Marc Spector - Blog Posts

Hi I’m back from the dead and obsessed with moon knight, enjoy this one single post before I am drowned in the tidal wave of studying for finals

I’ve never been a huge MCU fan but i could write a 10 page essay on how much I love this show and I probably will

The fact that I had a Kane chronicles/egyptian mythology phase in middle school has nothing to do with this whatsoever

I want to start buying some comics of my own, but I have absolutely zero clue where to start. If you would be so kind, could you tell me where to start/what order to read comics for some characters I list? Thank you!!

(The ones I want to know the most will be green lmao)

Clint Barton | Hawkeye

Moon Knight

Scott Summers | Cyclops

^^^especially Champions!!!

Bucky Barnes | Winter Soldier

Remy Lebeau | Gambit

Tim Drake | Red Robin

John Constantine

Michael Carter | Booster Gold

Bart Allen | Impulse

Doom Patrol

its a need.

Thinking about the mummification process again. How they go to such lengths to make the body seem like its in a pristine condition, (all fine!) or at least to preserve it. But the way even that’s just posturing, like a show- and all the important bits are stored away in jars? That not even the final resting place for it, not technically- yes its rotting under that wrapping but it still needs to journey through the night. There is still so much expected of this corpse yk?

IDK,,, if that makes sense - I just like making connections

🌙𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐊𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓🌙

(Under construction)

ʟᴀsᴛ ᴏғ ᴜs ᴀᴜ

CHAPTERS:

𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐎 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 — 𝐊𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐀

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 𝟷: ᴀ ᴛᴏᴘ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪʟʟ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 𝟸: ᴛʜᴇ ᴋɪᴅ ᴘʀᴏʙʟᴇᴍ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 𝟹: sᴜᴍᴍᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴғᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 𝟹.𝟻: sᴜᴍᴍᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴғᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 𝟺: ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴғᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ ᴛʏᴘᴇ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 𝟺.𝟻: ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴғᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ ᴛʏᴘᴇ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 𝟻: ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀʟ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 𝟼: ᴀ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴏʀᴋ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 𝟼.𝟻: ᴀ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴏʀᴋ

Chapter 6.5: A friend and Work

After checking to see there was no one around to give the others a hard time he gives them a hand signal to the guys below and on roofs that he's in and to start up the plan. They give their own signals to show that they are ready.

He gets to around more closely as bags and crates filled the room up, all either with labels or random stuff on top of them. The smell of gunpowder and rotting wood filling his nose, walking around the room for a second before grabbing the door handle and checking his surrounding area, it was empty of people.

There are two floors to this place, he needed to hit one room on the top floor and another on the first floor. Both with specific thing the client wanted, a person and a file of a buyer.

One would think that would be impossible, taking a whole person without being detected by a guarded building.

However, there was one thing these three always made sure for whatever job they take, give it everything they had into it and make sure not to fuck up anything to a point of no return.

He sees that the distraction is in motion as he moves, the men below being called for a "disturbance" outside. He moves past room after room before making it to the first room he needed to be in, the door locked he grabs a hair clip he keeps as the knob shakes with each twist and turn the clip makes.

A sound of a click tells him its open as he turns the knob and sneaks inside the room. The area he enters is piled with paper upon paper, files with names and dates of each transaction happening between this group and a whole trading railroad of others.

He gets to work as he surfs through the names and dates, digging through each paper for a certain initial given to him during the briefing before this. Moving past a desk and onto a crate with word of "أسلحة".

After finding nothing he stares at the other containers with scraps of useless or important papers they might not even need. He hears the commotion outside is starting to get ramped up as the sound of gunfire and shouts make their way into his ears.

He remembers during the meeting leading up to this heist that the client had said something about a box with a latch or something metal keeping where that file they wanted was in.

He made his way through the crates as he scans each of them for that specific important detail.

"I'll do it." Jake says as Marc eyes rolled back and is in control, it only take him a second but eventually he finds the box with the latch on it. It seemed to have a unique detail on it as there was a red line on the side of it, it just seemed to be more important than the rest.

The latched creaked open as he opens to see whether the contents they need are intact there, there are casing bundles of hay inside, he digs through it. A hard surface meets his glove as he pulls out a plastic suitcase like box that would be used to transport weapons, in this case, however, held files.

Hundreds of them even.

'Why would they hide files here?' The thought followed with creased eyebrows and a confused expression.

He pulls them out and scans them for that initial, something however catches his eye. The initials of something with "AH" with a small marking of the same tattoo that the Timsaeh people had. His left eyebrow lifted at this, it was too much of a coincidence for this to be here.

And in this case nonetheless. Who cared if curiosity killed the cat, a cat had nine lives. He opens the vanilla folder as he checks the contents on why the Timsaeh were even anywhere near this group of people.

From what he could see, there were a small transaction here and there. Weaponry, medical kits, and other materials that were essential for what seemed like survival. It seemed like normal illegal trading from one group to another.

Still, Jake felt something was off. He didn't trust the Timsaeh, never has and never will. He however was on a time crunch and the guys below could only keep the guards, (if you could call them that) occupied for so long. He needed to finish this job, so he instead steals the paper.

He folds the paper and stuffs it into their pocket before moving onto the next files.

He reachs again pulling out another file from inside the crate. They said the file should be here, there was only 5 more files to go through before the sound of footsteps made him stop.

Not wnating to risk it, he puts the files on the desk before making his way behind the door. His hand going towards his pistol ready to pull out in case he is caught.

The steps quicken as he hears the noise behind the wall. The voices sounding confused and frustrated, "هذه الوظيفة هي ألم في المؤخرة." The muffled voice say as a hummed sound of agreement, echos of footsteps keep him there until he knows they are far enough not to hear him. He waits a couple more seconds before leaving the hiding place and going back to the crate.

It was the second to last file where he finally found the file they wanted, the initial of "AM" Show up as he places the file in his jacket, a pocket big enough to hold the file. Putting the other paperwork back and closing up the crate to how it was, he walked towards the door and checked for any guards around, finding them to be in their own world.

He takes the opportunity and leaves to towards another room to hide before closing the door behind him. He makes it towards a window before signaling he grabs the file. One gives him a thumbs up before Jake goes and gets ready to retrieve the next thing on his list of demands.

"Hey, wanna play?" A whispered voice comes out as Katalina puts the comic down after reading it for the 5th time now.

'Okay, maybe she enjoyed the comic than she thought she would.'

It was one of Gena kids.

'Ray was his name, right?'

"Aren't you working?" She asked the boy as he opens the door a little bit more. "No, every week we get a day off." The information getting her attention, maybe they made a good amount to not have to work every day, that's good.

She had heard stories of the before times, people working everyday to meet the bills for their everyday expenses, it never made sense to her.

"So, you wanna play or no?"

She looks down at the comics and then back at the boy. She could read the same story again — but than she would get bored of it and she rather not.

Plus, she was getting bored of being stuck in the room. It's not that she wasn't greatful, but its like being a plant and plants needs sunlight. She had finished her chores for Gena that she had been assigned to her in the morning anyways.

Finally deciding she nods showing a grin on her face as she gets off the bed and puts her shoes on. Fixing the ties into bunny ears and then double knotting it to be sure.

She reaches for her backpack as she started to put her hand through one of the straps before his voice intrupted.

"Don't need it, we aren't going far." He reassures her. A little stunned at first but slowly nods as she puts the backpack back, it sat against the wall before he waits for her in the hallway.

The hallway was open and bright, walking down the hallway she smells the sweet smell of tea, it makes her smile slightly as she sees Gena siting down with her other son Ricky.

"Where you two going?" Gena ask as the two kids looked at her. Katalina looks over at Ray who looks at her than back at hisat his mom.

"Just downstairs, we'll stay in the box area. Promise mom."

The women looks at the two, before sighing and giving in.

"Be careful. If you hear any gunfire, you run right back here. Understood?" She reminds her son, and now this girl temporarily put into her care by someone who trusts her to keep this kid safe until he comes back.

The two kids nods as the boy runs towards the door, the girl surprised suddenly runs after the boy and both leave together from the apartment. He runs down the steps as others are walking or talking with each other as they see the kids fly pass then.

"Last one down is a rotten egg!" Ray yells and Katalina takes the challenge as she mentally tells her legs to run faster, soon the two are head to head as they make it down the stairs way.

It's was a close one, but Ray ended up winning as their lungs fought a breath of air to cool them down. Chest hurting but high on adrenaline to really feel it in their lungs as they rested up from what seemed like a marathon to them.

"You went first, that's why you won."

"No, your just slow."

The two kids looked at each before laughing, they sit down at the steps of the entrance to the apartment complex as people came and went. The sun beat down on them, sweaty kids on whatever day it was now.

"Do you wanna play uno again?" Ray asked as Katalina smiled.

"Do you even have to ask." As a shit eating grin appeared on the girls face.

He pulls the card box out and lays it down giving her seven cards and pull seven cards for himself as the two went ahead and played the game.

They played for two hours.

"I'm just gonna beat you again dude, just call it quits, and maybe I'll give you mercy." Katalina mocks as she places down another blue card down.

"No way! I'm gonna beat you, just watch." Ray retorts with as a plastered smirk was on his face as he places down a red card, Katalina was out of red cards.

"Oh come on!" She whines in defeat as she grabs cards from the pile to the left of her.

"I told you I would get you back." He snickered as he watches the girl go from only three cards to eight.

The sound of shot being fired catches their attention. Their smiles dwindle as they stop moving, waiting to make sure they heard correctly. Again, the sound of bullets flying triggers the flight or fight reflex.

They grab whatever they can of the game as they run back inside the building, it seemed like the whole place had somehow gone to war as see people below are running like ants. They keep running as fast as they can back to the apartment.

There already was Gena with the door open.

"Inside, now!" She yells as the two kids rush inside as she slams the door shut behind her. The two drop the cards on the ground as they see both Gena and Ricky moving thing to open places.

Katalina rushes with Gena to cover the door with a cabinet while the boys plug up the window with whatever they could find large enough to, the sound turns from bullets to explosion too quickly as the ground below starts to rumble with each one that went off.

