even think about explaining that it's chicken blood, that everyone is safe for now and all he just wants is to find a place to lose his mind in peace, he knows there is no escaping, but he also doesn't want to be here anymore, not with Legundo looking at him like that.

The military man just shakes his head. “Sean, you know I can't do that. I am so sorry my friend, but you know what we need to do.”

Legundo moves to grab his gun and Sean sees red.

You see, there are three main stages to the infection that Sean was able to observe.

First you feel stronger, more agile, more young, you feel on the top of the world and your body acts as if it was gifted with the cure to all illness.

It doesn't last long, with the way the infection evolved, this is the fastest stage to come and go.

After that, your body starts dying, you are still strong, full of energy, but your body starts dying and giving up on you. But you are also hungry, the infection needs you to eat so it can spread.

And then you die for real. Your heart stops, and your brain is no more, your body still moves on its own, but now all you are is a husk of your former self, moving around the world with the single objective of killing and spreading.

Currently Sean is on stage two, he is still strong, stronger than when the infection was only dormant in his body. So it is understandable why Legundo didn't expect Sean to jump so fast in his direction. He barely took his gun out of the holster and it was over.

Sean slammed Legundo on the floor, his body pinning the military man against the ground, one hand on his throat and the other yanking the gun out of Legundo’s hand, throwing it far.

At that moment, there wasn't anything else, there was Sean over Legundo, there was Legundo's terrified face, rasping Sean's name through chapped lips, and there was the hunger .

It would be so easy to take a bite out of Legundo right there, he felt his mouth salivating, part of him wondered if Legundo’s blood is sweeter or bitter than chicken blood.

He growled, actually growled at the man he almost considered a friend. He wonders what he was so terrified about.

That moment lasted years, months, a millennia or two. It was barely a second.

A click, something cold touches the back of his head.

“Sean?!” He heard the terrified voice of Robert.

And suddenly he was himself again, not the monster that was so ready to kill Legundo right now and there, but Sean, the man, also a monster, but the other type.

There is a gun against his head. He saw Legundo’s eyes tracking the movement behind him, his hand choking him went slack, all the strength leaving his grip, the other man took a deep breath of air, eyeing the infected, surprise painting his features, but like Sean he didn't move any muscle, staying silent, not wanting to risk it.

“If you move, I will shoot you.” Kim threatens. 

Sean feels something on himself move more easily, breathing like a living, visceral thing, now knowing it wasn't Robert holding the gun. He can't explain why it matters, but it does.

“It's a bluff.” Always a smartass, Sean can't help but point out. “That click was jammed, you don't have bullets do you?” He knows he should already be dead, he isn’t sure if he counts it as a blessing or a curse that Kim forgot to recharge his gun.

He hears Kim curse, the gun is still on his head, but Sean knows that one at least will not kill him.

He knows that with a flicker of hands he could so easily infect Legundo, everything would be over. But he isn’t that type of man.

“I can still think.” He says slowly, looking Legundo in the eyes. “I don't want to die.” 

It's the truth, his entire life he acted accordingly with that fact. He doesn't want to die, death is man made, and if it is the fault of humanity, humanity would be the one to fix it. Sean is part of humanity, whether he wants it or not.

In a bold move he turns his head to look behind him, Kim takes his weapon out of there, startled with the movement. Robert is right behind him, he is holding a baseball bath, he looks resigned at Sean, it's like as if he is already dead in his mind, Robert looks at Sean and all he sees is a corpse.

Shadow is hovering by the entrance, holding his sniper, not sure what to do now, not wanting to shoot him and risk Legundo being infected, but the pipe of the gun is still pointing at him. Ryan is standing behind Shadow, it's clear he wanted to enter the basement, but Shadow intervened before it.

He turns back, looking at Legundo, his hand is still on his throat, not choking him anymore, he is just not sure what to do with himself.

“Everyone is here.’” He jerks his head, gesturing at the group behind them. “I didn't hurt anyone, Legundo, please. I don't want to die.” He goes back to begging, it's all he can do. 

