Harm Happening Around The World

This fic in general will have lots of gruesome details of death and of battles. I am letting you know that there will be angst and some really concerning things to come from this. I will keep it to a minimum, but like this story is already an AU for The last of Us. If you know the game and show itself, you will see why I put a warning at the beginning.

Also, some information, the time frame will be only a 5 year difference than from the original source. It will be 15 years instead of 20, in this chapter, they are 17, and Randall is 10.

Last but not least please tell me what you think, it helps with improvement and writing I plan for this whole thing, thanks!!!

- Sky 💜

Warning ⚠️: This chapter contains violence, mention of guns and weapons, along with the death of a child. You have been warned.

Chapter 1 : Lights Atop the Hill

September 26th 2003

Steven had finally made it home from school, it was a whole thing back at school but he would just worry about it next week.

"Steven."

A slightly deeper voice called, it was Marc, he looked down at the puddle of water that was created by the sprinklers of their neighbors.

Their patch of sidewalk and grass always mushy yet full of life, clean and dirty but it's the piece of earth they owned.

"'Ello Marc, what's up?"

Steven asked as he looked down at the water to look at his companion on the other side.

"I need to body back Steven, you had it the entire day."

Marc said as he waited for Steven response.

"But, I haven't even said hi to mum yet."

Steven reasoned with Marc to at least sat hi to their mother.

"You said good morning to her this morning Steven, give the body."

Marc threw back because he had receipts for both of them to make the body sharing equal.

"Fine, fine. You got a point."

Steven sighed as he felt the switch happen and just like that Steven was the reflection and Marc the form.

"Thanks."

Marc mumbled which earn a small smile from Steven.

"No problem, later gators."

Steven said as he held out a piece sign which got him both a small smile and eye roll from Marc as he walked away from the reflection and towards their house.

Marc had the keys and opened the door to his home.

"I'm home."

He shouted before taking his shoes off and walking down the hall of his house, he waited for a call back from his parents but, nothing.

"Marc!"

A small voice exclaimed before a small boy crashed and wrapped his tiny arms around Marc's waist.

"Hey Roro, where's mom and dad?"

Marc asked his brother as he mess with his hair.

"Said that they had to go city to grab something, also that they won't be back till nightime."

His little brother said which got a sigh from Marc before he looked down at his brother and picks him up as he now sat on his hip.

"So, what do you want to do right now then?"

He asked his little brother as his brother started to grin from cheek to cheek as small dimples formed on each end which made Marc's heart warm.

" Can we play gods today?"

His little brother asked with eyes that lit up Marc's mood.

"Alright, but only for an hour, then I got homework and chores. Got your chores done?"

Marc asked his brother and little Randall nodded his head.

"Got to it the minute mom picked me up from school."

Randall said as he puffed his chest proudly looking up at Marc.

"Good, alright who do you wanna be?"

Marc said and the two brothers played with each other, despite the age difference they still worked together in harmony.

Their own little world's intertwined into one big playground for their childhood and boy hood to exist.

4 hours later....

"And I win!!"

Randall cheered as he got onto of Marc who was on the ground pretending to be wounded by his brothers punches.

"Yep, you got me. Good job buddy."

Marc said as he slowly got up and looked at the clock of the living room which was now messy with toys and building block made to look like towers and cities.

"Okay, that's enough playing for today, gotta go do my other thing Roro."

Marc said as he started to pick up some of the toys from the floor and into the rightful place of their color coded cubbies labeled from Randall since he tended to get them mixed up before.

"Aww, but that was like only 15 minutes of playing Marc, I wanna play a little more."

His brother whined as he looked at Marc with a small pout, he always did that when something didn't really go his way.

"No way Roro, I need to get my things done. But I'll make you a deal instead."

Marc responded as he held out his pinky since they still did pinky swears, this peaked his brothers interest.

"Once I am done with what I have to get done I'll play with you then, deal?"

Marc said with a small smile to try and get his brother to agree with him cause he really doesn't know how else to do it.

Randall looks at him, hesitant but after a couple seconds he slowly grins and nods his head before getting his even tinier pinky and wrapped it around his brothers.

"Deal."

Is all he says before he gets up and starts to put away the rest of his toys in the color and labeled cubbies that have been made for him.

"Okay."

Marc whispers before he goes and picks up his backpack that was flung to a wall during their "battle" and goes upstairs to his room.

"Man mate, I have no idea how you do it."

Steven sighs as he looks at Marc from the closet mirror as Marc changes out of his school clothes into something a little more comfortable.

He now changed into some gray sweatpants and a band t-shirt, it was an rock band that Marc was starting to really like.

"How I do what Steven?"

Marc said with a raised eyebrow confused on what his alter meant by his question.

"Like the whole playing with him for almost 6 hours, like that's mental. His stamia is just something else sometimes mate."

Steven says being exhausted himself.

"Your exaggerating Steven, it's was like 2 hours. Your just not use to his energy like me."

Marc said as he sat down and started to take out his homework, he knew he would get through it in maybe an 1 or so.

"I know, it's because he doesn't even know I really exist Marc."

Steven adds his tone a little more quiet like Randall would hear him, Marc noticed.

"It's just...I don't know how he would react that his brother has two in his head and not one. He's just a kid, he might not understand Steven."

Marc consoled his other, his voice a little softer but still firm about it. He knew that Steven felt a little hidden and almost neglected from how much he didn't have control.

"I know, I know. I get it, sorry mate."

Steven says as he had a apologetic expression on his face.

Marc sighed as he thought of how to make it up, the only people who really knew were his mom and dad.

Even they didn't understand all the way but they tried.

"Look, let's wait till Randall a bit older, once he can understand better, okay?"

Marc asked as he tried to make eye contact with his alter who was not really someone to look someone in the eye sometimes.

Steven thought and could see what Marc meant, good thing he had more patience and understood what he was saying to him.

He would wait.

Wait for the day someone would finally understand him and Marc, he hoped it would be their brother.

Steven nodded.

"Okay."

Marc nodded in return before going and taking out his notebook to start his homework.

-------------------------------------------------------

10:37 PM

After all that their parents weren't home yet, it had been a while now so Marc went and made dinner for him and his brother.

"What are you making?"

Randall said as he came out of whatever shadow he had hid in.

"Some Mac and cheese."

Marc answered as he mixed around the noodles, the white and yellow mixing together in a warm hue of lights in the kitchen glowed.

The smell already made both boys hungry and ready to just eat something, usually it was their dad or mom making food but they still weren't back from the city.

"Any calls from mom or dad?"

Marc asked as he looked down at his brother.

"No, nothing came in."

Randall said as he went and sat down at their round table, his small figure being taken over by the wooden chair he sat on.

"Okay, I'll call them later."

Marc said as he got plates from the top drawer and put them on the table as Randall got up and went to the shorter drawer and pulled out some spoons.

"Here, how much do you want?"

Marc asked as he got the pot and brought it close as he started to pour the food onto hit plate.

"That's good."

Randall said as he looked at Marc once he thought he got a good enough portion of food.

Marc nodded and tilted the pot back before pouring the rest onto his plate and put the pot in the sink to be washed later.

They ate together before Randall went to play a little more into his room and Steven took over since it was his turn now to wash the dishes.

"You should call them Marc, I'm getting worried."

Steven told to the reflection of the metal pot he was washing as Marc answered back.

"I know, once your done I'll call them to see what's up with them, something doesn't feel right."

Marc argued as his tone got quieter, he felt it somewhere inside of him that something was up. His parents never were out this late without telling him or Randall they would be.

"I have the same feeling mate, it feels like it's eating me from the inside."

Steven agreed as he put the dish in the dishwasher for them to dry on their own.

After being done with that they got the black flip phone that Marc had gotten for his 16th birthday.

He typed the digits of his father's number and held it up to his ear as the phone rang.

And rang

And ran-

Click

"Marc?"

A softer tone of Marc's more rough voice called out as the phone was finally picked up.

"Dad, where are you guys? It's been a couple hours, usually you guys call us when you'll be out longer, what happened?"

Marc questioned as he heard a car honk on the other side of the call.

"Yeah, sorry, we just got caught up in some traffic, didn't think it would take this long. Did you and Randall eat yet?"

His father asked as another honk happened then a other click as the TV was turned on, he turned around to find Randall had found the control.

"Roro, can you turn it down bud, please."

Marc asked as he put the flipphone to the side so his parents wouldn't hear him.

Randall nodded and put the volume down and flipped through the channels to get to the channel he wanted.

Marc gave a small smile before he put the flip phone back on his ear.

"Yeah, we ate. What about you guys, did you guys ea-"

Marc said before he heard a blaring noise and turned back towards the source, the TV.

"Randall, bud, I told you to turn it down."

Marc huffed as shook his head a little before he went back to his parents call.

"Marc, what was that?"

His father's voice questioned as he sighed and put one hand on his hip.

"Just told Randall to keep it down so that I could hear you, sorry."

He replied as the TV once again got loud, Marc turned around and looked at Randall who just looked back at him before pointing at the TV.

Before Marc could scold him, he looked at the TV and a chill ran down his spine.

Not too long after the sound of the radio on the other side of the phone started to say the same thing on the TV.

" This is not a drill. I repeat, not a drill. Due to a virus that has spread from a foreign country to now the West and Eastern Parts of the US we advise that residents stay indoor and lock your doo-"

Marc felt his heart stop. It was the EAS that never really happened unless it was a test. But it wasn't. It just said it wasn't.

"Marc?"

Randall looked at his brother confusion and rising fear starting to make its way and his brain now catching up that something was wrong.

"Son? Marc!?"

His father shouted as Marc finally got back to reality.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm here, dad, what do I do?"

Marc asked his dad as Randall got up and hugged his older brothers leg, he looked like he was about to cry. It broke Marc and Steven's heart.

"You need to lock the doors Marc, windows too, get some bags and pack any essential alright. Wendy I can't go any faster!"

His father was starting to sound panic as the sounds of honks and what seemed like cars starting to crash into each other on the other side of the call. Marc felt his chest fill up and deflat like a ballon, it was too much.

He felt sick, the Mac and cheese now making its way back up as it burned in his throat. He kinda wished now that he skipped dinner.

"Marc, protect your brother okay? We're gonna try and get there as fast as we can. Get a weapon and if things get bad there you get into the car and you get you and your brother out of there. You understand!?"

His mom's voice shouted with both frustration and panic, of course it would. Her children were in danger and she isn't there to protect them.

"Marc! Did you hear me!?"

His mother once again shouted and Marc nodded as he let out a shaky breathe.

"Okay, okay. Love you guys."

Marc said, hating the way his voice sounded right now, his hands were starting to shake, his hands never shook like this. Ever.