The ground shook as Gena pushes all the kids into another room, it was the one where she had been placed temporarily until the guys came back. Gena pushed the children to a corner as she pulled the wooden panel from below off showing some weapons and money that laid inside the little compartment.

Katalina whinces before covering her ears to not hear the sound of screams and combustion that was happening outside. Gena grabbed her shoulders and pushed her to sit down on ground next to her children who seemed to be holding each for the time being.

The ceiling shook as three kids huddled together for some type of comfort while Gena loads the shotgun with bullets. She points at the door ready to kill whoever comes through the door, her hands seem to be shaking slightly but her eyes were steady and observent.

The fighting continued for what seemed like an eternity before it started to simmer outside, the tense air filled up as the smell of smoke and metal circulated the oxygen they inhaled.

Soon the sound of things moving made them tense as all four people inside the small room seem to have all sense at a all high ready for whatever came. The adrenaline hitting hard for their instinct to kick in whenever.

It was silent before a knock was heard.

"It's me, I promise." A muffled sound comes out as the kids looked at each other.

"Marc?" Gena asked.

"Yeah, it me. Open the door Gena."

He sounded drained, Gena falters before slowly taking off the chair and unlocking the door, the shotgun still point as the door creaked open.

He comes in, grime of ash and blood. Darken eyebags than before with his clothing seemingly ruined and holes littered it. His hands were up in the air to show he wasn't an enemy to them.

The gun is lowered to the ground as the women walked over to him, he lowers his hands as she lead him to one of the twin bed in the room. He groans as he sits down, his black curls were messed up and his body seemed beyond used.

"Ray, Ricky, please go and get me the med-kit. Kat, please go get a rag and a bowl of some warm water." She instructs the kids as they all slowly got up from the floor and off to do what they were asked of.

Living in the place was easy as they didn't have complicated layout, she finds the cabinet where the cups, bowls, and plates were stored. Grabbing a medium size bowl she turns the tap and feels the water for a couple minutes before deeming it warm enough to not burn.

Filling it half way she puts it down before grabbing a rag from another cabinet, pulling a red one as she goes back grabbing the bowl and bringing it back to the room where the other two had already brought the med-kit.

"Here." She tells the lady as she nods and grabs the bowl from her before taking the rag gently from her hand. Marc looks at her, the girl looked fine.

Steven had said to make sure the kid was okay when they came back after the whole battle outside, there had been many casualties but they had managed to get rid of the ones who had started it. She slowly lifts her hand to give a small wave.

Marc just stares at her. He seemed out of it for the most part, his eyes seeming almost empty for the most part. His expression of being stoic being apparent. Her eyebrows are pinched, she looked concern for him, she didn't have to be, it's not her problem.

After a while of staring at each other for a couple seconds before he lowered his head to the ground,he was just tired. They hadn't slept since the job, and it was catching up to them.

"Come on, let my mom help him." Ricky said as he gently grabbed her shoulders and pushed her to move as the three children left the room. Their footsteps with no rhythm as they walked down the corridor again for what seemed like the third time today.

A couple minutes later Gena come out, the sound of her coming gets the children attention as she looks at Katalina.

"He wants to talk with you." Her voice steady as the girl nods and gets up from the chair she had sat on. She felt her hands were sweaty, why was she nervous?

The way to the room seem to stretch forever, she felt like she hadn't even moved at all. Before she knew it she was right there, wiping her hands on the shirt she had on today and grabbing the knob as she turns it.

She sees him, he still sitting on the bed, his face and arms dressed in bandages. He looks up as the switch happened, his once straighten back slouched slightly as he looked at her.

"Steven?"

"Yeah. It's me kiddo, sorry we took so long."

She feels slight relief that it was Steven who had fronted this time, she doesn't know why.

"It's fine. You guys, okay?" She ask as she glances the wounds on his face, they look cleaned but definitely would need to time to heal.

He nods moves a little only to winced at the wounds but tries to hide it for the time being.

"Feel like I got hit by a truck, but I'll live." He says with the best reassuring smile he could muster, his body felt like it was on fire and constant pulsing from the bruises and cuts they had gotten from the past couple of days was killing him.

"So, what now?" That was the big question, she wasn't sure whether they were even in a good condition to even move at all, but it's was up to them nonetheless.

"Well, we managed to get a ride. A little close than what we would have had to walk to get there. It would still take us a week to make it to where our other friend will be." He explains as she listens to him, at least they had a ride. But he was injured, how the hell they would even make it that far was beyond him.

"Do you know when we have to get on this ride?" And he lays down on the bed. "It will be here in two days, give or take." He answers, that's not nearly enough time for them to heal up.

Whether he can takes it or not is the problem, it's the fact that he won't be able to fight as good as he could with all the injuries they have on themselves.

"I don’t know if that's a good idea, not to be rude man but you look like you got the ever lasting shit beaten out of you." She grimace, he definitely is not ready to go.

His jaw tightens as his head turns to look at her. "That's not your problem kid, this might be our only chance to even get anything like this in a while."

Her lips pursed at this.

"Alright." She responds with as she looks at the man, he looked like shit. But he didn't seem to bothered or either was trying his best to make it seem like it.

For the most part she couldn't tell if he was in pain or not, but he won't tell her that.

"We will leave in two days. Have everything you need packed by then." He instructs as he looks at the ceiling and puts his arm in his eyes.

Yay!!! Finally we are getting somewhere with them. I wanted to make this chapter a little longer than before and hopefully I succeeded with that.

Sorry for taking so long. A medical issue was happening, and I was needed, so this had to be postponed while I assisted with what was needed from me. Everything is no worries there👍

Another note to add on is that I don't speak nor write in Arabic, so if there is an error in how it is written—please let me know. It would really help with anything I could improve on in the future of this story!

Thank you for your patience and hope you have a good day, afternoon, and night.

Sky 💜

WARNING: METION OF GUNFIRE, BOMBING, KILLING A MINOR

You have been warned

Chapter 6: A friend and Work

She wakes up to the sound of clanking, groaning before going to rub her eyes. Yawning as she pushed herself to sit up from her sleeping bag, looking around she saw him.

"Estas despierta, good." Jake comments as he closes the lid to the pot.

The warmth of the fire lit make it better as a small whisp of wind came, she doesn't shiver. He gets up before walking to his pack as she pulls the lid of the pot, the sight of a liquid inside of it.

"It's tea." He answers before she can even ask what it was.

Looking up at him before he sights go back to what she know knows is tea, it had a sweet aroma with hints of bitterness as it bubbled.

"You like tea?" She ask as he sighs before giving a half nod as he went back to whatever he was digging from their pack.

She nods to no one as she layed back on her sleeping bag, the ground tough and yet soft all at the same time. It was mostly silent besides the sounds of the fire crackling near her before deciding she was bored. Grabbing her bag as she tries and find the book she still had from the day she left her dorm room in the orphanage.

Back when she was at the QZ all they ever told her was that nothing in the library or whatever that place was would keep her alive. She knew that, but it wasn't for her benefit, it was to keep her sain.

The constant drills of military drilled into her skull the minute she was in that damn orphanage, the beating she took for who knew what the girls would make up about why they did what they did. She just took it before going back to the nurse who just knew from footsteps who was coming to see her.

All she would want to do at the end of the day was listen to any type of background music and pick her book to leave the world for a second. Even just a second to keep her going, the stories filling her brain with ever little knowledge it had to offer her.

She was alone for the most part anyways since her roommate would always leave the minute she got there. She never had friends, not really, just herself, and most times she was okay with it.

But she would yearn for what she had before, mourn the lost of connection with people who just understood, her parents understood.

A cloth was thrown at her face before she could even try to stop it, she's thrown a back by the action as the cloth falls on her lap.

"Ow." 

"Tie that in your hair." He instruct as he put on a black newsboy cap, some curls were stick out before he tucked them inside, the little bits of curls hanging from back instead.

She looks at the cloth, it looks like a bandanna, she starts to grab her hair and bundles them up into a pony tail, grabbing as much hair as she could.

She wraps it once before going again, the pony tail tightens as she fixes it the best she can, the wind blowing in the back of neck now that there was more space for it to flow through.

"Ten." He throws another thing at her as this time she is paying attention and grabbing it, it's a hat, not like his. It's a baseball hat with on little symbol on it, a black beetle on it.

Pushing some of her hair back before putting on the cap, it fits snugly, she pulls some of her curls up front. They hang in front of her before she looks back at him.

He had took the little pot off and had two tin cans up, he poured the tea into the cans, the steam coming out the make shift cups before he dumps the rest to the fire as it dies out from the liquid.

He pushs the cup in front of her for her to take.

"Drink it before we leave." She nods before blowing into the tea. He follows before going for it and drinking the brown liquid. He hold it upside down before putting it back into his pack.

She slowly finishes hers before stuffing it into her backpack, they pack up whatever was left and continued walking, the sky start to slowly erupt with colors of orange and yellow.

They make it a two miles from the borders of Libya before he stops. She stops behind him as he turns to her with a serious expression which made her confused.

"Tenemos que hablar de reglas antes de llegar a Libya." He states.

"Rules?"

"Yes."

Then he starts and lays out the rules for this whole thing. He talked about it with Marc and Steven, they both knew what can happen in other places and how bad something can get. They need to make sure she wasn't a victim to whatever was pulled until they get to one of Jake contacts.

"One, if anybody offers you something, you don't take it."

"Okay, so stranger danger type of stuff then." She remarks before he nods. "I know that stuff already, anything else?" She inquires.

"Don't tell anybody about your-" He stops before look at her shoulder where her bite mark is engraved into her skin. "Condition, you show it or tell anybody they will kill you. No hesitation."

She nods as she knows the risk that she was in, any slight could end with her brains being blown out because of instinct to the sight.

"Finalmente, you do what we say when we say it. Me entiendes." He said not as a question but a statement. She gives a nod. 

It's not enough, she needs to understand.

"Repeat it."