It is a weird juxtaposition, Sean is the one pinning Legundo to the ground, the one who could so easily end it all for Legundo and perhaps Kim, if he moves fast enough , but Sean is also the only one that with certainty will not live to see the tomorrow sun. He is a lost man, surrounded by people that, even with a map and compass, would never be able to help him to find a way out of his bastardized path.

Legundo tentatively uses his arms to raise himself up, Sean takes his hands off, also moving, every moment is tense, both men resigned that what will happen, is what will happen at this point.

Legundo looks at everyone in the room, Sean is still pinning his body, sitting over his two legs.

His green eyes harden, he looks at the blood painting Sean's face and clothes.

“Where is Sneve?” He asks, his voice wavers, dread comes out of him in waves. It's clear what he is thinking.

“He is looking for you.” Shadow explains, his eye is harsh looking at Sean. “We found a headless chicken in the coup some minutes ago, and went looking for everyone.” He looks around the room. “Everyone is accounted for, only one casualty in the group.” He looks directly at Sean when saying that.

“I am not dead.” Sean grows, showing his teeth like some sort of animal at Shadow. “I refuse to die like this.” He shakes his head. He knows he isn’t getting alive out of here. But he will complain, he will stall, he will do his best to go on his own terms.

“That cage… Who made it?” He can't help but ask, he doesn't like any of his alternatives, but that one is one of the least worst in his head.

“I made it.” Ryan steps from behind Shadow, his blood red hair has faded after months not being able to touch it up, It still calls attention like nothing else. He spins a fireman's axe on his hand while talking, fidgeting with it. “I wanted to make a safe way to move zombies around.” He doesn't need to explain why, not with the heavy steps that can be heard coming from the house upstairs.

They all look at Ryan in surprise. Clearly this is new information to everyone there.

“Great, that's wonderful. You made a transport box for the most murderous pets in the world. Put me in there.” He doesn't beat around the bush, his voice is snappy, sarcastic. “Put me in there and throw the key away. I don't care.” He glares at Shadow and the sniper he is still clearly pondering to use against Sean. “I refuse to die, but if I do, it will be on my own terms.” He looks back at Legundo. “I helped you with the tower, I got you to talk with Loony. Give me one last wish, for god's sake, Legs.”

A last wish for a man that may already be dead, it's all he asks.

“Ryan.” Legundo barks the redhead’s name, even in such a vulnerable position his voice makes everyone in the room stand straighter. “Do you think your cage can hold-?”

The red head nodded. “Yes, I believe so, sir.”

Legundo breathes deeply. It's clear he wants to raise a hand to his temple but he refrains himself from making any unnecessary movement. “Shadow put the sniper away, Ryan open that cage, Sean I really hope you understand why we are doing this, everyone give space for him to get there, Ryan I want that cage locked, and the keys in my hands.” He commands. 

The room becomes a flourish of movements as Sean voluntarily walks to his final place of rest. He sits cross legged behind bars, watching as Ryan snaps the door shut, lock after lock, at least six keys. He wasn't playing when he made this, Sean isn't getting out.

He blinks, he feels numb, each bit of second, more and more he can feel the rot take space in his body.

Kim hovers over Legundo, checking him for places where Sean could have infected him. He knows he didn't, even blinded by hunger, he hesitated for enough time that he is sure he didn't do it.

He doesn't say anything, he feels defeated. His fear became numbness the moment Ryan snapped that last lock, he feels dead.

Everyone shoots glances at his little dark corner. Robert stays far away, not a word said since he said his name, snapping him out of the fight that feels like it happened ages ago now. All Sean wants is to talk to him, hold him, hug him and to say everything will be okay.

Instead he keeps his mouth shut, watching as Robert marches upstairs, not even a bye. Did Sean ever tell him how important he is? How he is the only reason he risked so much to get them out of there. It's somehow a comfort, knowing that even if he is gone, he did it, Robert will get out, that's all that matters.

Ryan checks the locks one last time, he barely looks at Sean, clearly uncomfortable being the one doing it, Sean keeps his distance from the bars, the kid has no fault for his shitty situation, he can at least give him space.