He looks down and sees his brother who is closing his eyes like if he opened them a monster would appear and hurt him.

Marc would never let that happen, not to his baby brother. Never him.

"Love you to-"

The line was suddenly cut, Marc looked at his flip phone to see that the battery had died.

"Fuck!"

Marc shouted which made his baby brother flinch, feeling immense guilt from that he bented down and steady his brother by his shoulders.

"Sorry, sorry. I-I didn't mean to scare you Roro. Okay?"

Marc asked as he tried to steady his voice, he needed to be strong right now, for his brother, his parents, Steven, for the people that relied on him right now.

"What’s happening? Where's mom and dad? Why did that message show up on the TV?"

Randall sniffles as tears were starting to run down his baby cheeks and Marc went ahead to softly wipe them away.

"Something, something bad is happening. I don't know what but all I know is that nothing bad is gonna happen to you. Okay?"

He reassured his brother as he looked him in the eyes as he cupped his brothers face and held it like he was the most fragile thing in the world. Because he was, he was just a kid.

"Okay."

Randall whispered as leaned forwards and wrapped his arms around his brothers neck which Marc reciprocated the gesture by hugging his brother and cradling his head.

He picked up his brother and took him upstairs to his room before setting him down.

"Now I need you to listen, grab your school backpack and dump whatever is in there okay."

Marc advised as he started to go through Randall's closet and taking out clothes for him that should last a good while.

"Why?"

Randall said as he started to grab his backpack and take things out one by one.

"Just do it, please."

Marc pleaded a little as he started getting small toys to hopeful entertain his brother from what was happening outside.

"Okay, bu-"

"Randall! Just, please. Don't argue with me right now, okay."

They both worked in silence as Marc got bags ready, Randall, his, and his parents bags were done in an hour.

-------------------------------------------------------

2:35 AM

Randall and Marc had stayed locked in their parents room, Marc had a switchblade and gun from his father's safe next to him.

Both were asleep together. Randall next to his brother and his brother hugging him protectively.

Both laid in the bed being the comfort for each other.

CRASH

That had woken the brothers up. Both sat up straight and Marc had gotten the gun and handed the switchblade to his brother.

Slowly they looked at each other as Marc mouthed.

"Stay here."

Randall nodded as he clenched the switchblade harder and Marc had slowly gotten up from the bed and went to the door.

He put his ear close to the door to hear whatever it was that broke into the house.

The sound itself was appalling in its own ways as it sent a shiver down his spine, the noise groaned and moaned like those horror movies that he would watch.

Steven wasn't a big fan and Marc every once in a while would also hate himself for watching the damn movie. But it felt him with such adrenaline that he still did it despite the nightmare he eventually got.

But those were just nightmares, things he could wake up from, this wasn't.

It sounded unreal, unnatural, just something horrid. It sounded close too, he held his breathe as he leaned away from the door.

He looked back at his brother and looked at the bags. They needed to leave, and now.

He grabbed his backpack and tossed it out the window, he had a plan at the very least on how to leave just incase someone or something broke in.

"Grab the other ones and throw them out the window, okay."

He whispered to his brother as he grabbed his flip phone, it was fully charged now.

"Okay, I'm gonna let you down first and then I follow, okay."

Marc said as he wrapped a curtain sheet around his brothers waist.

"Marc?"

Randall whispered as he felt his brother wrapping up his waist tightly with the curtain sheet from the window.

"Yeah?"

Marc answered as he did one final tug to check that his baby brother wouldn't fall out of this makeshift rope he had made.

"I'm scared."

Randall fretted as he looked at his older brothers.

"Mate, he's terrified. I am too."

Steven whispered from his parents mirror that hung on the door of their closet.

Marc looked at the mirror, at Steven who also had a worried look on his face, his eyebrows were furrowed and his lower lip was trembling a bit.

Marc could see he was trying his best to freak out about this whole thing.

Marc was too, he sighed and took a deep breathe before looking at his baby brother and crouched down to his level.

"I know. I know you are, think of this like the games we play together. Like we are going into a crave with treasure, only thing is the treasure we seek is mom and dad. Okay."

Marc tried to make this easy for him as possible. Another crash was heard down stairs and Marc knew they need to go.

"Alright bud, it's time."

He grabbed Randall's hand and the other with the end of the makeshift rope.

"Now, grab on tightly and when you reach the ground move out the way so that I don't accidentally jump on you. Okay?"

Marc said as he held Randall tightly and held his hands as Randall was going out the window and hung on to the sides of the window.

"Okay, okay! Like that bud, your doing good."

Marc said as he tighten his grip on the makeshift rope.

"Now, I'm gonna let you down, slowly."

Marc explained as Randall nodded and Marc took a deep breathe before he started to loosen his grip and finally dropped him to the ground safely.

He let out a small breathe of relief he had held in.

BANG

BANG

That was sadly short lived as he heard the door to the bedroom being scratched and kicked as the sound of groans and moans get louder and raw.

The sound made him flinch as he started to slowly understand he needs to leave, now.

The way down was only 6 feet from the ground, he could do it if he jumped but he could twist his ankle and be useless to Randall the-

BANG

"Skrew it" he hissed as he climbed out the window and held on tightly to the frame of the window.

"Marc, wait, hold, there has to be another way."

Steven protested as his eyes were wide and his worried expression written all over his face.

"Don't have much choice bud."

Marc mumbled under his breathe as the sound of the door being smashed open was heard, Marc looked down and jumped.

Luckily for the 17 year old teenage boy that has a fixation with parkour and had seen video after video on how they did their tricks.

He bent his knees and rolled before laying on the ground.

His felt his heart beating out of his chest, he felt the thump in his ears but he was alive, he was fine.

"Marc!"

Randall was by his side in no time to help his brother up.

"It's okay, I'm fin-"

Soon both heard a thump and turned around to check what had caused that noise, Marc put a hand protectively in front of his brother.

The sight to see was that the one who had caused the noise was the infected, it had jumped out and fell to its death.

The brains scattered and face mangled, there were holes in its face, the infected looked decayed almost.

Both stared at the dead corpse in front of them as the image was now ingrained in their brain. The smell something no one could truly forget if they had tried.

They could feel the bile go up their throat but decided to swallow it back down.

"We need to go, now."

Marc said as he grabbed the other backpacks and handed them to Randall as they headed towards the car.

It was nothing special but it would do with the circumstances they were in, Marc got the keys from his pants and unlocked the doors, they shoved everything inside.

"Put your seat belt on."

Marc reminded his brother as his brother got in and grabbed the belt around him.

Marc turned on the car and the radio is turned on.

"We are getting news that the hospital is being overflowed with patients as this new virus is taking over. The US army is making head way towards cities to evacuate civilians, H-hey, no, g-get off me !"

The women's voice was cut off eventually and the sound of her screams made way as Marc turns off the radio.

He fixes the mirror of the car before he starts to drive on the road not saying a word. His parents haven't called back yet, he should send them a message.

"Marc?"

The small boys voice called out.

Marc looks at the review mirror to see what his brother need to say.

"Yeah?"

He whispered as he kept his gaze from the road to the mirror and back the road again.

"Are we gonna be okay?"

His brother voice was shaky and small unlike his more joyful and loud booming voice both were more use to.

Something in Marc and Steven shattered right there, his voice shouldn't sound like that. Ever. He didn't deserve this, they had to find a way to make it right, but first they need to get somewhere safe.

"Yeah, yeah buddy we're gonna be okay."

He tried comforting knowing he was pretty shit at it sometimes but his brother needed something to hold on to.

He kept driving for a while before he ended up at a cross path, one lead to the city and the other went father into almost nowhere for a while.

"Maybe to the city, the army might be there and can help us?" Steven said the review mirror as he was also stuck about it.

Marc thought, his parents were last in the city and most likely the army would be at the city getting the most populated away before going into individual houses.

"Shit."

He mumbled as he made a hard right and pressed it hard, the grip on the steering wheel tight that his knuckles were turning white at that point.

That is when he was hit with the worse thing that could happen now, traffic.

Cars were honking and beeping at each other as they stacked through each other.

His flip phone started to ring, finally.

"Mom, dad? Where are you guys?"

Marc asked as he looked behind and at the sides for a way to get through the crowd.

"Marc where are you guys, we just got out the city."

Dammit it! Wrong move.

"We just got to the city, thought you would be there, we had to leave the house."

Marc exclaimed as the car in front seem to have people arguing, fair enough.

"Marc, is your brother safe?"

His mother asked as he responded, one of the people infront got out the car shouting at the other.

"Yeah, he's fine."

Marc responded, the people were still arguing, it was too loud and his signal was giving out, so he got out the car.

"I'll be back bud, just talking to mom and dad."

He mouth to Randall who just nodded and hugged his backpack closer to his chest like it was a stuffed animal trying to comfort himself right now.

When he got out he went to the other side where a line was and the connection was automatically better.

"Marc, you need to leave the city, it's filled to the brim with cars and people."

His father warned as Marc saw someone running towards the people infront of him car.

"What the fu-"

He mumbled before the person now looking was a middle aged man that seemed ill, extremely ill jumped the person who was out of the car.

He flinched hard as he saw now that there was a group running and moaning like the one that had died on the ground at his house long gone now.

The guy was screaming and shouting in pain as the others were going towards the others cars, he dropped his flip phone as his parents were shouting on the other side.

All the could see is the guy being torn apart as the ill man bite the guy with no regard and seemingly no regret.

The flesh peeled of like orange skin as the man on the ground fought for his life, his eyes wide and awake. A fear like no other shown, the infected then dug its hands into the man's insides.

The man squirmed and yelled, his gut wrenching screams being heard, other were getting the idea that people were getting attacked and tried to get the other cars to move.

The headlights showed the grotesque aftermath as the man stopped moving and the ill man feeded off the neck of the man as the sticky residue of his blood smeared across his teeth and lips.

Suddenly he remembered

"Roro!"

He picked up the device from the ground and immediately went back to the car where an another one from the group was trying to break the glass of the door as Randall was screaming and crying for help.

Marc felt nothing as he grabbed the infected hair and pushed him down as he stomped his head on the concrete.

Over and over and over again up its face was no more.

The brains and blood being black with mixture of red.

His shoes were covered now with blood and chuncks of brain left behind of his aggressive protective nature taking over, all he saw red and now he came back.

He was heaving as he open the car door where Randall was, the cars were honking and there was too many lights as the sights of people fleshing being bit off were being shown off.

The ground of black having goop of blood and flesh decorated it as people were being torn by others who seemed out of control.

He need to get them our of here and now, the car was a no go so they need to go on foot.

He got his crying brother and picked him up and got both his brothers and dads backpack and swung them on his back, he put his mom's backpack on his brother back.