"Whatever you guys say goes." He sighs but take the responds as he nods before they continue in the territory from the borders of Egypt passing into Libya.

Sellers and Auctions were happening everywhere, this was a place where a majority of trading and Smugglers would gather to sell and take what they could from this market.

She gazed at everything she saw, photos, books, jewelry, food and drinks of all kind that could be thought of was there. Conversation of the ton were being held as he pushed forward to keep going through the crowds that bundle and wouldn't let up.

The smells of spices and burning rubber was strong in the air, yet still felt dry as they walked through this makeshift market Jake had taken them to.

He guides her through the place as people were grouped trying to make deals with other sellers. She looked at almost everything that was being shown, the amount of objects she wished she could touch out of reach since he kept her going in certain direction.

Many turns from left and rights lead them to one stall, the articles of objects that the stall contained were all types that dangled infront of it like beads and clothing as the seller look at Jake with his best charming grin he can make.

A way to lower any type of wall the man might have.

"!قميص للفتاة يا سيدي"

The man spoke as he pushs forward a shirt, it was in pretty good condition, the orange shirt littered with butterflies and bees. She looks at it with curiosity as she hadn't seen that design before, she was use to graphic tees or plain shirts and not patterned ones.

Jake looks at the shirt with the upmost disinterest. 

"قميص جميل لفتاة جميلة"

The man compliments but Jake being Jake doesn't care before giving his answer of "She's good." Saying this all makes the man falter before he sees him pulling out a coin, the man looks at the coin, his face turning into a more composed and calm expression as to not look suspicious. He scans them before giving his nod of approval as he tilts his head slightly.

Jake nods in return as he pushes back the bright yellow cloth from the stall to show an allyway, "Stay close." He instruct as they move through other people who found themselves in this system of pathways.

She noticed all the different types of people that walked through, all with coverings she probably would need at some point if she doesn't want skin cancer anytime soon.

God, she would rather get a heat stroke than, well, anything that's worse than that.

A camel comes into sight and immediately she awes at animal.

"Camel." she mutters as she looked at the two humped mammal, she loved camels, she loved animals in general but she really liked camel, they were just so cool. 

Thought they were beyond useful and were pretty self sustaining on their own. There was barely any animals in the QZ, but when she did see one she wanted nothing more than to learn about the animal.

How did they live? What do they eat? How long do they last for? Can you train them? 

All the questions consumed her before she remembers that she is literally in an unknown and place and she has a higher chance of getting lost or kidnapped again here if she doesn't stick with the guy. So she makes it her mission to keep up with him, like she was suppose to.

Her face meet a harden muscle surface as she is shoved back, she falls back and lands on her ass. Looking up she see who exactly she "collided" with. 

 " !شاهد هذه"

A grating voice grabs her attention before she pushes herself up as she looks at who it was that she had smashed into and immediately felt a chill go down her spine.

The guy was freakishly tall, the color of his hair pepper and salt as it looked greasy to the touch, she notices small amount of blood on his face, he looked pissed.

Of course she she manages to upset a God damn giant while she's at it. 

"Sorry." The mutter apology is all she can out as the guy snarls at her as she notices his first starting to form into a fist, his knuckles turning white and nails digging into his palm.

"I just apologized!" The girl defends herself as the man could give two fuck whether she did or not. He was provoked by a damn 14 year who just happen to be going in the same direction as him.

This causes her to back up even more as she looks at the ground to make herself smaller, maybe then he'll leave her alone if he doesn't see her as a threat to whatever stride he had going on in that thick skull of him. 

The sound a familiar of heavy footsteps gets both attention as Jake stops a little way close to the man. He looked irritated, his jaw clenched and his eyes bore into the man.

The words that came out his mouth were firm as he stood his ground ".قالت إنها آسف." The two men look at each other and neither would move. Jake gestures the girl to move and with the message received she goes behind him as Jake made sure there was a space between her and the man twice her size.

The man looks ready to test his luck and try to get a hit at Jake and then the girl.

Jake stares the man down, his eyes lifeless and with obvious intent to not back down what the man wanted. Before he could he sees a cresnt symbol on Jake, his ring. He hears a scoff as the man's fiat slowly decompressed from their enlarged state, "راقبها." The man hissed at Jake before walking away while mumbling under his breath.

They watch as the man walks away before Jake looks back at the girl. "Watch where your going." He reprimand as she wants to retaliate, it wasn't her fault that guy didn't see her. 

If anything, it was that asshole who should have apologized, he pushed her.

"He didn't see me, I wasn't even in his way." She defends herself as the Jake just scoffs at her words. He shakes his head, he doesn't have time for this.

"These people don't care whether your young or old, girl or boy, they will kill you." He chides her as she looked deep into his eyes, he tells the harsh real truth. Some people wouldn't care if she was a kid or not, they would do what they believe she deserves.

"Fine, asshole." She grumbles as she stormed forward from him in annoyance, he exhales a breath before before grumbling under his breath "Escuincla."

He walks and reaches her before passing as she reluctantly follows behind, they finally reached a space between five different allyways connected into one space. It's crowded with meetings and negotiations away from the public areas of the others who just past by.

Some stop and look at them before hushed whispers that echoed out in the air, she feels chicken skin beginning to surface. Yet, she doesn't show it. 

'Strong.'

The word pops in her head before her face changes to a stoic expression, they keep looking before going back to their own conversations again.

He waits for her to move but she doesn't and stay still.

He firmly grabs her shoulders causing her to flinch for a second but they relaxed as he turned her to the left into a red overgrown building. They walked up the stairs as she sees the cracks and bullet holes slowly start to fade with each step up.

People were in the hallways, kids running before going around them as Jake put her in front, leading her who knew where. 

"Where are we going?" She questions before an abrupt stop came, she turns and see it. It looked like a restaurant or something similar to it, it was small but seemed to be functioning well. 

"Come on." Jake says already inside, there are men and women either sitting or at the counter making food and taking orders, it seem peaceful. "Gena!" He shouts out before a woman turns around from behind the counter and her eyes widen.

"Jake?" She mumbles before moving pass the other employees with a small smile on her face. She looks surprised but more than anything relief of seeing him.

"It's been long, huh?" Jake says as he puts his hand out to shake and she shakes it, both showing respect for another. "It has." She answers as she looked at him. 

He had this look in this eye. She knew what it meant even after years of seeing each other now.

"Let go talk somewhere a little more private." She suggest as Jake nods before looking at the girl, he needs to do something about her. "Hold on." He ask Gena as she nods.

"Comes algo aquí. Don't move from here, got it." Jake said as he handed her some ration cards and watched as Katalina could only eye the paper before walking up to the counter and ordering food for herself. Once she sat down in a corner of the place he went to where Gena was waiting.

"Ray, Ricky!" Gena calls over two young boys who stop cleaning off some tables that had yet be clean up, putting the rag down and walked over to her, "yeah?" They both said as they looked at their mother.

"Keep an eye on her, alright?" She ask then as she points to Katalina who is playing with her hair, she parts a strand of her hair into smaller strands with her fingers. They curl at her fingertips before she let's it falls and starts the process again.

They nod as they go back to their task at hand, Jake opens the door for Gena as they both walked into another room. 

Katalina waits for what she ordered as she sees the guy and lady he shook hands with enter another room to talk to each other, not sure about what since the guy didn't tell her much. 

The inside of this place was almost a harsh noise, but she didn't mind it all that much. She felt the vibration of the sounds bouncing off the walls and into seemingly nowhere, it took a second to get accustomed to but eventually the ringing stopped and all she heard was noise. 

The chatter had fizzled to the sound of ambiance of plates clanking and words spoken from the people who wished to speak.

A plate is set down which catches her by surprise, the urge to grab her knife kicked in as she looks up at who had spooked her. Dark brown eyes meet her's as he put down utensils and a foam cup with the sound of the liquid sloshing inside taking her attention instead.

The words of "استمتع بطعامك" come out as she nods and he leaves to where ever else he is needed. Looking down at the food she hears her stomach growl, a slight warmth reaches her face as she heard the noise.

The dish filled her nose with all types of smells of spices, nothing overdone and just the right amount. Perfection one might even say. She could feel her mouth water from it, she hasn't had cooked food in who knew how long—it's been years is all she knows.

She doesn't hesitate as she digs into the food, she eat's it all as her belly fills while she begins to questions what exactly they plan on getting help from in a restaurant. She suppose some connections can come from a place where people group or meet up but it didn't seem like the place.

Maybe that's why she isn't convinced that the guy didn't have much connection as she thought or really had much of plan to even get on whatever boat Khonshu had told them to get to.

She keeps eating as two guys, both seeming almost the same age as her, maybe one a year or two older than her glance at her every once in a while as she ate She feels their stares, not of malice but it was just weird.

She stares at them back which leads to them finally letting up and go back to their work.

'Weirdos,' She thinks.

Jake and Gena arrive into another room in the building, it looked like the remaining of a office, a table and couch being the real thing that took up the room. Gena closes the door behind her before she looks at Jake and begins her investigation on why he's here and with a child no less. "So, what brings you back here Jake?" 

He sits down as he takes off his cap, his curls falling down before looking back up at the women. "I need your help." He starts off with.

She hums at this before crossing her arms against her chest, "And that girl, she yours?" She questions him as he scoffed a chuckle.

"That brat. No." His tone laced with slight annoyance.

"Alright then, who is she, Jake?" She asks him, and her gaze, drilling into his.

"Some girl we need to take somewhere." 

"Where?" Her eyebrow lifts at the very abstract information she's getting from him. He knew why she was questioning him, it was rare to even be seen near children, much less bring one with him.

She is important if he had brought her here, Jake knew that Gena knew this.

"That's why we came here, we your help. We need to find Crawley."He finally comes out and says, she stand still for a second, the air tense. "Are you sure? He hasn't been himself in a while since, you know."

She caution him, the man they both knew hasn't been the same since his son died being chased by some gang members before falling to his death in hopes of escaping them. Crawley left after that by himself and only kept contact by radio and other sources of people whispers who were the messengers for him.