He isn’t sure if it was a second or an hour, but Ryan leaves.

Sneve got there at some point, talking with Shadow. He mutters something under his breath while giving a side eyed glance at Sean, caught enough in the situation to at least understand what is happening. Sean meets his stare and Sneve nods, maybe a greeting, probably a goodbye, he smiles sheepishly. His face is way less swollen, Sean wonders how long until he can take the bandages off.

In the next blink, both Sneve and Shadow are gone. With his loss of a will to fight, time escapes like water flowing by his putrid fingers.

Kim waves a bye at him, the doctor's face is sad, but resigned. Sean never asked him what type of Doctor he is, he never had time, but Kim has seen death, all of them have. Kim knows he is looking at a dead man . All of them do.

He leaves, because there is nothing else to say. It's not like Sean looks able to have a conversation at the moment.

And then there was only him and Legundo. The way he looks at him… Sean can see the cogs turning on his head.

“Why?” Legundo asks, looking at the cage, he waits a second or two, before shaking his head. 

The way he looks at Sean, it is as if he is looking at something dead, something gone. Sean doesn't think the man expects an answer.

And perhaps Sean is truly gone, dead to the world, staring at the wall instead of acknowledging what just happened. Barely moving, more a corpse than a man.

He looks at his hands and sees pale putrid things, he wonders if this entire time they looked at him and all they saw was a corpse that thought it still had a chance with the living. Somehow, he can still feel his heart beating, he hears Legundo turning to the stairs, the last living soul in that basement, leaving for real.

“Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.” He whispers, moving feels like an extraneous effort, talking feels like moving a mountain, Legundo doesn't look like he heard him. “You jumped the fence, and called your friend. I did what I needed to do, better me than you .” The door to the basement closes, someone left the lights on, Sean isn't sure if this is better or worse than being in the dark. “I did what I needed to do, but I still don't want to die.”

He closes his eyes, waiting for the sweet relief of death to take his arms and guide him to a worse place.

They have 5 days until Loony comes.

If you ask Sean- and why would you ask Sean something? He is dead.

He truly thought that was it, he would close his eyes and he would be gone, erased from existence or just straight to hell, all while his husk would dull and rotten inside of an oversized dog cage.

Sean opened his eyes and everything was foggy, it took a bit for him to realize that he wouldn't be able to see more than blurs. 

The infected are more of a threat in their numbers, they can hear well, but they can't really see.

Sean shudders at the image of what his eyes must look like now. He can't really feel stuff, his sense of touch dampened to a minimal.

He knows he is cold, he isn’t generating heat for what he can gather , and he can move his fingers, most of them at least.

The weirdest thing is; Sean can think. Sean can still think, and this wasn't supposed to happen .

When he finally realized that, it was like a bucket of cold water was thrown over his head. He could still not see well, but everything else? He could feel every twitch of his muscles, how rotten the skin around his injury became, how cold and clammy his entire body was, worst of all, he could feel every slow tump of his sluggish beating heart.

Sean is still alive. Against all odds Sean is still alive.

The scientist inside him, the monster , hungry for knowledgement jumped, excited with the news. The more human part, the what is left of the man that saw the world crumble beneath his hands, quaked in fear.

Because he is still alive.

His body is rotten and falling apart at the seams, but he is still alive.

And he is stuck, forever and ever.

So Sean did what any sane person would do in this situation, he closed his eyes and decided this is a problem for future Sean. Sleeping fixes all illnesses. 

He scoffed, he wishes it was that easy.

When he wakes up again, Sean feels his stomach crumble, he is so, so hungry.

It's not the same hunger from when he attacked Legundo, Sean is just hungry. 

Plain and simple, Sean is somehow still alive, all living beings need sustenance, he is no exception.

Suddenly Sean feels extremely glad the others treated him like a man on his last legs. No one took his backpack off .

He takes it out of his back, with more strength than necessary, blind like a bat, but hungry like a dog. He tapped around until he found a very specific pocket- there . Three to four snack bars, it's not a lot, but if he rationates it he can at least last a bit more before the pain of starvation really can have a cling on him.