Randall was crying as Marc held him tightly and pushed his head down on his shoulder as to make sure he couldn't see what was happening.

The smell was getting to be too much, others were doing the same as the infected started to jump others who weren't fast enough.

"Your ok, we're ok."

He kept encouraging to his brother as his shoulder was getting soaked with salty tears that fell from his brothers eye's but he didn't care right now.

He ran to the other side of the car his heart was heavy, he was responsible for his brothers safety and almost got him killed if not traumatized for life now.

The soles of his feet burned as he kept running the conversation with his parents kept coming up, he didn't get to answer them. They were probably freaking out, shit.

He was fucking this all up. He would have to find a way to fix this eventually.

He panted as he finally reached the edge of the long road and got to the cross road again this time heading left as he carried his brother in his arms as sniffles and little whimpers were all that came out.

"We're okay, we're gonna be okay. We're gonna see mom and dad soon and everything will be okay Roro?"

He tried to get the boy to calm down and he got a small nod and another hiccup of the boy trying to calm himself down.

Marc could only do so much, he knew this.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I told you to go that way."

Steve said in the back of his mind and Marc answered back.

"It's okay, we didn't know."

He comforted Steven as he slowed down, the screams were farther now. They were safe, for now.

The road was mostly empty, the only light coming from farther away, the sound of helicopters not being too far now.

The army was getting close, the sound of firearms being release made its way to his ears. He started to quicken his pace.

His phone was ringing but he couldn't answer, not right now. He was carrying his brother, the brother he swore when he was born to keep safe and so his focus needed to be there right now.

He was sweating now, the band t-shirt he wore sticking to his body now, he stopped and put the boy down to take a breathe.

"Randall, listen to me."

He said using his brothers name instead of his nickname as he bent down and cupped his baby brothers face to make him look at him.

"We need to keep going, okay. I need you to be strong right now, okay?"

He said as Randall looked at him small sniffles still left behind from the scare, he looked at his older brothers eyes but looked down as he felt the tears well up again.

"I-I can't, I can't d-do it."

He muttered as he couldn't look at his brother pleading eyes to look at him and understand.

"Yes, yes you can."

Marc gently lifted his head to make his brother look at him, his dark brown eyes nicer, warmer, but still firm.

"No, no I can't. I want mom and dad, you said we'd find them."

Randall accused, he was scared, he saw someone get eaten and bit alive and thought he was next.

Marc wanted nothing more than to take that damn memory now ingrained in his brothers head and stomp on it till it was nothing.

"We will, just things are not going to plan Roro. But will that stop us?"

Marc says with a new thing of an idea, making this a game, get his mind away from everything else.

"No."

Randall answered as he looked into his brothers eyes.

"And why not?"

Marc said with a small playful smirk he uses to get more into character with his brother, it's something to let his and Randall's guard down.

"Cause we have no fear!"

Randall said with more confidence, he was starting to relax as the tears have now long been dried and left marks on his cheeks.

"That’s right! Now come on, we aren't far from the treasure now, we just need to go across that field and then we can look for more clues."

Marc added as he fixed his backpack straps and tugs on the ends to make them tighter to his back.

Soon he felt a small hand latch onto his he looked down and already knew who it was, Randall had a more determined expression.

That was better, that was so much better.

"Lets go then."

Marc voice echoed in all the destruction of the world now around them, he has no idea what to do if he is honest. He has no plan but to just protect his brother.

Randall tugs on his hand and they start to walk through grass as the sounds of screams are muffled, they rather focus on each other than people tearing each other apart.

His flip phone is silent, he hopes it would rings soon so that he know that his parents are okay.

"They probably are, don't worry. They have each other like we have each other."

Steven's reassuring voice echoed in the mind they shared, it was nice sometimes to have another person with you to share a body with, at least Marc thought so.

Steven was the ground he needed sometimes when Marc started to panic or couldn't get the thoughts out of his head.

Steven provided the warmth that Marc sometimes couldn't provide, or he wished he could give. So much Marc wished he could give.

The grass reached their ankles, the rest of the way was dark and loud, so loud.

The grass crunched underneath their shoes, they held hands as they walked through the grass dead and alive.

There was a hill about to peak now and they made it to the top, it was a little steep the way down but they could manage.

"Hey!"

A voice called out and soon they were out of their thoughts, both boys turned around to see an army man holding his gun towards them.

Marc instinct immediately put his brother behind him, the shield he knew he could be in case.

"What are you boys doing here, did you not hear to announcement!?"

The soldier exclaimed as the flashlight was burning into their eyes but couldn't look away. Frozen in place with no real way of how to make this work.

"Did you hear me boys!"

The man yelled again this time his tone harsh against their ears.

"Y-yes, sorry. Yeah we did sir, but me and brother had to leave, one of those ill people got into our home and we had to leave."

Marc explained as his voice cracked slightly at the beginning as he had found his voice again.

Randall held his brothers hand tighter and hid behind him as best he could.

The man lowered his gun the light finally going down and the darkness enveloping them as he felt his heart in his throat.

The sound of a radio went off and the soilder picked up his radio and started to tune in.

"Yeah, Robin reporting, found two boys, both were walking away from the massacre at the road from Deadway Lane to Boston Ave Drive..."

Marc watched as the man went ahead and talked to whoever was on the other line.

"Massacre, that's what they're calling it now."

Steven intervened as he thought about it, he was shouting at Marc when he saw the whole thing, he felt like his heart stopped that moment those people started to jump people.

"Yeah, that is what is was Steven."

Marc replied in his mind before he felt a small tug and looked to his side.

"Can you lift me, my legs hurt."

Randall whispered, Marc sighed a little tired, he felt like he was on overdrive these past couple of hours.

But that didn't mean he wasn't going to pick the kid up, it was his responsibility as of now to help his baby brother not die from all of this.

He crouched down a bit before putting his arm behind his legs and another one behind his arms before lifting him from the ground.

The lighted shined back on them blinding both him and Randall.

"No one said you could move!"

The man shouted as the gun was pointed at them again his hand in the trigger, Marc froze as Randall wrapped his arms around his brothers neck.

"I just picked him up sir, he's tired."

Marc mumbled as he held his brother closer to him.

"We all are kid, still doesn't allow you to make sudden movement, especially at a time like this. Put him down."

The man said his tone ice cold with almost no emotion.

His radio went off again, his glare lingered on the boys before he went to answer.

Marc jaw tightened, he felt himself holding back from saying anything right now.

"When are we gonna find mom and dad?"

Randall muttered, his voice so small in that moment.

"Soon Roro, soon."

Marc answered with a little nod, he looked around hoping his parents would come and rescue him and his brother from this guy.

He knew what he was asking for was a really big favor but he hoped he would find them soon, he missed them.

"Yes sir, no they are not injured. Yes sir, yes sir, yes...sir."

The man finally said.

Marc looked back the man who just went silent, his gun pointed to the ground but something went up Marc spine, like an instinct. Danger.

They were in danger.

The light shined on them again making Marc step back for a second.

"I'm sorry kids."

The man said, Marc barely had time to even react to the guys hushed yet soft and pitiful words.

He saw the man put his finger on the trigger.

"Shit!"

Steven and Marc both thought before Randall was all that was in his head.

He turned his body as he heard the depthing sound of the rounds trying to hit their bodies erupt in the darkness and echoed into the night.

Randall screamed.

Marc and Steven were silent. At least they think they were.

Their bodies tumbled down to the ground as Marc let go of Randall and they rolled down the hill together.

Suddenly it was quiet again, Marc felt pain from the fall, his head pounding along with his heart.

His ribs screamed and he thinks he twisted his hand when they rolled down that steep hill.

He couldn't see where his baby brother went but knew that he was at least nearby, ge heard footsteps.

Then he remembered the gun he still had in his pocket, it had flied in the air and landd on the ground next to him, his hand reached for it.

Before he knew it another shot rang out and a small thud was heard.

Marc hand trembled as the weight of the metal death in his hands finally weighed.

He looked down and there laid the man the gun laying on the ground as blood spilled and splattered like spilled milked was on the dry brownish yellow grass.

He felt sick.

"What did you do."

Steven said in all this. What else could he say.

Marc had killed someone, not someone who was infected but was alive.

The ringing in his ear finally caught something, it sound like whimpers, like crying.

He turned around and saw his brother who was laying on the ground, his hands near his stomach, then he saw it.

The small puddle of blood starting to form under him.

"No."

Marc whisperer to no one, no one that could hear him or was alive at this point.

He crawled his way over to his brother ignoring the pain he still had.

He looked down and felt the bile rise again.

"It's okay, your okay."

He tried to comfort his brother who was heaving and gasping as tears ran down his cheeks.

His brother could only whine in pain as Marc tried to move his hands from his bleeding stomach.

He couldn't say anything but his tightness on the grip of his shirt was enough to tell Marc he doesn't want his to move his hands.

"I gotta see it Roro, come on."

Despite the horrible sounds that came out of his brother way of protesting to Marc, he moved the small hands and saw the large crimson blood that had now coated his brother t-shirt.

His stripped designed shirt now being taken over by the crinsom darkeness in the color of his blood.

Marc eyes burned, his hands were shaking, he needed to stop.

Stop the bleeding, that's what he needed to do.

Marc put his hands on the spot and put pressure, his brother yelped as he dug his nails into Marc's arms.

"I know, I know it hurts."

Marc said, he didn't know, he didn't know because it wasn't him that got shot, it was his brother, his baby brother had a bullet go through him and now he was bleeding in a dead field.

His brother nails drew blood but Marc didn't care, he needed to get him help.

"I gotta get you up Roro, ok. Work with me here baby."

Marc said adding in the last thing he ever called his brother. His brother didn't always like to be called the baby of the family but that was what he was, he was the baby and Marc was the oldest.

Steven was the oldest. They were the oldest and their brother was the baby.

A baby they failed to protect.

Slowly his hand went behind his brother small back, he felt the blood covering his hand. It was warm and sticky, he hated the feeling.

Randall yelped and whimpered as he grabbed onto Marc shirt now being decorated with his metallic blood that was coming out of his small body.

His small fist shaking as he tried to get up, his brother trying to reassure him.

"I know, I know, come on, please!"

Marc choked out as his brother was dying in his arms.

He looked around for any help, anybody to do anything. There was no one, he was alone, then it got quiet.

He felt a small body go limp, he looked down his brothers eyes still open but there was no light. There was nothing.

"Hey, no, no. Don't you do this to me Roro, come on."

Steven was sobbing in the shadows, he could sense his despair, his anguish, his sadness.

Steven eventually took control as Marc let him.

"Come on, we have to see mum and dad, don't you want to find them."

Steven softer voice echoed as he held the brother he never really got know in his arms as he tried to get him to move but there was nothing.