Other than that, he was off the map. Completely wiped from the face of the earth.

"Yes. lo necesitamos." Jake insisted as Gena eyes flickered with his before sighing and putting her hands on her hips. Her gaze lowers to the ground as she thinks about this. After coming to a conclusion she sighs before nodding "Alright. Give me a second to find one of his communicator." 

He nods of gratitude as she leaves the room living him behind.

He sense a werid sensation before looking at his hat and deciding that he wants to out it back on, he fixes his hair before putting back the cap he had back on his head as he waits for Gena to return.

"Jake." A voice comes out and he looks around, he eventually finds the mirror and finds Marc and Steven, the two looking at him one concerned and the other more impatient.

"Qué?" 

"Where is the girl?" Steven eyebrows were creased as he looked at the alter, Jake thinks if he did that anymore that his face would get stuck like that. 

Why does he keep worrying about the mocosa? It been 30 min at best since they left her alone.

"She's fine Steven, Gena niños are watching her for now." He assures him as Steven sighs not completely satisfied with the answer but knows its what he's gonna get from the alter.

"What did Gena say then, she know where Crawley is?" It was Marc time to talk to him now. His arms crossed against his chest as he looks at Jake for answers.

"Ella está recibiendo la información ahorita." He answer as Marc nods and looks at Steven who can on look at the door to the outside of the restaurant. He sighs before he decides to get up and look from the blinds to give Steven a peace of mind.

He pulls down the blind slightly to look outside, he doesn't need much time before he finds her, it seems like she finished her food. Gena two sons are sitting with her at the table.

They seem to be talking about something, he can't read the lips of the kids from there but he sees cards on the table as they all seemed to have some cards in their hands. Her having two and the boys with five and seven cards.

"Uno?" Marc questions as he looks over and see the colorful cards, he hasn't seen those playing cards in who knows how long. 

Marc and Randall would play Uno once he got older when Marc and his dad would play it on the table after dinner. The dining table was cleared as the smell of the dinner would still linger in the air as he would get the cards from a red box where other games were placed.

The room would be dimmed in a yellowish glow from the lamps and ceiling fan that would be turn on as a slight cold air would swirl them, not cold enough to make him shiver but to keep him awake.

It would always be on a Friday when his dad had a chance, if not him then Wendy would, but only a few rounds before tending back to baby Roro. When him and dad would play however, Wendy would watch as Randall babble as he and his dad would compete to win the fastest.

Most of time he won, but he thinks his dad let him.

He feels his eyes and nose burn, he wants to be numb, he wish there was some type of whisky around. Maybe they could buy some before they leave from here, drink while the kid is asleep so that she wouldn't know, not like she didn't already.

He wasn't exactly hiding the bottles he had on the table when they had to take her to their apartment at the beginning of this. He hated whatever this was still.

'Wait, why did he care if the kid saw him drunk? It's not like he's trying to be a good role model for the kid, it would make Steven and sometimes Jake upset if he did though.'

Jake let's go of the blinds and goes back to sit down and wait for Gena, it doesn't take long as she walks in with a piece of paper in hand. She puts it down for him to see, it's from latitude to longitude, opening a desk she pulls out a map and pencil.

"He should be about 23° 43' 8.112'' North and 44° 39' 47.3436'' East from here." She points out as she makes a line to a place called Sabhā close to the border of Algeria. He hums at this, that would make things easier, close they were to where they need to go and get maybe car or vehicle to make the trip faster would help from Crawley at the same time, two birds with one stone.

"Aww come on!" A groaned complain was heard as the two adults look at each other before going to the door and opening. The kid had a shit eating grin on her face as the two boys look completely defeated.

"What’s going on?" Gena asked the kids as her kids looked at their mom. "How does she keep beating us, she's never even played before?!" The two whined as Jake looks at the kid who just shrugs her shoulders.

There was a small notepad with the letters of the kids first initial and it seemed like Katalina had been winning since the second time they played together. He can hear a small chuckle as he looks around for a reflection with a Steven covering his mouth with his hand as his eyes were wrinkled at each end.

The kids got a knack for Uno it seemed. Jake felt a small twitch at the end of his lips before realizing it and suppressing it before anyone noticed.

"Alright you two, back to work before you get beat by her again." Gena says as the two sulked and got up from the chair before handing the girl two objects, it was a pin and hairclip.

The hairclip was of a dragonfly, it's wings made of silver with little spots of rust, but the hairclip never lost its shape even with the small bits of rist that covered its wings and body. 

She grabs her bag as she puts the hairclip in her bag before grabbing the pin in the shape of a beetle and stuck it to her backpack. The sound of a click makes her let go and puts the bag back on the floor.

They make their way towards her as she hears their footsteps and looks up to see them.

"So. Did you get what you needed from here?" The girl asked as he nods. 

"What now?" 

"One last thing I need to ask her before we leave." He says before looking at her plate. She's eaten the entire soup without problem. She looks much more awake than she had in the past couple of days of walking they had to do.

She cringes at this before deciding to put her head down on the table. It was the waiting game again, she doesn't mind but she was on a roll with her the game andnwas winning before they came over and took her new competitors away. He rolls his eyes as he sees the girl putting her head down.

'Teenagers.'

Jake can feel the moment his eyes rolled to the back and he was once again in the mind space as Steven took over. He blinks a couple times before looking at the girl.

He looks at the table with the empty bowl and cup .

She's been fed, good.

"Don't worry, it'll only take a sec." He tries to reassure her.

"Steven?" She ask in surprise of the British man appearance.

"Yeah?" 

"Don't take long. We might have to stay here for the night if we do, the day has been more than halfway done now." She informs him, her eyebrows knitted in concern.

From what she has seen, it might not be a good idea to wonder during the night.

He looks at the window to see that the sun was starting to go down, the hues of blue and orange are starting to warn them that probably need to hurry up soon with this.

He nods as he goes over to where he last saw Gena. She turns and looks at him. "Needed something else?"

"Yeah, Marc asked if there was a way to get a ride to get closer to Crowly location? It would take us a while to get to where he is and where we are." Steven points out.

"There might, but of course everything comes with a price. You guys up for it?" Gena ask the man as he looks at the pot to a Marc and Jake who nod and he sighs.

"What's the job?" He ask.

"Follow every rule that Gena ask of you, I'll be back in a day or two." Marc tells the girl as she looks at him in disbelief.

"Why do you even need to do this job?" She questions as he packs his bag with what he thinks this job might need. He can't bring the kid cause it'll be too dangerous for her to even be near the damn place. He also trust that Gena will protect her while he leaves for this job.

"We might be able to get a ride to our next location." He explains.

"Why can't I come?" 

"It's too dangerous and I don't trust you to not get killed."

"I can help though!" She protest.

"This isn't up for discussion kid." His statement absolute. He wasn't taking her anywhere that had a sure chance she would get killed in the process. 

It would reckless and impulsive, they knew better than that. 

Not to mention he didn't exactly trust who it was he had to do this job for, but it would help cut the time from a month and a half trip into just about a month. It had already been a month with the kid in their protection.

He could only hope these guys don't skrew them with this. He doesn't want to get his hand any more dirty than they were about to be.

She's upset but better that than dead.

"Marc, can you give her the thing we found." Steven whispered as he looks at the mirror in the room that Gena had given them for three nights now. They had to pay her back for this at some point, he make a mental note of this.

With a heavy sigh he digs through the backpack, the feeling of slightly ripped flimsy paper is finally felt as he pulls it out of the hold the bag had on it. They had found it while scavenging for some supplies, Steven said to take for the kid.

Marc and Jake said it was a waste of perfectly good space dor other important things but Steven wouldn't take no for an answer on it.

"Here. To keep you entertained." He says as he toss three comic books in her direction, the sound of the comics grabbing her attention as she looked at them. The front page filled with faded color but the image perfect to still make out it shape. Bottom part was ripped but didn't take away from its artistic style only adding more to it.

She doesn't utter of word, not even a noise. 

'They got this, for her?'

Marc waits for anything from the kid but nothing really happens, only her shoulders stopped looking tense from her previous upset state. More than anything she looks surprised, or maybe taken aback of gift given to her.

He finally loses patience to wait for a responds as he sees the sun the stars starting to shine soon, a faded light of the moon glimmered afar to reminding him he needs to hurry up or he will be late to the site he needs to be at right now.

"We'll be back. Don't get into any trouble." He says as grabs his stuffed pack before grabbing the pistol on top of the drawer checking one last time that it was filled and ready in case of anything were to go wrong. The pistol slids in the holster on the side of his tigh. He doesn't look back at the girl as he walks towards the door.

"Okay." A sullen voice is heard, without hesitation he colses the behind him as he walked towards the location of the meeting with the client and a group of others hired to do this job.

The sound of the door closing causes her to look up and find that he had left, the sound of the room silent as the softer noise of people outside took over. She was left behind for safety reasons, she knew she would just be a burden. But she at least wanted to show she could learn how to not be one, but with the tone he used — he would never consider it.

Looking at the comics Marc had left for her, she stares at it for a second before she reaches for the comics. She feels how fragile they seem as she carefully feels the now slightly rough cover. Wrinkles and small tear on the corners from years of sitting on the shelf and possible being consider to take only to be left behind again.

Still, it looked in good condition to read.

"Ultimate Comics Spider-man." She reads out at she feels the comic, the front cover showing someone in a costume with a web design and a red outline on a spider on their chest as they looked to be swinging by white rope coming out their wrist.

'That looks tight, no? Would it be hard to breathe in?'

She questions as she opens the first page and starts to read what was left behind for her.

The night was cold as he went through alley after alley, vendors voices of the night in the background as he eventually made it to the deepest part of the town. The feeling of a cold wind coming as he finally reaches the start point of the job.

 "إنه هنا "

A voice calling him out as he is the last one to arrive, he sees a group of men all with their own weapons and dress up for this Mission. He walks over with his own get up, leather gloves the way Lockly liked, a mask with wrapping on it making it more breathable and comfortable than the plastic ones the other men were wearing. 