He downs it in two bites, it was apple and chocolate flavored, he wants to eat more , he refrains from it. Instead, with shaking hands he closes it. And wrapping the bag back in a more pillow-like shape, he curls around it, having nothing better to do, Sean sleeps.

If he was able to see more than blurs, perhaps Sean would have checked the portable clock he brought with him in the bag. If he had checked it he would have noticed a thing.

They have 4 days until Loony comes.

When Sean wakes up again he doesn't bother opening his eyes, he just stays immobile, laying against the wall of the cage. 

He barely moves, he barely breathes, his heart still beats stubborn in proving he is still alive.

Everything is so quiet, Sean hears a sharp breath and instinctually opens his eyes.

As expected everything is a blur.

He hears a gasp, there is someone right in front of him.

“Oh Sean…”

If Sean was imobile before, now he is frozen. Robert's voice is full of grief. To him Sean is just a corpse.

“You are an idiot.” Robert sounds like he has been crying, Sean tries to focus on the blob of a person at the other side of a cage. 

“You know that, right Sean?” Robert comes closer to Sean, and he feels the urge to call Robert the idiot.

“You are the one talking with the corpse.” Sean jabs instead.

Another sharp breath, the silhouette doesn't move, but Sean can imagine Robert is doing his half hop back and forth, the one he does when he can't decide if he should get closer or run.

“ Sean?” His name leaves his lips in a short breath, incredulous, clearly not believing he is still there.

Sean smiles, at least he believes he does, his entire face is numb and he can't really feel it. “Hey, Robert.” He tries to wave, his fingers twitch, it's way harder than he wishes it was. “Fancy seeing you here.”

A snort, Robert comes closer. “Come here often?” He prompts

Sean shrugs. “I don't know, do you?” A smile cracks on his rotten lips.

“Ehh, I try not to. But it's kinda hard when my best friend is stuck in a cage.” Robert says, his voice is flat, but humorous in a morbid way.

Sean urges his arms to move and do something, putting a hand on his chest in a dramatic way. “So I am your best friend?!”

Robert snorts, that's a win on Sean's book. “You are an asshole, that's what you are.”

Sean smirks. “Awn, thank you, Robert. I try my best.” 

And like this Sean can just for a second convince himself that nothing has changed, that even if he will never see Robert's face again, everything will be alright, because he is still Sean and Robert is still there.

He doesn't see how Robert's expression drops. “Sean…” His hand hovers over the bars of the cage. “Why- how, how are you still alive? The infection… I came here expecting to see your corpse, I- I god oh god Sean, I came here to get rid of-” He doesn't elaborate, he doesn't need to.

And isn't that the one million dollar question? Why is he still there? Why can he think? Why is he still alive, even with everything else?

Sean thinks about the virus, about everything he did that brought him to this moment. He closes his eyes and momentarily he sees a building burning down in flames, a lonely man leaving everything behind, thinking he has done the right thing, only to discover that it was everything in vain.

“Robert, did I ever tell you what I worked with, before- everything?” He asks. 

There is no use in holding secrets anymore, not when all these secrets did were protect him from a world he will never go back to.

He has the impression Robert shakes his head. It is hard to discern when everything are blobs of colors. 

“White collared worker, that's all you told me.” Robert starts talking and pacing, almost like a jailed tiger. Which is kinda ironic when the one in the dog cage is Sean . 

“You are very familiar with rich people's stuff and you did say your father got you your last job position, so I assume it was something fancy, but you never told me what-” He stops. “I would guess you worked with radios to some extent, but you made it very clear it was yours and your mother's hobbie, not a job.” He stops, looking expectantly at the cage.

Sean whistles, he never realized he gave so much away, but well, Robert is an observant man, there is a reason Sean decided to stick with him after all. “Chill, Robert. This was a yes or no question, no need to go all Sherlock Holmes on me.” He smiles to hide how tense he is.”I will tell you.”

That's it, it's not like anyone will like him being a walking talking corpse, but more than being scared of not being liked, he is scared of Robert hating him, he knows what he did. But there is no use in fear anymore, at least one person will know what a monster Sean Forge truly is.