He pulled his arms to bring him closer.

Steven felt the tears fall even before he knew, their brothers eyes were lifeless as they looked to the sky the moon and stars reflecting in his eyes now.

Steven pulled his small body against their chest and rocked him back and forth just like they did when he was born.

Little thing was so small and so fragile yet his screams and cries did not match up to his size.

Now there was nothing, there was just him and the sound of the world ending in that back ground, no mum, no dad, no roro.

"Come back, come back. We promised to find mum and dad. We still got to finish our game."

Steven whispered into their baby brothers ears but nothing came, it was quiet.

Steven liked the quiet, but not this one, this one felt lonely.

"Don't take him away, don't take him, please..."

Steven choked on his tears as he tried to breathe, God what were their parents going to say. They were suppose to protect him.

They failed, they failed and now their brother was dead.

Steven felt fatigued and before he knew it, it went dark.

Jake took over, the tears that fell kept falling. He failed, he failed them all.

He was suppose to be the one to take over if things were too much and he failed. How could he fail at his only job.

He held the little brother that didn't even know he existed in his arms as he put his forehead and leaned into the hair of his now dead little brother

This wasn't suppose to happen. None of this was suppose to happen.

His anger was everywhere, he looked at the man responsible for the ache in his heart, the emptiness that now formed into their once full heart.

Then man was wheezing, he wasn't dead.

He slowly let go of his brother and laid him gently on the ground.

"Ahora vuelvo, Roro."

He said as his eyes went to darkness from the sadness and anger to just empty brown eyes.

He got up and picked up the gun, he would finish the deed, for his alters, for his parents, for Roro.

The man lifted his head slightly only to be met with cold metal pointed at him.

"Vete al el infierno cabrón."

Is all he said before the sound of the gun went off, the man was truly dead now.

But he wasn't satisfied. He would never be.

He shot his head again, and again, and again.

The tears ran down his cheeks with every shot that went off. He wanted the pain to stop, to just end. But it would never be enough.

Finally he threw the gun down, it had no bullets, it had done its job.

Unlike him.

He picked up the weapon that murder his brother and took the light off before turning it off, it still had rounds.

He swung it around and then went back to where their brother laid.

He sat down and looked at their brother, he wasn't in pain anymore now.

Nothing would scare him anymore, not where he was going at least.

He gently closed his eyes and cried. He was panting, and his neck burned. They needed to leave, but how could they without their baby brother.

They could never truly leave him. Ever.

There you go! The first chapter of this Moonknight TLOU AU, don't worry there will be more and sorry for the wait. School has been on my head for the most part but I will come up on top so hopefully this will make it up.

Hope you enjoyed reading this! Again comments about this would be nice to be able to see where I can make improvements on this whole thing as this story goes.

---

𝘒𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢

Age: 14 (In current series)

Gender: Female

Pronouns: She/ Her

Sexuality: Bisexual

Name: Katalina Elena Martin Mendez

Language: Spanish, English (she can read other languages though like Arabic)

She is the teenager in the story of ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴄᴀʀʀʏ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴀʟʟ ʙʏ ʏᴏᴜʀꜱᴇʟꜰ.

She is 14 years old, she also has a switchblade (like Ellie) but she has other things like a photo of her family (or what they left her) and a locket that her P̶̗̦̏́̆̀̾̀r̸̩̳̎̓̒̊̔̇̐̚͠o̶̻̯̙̞͋̀́͋͌̽̔͛͝ť̴̘̘͍̳̬̙̣͇̋̿̑̃͠ḙ̶̺̋̾̉͝c̶̡̧̛̗̪̦͍̫̻̈́͛̒͗̚ẗ̶͓͋̄͜e̷͙͆̒͘̕r̷̨͕͙͎̈́̆͊̽̋̈́͛̐̚ gave to her.

She was taken in when she was bitten by Harrows crew and was locked up in a room for 3 weeks to see whether she would turn.

🄿🄻🄰🅈🄻🄸🅂🅃:

𝐌𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐌𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐤𝐢: 🌙

"𝙈𝙤𝙤𝙣, 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙛 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙎𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪?

𝙎𝙤, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙚, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙄 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙤

𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪"

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐲 𝐌𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐤𝐢: ⭐️

"𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧

𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙚, 𝙬𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜

'𝘾𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙛𝙖𝙧"

𝐋𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐎𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐑𝐨𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐨: 🎀

"𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧

𝐃𝐚𝐳𝐳𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐭, 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞

𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭?"

𝐒𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐡 𝐛𝐲 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐆: 🥾

"𝐒𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐡 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐬

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝....

𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡

𝐈 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞"

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐛𝐲 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐫'𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐧: 🤍

"𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝

𝐖𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝....

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭."

𝐂𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐲 𝐎𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐑𝐨𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐨: 🦢

"𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐲

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞...

𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰"

𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐚 𝐛𝐲 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐒𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐬: 🦋

"𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐚, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨

𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬"

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐲 𝐓𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐭: 🏹

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞, 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐤𝐞

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞....

𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫

𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐲"

𝐀𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭'𝐬 𝐋𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐲𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐇𝐨𝐳𝐢𝐞𝐫: 🔥

"𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝, 𝐈'𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞...

𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡"

𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐜𝐲: 🌘

𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐬 '𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞

𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠

𝐌𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐝, 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠"

𝐖𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐈𝐬𝐚𝐚𝐤: 🪓

"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮...

𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭

𝐈'𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮"

𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐛𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐲𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐮𝐬: 🪽

"𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥, 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐝

𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥, 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐝

𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐚𝐦"

𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐳:

" 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧' 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐮𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝

𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬,

𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐊𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧' 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐲,

𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝,

𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐓𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬"

Her aesthetic:

Hobbies/facts:

- likes to collect things like small souvenirs and photos she thinks look nice.

- Find a notebook later and write down anything she learns or thinks is interesting to her

- Sometimes she says random facts she finds out or learned about just to see what the guys reaction are to each of them.

- She likes little bugs and insects and sometimes names them if she can. It's mostly in her head that she names them.

-She also hasn't learned how to swim, that, that might be important later.

- She is actually pretty strong and has muscle growing. It's just underneath all her clothes as of now.

- If she gets bored, she'll start to braid her hair to keep her entertained until she is called or something else gets her attention.

Drawing on her:

The one with a name on the corner was a commission I asked from someone on Instagram. She did an incredible job with what I was able to imagine for her in general.

It's the best piece of work I have ever laid my eyes one, ever.

The other one is my take on Katalina just differently and definitely something I actually really like and took way too much time to actually do.

(Credit to KQEEWI on Instagram who did this commission for me. Please send her some love over there because her artwork is a masterpiece already!!)

---

I'll give him a hug, I'll give him so many hugs until he feels better.

I'll even make 100's of birthday cakes to celebrate his birthday with 🥲

Please help Julia and her family! She is only 3 years old and her older brother is only 4. They deserve to grow up safe and happy with full bellies and a loving home, not deprived of basic human rights. Please do whatever is in your power to help!

💌 DONATE HERE -> tinyurl.com/HelpJuliaFamily

🕊 Currently at €20,313 / €55k -> 35% of the goal. Let's push so they may reach 50% soon!!

🌷 If you've ever wanted an art commission from me, im also holding a raffle that you can enter if you donate to this family - more info here if you're interested!

Continued writing of Chapter 3...

Warning: Mention of killing a child and language

He orders Jake as he looks at the mark in her shoulder. It looks healed in a way, sure he knows that it seemed impossible for a person like her to exist at all.

"I am telling you, I'm immune. I won't kill you, I have waited for weeks for any sign that I might change or turn, nothing. I don't care if you don't believe me, but you need me alive to get whatever supplies you need from that Harrow guy anyways."

She retorts back as she pulled her sleeve down and pulled back on her jacket, Jake considered it, an immune person, people of the right qualifications could do something with that.

"I don’t care! He probably set us up with you just to get rid of us, should've broken his wind pipes while I had the chance!"

He complains as he started to check the soilders for any supplies. She didn't go down without a fight, that was for sure.

"Y tú estas seguro que tú eras immuna ?"

He asked her as she looks at him surprised, right, she didn't know about him yet.

"Since when did you speak spanish?"

Looking dumbfounded he snaps his fingers.

"Focus, estas segura?"

He asked again.

"Yes, sí, estoy segura. No tengo orta cosa para que tú me creas en mí, nomas me palabras."

She says as he looks into her eyes, looking for a hint of any lie because he knows, he just does. He finds nothing. She honestly doesn't have a reason to lie, she would die which ever way she took but one would let her live just a bit longer.

"We aren't killing her."

He says to Khonshu who just looks at him.

" You can't honestly tell me you believe what that worm is saying!?"

Khonshu exclaimed as Jake sighs.

"I don’t, not completely at least. But from the amount she has been with us, she hasn't tried to kill us."

He explains as he looked at her again.

"But one twitch, one little sound that doesn't sound normal and I will kill you, and I don't flinch niña. ¿Entiendes?"

He says as she nods.

He nods back as Khonshu hands him a gun. He grabs it and starts to point somewhere.

"We go over there, then we get to one of the safe locations. We stay there for a while then we'll keep going."

He says as he starts to walk, Khonshu follows by mumbled remakes, she looks at then both. They were both her protector and killers, they could kill her if they wanted to. Khonshu seemed like he would do it in a heart beat.

But that other guy, he gave her another chance.

Also, when the hell did he speak spanish?!

"Come on niña!"

Jake called out as she is pulled out of her thoughts and starts to follow where Jake is standing there waiting for her to catch up.

And this is where the story ended at the first time. Sorry I had the rest or not it would not be the whole thing.

This took weeks of both school and writers block but I got it done 👍. Again as always let me know what you think, I am working to make a masterlist which should appear in a little bit.

Hope this is good, and I don't know when the next post of this will be, but most likely, it's not as late as this one.

Have a good day, afternoon and night.

-sky 💜

---

🍉𝑃𝑅𝐸𝑂𝑅𝐷𝐸𝑅𝑆 𝐴𝑅𝐸 𝑂𝑃𝐸𝑁!🍉

💐It's time for us to stand together in a field of flowers for change! Preorders for The Song of Birds and Flowers, a SFW Digital BKDBK Nature Zine, have officially OPENED!💐

tsobf.bigcartel.com

Preorders close on Dec. 14th!

💐Bouquet Bundle (Zine + Merch) - $18

🌼 The Song of Birds and Flowers PDF Zine 🌼 (1) Phone Wallpaper 🌼 (1) Twitter Banner 🌼 (5) Discord Emotes 🌼 (2) Icons 🌼 (1) Printable To-Do List 🌼 (2) Printable Paper Dolls (Colorable)

🪶Birds of a Feather (Zine Bundle) - $15

🌼 The Song of Birds and Flowers PDF Zine

All proceeds will be going to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund.