His outfit consisting of a white hoodie, grey shirt, and blue jeans. Simple and flexible, their curls were combed back requested by Jake and Marc since it always seemed to cover thier eyesight sometimes. The pack they carried on their shoulder full of weapons or any equipment they might need.

At the corner of his eye he sees one of the members reaching in a box, grabbing what seemed like a vest of some sort. It's thrown at his direction, with fast reflex he catches it mid air before clicking the vest into place. One of the men scowled at him before the one next to him nudged him harshly earning him a glare.

"حسنًا ، نحن جميعًا هنا."

A man with a mask covering his lower half of his face turns to face all the men gathered for this job and speaks to them. "أنت تعرف موقفك ، اذهب" they all nod as the men are spread out to get the supplies from another group that had been ripping people off with their "deals".

He climbs up one of the ladders that had been placed there for him as he jumps from roof to roof to where the location had been located a couple days ago. Once he arrives and in position, he sees two other men go onto the side of other roofs around the building to get a clear shot of anybody who could interfere with their plan. 

Any guards or allies being in the line of shot by the two who had bows and a sniper ready at the mark.

Finally he gets the signal to keep going inside, a small sound of whisp let's him know that anyone in a close radius to spot him were gone, he jumps on the roof and looks down. The building was filled with people, a fire pit being the only thing light up the place. 

He looks around for the opening and finds a window, it's open so he with light steps he walks over and steady himself. Sitting down on the ledge before grabbing the edges and letting himself drop slightly towards the window edge. With a small grunt he gets inside and waits a second to make secure the room he was in.

WARNING: Mention of Weapons, Blood, Guns, and Death! You have been Warned ⚠️

Chapter 5: What now?

Each step Marc took started to drag slightly as another abandoned train station comes into view, he needs to stop and knows it.

The sky was a mixture of blood orange and blue, night would come soon. They had only made to Damanhur, they were far away now.

Khonshu was gone, only the girl was left. She trudged behind him, hadn't even said a word since they left the inferno behind them.

Jake had been quiet, he had mostly disappeared since then, Steven had told him to keep an eye on the girl, make sure she was doing okay.

He did.

He sits down on the bench of the train station, he's not even sure how they managed to get here but they did.

His legs ached and feet burned from the rays of sun the burning sand and concrete underneath his boots now imprinting themselves into the soles of his feet.

She sits down a couple feet away, her expression unreadable as her hair covered her face, it gently flows in the wind.

She puts her bag down on the ground. Her shoulders and back burned from how long they has ran and walked. She starts to dig through her pack finding a bottle of water, hot air at the top with blobs of droplets.

She couldn't care less of the warm water that went down her throat.

She drinks to heated water, it fills her up for now.

Her face feels hot, the green jacket she has worn the entire time having spots of blood and dirt on it. She wants to wash it but knows it wouldn't do her any good.

Taking it off as the cool air starts to refresh her body, she felt her shoulder ease as the air calmed her nerves, the adrenaline and words of an old man keeping her going.

Katalina has no idea what to think except 'what now?'

'This guy, or guys, whatever is going on with him, don't want her even near them and yet protects her. What if he abandoned her? Leaves her to rot, decay, then fade into the sands?'

Marc looks at her, she seems spaced out at the moment, good. He needs a plan, he feels the weight of the bag in his hand, the weight of a promise, more of a guilt laid in the palm of their hands.

"We have to take her." Steven voice echoed in the back of his mind, he shakes his head. He doesn't want to, he can't. They will fail, he knows they will, couldn't save Randall, what about the child next to them?

"She only has us Marc, we can't leave her here, not like this."

He knows they can't, it would be cruel, which is something he knows that they could never be. At least, not to a kid, he wants to yell, punch something, he thinks he'll scare the kid again.

"Do you want me to front, talk to her?" Steven ask, he nods without a word as his eyes roll back as Steven comes out.

He feels the body, it's exhausted, he can't even imagine how the kid feels, it feels like they walked for hours, they probably did.

His first order was to make sure the kid was okay than they would figure the rest out on the way.

The kid is probably hungry, they need to eat, she needs to eat.

"Hey, are you hungry?" A soft voice comes out bringing her out the train of thought that was going on, 'what did he say?'

"I was wondering if you were hungry, we ran for quite a while back there. Thought you might want something to regain some energy back?" He offers her, its all he can really give right now.

The empty feeling of her stomach let's her know that she still needs food. Nodding, he softly chuckles.

"Thought so." He goes into their bag and finds some dried fruit strips, should be good. He stretches his hand out for her to take, she gets up and grabs it from him.

"Thanks." She whispers as she takes a bite into the tough yet sweet fruit strip.

"No problem."

They eat in silence as the sky darkens for the night, the stars bright and the moon cast it beam of white light across the city.

They finish the ration quickly before he gets up and walks over to her. She looks up as he mouths a 'time to go'. She follows him as they need to find somewhere else to take shelter for the night.

She puts her sweater back on, the heavy material seemingly lighter and thinner than she realized.

The air colder than before, she felt a shiver go down her spine even with her sweater back on. Steven notices and wants to say something but Marc tells him to not say a thing to her.

He keeps quiet. Reluctantly.

Eventually after lots of venturing they found a apartment complex. Most of the windows were either cracked, broken, or magiacally intact.

However there came a problem, both went back amd forth for anyway in, the back entrance and front are locked.

Steven searches the building, he doesn't want to wake any infected that could be around, so breaking the door or window was out the question.

Finally an opening is in plain sight, slight catch, it too small for him to go through. He turns around to the girl who seems to be keeping an eye for any danger that could come out and attack them.

"Hey, Katalina."

He whispered her over to him which makes her turn around and face him.

"Yeah?"

"Think you can reach that window if I help you up?" He ask.

She looks at what he wanted her to reach.

"Yeah, I can do that."

"Great."

He walks over to where the window is and bends down on his knees slightly before cupping his hands as a lift. She puts her foot down on his cupped hands and he pushes her up as he starts to get up again.

She hangs for a second in the middle of the window but climbs in and disappearing into the building, it was dimly lit.

"Careful where you step!" He worries as he waits on the other side for her to open the door for them.

The smelling a burned meat catches her by surprise, grabbing her flashlight and turning it on. The burned body made her gag.

"Hey! Can you open the door?"

She hears him, she answers.

"Ther—there is something in here. It's a little gnarly, not sure if you want to see it." Her voice cracks at the beginning as she looks more and more at the corpse not getting any better.

"Kiddo, just let me in." His voice echoed in the chamber with concern. But he needed her to open the door to make sure it was safe to sleep there for the night.

"Alright, alright. Just, give me a sec."

She turns away from the charred body and looks at what was blocking their path, it was a couple desk piled up together.

She gets to work as she started to pull them off one by one, the noise loud and obnoxious but she could only hope that nothing heard them for miles at least. The scrapping of wood filled both ears.

Soon, all were off or at least to a point in where he could come in.

"Your good!" She tells him.

He pushes the door, the metal door squeaking with every push he did. Finally he gets inside andncloses the door behind him, she managed to move 4 desk from the door.

"Good job."

He compliments and sees how she brighten at it. She lets him pass through, he finally sees what she meant.

"Oh shit! You weren't kidding. He chuckles nervously then looking back at the girl before his eyebrows furrowed with concern.

"You alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." She nods.

"You sure?"

She wasn't too sure honestly, wasn't exactly a pleasant sight nor smell to be nearby. But, she's seen worse.

"Yeah."

He nods not really sure what else to add as he turns on his flashlight her copying his action as both started to they walk up the stairs. The sound of their footsteps echos, the moon now all out as the sky turned into a dark sky with little dots of stars to decorate its empty space.

"Here is good."

Steven announces as a hallway with doors with full covered windows is found. The doors with name plates of different family names that no longer hold the residents that once lived there.

Big "X" on the doors, letting people know they could never go back to their old normal lives again.

He goes down the aisle of doors before reaching one with no "X" marking, a good spot. He twist the knob but the door doesn't budge.

"Hold on, I got it."

A hand went on his shoulder as she gently pushed him back and opened her switchblade, she dug the blade in the tiny hole and started to move it around.

The sound of a click let's her know to take the blade out, she twist the knob again and the door squeaked open.

"Ta-da!"

She did jazz hands like she was presenting a magic trick and had succeeded, he chuckles at this.

"Thanks kiddo."

"No problem."

Taking her place and moves forward infront of her and points the pistol out as he goes to checks the place out, even with no visable danger didn't mean they were in the clear.

"Stay here, I need to check the place out to make sure it safe."

She looks up at him in confusion, she can handle it. She's handled a clicker, two even, by herself.

Well the last one not as much but she was ready to take it on!

"I can help." She retorts with.

"Please, just stay here." He pleads with her.

"But-"

"Stay here."His tone final with no room to really argue with him.

She sighs as he goes in and she stands outside the door, she plays with her switchblade as she waits, tossing it and catching, turning it around to see it's detailed markings, and then touching the point with her finger.

Steven goes in and starts to look in each little spot for any spores or infected, the apartment looked teared up.

The place was for the most part still there, broken glass was on the floor due to glass vases and picture frames that fell during the whole commotion he thinks.

Dishes that will never get washed for dinner, the table set up with dust and spider webs instead of warm food to full up whoever family lived here tummy.

His heart hurts but continues to look through the apartment. He goes into one room, it seems to be where most likely the oldest were put.

The bed was dismembered and shredded with little bits of springs and cotton left behind. The covers a now discolored from its green to a more yellowish green color left behind. The pure room was filled with dust bunnies everywhere, he goes inside and covers his nose.

Little knick knacks scattered from each side of the room, for the most part it seemed alright for a decade of abandonment. He leaves and moves into another room, the moment he reaches it a smell comes forth.

Rotting books and food left behind in the room doesn't help, as it seemed to be the more destroyed out of all the rooms seen by him. It seemed like a little kids room, specifically a little girl.

Dolls and color pencils had maroon colored splashes that were obviously not previously there. Clothes and drawings filled one side of the room while the other had a rolled up rug.