“Take a seat, Robert. We will stay here for a while.”

They have 3 days until Loony comes.

This is Sean Forge, ex leader researcher on Forge Labs, I have no idea what the current date is, if you are listening to this- Legundo I really hope you are the one to find this. 

This is my fault. Forge Labs created the infection, I created the project Miracle, I and my coworkers at Forge Labs and it’s sister labs, are at fault for every death that occurred on the Scenario Islands. 

I understand a lot of things were scrubbed under the rug, if you googggle my name I will probably appear in the wanted list as the ‘Crazy guy who exploded a entire lab facility with molotovs’. First things off, these are not molotovs, I am better than that- no I will not elaborate. Robert stop looking at me like that.

Second thing, the project Miracle was supposed to be a cure, the ones on top of Forge Labs pressured me to turn the project into one about biological weapons, when I destroyed Forge labs all the samples were supposed to be gone- I am still not sure what happened. I am sorry.

Currently as I speak, I am infected with what I can assume is a new evolved variant from the original Miracle virus, or zombie infection, call it as you prefer to, I don’t care anymore, I guess. 

I am not sure if it’s a new naturally occurring variant, or my prior exposition to the virus made it mutate inside my system. The main difference from the common variant of the virus is that I can still think, my heart still beats albeit slowly. I am currently pretty much blind, being only able to see blobs of color. My sense of hearing is way better than it was when the virus was dormant in my system. Decaying flesh is still a problem with the miracle virus and I assume I am capable of spreading it- for the record I refuse to test it.

Why are you looking at me? I didn’t say anything.

You are looking at me weirdly, your trust in me is very appreciated, you know?

I was just- are you done Sean?

Not yet. Let me finish this first.

If they catchught us, I am not saving you.

I love you too, Robert, now shut up.

As I am now, If I step on the continent, I will probably be killed on sight, be it for my crimes or for my sickness. So Legundo- I know you are listening to this, I made sure you would find it - I had Robert write a set of numbers on this recording tape. 

This is all my fault, and I understand you probably hate me now, but- 

I will find a cure, I will fix my mistakes. It's not worth it to hunt me as you will not find me, in one month I will have things set up- you can call me with that, I am more than open to share any discovery I may find.

Thank you for taking us into your camp, thank you for trusting us even if you shouldn’t have done that. I hope you can get out, I really do hope everyone in this camp can get out– do me a favor and don’t die, live a long and well lived life, out of this shit hole. You don’t need to be the hero anymore, you saved them. Congrats. 

Also, you should probably find a better pocket to leave your keys, Robert complained it was too easy.

That was unnecessary, Sean.

You are unnecessary, Robert.

Are you done?

Now I am.

Good, let’s go before someone wakes up… Sean, give me your hand.

Wow! You should call me for dinner first, Robert.

Sean Ii swear to-

-Oh, crap, wait I forgot to stop the-

It was a bright day.

The sun kissed the skin of a group waiting by the margins of an old playground. Everyone was carrying light bags, ready to go, eager expressions were exchanged by them.

A man with a blue coat, looked nervously at the sky, every cloud made his eyes flicker, ready for what was to come. In his hand he clutched an old recorder with white knuckles, a paper sat heavy on his pant’s pocket. 

A pilot fixed his sunglasses, putting a strand of his pink bubblegum hair behind his ear, he looked with grief over the destroyed ruins of what one day was a busy and lively city. His eyes were sharp, looking at the ground for the dot of blue he thought he would never see again. 

He is almost there. He will get them out.

Two men, one in full hazmat suit, the other using a regatta because of the heat, walked hand in hand through the charred remains of an ounce white building. The one in the hazmat suit was explaining to the other man step by step the drills of lab safety, both talked about the future. Both had a plan, and if nothing else, they had each other.

In a house, in a former residential suburb a pair of undead bodies walked around, stumbling blindly around what was once a home. 

In the basement a weird cage was left open wide. At its side an old military radio gurgled static like nothing else.