You can learn more about them here: www.pcrf.net

Heyoo, so new chapter coming at you!!!

WARNING: BLOOD, VIOLENCE, GUN VIOLENCE, LANGUAGE, MENTION OF DRUGS AND MISUSE OF THEM!!!

Chapter 3: Summon the infected

The sound of shoes hit the ground as they walk through the paths of Cairo. It was loud yet quiet as small sounds of the night echoed and played in the wind.

The ground below filled with cracks and slight smudges of blood left behind by those who were not careful enough.

The air of Cairo was dry and cold for the most part. Katalina looked around as Marc took off his backpack shoved his gloves in.

The opened doors and closed gates everywhere, the smell of alcohol and fruits filling the air. It filled in Katalina nose as she followed the man making his way past people and allyways.

The stalls were closed for the night since FEDRA would now come by and do a sweep through.

Doesn't mean people don't get out though.

The sound of people were still around as they talked and laughed about things like stories or things that had happened that day.

She smiled at that, sometimes if one looked hard, there was still some light that hadn't been dimmed completely.

"Pull up your hoddie."

He suddenly says and she looks at him for a second before she pulls the hoddie to cover her head. He pulls up his own and starts heading down one place, there seems to be a couple people there.

She looks at all of them, some were just talking, others looked at them, one stared at her directly like she was meat.

She felt the urge to cuss him out on it but decided to not. She didn't feel like making a scene now, she would probably get killed by the guy anyways.

Marc gently grabbed her shoulders causing her to tense immediately but he pushed her to his side away from the guy that looked at her that way.

Her shoulders relaxed as he let go and started heading towards a ladder at the side of a small shop.

"Climb kid."

Is all he says as he moves out of the way after pulling the ladder down and she looks up, maybe about seven stories high.

She starts to climb up as Marc looks around now. That asshole looked at her weird, just a fucking kid and looked at her like she was some damn meat.

The kid was sort of a pain in the ass already but he will beat that guy up if he has to though, doesn't matter if he is annoyed at the situation he found himself in, that doesn't give the damn guy a pass.

"Absolute creep."

"Debemos matarlo cuando volvamos."

He hears his alters say as he nods in silent agreement before starting to climb up once he see that its clear again. He makes it up and sees her looking up at the sky.

The stars and moon shine bright up from the roof top than from the ground, maybe not as much as it would without the lights but enough to look at.

She looked entranced by view as she was pointing towards the stars and moved it around slightly before muttering something he could barely hear.

They needed to get going though, it was getting dark and FEDRA would be on their ass soon.

"Come on kid."

He said as she looks back at him before looking up one last time. He sighs as he gets to the edge and waits for her. After 5 seconds she looks back at him and walks over to where he was.

He grabs a wooden plank and put it out before testing it by walking first to the other side of the building. It wobbles slightly but works fine.

"Think you can do it?"

He ask looking back up but she was already walking across with no real problem and doesn't really seem to fear the damn thing.

"It's wood. I don't think there is anything really scary about it."

Is all she says as she makes it and hops off before looking at him to continue. He pushes the plank back to the other side before jump to the next roof over.

She follows in silence, they jump over nine other roofs that were close by before he goes down a set of stairs from the roof of the apartment they landed on.

The place was obviously abandoned to nature as overgrown tamarisk and irises painted the walls with its colors and leaves that had ingrained itself into the structure itself.

It was pretty for an abandoned building. The smell of the irises faint but nice, the blue faded flower slowly moved, some laid on the floor by the soft wind blowing.

She pick one up as Marc stopped and look at what she picked up and held gently in her hand.

Her eyes had soften looking at the flower, Steven took noticed as Marc's eyes rolled back and he took over the body as he looked at the girl.

She looked differently now that he really looked at her, she looked looked tired and almost sad. Her eyes looked so lost and confused, his eyebrows furrowed slightly but changed once she moved to the side.

She place the flower gently at the edge of a balcony and walked back to him.

"Where to now?"

Is all she says before he is caught out of his thoughts and clears his throat before pointing towards a window.

"Okay."

She responded with and Steven started to walk towards the window. He has seen the way back after so many years that he has it memorized like the back of his hand.

It wasn't as often that Steven took over as much as before.

After their brother died, Steven wasn't seen for a couple months until Marc had a panic attack that really hit harder than the other ones in which he came back to help.

He knew that Marc needed him, he couldn't do it alone and he came back.

He wasn't as happy about the arrangement with Khonshu and being Moonknight but also knew that even if Khonshu was a arse he had saved their life and therefore has to pay it back somehow.

He was fine with fighting to protect people but not having to kill as much and usually let the other two alters take care of it if it became too much for him.

"Steven!"

Two voices yelled which caught his attention as he stopped to see that he was off to far in his thoughts that he was almost shot but the girl pulled him down before it could hit him.

He looks where the bullet instead hit as a cloud of white came out from the wall with a small hole now in it.

That could have been him.

"Dude! You almost got your brains blown out!"

She exclaimed as she her eyes were wide at the surprise attack and the fact that the guy almost died infront of her.

Steven had to get himself together before he got out the revolver they carried and checked if he had bullets.

He had a couple, he had to make sure they count.

"Stay here, okay."

He said to the girl who just at him confused but nodded with hesitation. He takes it and looks around for anything, finds a glass bottle and throws it at a wall nearby.

That caused a distraction, only for a second though and points the gun at the closes person before shooting them in the chest. They go down quick before another round of bullets were being shot at him.

He hides back down and thinks of something else, he sees a small smoke bomb not too far away.

"Think you can grab that for me?"

He whispered to her as pointed to the smoke bomb nearby. She looks over and sees where it is, she sighs before looking back and nodding.

She moves slightly against the wall before grabbing the small bag and slid it over to him

"Thanks dove."

He whispers back at her as he grabs it and throws it at the group, the white powder blows up in their faces as they yelped in pain and now the ability to see taken away.

She turns arpund and looks at him as she miss heard him, did he call her dove? He was too concentrated to see the slip up of the nickname but would rather not let it come up instead.

That gave him time to get out from the spot and shoot at the rest of them. Their bullets fly but never hit him as he takes them down one by one.

One in the chest, another to the head, he goes for a fatal part so that they die quick.

Finally the last guy goes down and his lungs caught the air he needed. He wiped the small bit of sweat he worked up before going over again to see if the kid was okay.

"You alright?"

He ask as he looks down at her and she looks up at him before flipping the switchblade back into a more non lethal way, she forgot she took it out.

She looks back down at the dead bodies as they laid there.

"Yeah, peachy even. Are they all dead?"

She ask as she climbs over the broken window and looks around at the bodies and the puddle of blood that were now forming.

"Yea, yea I believe so."

He said as he looked around to see that he got everyone in the strip of the building.

Then the sound of sirens started to go off in the background which caught both attention.

"We gotta move, come on."

Steven said as he gently push Katalina forward and she started to move forward before making to the end of the hall and climbing down the ladder back down.

They walked through the empty hallway, they had made small talk here and there but other than that it was quiet.

Both an comfortable and awkward quiet.

"So, where are you parents?"

He ask as he looks outside, night was still here, longer than usual it felt.

"Where are anybody parents? But to answer your question, they are gone. Nowhere to be found, nonexistent, evaporated into thin air. Im an orphan. "

She answered with a small sigh, not like a sad sigh, just a tired one, she really wanted to sleep.

He looks back at her and looks at him, nothing was said but a pair of brown eyes looking at another pair of brown eyes.

"So, how did you end up with a knob like Harrow anyways? You're like 11, don't think it's normal to be with a guy who is the leader of the timsaeh?"

He ask as he looked back infront of him, the hall was pretty empty, they lived in a more secluded area of the districts in the QZ.

" First, I'm 14, two he sort of kidnapped me but not really at the same time."

She responded not too sure about her answer but tried to answer as best as she could.

"Kidnapped you!?"

He exclaimed as he turned back at her a little too hard and hissed before holding his side.

"Woah! Okay, I have no idea how old you are, but I know well that it shouldn't hurt to turn like that! Are you okay?"

Katalina asked concerned as her eyebrows furrowed slightly stepping slightly closer but hesitated before stepping back.

"Yeah, don't worry. Just got some cuts, nothing serious to worry about."

He reassured her as she nodded and he took a breath.

"To answer your question, he kinda took me in a sense. Sort of against my will but also not. Like he gave me an option, go back with him and live or die for being out when I shouldn't have been."

She decided to explain, seemed like she wasn't going to give any more information though, he could feel she was hiding something still.

"Why were you out?"

He questioned.

"Okay, no more questions, too much. It's not your job to ask these many questions man."

She guarded herself as sounding a little agitated at the question.

"Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to offend."

He apologized.

"No, its fine. Just, no more questions, por favor."

He gets the message and nods in understanding.

She nods back in acknowledgment to his own.

The sound of the locks being unlocked echoed through the room as the wooden door swung open and there stood the two.

Steven walks in and turns on the lights, the apartment is pretty standard to what the whole entire QZ could manage to give to the people.

It was filled with books, big and small, long or short, words or pictures, every type of book one could find in this grey world could be found there.

The lights worked and the Christmas lights they managed to find lit up giving one side of the entire room more of an comfy aesthetic of a library.

The smell was of leather and wood lingered, there was a small table in the middle where piles of paper and books were open and laid out, pens and pencils in random places.

Steven walked into the apartment they owned, he puts his jacket on the rack and laid his backpack down on the couch.

He doesn't hear footsteps behind him before turning back to find the girl just standing there in the hallways still, she seemed, confused?

"You can come in you know?"

He said as he took out the weapons they had used their missions as Moonknight, knives, revolver, and other smaller items they carried to get the jobs done.

Katalina walks in and closes the door behind her, the place was definitely nicer than where they made her stay before. It looked like a home, it had personality, reminded of her dorm back at FEDRA school.

She had posters and pins that she collect over the years, lots of fights, barging and trading was made to at least give her a place to call home.

He finally finished and winced a little as he remembered that they had gotten injured during a fight as Moonknight. The slice to his side was starting to get to him now, but he has to worry about the kid running away.

"Hey, you mind helping me with something?"

Steven called out as she turns around and looks at him.

"Help with what?"

She responds as she waits for him to tell him. He points to the bathroom door that was open

"You can put your backpack down, there is a med kit in the bathroom. Mind getting it for me?"

She looks to where he pointed and walked over there as he checked how bad the wound was. She looked for a light and saw a light cord and pulled the cord as the dim light shined the bathroom.

The bathroom had a small shower that was covered with a blue shower curtain, one small circular mirror, a toilet, and a small sink with a cupboard.

She goes down on her knees and opens the cupboard, it has small amount of things. Two shampoo bottles, one conditioner, and a couple bars of soaps.