A red stain left behind where he thinks the rug was originally. The walls painted with baby blue with small spots of red and brown on it.

He closes the door. It would feel wrong if he went through that room. Deciding that it's enough checking he goes back out to where the girl is.

He sees her as she sat in the wall, she looked bored for the most . He thinks its better that she looks bored than scared or dead.

He clears his throat, "It's clear."

Her gaze follows him as she gets up and puts her switchblade away. They both walk inside as they situated themselves in the living room.

She moves her stuff towards one side of the living room while he takes the other, he took the part where there was glass still on the ground and kicks it away from both of them.

Looking over to see if the girl was somewhat comfortable he speaks again.

"You have something to sleep on?" He ask.

"Yeah, I do." She replies.

He nods as he gets out a blanket, it's color brown and the texture fluffy to the touch, he spent a good amount of ration cards to get it, thought it would be better than the thin one Marc or Jake would use on long travels like this.

Laying down on it he is thankful no leftover glass pierced his back. Taking off the jacket they had worn for the day and drapping himself in it.

As he get ready to sleep for the night he looks over at the walls, covered in words he could read.

'Help us!'

'May Allah save us!'

The people who had lived here before had prayed that their God would save them, he hopes that their god did. It was wishful thinking, but he had hope.

Katalina pulled the backpack under her head as she laid down, she was exhausted from the running and walking they had done. She supposed it will be like this for a while, her head was killing her and the room wasn't helping.

Looking up at the ceiling were patterns that took over each tile that laid on top of her. She turns on her side to try and submit to the slumber her body needed.

She twisted and turned as she tried to get herself to subcome to her exhaustion yet, nothing. The fire of hell had managed to tear itself into her brain as the image of that old man she barely knew accepted his mortal fate.

She can't sleep, it digs deeper and deeper as the guilt of this trio now just a duo as they slowly pick at her brain with what id's and how she could have done something differently.

Anything to have save the grouchy old man.

Nothing comes. Nothing ever comes.

"You okay?" A soft worried voice come into range. She turns to see the guy looking worried, concerned. The moonlight helping to see his face clearly, when she doesn't respond and only falters a stare before it goes to the ground.

"I know this isn't exactly 5 star or anything bu-" He tries to joke with her before he is cut off.

"I'm sorry."

Steven looks confused when those words came out of the girl.

'What was she apologizing about?'

"What? What are you sorry for, you haven't done anything wrong?"

She sighs, what hasn't she done yet. She got his boss? Friend? Whatever he was to them killed, only in a couple days of meeting her he got killed.

"For Khonshu." She muttered not looking at the guy, couldn't face him like this, with the guilt festering inside her along with the other that came down with Khonshu because of her.

Steven was surprised, it wasn't her fault. Not like she was the one who got him bit. That old man wasn't careful, he should have been. More than anything it was their fault Khonshu got bit.

He wasn't fast enough, if he was maybe they wouldn't be alone and this kid infront of him would see it too and blame him like what he did with Ror-

"Look, it wasn-" He doesn't finish his sentence before she goes again.

"It was, I get that I'm a job, cargo, whatever. But stuff like that shouldn't get you killed, right?" She questions before he'd brown eyes look into his, the guilt oozing out of her little by little.

He can't think of anything to tell her is wasn't.

Steven looked around for any reflection, eventually a broken mirror showed Marc and Jake, both looking at Steven then at Katalina.

The kid thought it was her fault, she thinks Khonshu is dead because of her.

Steven eyes rolled back of his head and Marc fronts.

"No, it not. There is no need to bring it up kid. Stuff happens and we move on, simple as that." His gruff tone firm with the response he gave to her.

She looks at him for second before she sighs and sees that he doesn't want to talk about it anymore. After all, stuff happens and we move on.

On a more important note though.

"Hey, can ask you something else instead?"

"You should go to sleep."

"Please. Its important."

He sighs, this kid either trying to get out of not wanting to sleep or just really curious. Rubbing his eyes he from tiredness he let's her ask.

"Go ahead."

She wasn't sure how to really approach this honestly, how the hell do you ask why a guy who could kill you in a second why he seems to switch to different people in seconds.

"It might seem, insensitive but, what exactly is your name? I heard you be called by 2 different names and I have no idea which one to call you."

He seems quiet when she ask him that. Maybe she did a bad move.

Marc had no idea how to respond to that, he's never really told anybody about their situation. Only Layla, Khonshu, and a couple know or knew.

"She's observent." Marc voice echoed in his head.

"We were being a little obvious, the way we act around her is all different. Not to mention the fact that two people called us different names." Steven reminds him of the hints that had been laid flat for her to try and understand.

Marc has no idea where to go with this, how to respond with this question.

The memories of Randall asking his parents why his brother had to keep going to the doctors and them telling him not worry about it. Roro never stopped wondering and Marc never got to tell him the truth.

He deserved the truth.

"We could tell her, make it easier on all of us." Jake suggests. As much as he less than like it, it would make this whole situation a lot easier.

He shakes his head, bad idea, horrible idea.

'She won't understand,' Marc argued back.

He hasn't said anything to her, maybe it was insensitive to ask.

"It's okay if you don't have answer, just want to know what to call you incase of anything." She explains as she starts to mess with her hair taking three strands and starting to braid them.

"Tell her, explain it. She smarter than you think Marc." Steven nudges him to at least try and see where it goes.

Marc looks at Jake as he nods that it's alright to say anything about what they have going on, if they were going to do this they need to be as officiant as possible with what they had. And what they had was a immune kid, plus she could call for them if she sees something they don't.

Marc thinks for a moment about this from a more logical stand point, before getting his thoughts together and making a sentence in his mind to hopefully get whatever it is he wants to say out.

"My name is Marc Spector. I have something called DID, or dissociative identity disorder."

He starts out with, she waits for him to keep going, Steven encourages him to.

"It's this thing where I have other people inside my brain. In a sense there is more than one person in my brain."

He explains as she tries to understand what he is saying.

'More than one person in his brain? '

Marc waits for her response or any real reaction about what he just told her. Her head turns and he can't see what she is thinking. Running a hand through his hair he ask.

"Do you, get it?"

Katalina thinks about it, she's never heard of this nor read about it anywhere with whatever access she had to books. But she tries.

"Sort of. Do him, her, them have different personalities than yours since they are different people?" She ask him in a unsure tone to it.

He thinks about it and explains it. After a while she gets the whole idea, there are 2 others with him in his brain, all with different ways of thinking and acting from him.

"Okay, so how do I know which one is who?"

"You seem to have some sort of thing going on right now. Use that for now."

A nod of confirmation eased him a little into the idea that he told someone else now. He thinks what would Roro had thought if he had told him.

"Can I talk to the other alters or they don't just come out when they want?"

Marc sighs as he waits a little before his eye roll back. Steven comes out, he's happy that she understands, he knew she could she needed was a bit more information to get it.

"I'm Steven Grant, pleasure to meet you again Katalina. "

He puts his hand out, his shoulders were more relaxed and somewhat slouched position from Marc's more stiff and harden posture.

She slowly stretchs her had out to his hand and both shake on it, she can just feel the difference.

"Your the one who gave me the tea, right?"

He nods adding a grin to it, the moonlight shines and hit both of them, Steven gaze was much softer than it had been with Marc. He had eyebag underneath but seemed to be alive even with them.

"Who's the third alter?"

She ask and Steven hesitates, he looks at the mirror to Jake who shakes his head. His face telling Steven to not say anything about him yet.

"He, he will come out and tell you who he is when he is comfortable with it."

She looks at the mirror than back at Steven.

"Alright then." She doesn't pester it out of him knowing that she already got a lot out of them just from this one interaction.

The room goes quiet as she thinks of another question that plagued her since they got here. What is the next course of action for them? Where do they go now?

"What happens now?" The words echoed in the empty room, Steven can only look at the girl. They had decided already what would happen, they just never told her.

She must be confused on what's going to happen to her.

"We all decided to keep going." He was honest with her, her eye widen at the words that came out. She couldn't detect any lies from his answer, only the truth.

"What?" So they explained, talked about how they promised Khonshu to take her to the Timsaeh people, to Harrow. A little part they left out was that they needed this off their conscience and to relieve the load from that old dying man.

He was an asshole even in death.

"So, how do we get to that port that Khonshu was talking about?" She questions him.

Steven can feel Marc and Jake's stare toward him. He sighs as he let's Jake take the lead this time.

His shoulders adjust as his stare seems to harden again, it doesn't feel like Marc this time though, it feel different. His eyes, his stare compared to Marc almost similar only that his was much more intense.

"We know a guy. Unos cinco or sies días de aqí, we get to him, he might be able to help us get to the port faster."

He informs her, it will be long, it's going to hurt but if they want this damn guilt from the manipulative old fuck to go away they needed to get done with this.

"Duérmete, we have a long day of walking tomorrow."

He lays down as he pulls the blanket Steven had put out onto him, the exhaustion hitting him like a truck, age was starting to catch up to them. The hard floor not helping his back in anyway.

"No one is gonna find us here, right?"

Her voice echos as he stops and thinks about his response, the last thing they need is for her to run away from fear.

"No, nobody is gonna find us here."

His tone final and so sure of himself she she sighs pulling a smaller blanket on top of her. She had no trouble sleeping that night. Except from the occasional turning here and there but eventually she settled down.

He waits until he can't hear anymore rustling from the girl before sitting up. Steven did a quick search, but he needed to be more thorough for their safety.

He grabs the pistol from his side and checks the rounds, they didn't have much. They would have to go scavenging for supplies sooner or later, they'll do it tomorrow morning before leaving from this city.

He looks from the teared up curtains outside for any sign of raiders or Sand Riders. There was nothing, the moon glowed on the dystopia of sands and ruin.

He goes through the apartment, each room it's own mess, the people here leaving their whole life behind. He goes back and sees the girl the girl is shivering, the blanket off her.

He creeps around and picks up the blanket, it felt, familiar. He feels the blanket between his fingers, it's soft and used but still does the job.