There was a small plastic box with a red symbol on it.

"Bingo."

She whispered with a small smile as she pulled it out of its where it was and got up. She turns off the light and walked over to where he was.

"Here."

She says as he holds out his hands to grab it from her. And he does as he opens it up, it is stacked and filled.

One thing they all agreed on was to make sure they would have supplies if something were to happened whether small or big and it has worked very for them.

He grabs the small packet of alcohol wipes and puts it where the cut was. He hissed at the stinging and cold feeling that he felt but knew why it had to be there.

"Thank you."

He says to her as she just looks at him with slightly furrowed eyebrows before giving a small nod.

He gets up and walks over to their bedroom and sees the damage from their mirror, it's fixable but it will take a little bit of time to bandage and see the rest if the injuries they didn't take account for.

He's got work to do.

Katalina looked around and took note of the way the complex looked, she looked at the books and maps laid out. Dots of red littered on the map of Egypt.

'Maybe places he's been to as Moonknight?'

She thinks as she picks up a book, she looks back him but he's distracted with patching up his wounds. She inspects the book, it seemed from the before times.

The tales and stories of Egyptian God's and Mythology

There was a bookmark on one part of the book. She opened it to that page, the chapter talked about the Ennead

" The major gods worshipped in Egypt are Ra (Sun God and Creator of all creations), Anubis ( Deity of cemeteries and protector of graves), Horus ( The God of War and Sky), Isis ( Goddess of Healing and Magic), Osiris ( Lord of the Underworld)..."

She kept reading until, she knew most of this knowledge she was raised here in Cario for a good chuck of her life. The pyramids were off limits for a good long time after the infected started to take over.

Many locals would say that it was the gods punishing them for something, maybe for not caring about them anymore or something of the sort.

She really wasn't sure what started this whole end of world thing but she was pretty sure it had nothing to do with the gods.

She looked at the bookmark again and sees writing.

A man without love - New Things

Day 'N' Nite- Nothing yet

Más Allá Del Sol- Leaving, I'll be back

Wake me up before you Go- Possible danger

My way of life - Don'-

The book and bookmark were immediately taken from her, she flinched by surprise action as she turns around to see the guy had stuffed the bookmark back into the book.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you to not take things that aren't yours."

He scolded her as he threw the book on the couch. His voice deeper, the accent from before gone. The warmth from before now replaced with frustration and annoyance.

"Merida! Perdón, sorry."

She apologized quickly as she put her hands up in the air, slowly stepping back and putting some space between them.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose before sighing as the sound of Steven telling him to not yell at her echoed in his mind.

"Look kid, you can't just, go around and touch whatever you please."

He reprimand her as she just looks at him, her gaze flickering between him and the book, her fist clenched slightly at her sides.

Marc looks at the mirror of a Steven. Steven telling him to make it up, Marc rolled his eyes before he shakes his head.

He takes a deep breathe before he speaks to her again.

"Sit over there, if you're that bored, here."

He grabbed a random book from Steven's collection and pushed it firmly to her and she hugs the book.

"Go sit over there and don't touch anything else."

He ordered as she looks at the book then back at him before turning around and sitting at the kitchen table with the book.

He watches her as he runs a hand through his hair before retreating back to the task at hand.

He sits down on the bed and looks back up at the mirror. There was Steven and Jake looking at him.

"That went well."

Jake said as he fixed his cap, Steven sighed and shook his head.

"What in the bloody hell was that Marc!"

Steven said, annoyed.

"She can't just look and take things that aren't hers Steven, that's just common sense. Something that seems to be a foreign concept to you right now."

Marc retorted as he cleaned the blood that was on his nose. He was honestly happy it wasn't broken this time.

"You're being a knob and an asrse, you could have handled that better, yelling at her obviously isn't helping her understand that Marc!"

Steven argued back.

"I know that, but we aren'ther parents nor her babysitters, we aren't gonna be the ones to have to lecture her on manners."

He sighs as he continued.

"She is cargo Steven, that is what we have been told to see her. Cargo, living breathing cargo, not only that but what chance, honestly, do you think that we won't get her killed out there!"

Marc growled back as he poured more alcohol onto the other cuts that were littered on their body. His jaw clenched as he held in a hiss from escaping his lips.

"We don't know that we won't be able to keep her alive Marc, even so she is a literal child who was kidnapped by Harrow and now in some dodgy man's house who can't seem to decide whether to talk or yell at her for anything she does. God, wouldn't put it pass her if she thinks we are mental."

Steven shouted back as he thought more and more. Jake saw the interaction, he of course had his thoughts about this whole thing too.

"Both of you, stop, this isn't helping. We just need to keep her here right now. No importa se les gusta o no, tenemos un trabajo and that girl is it. Keep her alive and safe until we have any other instruction from that asshole Khonshu."

Jake intrupted the two as the both looked at him.

"No more fighting, it won't help us in this situation, we need to just compromise between each other with this. Okay?"

Jake presented as he looked at the two who were in their own heads before nodding at it.

"Yeah, alright."

"Fine by me."

Marc said as he finished bandaging his arm.

Katalina opened the book, it was about puzzles. How puzzles helped to keep someone wake, how they help keep one's mind sharp.

Her mind, however, keeps coming back to the man, how it seemed like he changed almost, from a more warmer and caring British accent to now an American accent that scolded her.

What is up with him?

Is all she could think before she looked back at the book he had thrown on the couch, it was in his line of vision but she was able to remember most of the list that was on the bookmark.

They were based on the songs, but there was no real connection between them? Maybe a type of code.

She then looked around to see if there were any clues to why it was he had the list.

It didn't take long until she found a radio, it was a small one with a antenna but it looked to be in good condition, well, as one as you could get.

A certain red line was titled to the right, the radio itself was close to the window where a stack of books would be able to hide it from view point.

Smart.

A sound of footsteps catch her and she quickly picks the book up again and turns the page just as he walks in.

She's "reading" as he walks in, he didn't think the book would be really entertaining, it's literally a book on puzzles.

He walks around the couch and lays down on it. It's been only a hour and he already wished this night were over.

He can feel the heavy pull on his eyelids, something tell him that maybe sleeping isn't his best idea but it's what they need. The body is tired just from today, like everyday it seemed.

He tries to keep his eyes open but can't he feels sleep catch him and he knows he's gonna black out. Maybe one of the others will pay attention to her while he sleeps for a bit.

"One of you, watch her, please."

He mumbles as he falls asleep, but he didn't know was that they also had retreated back to their own place and didn't even hear his request.

A couple minutes go by and Katalina slowly gets up and looks at the man, he's out, passed out. Looked like he needed the rest though, she sees that he's not covered.

The blanket was not even that far, but he was too tried to even try and cover himself. She hesitates to do anything about it, but then decided that rather than make him her enemy they can at least be decent to each other.

She walked as quietly as she could and grabbed the blanket.

Jake had gotten out once he realized the Marc had fallen asleep and that Steven was nowhere to be found in the mind. He materialize in the mirror and saw her.

He was ready to attack her but hesitated when she was only covering them with a blanket. It was pretty cold at night sometimes in Cairo and tonight was on of them.

He waited for anything from her, maybe for her to leave. Maybe for her to leave them alone, run away, get away and not be able to hurt them physically nor in other ways.

She didn't , she just looked at them, he really looked at her. She looked tired too, tired like them.

His eyes flickered, he knew what he was supposed to think of her but at the same time knew that it felt werid. She was cargo, but does cargo live and breathe?

He shook his head at the thought, no. She cargo, living and breathing, sure. But cargo, cargo they have been told to keep safe until further instructions were given.

Once they get done with this run, things will go back to normal, thing will go back to the way they were.

He watched her as she walked over to Steven stack of books he's collect over the years. Anything to keep him awake or entertain.

She looked back at Marc's sleeping figure before grabbing a random one, reads the title and sits down next to the window where the moonlight shined.

He watched as she opened the book and started to read it, he saw the title of it.

Why are the Moon, Sun, and Planets the way they are?

He couldn't get a good look at the author though, he stayed there a little just observing her, she liked to use her finger he thinks to read the sentences that were laid out in the book.

She wasn't very expressionate like Steven was, but she definitely was someone to get completely indulge into whatever book she found interesting, at least from what he saw.

He was getting tried too, he had a feeling that she wouldn't leave though, one, the way to the apartment he could tell that she had never been to that side of the QZ.

The constant looking around, she tried to hide it by looking at one thing for the most part but every once in a while her gaze would go somewhere else before she would look around again.

'She's cautious, good.'

Not as good as them, and especially not like him but at least that is a skill she has to her advantage.

2 hours later....

It was raining now, which honestly caught Katalina by surprise. It's not often that it rained, it hadn't rain in almost 2 weeks now.

The sound of the droplets hitting the window were muffled as she watched them fall one by one.

The book she was reading now laid on the ground still open to the page she was last on. Her eyes fought to stay awake but her eyelids were getting heavy.

The sound of rain wasn't helping either, she looked at the radio, it stood still and the red line stayed exactly where has sat for who knew how long now.

God, she felt like the night was forever. Might as well have been, the moon still shined brightly at the night sky as thousands of stars glimmered to shine the ways of both old and new generation of people who have lived.

She looked over to where the guy was still sleeping, he seemed pretty calm right now.

She sighs as she looks out the window, the books no longer entertaining her as she plays with her hair. She decided to braid it instead grabbing small strands of hair and starting the process.

Not even 5 minutes later she hears a noise, it was small, you could almost miss it. Almost.

She looks around but can't find anything, it happens again, it sounded like mumbling. She turns towards the guy and see that his eyebrows are furrowed, he seemed to be slightly sweating too.

She gets up and walks over, but a couple steps in she stops.

'What the hell was she supposed to do?'

'Wake him up and just get reprimanded again, no. Maybe she should just let it pass, like a fever.'

She falters and instead goes back to the window watching the rain droplets. She looks at the sky as she starts to let the calmness finally sweep on her as she slowly closes her eyes and lays her head against the wall.

It doesn't feel the same like where Harrow and the timsaeh people had kept her. No, this was a little bit nicer, quieter as well, she could actually hear her own heart beat for what felt like years

She fell asleep to her beating heart as she let it take her somewhere else for a while, maybe somewhere where it rained a little bit more. She liked the rain, it meant life, it meant cleanliness, to her at least.

3 Hours later...

The feeling of a little nudge slight woke her up as her eyes slowly adjusted to the warm lighting again. She looks up to see it was the guy again.

His eyes however looked different, not in appearance but just in emotion, he seemed concerned?

"Sorry. Didn't mean startle you there kiddo, just have a feeling that my boss is coming back soon so it might be best to be awake now."

Steven said as he backed up to give her space, he went towards the kitchen as Katalina rubbed her eyes as she got up from the little corner she pushed herself for comfort.

She continued to rub her eyes and yawn as she walked over to where he went. He stood there as he started to put water into a pot, then placed it onto a sort of stove.

He turned to see the girl just watching her as she rubbed the sleepiness out of her. He walked over a little to the cabinet and took out 4 boxes all with black sharpy marker written on them.

"What tea do you want?"

He ask as he laid out the options for her, she looked at them, there actually a good supply of options available to her.

"I'll take Karkadeh, please."

She said as he nodded and got tea cups to get the tea ready. He poured the hot water and let the tea soak in it, he put it down in front of her and him.

"Do you like tea?"

He asked as she looked at it.

"I guess, I don't drink it as often but when I do it's pretty good."

She responded as she blew on it, she already learned her lesson last time when she burned her tongue.

'It's not fun. Wouldn't recommend that experience.'

"Do you want any sugar?"

He said as he added a small amount of sugar to his before mixing and blowing.

She hesitates but takes two scoops and starts to copy what he did, she mixed a couple times before bringing the spoon to her lips and blowing on the small amount of tea that was on there.

The tea tasted how she would think, it was rich in flavor, it warmed her up from the inside and she softly hummed at the sensation.

The redness not of blood but of the flower used to make the tea flavor and color taking her senses instead adding another meaning to the color.

Sometimes red wasn't so bad.

He hummed once he felt liquid go down his throat, he missed having tea and just enjoying someone elses presence around. He felt warm, not from just the tea, but for someone else to be here with him.

He missed having Layla, they would drink tea before going out into the somewhat grey world, but with her it wasn't, having someone else around wasn't so bad.

Though, he felt bad for this girl in front of him, she shouldn't be here, like, this.

Even if the circumstances weren't great, the least he could is try to make it comfortable for her.

"Thank you."

She spoke breaking him from his quiet silence he was in his mind. He nodded and they kept drink their tea with each other. He put the tea cup down and felt the red liquid go down his throat.

"Steven, stop it. Your gonna get hurt like this, she isn't gonna stick around long and your gonna get hurt."

Marc remarked as Steven rolled his eyes and kept drinking.

"So, we're just waiting for the guy with the cane then?"

Katalina decided to start to try and get more information now since they were somewhat okay right now.

"Yeah, real twit but yes. He will tell us whether we're gonna help you get to the timsaeh group at the Tanta capital."

Okay, so something a little far but nothing impossible to do.

"How long do you think it would take to get there, if it were approved you'll help me and the timsaeh group."

She asked, she thinks maybe a day if they kept going, maybe two if they took breaks.

"If it gets through to him, then a day or two. Depends on the weather and how many infected their are."

He explained as he finished the rest of his tea, she nods and sips her tea.

"Are we gonna be okay then? If we we're to go out there?"

She questioned, she's heard of stories of what has happened out there. There have been infected even with the blazing heat there would be infected who have somehow adapted and managed to be out there for some periods of time.

He thinks about it, he's been part of those missions where they would take the bodies to other QZ nearby where Cairo was. How many people have died while they were making their way out there?

Infected and people, people made it worse out there.

But they have survived, Jake nor Marc would ever let them die out there, Steven knew this. He wouldn't let them die either, nor this girl who needs that reassurance that she won't die out there with them.

"Yeah, we'll be fine."

He said, he wasn't true sure, he wouldn't promise anything he couldn't keep though.

She looked at him, just looked and nodded before finishing her tea.

"Oh yeah, that radio over their went off actually while you were asleep."

She said which alerted Steven and now the other two.

"Ask her what song it was."

Marc rushed to ask.

"You wouldn't happen to know what song that would have been, would you?"

Steven subtly asked, or at least he thought he did.

"I think the song went like I'm just half alive in my struggle to survive without you?"

Her response was more of more questioning than confident.

"Shit."

"Merida."

"Oh bloody hell."

Katalina heard him mutter under his breath.

So it's something bad.

She decided to try and get more out.

"Is it bad?"

She asked him as her eyes furrowed with slight concern.

"Well, it means th-"

"Steven!"

Jake finally came through.

"No lo hacers Steven, ella no puede saber de eso."

He whispered and Steven stopped and thought about it, he didn't want to lie to her.

"Marc Spector!"

A yell came, for once they were actually glad that Khonshu came and disrupted the silence.

He gets up as the girl looks at him and opened the door for him.

Khonshu walks in, his cane hitting the wooden floor as Steven closed the door.

"We need to talk." Khonshu he said as he looked at him. Khonshu sighed once he saw the look in his brown eyes "Marc Spector, not you."

"We're a package deal Khonshu, you know this."

Khonshu scoffed as he shook his head.

"Fine, outside. Now."

He said as he went out into the hallway, Steven sighs as he goes out before giving one small smile and nod to her before shutting the door.

Katalina slowly waits before going towards the couch and picking up the book. She grabs the bookmark and read it.

My way of life - Don't come, overun.

She sighs, crap.

She puts the bookmark back before putting the book the closes she could to where it was before.

Khonshu made sure to go far enough for the girl to hear.

"So, what's the verdict then?"

Steven said as he leaned on the wall and looked at him. Khonshu stays silent for a second before sighing.

"There was a lot, enough to keep us loaded for years if we are smart. It's good too, lots of weapons to keep people safe during the nights, you could even sell some and still have enough left over. We're taking the girl."

He answered as he looked at the switch happen.

"You can't be serious, we are gonna get that girl killed out there. You already know what is out there, what makes you think we can get her there alive."

Marc argued.

"Your Moonknight, we both know what your capable of. Get ready, we leave tonight, hope you sleeped enough tonight, the moonknight is needed."

Khonshu mocked before walking away from him as Marc just scoffed and looked at him walk away. He wanted to smash his head into a wall or something.

" Fucking asshole."

Is all he mumbled before getting up and walking back into the complex where he found her still sitting there as she played with her hair.

Her head lifted and her eyes met his.

He sighs before speaking.

"Looks like we're taking you then."

Her eyes widened a little before nodding. He goes and grabbed his gear, the sooner they did this the sooner they come back and everything will be how it was.

Alone. Alone with his alters.

Alone and never able to get another little kid killed because of his weak and murderous self.

Just how he was always meant to be, alone. Jake and Steven would be better without him, she would have a better chance with them than with him. He closes his eyes and takes a a breathe, he needs to take just a breathe.

"Come and grab some supplies."

He says and she gets up before grabbing her backpack.

"In there, there are some canned food and bottles of water, grab as much as you can carry. Grab a small blanket if you can for yourself. You have 30 minutes before we leave."

He pointed to their closet where some supplies was left incase they needed it.

She walks over and opened it, there were men's clothes, cans, water bottles, clothes, and small toys.

'Did he have a kid?'

She thought as she looked at him but he was more concentrated on his ammo in his revolver. She decided not to bring it up right now, and started to grab some cans and water bottles.

She was only able to get seven cans and five bottles of water. There was also a small blanket, it was blue with small clouds on it. Looked pretty old but it was in good condition, it was, beautiful actually.

She put it into her pack before seeing a small toy, it looked like an action character, she's never seen it before. It was a guy with a white cape and had rolls of gray whitish wrap around it with a gold crescent on its middle.

She looked back at him but still distracted, she shoves it deep down into her backpack before zipping it up.

Just in case, she's not sure from what but she has a feeling.

"I finished."

Both said at the same time, there was a slight pause before he nodded and titled his head slightly telling her to start moving.

She nodded before giving a small thumbs up and walking towards to where the books were.

He walked into their room and open a small compartment under a small plank where other weapons were held.

He grabbed as many as he could and put them in his pack, before seeing a picture. It was of him and Randall, they were at a park of some sort, he was pushing him while Randall smiled at the feeling of the wind in his tiny curls.

He smiled softly at the picture before putting it into his backpack. He could still hear his brothers laughter, even now he could still remember. It's been so long, but he would never forget his brother, none of them would.

Katalina grabbed a small book, it had pictures of the stars and Planets and apparently "fascinating facts" about them. She took it and stuffed it, her pack was full now.

She knows taking it was wrong, but he's got like a hundred books. Sure, he won't miss it.

Right?

"You got a flashlight with you in your pack?"

He suddenly ask which startled her and made her turn around with her fist closed and ready to punch.

She was like that for a couple seconds, he looked at her before raising an eyebrow and looking at her "fighting pose".

She sighs before letting her arms and fist down.

"Warn a girl next time, how the hell were you so quiet about it?"

She says before putting her hands on her knees as her adrenaline starts to get down from its sudden high.

"You do realize who you are talking to, right?"

He face deadpan as she looked at him before connecting the dots, again.

He's Moonknight, his whole thing was being vigilant and quiet.

"Oh, yeah."

Katalina looks at the ground before just walking past him. His gaze doesn't follow her which she is glad about.

Her cheeks were warm from the embarrassment, he shook his head before going over towards the books.

He could tell one was missing, there was always this small book the Steven would read and now it's not there.

"It's okay mate, let her have it. I read the book so many times, might as well give it to someone else who might enjoy it too."

He thinks about before nodding and not saying anything, he wanted to make sure Steven was okay with it before he did anything, this time.

He gets the last of his weapons and walks over to where she stood looking at the poster, it was of a movie from before the outbreak.

Tomb Buster: When danger is near, Steven Grant has no fear."

He and Steven had a long talk about that one.

"Come on, he's waiting for us. Don't get left behind."

He called out as he opened the door and was already out the hallway waiting for her, she looks at the poster one last time before she followed him.

They followed in silence for the most part as they made it down, the rain still poured as they walked outside.

Both pulled their hoodie up as he walked behind the building and lifted a wooden door to an underground tunnel.

"Grab this and wait until you see the light turn on."

She nods and grabs the door and lifting it up while he climbs down and touches around for the light.

He feels around, the place is slightly wet but not to much. His shoes stuck to the ground as the sand underneath stuck to the soles of the heels.

He grimace at the sound that it makes when he lifts it up slightly.

"Can you hurry up, please. Esta puerta estar pesado."

She rushed out as he remembered what he was there to find again.

He finally feels the wire and pulls the switch down and a row of lights shine in the hallway.

He goes back and climbs up the ladder before pushing it up.

"Here, climb down."

She let put a puff of air before she climbed down and jumped off the ladder at the final two steps. She almost slips but Marc grabs the back of her hoodie before she can slip.

He glared at her before she turned around and mouthed a small 'sorry' cringing at her action before he sighs and lets her go and she started to look around the place.

"Come on, we have to get moving."

Is all he says before taking flashlights from a small wooden crate and handing one to her.

"Only when necessary."

He warns her.

"I know, I'm not new at this you know."