Looking at the mirror, no Steven, no Marc, the girl turned causing him to step back but then found his footing. Looking at the blanket he draps the girl back in the blanket.

She's no good dying from getting cold. Plus, he needed to repay her for the time she did it.

Going back to the makeshift bed Steven had created, he sits down and watches, finger on the trigger in case of anything. After 30 minutes he lays down and sleeps, they had a plan now.

Slowly he let's the body rest and relax after what felt like years and closes his eyes not fighting the rest this time.

He could actually sleep slightly better even with the wooden floor.

°•°☆°•°☆°•☆•°•☆•°•☆•°•☆•°•☆•°☆•°•☆•°•

"You got what you could!"

Yelled Steven as he closed his pack with as many supplies as he could find. He saw a thumbs up from the side of the aisle and took that answer.

Katalina looked at the section where the electronics laid, there wasn't much left.

It was either ruined or stolen by now, she dug through the piles left behind, she didn't have much hope of finding anything but she still wanted to try.

"What you looking for?" A voice called out causing her to jump a little before looking up and seeing Steven, she puts a hand to her chest "Your gonna give me heart attack like that!"

He chuckles before squatting down, holding onto the metal shelves for support ."Sorry." He replies with as he looks at the old DVD player, it's wires and speaker were completely destroyed.

She looks again before her eyes widen slightly.

"No way." She whispers.

She looks at the cassette player back and front to make sure she didn't get her hopes up. Would be a big disappointment if the batteries were taken out.

"Haven't seen that in a while." He adds as he looks at the somehow salvaged cassette player from the ruins of store they managed to get into. Her fingers traced the line on the player, it seems to be a pretty good condition for what the place has been through.

"You know what this is?"

"I was around when these little guys started getting popular." He recalls as he grabs the cassette player from her, he remembers the songs that would play as Marc would do his Algerba homework for Miss Nick's.

Songs from all types of genre from rock to pop he would go back and forth with different cassette tapes. He of course had his own little collection before Marc knew about him.

He misses just listening to music instead of using it for code, though it was very useful nonetheless.

He hands it back to her and she grabs it before stuffing it into her bag. They get up as they look around one last time before walking back the way they had come from.

The sound of a engine turning off alerted as Steven pulls her down with him, she freezes as he waits a second before the sound of glass being broken under something filled the sounds of the empty shop.

He peaks through the side to see if he could spot the unknow intruder, the shadow of a figure lingering at the entrance of the little shop.

"Shit." He mouths as he looks around for an exit, footsteps now echoing in the distance coming closer and closer, they needed to move.

He turns and nudges his head she understands as they stay hunched to the ground as possible, they make it to another aisle filled with garbage left behind. However to their luck their was a bunch of broken glassware left behind and any step back would blow their cover.

Another crunch noise ticks them as they waits, the sound of chains and boots echoing the overgrown and dirty store. Katalina holds her breath as if it's going to protect her, she waits for the scare like in the horror films she manage to peak when the officers weren't looking.

It stops.

Steven looks at the dismembered toaster on the floor, Marc hardened gaze looking back at him as he nods, a quiet agreement as he pears behind the small metal shelf that seemed to be hanging on its last nails.

Sand Rider.

Known more as slavers but they get their name due to their way of traveling through the sand at high speeds. Only few manage to escape them.

This one had a bandana covering their mouth and nose while a hat covered their head. Wearing a cloth to protect their body from the heat and sand that would blow over when Sand Storms would come every once a blue moon.

In their hand was a pistol and a shot gun held up by chains, the boots with splat of blood on them. They had killed and wouldn't hesitate to kill them either.

Steven takes a breathe through his nose as the switch happens and Jake takes over. His posture changing from Rigid to coordinated as Jake gaze is fixated on the Sand Rider.

'They haven't noticed us yet. Eso es bueno.'

He tells himself as he looks for something to get a distraction giving him enough time to shoot them. A broken bottle laid on the floor a couple inches away from him.

She watches as he moves towards a broken glass bottle that had laid on the floor. He grabs it and moves back to his pervious spot, he check and the rider is still looking for something.

The silence depthing.

He waits for a second before the rider turned then he hurls the bottle to a nearby window that had yet to be broken. It breaks against the force and the rider gets their gun out, Jake is faster.

The sound of a gunshot lingered, the thump of a body and weapon is heard as she gets up and looks, blood starting to leak from the person's head of where a hole now dug itself into.

Their mushed brain stuck onto the white floor and aisle that once stood in. He walks over and pokes the corpse with his boot, their limp and dead, he hums in satisfaction at this as he crouched down and starts to dig into their pockets.

He pulls the person's backpack off and starts to look for anything useful as Katalina stares at him. He feels the stare dig into him as he looks up.

"We need it more than este pendejo. El está muerto." He explains as he just continues, she turns the other way and walks little ways past the entrance. The glaring white light blinding her.

She walks backwards as she smiles at the sight. "Might wanna see this." She tells him as his eyebrows furrowed and he gets up pushing the body away from him before walking towards the smiling girl.

The sight of the machine Sand Riders uses comes into sight, wires and chains hang off it but it looks functional for the most part.

"This works." He says as he goes around and check its design, it fit the aesthetic of the place and person. Along the front is a hole where a key most likely goes, a static sound goes off to the side. On the side is a helmet, but it's only one.

"Dunta, you there?" A man's voice was heard as the radio turned on again.

"We're coming over, keep your tracker on." The man continues before the line is dead, they needed to move.

Jake goes back inside the store and digs through the women's bag for any hard metal that might hit his hand. He eventually feels the cold metal and and pulls it out from inside the bag—the keys.

He goes back out and tries it once before he goes again and the engine of the bike roars of life, it works. This would make this journey a lot faster.

"Vamos, before her friends come for her." Jake instruct as he gets on the bike. He hands her the helmet and she grabs it before putting it over her head and buckling it then pulling down the flap in the front to shield her eyes from both the sun and sand that would fly.

He grabs something for his pack and covers his face with it before putting some type of glasses to keep the sand from getting into his eyes. He stole the glasses from the Sand Rider.

She goes next making sure the backpack strap are on right as she holds onto his shoulder.

He presses the pedal and immediately the bike goes from 0 to 90 mph, the sheer force making her dig her nails into his shoulder as she closes her eyes.

"You ever ride something like this before?!" She yells over the rush of sand and air that flew in their ears. He yells back a response.

"No!"

She groans at the response as she closes her eyes and holds on to dear life so that she wouldn't fly off the damn thing.

°•°☆°•°☆°•☆•°•☆•°•☆•°•☆•°•☆•°☆•°•☆•°•

The fire burns as they set up camp for the night. It had taken two days to get close to where they needed to be but they had finally gotten close enough for walking distance.

They had abandoned the Sand Rider bike due to low fuel, Jake curses that Sand Rider for wasting the gas on the damn machine but they had made more progress than they would have the first time around.

Katalina eats the can of soup as she looks out into the distance of a sunset and the sands shining bright from the glow making a mesmerizing sight to see.

"Finish your food. We leave early tomorrow." He tells her and she nods still looking at the sunset before going back to eating the beans in one of the ration cans they managed to find.

"Why?" She questions before sipping the last bit of beans that was left.

"Do you want a heat stroke niña." With a raise eyebrow he responds with.

"No."

"Then just do it."

She puts the can down and looks at the fire, it danced in front providing entertainment as much as a fire can. She honestly would rather see this than talk to this other alters of Marc right now.

But she need information on tomorrow.

"How long do you think it will take us to get there, with your friend I mean?" He thinks about it, calculating in his mind and then responds.

"About 5 hours, 8 at most and 3 at the least amount. Intentamos para 5 horas para llegar ahí."

"Bien. 5 hours it is, shouldn't be too hard. One might even say piece of cake."

She mumbles the last part, it would be hard. It's been hard from the beginning but hey, she can try and be optimistic here for both their sake.

All she can do is hope it isn't bad as the other times but she doubt it.

Trouble had followed them since the burning of the Khonshu, so all she could hope is that it won't get any worse from here.

°•°☆°•°☆°•☆•°•☆•°•☆•°•☆•°•☆•°☆•°•☆•°•

Yay!!! New Chapter and I didn't even have to cut it off this time. Sorry this took forever to get out, had major Writers block for this but I finally was able to get the chapter out!

Hopefully, the way I am writing now will make this a little bit better of a writing experience!

As always, let me know what I can improve on, or if you just want to tell me how you feel about the story, let me know in some comments, and I will reply as soon as possible.

Love, Sky 💜

WARNING: TALK ABOUT DEATH, GORY DESCRIPTION, GUNS, EXPLOSION, STABBING, AND MORE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ⚠️

Chapter 4.5: The Infected Type

Steven exclaimed as he realized she wasn't wearing the mask anymore.

"I wasn't lying."

She says as she fixes the straps of her backpack.

"Go over there and wait, I have to check something out."

Khonshu told the girl who looked over to where he was pointing, it was the next building over. She would only need to jump over to make it. She sighs before walking over there

"Parasite, help her."

Khonshu orders Steven, Steven just leaves the man as he goes over to where she was, she looked like she was just debating herself.

"Need help?"

He ask her as she looks over, it wasn't a far jump, just steeper, hell she just zipliner across from building to another from like 20 flight (it's a exaggeration, but it felt like that.)

Yet, look down at the fall and imagining her body, it's all she needs to know that she was not wanting to do this jump.

"How 'bout I go first, and then you go."

Steven suggested and before she could protest him, he did it. Doing it slightly make her feel better but he was literal grown man, his body most likely would not have shattered into a million pieces like hers.

Still, she looked over to him who was waiting patiently on the other side before she backed up a bit, his eye brows furrowed in concern and she run before jumping.

She jumps and makes it to the other side as she lands on her feet, she takes the win. Turning to the side and looking at him she saw him who had his hands ready to grab her in case she did miss.

It went away the minute he realized she was fine. Looking away from him and turns her focus to what's infront of her, the sun kiss her skin as it burns but warms her.

The light had blinded but helped them away from the darkness of the building they just came out of. The capital building was in sight, a grand and beautiful building as others surrounded it like a hold of some kind.