She grumbles before testing it out to make make it worked, it flickered before she hit the bottom a couple times.

"Clearly, that's why you almost broke you face just now."

He says back as he starts to walk away from her, her mouth now slightly open from his remark before she thinks about.

"Fair point."

She doesn't even argue with it.

They walk through the tunnel, it's cold underneath and she starting to shake a little. Her jacket was not as thick which usually is a good thing, but times like this she wished she had stolen that one girls jacket.

She's cut off by a sudden hand in front of her stopping her.

"What?"

She said as he looked at her, he had a finger on his lips already telling her.

"Fedra."

He mouthed as she understood and stood quietly as she heard muffled conversation and boots hitting the floor above them.

"I don’t think they are even here man, let's leave. We've searched this entire section and the other section a couple of districts over. The timsaeh aren't here."

Both could almost slightly make out what was being said. Both looked at each other knowing that now there was a hunt for the people she was taken by.

He nudged her softly as he titled his head to the left to keep moving.

After ten more minutes there was Khonshu, he had his backpack on and his cane hanging off a small pocket on the backpack.

'So the guy really likes his cane, reminds me of someone.'

She thinks as Khonshu looks at the both of them.

"I was starting to think you weren't gonna show up or had fallen asleep by those pills again."

'Oh, so that's how much of an asshole he really is.'

Marc sighs at the uncomfortable information Khonshu just let out without a care.

"Lets get this over with, alright."

Khonshu let's out a small scoff before he started to lead the way Marc behind him and Katalina behind him.

The lid Khonshu lifts makes a small noise as he pushed it away and climbed up, the rain droplets falling inside even harder.

"You first, careful, ladders slippery thing now."

Steven had fronted as Marc really didn't want to deal with Khonshu right now and Steven was able to handle him just a little more.

She noticed the change but didn't say anything as she nods and starts to climb up, she grips the ladder tightly as the water made it harder to hold onto.

"Hurry up little worm."

Khonshu says as she let's out a sigh and climbs a but faster, she makes it and sees a hand out for her to take. She looks up and see it's Khonshu, she grabs it reluctantly and he pulls her up.

She moves as Steven makes his way up too. The places around them was filled with things like abandoned machines and vehicles from the times before.

Then she sees it, the wall. It was tall and made of concrete and wood, there was words on the wall with black and white paint.

Words like 'kadhaab!' and 'alwuhush!'

Then she saw the mounds of bags, they had words, but not just words. Names, they were the ashes of people who were burned away from that week.

She felt anger, but understood. This was the best they could, there really wasn't any places to put the dead so they would burn them and turn them into ashes before pouring their remains in a bag and letting loved ones write names on them.

Or really anybody who could identify the body, if not there would be blank spaces where that persons name would have been.

Then they would go out later that week and bury the remains into the ground as the bunch of peoples ashes were buried with others.

She grabbed her shoulder as she felts the little bumps and dented skin where she was bit. If she had been bit soon, maybe she could have saved those people.

"Worm, we gotta go, come on."

Khonshu said as he firmly grabbed her by the shoulder and moved her away from the scene, she felt the sadness but knew she couldn't really do much.

Steven had noticed what she looked at and knew what she felt, it wasn't the nicest burial but it was better than doing nothing with them.

"Come on, we gotta go dove."

He says as he gently grabbed her arm and pushed her forward, she took the signal and started to walk forward as she was now in the middle.

They walked through small emptied buses and vans, there were piles upon piles of rubar and metal sticking out.

They crawled through tunnel of metal barrels before stopping for a second as the sounds of helicopters were above them.

Katalina put a hand on her mouth to prevent any noise that might accidentally come out.

They waited for it to pass before crawling out of it. They get up.

"Just a little more and we are out of their zone."

Steven muttered to her as she nodded and kept walking, Khonshu lead them through an abandoned bus.

As he jumped down from the little hill it was on he was pushed down quickly, he grunted as Steven grabbed Katalina hand and pulled her back behind him.

A light shined in his face as he saw the rifle point at him. He felt his heart speed up at the sight, he's been here before.

"Akhruj Nashufik!"

The soilder shouted as he nods and slowly starts to move forward, the soilder pulls him out and grabs Katalina before shoving her towards Steven.

Steven catches her and pulls her back as Khonshu is shoved into the group as two soilder surrounded them.

"Ainzil ealaa rukbitik, alan!"

They looked at each before getting on their knees as one gun was on Khonshu and another was on Katalina. Steven could feel the other two fighting, asking to take control over it.

He could feel his heart in his ear as a small pinch was felt at the back of his neck, he looked at Khonshu who was trying to negotiate with the soilders but nothing of yelling was heard.

Then he looked at Katalina who just looked had her eyes closed as the gun was pointed at her head as her hands were behind her head, she seemed to be mumbling something.

He looked back in front and thought of how they could get out of this without getting killed.

"Steven, give me control, they will kill us and them if we mess this up!"

"Tiene razón, de el la control Steven."

Both were telling him to let the other front, for their sake, and his.

He heard another beep as he saw that they were finishing up checking Khonshu.

A yell was heard and one of the soilders limped back trying to grab his leg as the other backed up and went to see on their fellow soilder.

Katalina was breathing heavy and looked at her hands, he looked down at what she was looking at and saw little drops of blood.

He looked at the soldier who yelled and saw it, a small switchblade stuck on his ankle, he was sitting down as he cursed and pointed at her. The other soilder looked at her before nodding and started to march up.

He felt his senses go on over drive. He gets up and gets in front of her.

"Please, we can fix this."

He pleads as she hides slightly behind him slowly backing up. A gun was pointed at him as he felt his heart stop.

"Move."

Is all the soilder said, he looked at them before looking back at her.

"Qult altaharuk!"

They shouted, it all came back in a flash. He could almost feel the weight of his brothers body as they carried him around trying to protect him.

He heard the cries and could smell the blood as his shirt stained red of his brothers maroon and sticky blood clinged onto it. The way the light in his brothers eyes faded as his life was taken away by one person.

"Yataharak!"

The person shouted as they stepped closer, he pushed the gun up as it fired in the air, a yelp was heard and he threw the gun to the side before charging at the soilder.

A gunshot was heard somewhere else as he started to punch the soilder now who was trying to fight back but couldn't. Again, and again, and again.

He felt the rage of three people in him that he held deep inside, the guilt that ate them up. The pain wasn't even what bothered him, it's the fact that one punch didn't feel like it was enough.

His eyes rolled back and he blacked out.

Katalina saw as his punches became even more aggressive, one punched and then the small sound of a crack being heard. The other guy was dead as Khonshu watched him beat him again and again

His fist pounding hard against the guys skull. Eventually it's stopped as only the sounds of rain was heard, other than that, silence.

He was heaving as he got off the soilder, his fist still balled up as she saw his fingernails dig into his skin. His chest rise up and down quickly.

He turns around and she freezes, his brown eyes going to black as they bore into hers, she looked at him before looking at the guy on the ground and back at him.

He looked down at the person now with a dented face and let out a small huff, he walks over to the other soilder who has a small dent to the side of their head where a bullet had went through on Khonshu account.

He bent down and grabbed her switchblade as Khonshu went and grabbed the device. He walks over to her and puts it out for her to have again.

She looks at him before hesitating and taking it from him before cleaning it on her jeans.

"This got to be a joke."

Khonshu cursed as he looked at Jake, he knew it was him. He was both a man of many and few words.

He threw the device at him, he caught it and saw it, the red screen looking back at him. The words clear in the dark.

'INFECTED, TERMINATE'

He holds his breathe as he looked at the girl. She doesn't look infected, sure maybe the eye bags are slightly concerning but other than that she showed no signs of being infected.

He knew what infected looked and acted like, she wasn't it.

"Why are we transporting an infected girl!"

Khonshu yells as he marched his way over to her she gets up and backed up putting her hands infront of her.

"I'm not infected!"

She yells back before he scoffed and snatched the device and shoved it into her face.

"So your telling me this is lying then. Defective, is that what your saying then!"

He throws it at her as she grabs it and read its. She knew what she was, she was infected but different, a good way.

She throws it somewhere else as she takes off her backpack and places it on a piece of metal before taking of her jacket, her blue shirt now getting soaked she lifts the sleeve of the t-shirt.

"Three weeks, three weeks I have had this bite. Nothing, I swear to you on my parents grave."

She says as she shows the mark that has lead her to this place with the people she's with.

The mark itself looked like it was expected, bumpy, slightly red, outlines off deep teeth marks, small dark line like vains surround the bite marks on her shoulder.

It looks like any regular infected bite mark, they would know.

However, it didn't spread. It was right there, like it just. Stopped. Jake moved a little closer, and she backed up a little.

"I don’t buy it. Sooner or later, you're gonna turn and kill us. Eliminate her." (Gonna add the other but after this post)

---

this ramadan we pray for peace and aid for the people of palestine. this ramadan we remember the previous ramadans, where thousands of palestinians were massacred. this ramadan we honour palestine, and may we see a free palestine next ramadan

AO3 has been scraped, once again.

As of the time of this post, AO3 has been scraped by yet another shady individual looking to make a quick buck off the backs of hardworking hobby writers. This Reddit post here has all the details and the most current information. In short, if your fic URL ends in a number between 1 and 63,200,000 (inclusive), AND is not archive locked, your fic has been scraped and added to this database.

I have been trying to hold off on archive locking my fics for as long as possible, and I've managed to get by unscathed up to now. Unfortunately, my luck has run out and I am archive locking all of my current and future stories. I'm sorry to my lovelies who read and comment without an account; I love you all. But I have to do what is best for me and my work. Thank you for your understanding.

Dear mutuals and followers, sorry for the politics in your dashboard but in some homes today we cannot afford to "ignore the problems".

The country where I come from, Venezuela, has had an election for president that has resulted in fraud. Mr. Nicolás Maduro has proclaimed himself President although the votes have said the opposite. This regime has devastated the lives of its citizens, resorting to violence against those who opposed it. It has brought ruin to a nation once celebrated as a pioneer of Latin American independence, yet many choose to overlook its plight. Venezuela, a country that once extended support to immigrants and provided aid to others, is now dismissed as insignificant by many.

If you are an advocate who values the dignity and needs of individuals, we urge you to raise your voice alongside us. Don't ignore us because we are Latinos, this is also a war. It is a conflict against an individual who has controlled his armed forces, law enforcement, narcotics syndicates, and citizens, rendering any attempts at reform futile despite our vocal protests. I have family members who are unable to depart through legal means, and if they choose to leave unlawfully, they face harsh judgment from people of the outside.

If you are interested, here are more information you may read:

Twitter Thread Summary // What is happening in Venezuela // Torture Center: The Helicoide

(ASK) How can I help Venezuelans?