They were almost there.

"Brilliant, isn't it? Everything you hoped for?"

She hears but this time doesn't budge, she could tell he was there.

"Jury still out, but you can't deny the view."

She whispers out for only her and him to hear, sure the world was more barren but this was something she felt was just for them two to have right now. She would leave him soon anyways, might as well remember it by a nice moment.

Steven felt, peace, warmth, not just from the sunlight that produced warmth and heat. This, this was just nice. It was a quiet moment, a peaceful one at that, something they didn't have much of to even remember.

He felt a bit more alive, human, living. He could tell the others were also letting him have this moment, a reason to keep going, to keep having moments like this, the peaceful ones.

"Come on, we're almost there."

A deeper voice came out and both turned to face Khonshu who moved infront to the ladder that hung from the edge of the building. He signaled for the girl to move.

She sighs but moves forward, He watches as she goes down before he starts.

Steven looks down and plays with the ring on his finger, it was the one Randall had picked out for Marc when they were younger.

They were at a store and the two looked at rings and thought they were cool, so with lots of begging, more from Randall, they convinced their parents to let them get one.

They got simple ones, he got one of white with a small moon on it and his brother got black with a star in the middle.

Khonshu saw as he did, Marc and Jake had done it before as well whenever something reminded them of someone he didn't know but knew exactly what it meant when they even glanced at the thing.

"Stay focused Grant, we're almost done with this."

Khonshu comments and Steven eventually leaves the ring alone, it doesn't burn like it before, now it's a reminder, a little reminder.

"Yes sir."

They eventually make it down and the building is only a few feet away. There are trucks and cars in the way but they climb over them, finally they make it close to the building.

"It's looks way prettier up close."

Katalina comments as Steven and Khonshu hummed at the comment. The place is filled with crates and truckloads that looked like they had been emptied.

"I'm gonna check here and you check over there."

Khonshu instructed to Steven who just nodded.

"What about me?"

Katalina asked.

"You, don't get yourself killed."

Khonshu retorts which earns a glare from the girl, he sighs as he looks around.

"Fine, you want to help. Go check that truck then, if you find anything, yell."

He points to a FEDRA vehicle close by where he and Steven can make sure she doesn't leave their sight, again.

She looks over and walks towards the vehicle and climbs it as she looked around for anything. It was mostly empty but then she saw a small amount of blood, drops of it.

She turned on her flashlight and shined the light around the empty truck, there was a puddle of blood up ahead but for the most part there was nothing else.

It was empty, nothing left of its hollow shell.

She turns off the light before climbing out from the back to where Khonshu was still checking.

"There was nothing."

She told him to which he turns around.

"Alright, go wait over there."

He says as he went back she waited for him to go back and focus before walking over to the steps of the building, they were splattered of sandy cement and blood, the color that once shined were now being rusted away.

Steven looked inside the crates to find nothing. It had been emptied, he wasn't even sure what he was looking for since all the other ones were also empty.

He steps back as he looks down before find blood, droplets of it. His eyes followed it as started to trail somewhere.

"Found something."

He shouts as the two look at him, Khonshu looks down where he was following the trail.

"Stay behind me, okay."

Katalina nods as she follows behind as the two have their weapons ready in case of any surprises. They end up at the left side of the building where another entrance was left open, the trail getting bigger and bloodier as they continued.

The door creaked as they all went in, bodies, many many teared bodies were scattered on the floor.

"No, no!"

Khonshu voice thundered in the not so empty building, there were bite marks in different parts of their bodies as there were blood stained against the walls.

Steven felt bile slowly make its way up, the acidic taste going back down as he swallowed it back down. He looks back to the girl who just looked at the bodies, he wish she didn't have to see this.

He felt his eyes go back, someone else would take this.

Khonshu looks at each to see if any survived but to no avail as they all died, each with a bullet wound sealing the deal.

"Look for a radio, a map, anything they might have left for this!?"

Khonshu yells as he starts to dig into the bodies clothes for anything.

"What are we doing Khonshu."

Marc responds as he looks around, this mission was a bust and the guy wanted more.

"I am telling you to find something useful right now !"

He pushes the body aside as he looks through another one.

"Look, the mission was a bust. We can't do anything about this!"

Marc exasperated as he looked at Khonshu like a mad man.

"Where did the maggot say the hospital was that they were gonna take you to?"

Khonshu looked at the girl who was taken aback by the question.

"Uhh, he didn't really specify where. All he said was that it was somewhere off Egypt."

Katalina blurted as she told him which only got a grumbles from the guy who just kept looking.

"Somewhere off Egypt, great. Spector, what are you doing, look around for anything!"

Khonshu commands to which Marc responded.

"No!"

He protest as he pulls Khonshu off the guy he was checking, his hands were bloody, like they should be.

"Khonshu it's over. We tried, it went to shit, let go back to the QZ and tell them it didn't work out and take back the girl to them."

Marc chided as Khonshu pulled his wrist back from Marc's hold. Katalina watched the two as the tension was there, she could cut a knife through it.

"I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you Spector."

His jaw tightened as he turned around and started to look again.

"Why are you so obsessed with this!"

Marc yells and the whole room goes quiet.

"This is my last mission."

Khonshu answers, his voice smaller than before, it sounds tired but irritated.

"What?"

Is all Marc could say before Khonshu got up.

"My luck had to run out sooner or later."

"Khonshu what are you talking about!?"

Katalina connected the dots, his anger, sure he was already a pretty angry person but the way he just was is not normal for the old man.

"Oh shit. He's infected."

She whispered as Marc looked over at her then back at Khonshu. He scoffs before looking up at Khonshu.

"Show me."

Is all he says and Khonshu pulls down the collar, a burning red mark etched itself on the man's skin.

Teeth mark burned into the flesh, it was new and fresh, black viens were spreading across the man's neck to the back of his head.

"Oh shit."

Marc muttered under his breath as he saw the mark. He got bit, he's infected.

"Stupid mistake for an old man, right?"

Khonshu scoffed out as he sat down on one of the benches that weren't destroyed, the sun's light shining through the window as it shined down on the old man.

"Kid, take your bandage off."

His voice echos, it's much softer this time, softer than it had even been.

Katalina slowly unwrap her arm as the bite was very much there but not as red as the one Khonshu now wears, it looked like it was healing.

"Look at her arm Spector, she's real. She exist."

He says as he puts his hand out and she slowly takes it. Gently he pulled her to him and puts the arm out for Marc to see.

The black viens don't spread, not like Khonshu did.

Marc doesn't want to look at the evidence, he rather be dead than accept the fact that an immune person even exists, much less it being a kid.

Khonshu hands start to shake as he let's down her hand gently, he sighs as he puts his hand on his knees.

"You three need to finish the mission. Take the child to Layla, she knew some people who use to run with the timsaeh group."

He tells them as he grabs his canes and starts to dust it off.

"No, no. I'm not taking her anywhere, especially not with Layla, keep her out of it. There is also no way she would even take the girl."

Marc shook his head as he started to pace around, this was more than they signed up for.

He could hear the other two trying to get a word out but also one voice on top of the other. No one was getting listened to.

"This was your mission, we're not doing this."

He argued as he looked at Khonshu who just sighed.

"You can convince her, I know one of you can. Once you do they'll take her off your hands and handle it from there."

Khonshu instructed as he swung his pack over and started to dig through it.

"I know I have been a piece of shit to all three of you, but you still owe me for your life. This will be the end of your debt, nothing left to pay me back."

He grabs a small bag out and hands it to the girl who just takes it.

"No, I can pay it back anoth-"

He doesn't get a word in as Khonshu slams his cane on the ground.

They both flinch at the noise as Khonshu talks.

"Shut up and listen, you are going to take her and she is going to save the world. This is the last thing I ask of you Spector, Grant, Lockly, the last thing from an old man whose about to die."

His words hit hard to the both of them, he was dying, he was a an asshole but still human. He has been here longer than both of them.

"Keep her alive, give her to Layla and set everything right. All the shit I made you all do, it would be repented this way. All the people who you couldn't save would forgive you."

He adds as he finds a small bracelet and puts it out.

"You, stay close to him. Remember, you can still be torn apart even with this miracle of yours. Fight as hard as you can if you need to. Don't trust Harrow."

He tells the girl as he puts the bracelet on her wrist and tightened it so that it wouldn't fall of.

It was a braided bracelet of black and white, a gold piece with the engraving of a sun on it.

She wasn't sure what to say about this, any of it. He was dying, and she really couldn't do anything if she tried. Her blood would do nothing, she's tried.

He then digs again into his pack and pulls put small bag. He grabs Marc hands and closes it pushing it close to his chest.

"This will get you onto a boat ride to leave from Algeria to France."

He says instruct him who just looks confused at what he was saying to him.

"Kept the girl alive. That's the only thing you need to do for this to succeed."

He wheeze as he feels the effects starting to kick in.

A sound of trucks coming got all their attention, Marc rushes over towards the window and see a big cloud of dust.

"Sand riders, were out of time."

He tensed at the sight as Khonshu gets up and walks over to one of the dead timsaeh, they had a whole rack of grenades wrapped around them. He takes them and gets them off as he throws them on the floor.

They scattered as the sound of clincks followed, both backed up from the grenades.

"What are you doing?!"

The two exclaimed

He sees a can of gasoline and starts to pour it around the surround area, including the entrance they came from and the other.

The smell of gasoline burned their nose as they watched the man create a trap.

"To make sure they can't catch you. It'll buy you time to run."

He explained as he digs through another timsaeh and finds a light, along with a pack of cigarettes.

He takes them both.

"Take the girl and run, don't look back. And, you three."

He tells them, he can hear the riders getting closer, he starts to get the cigarette out.

"Save who you can save."

Katalina feels her heart sink, this old man didn't deserve to die, even the small amount of knowing him she feels he didn't deserve this death.

She makes a rash decision, it stupid really but it's the last thing she can give to the old man at least.

She hugs him, her arms tight around his waist, this caught him by surprise. He freezes at the gesture, it's been years since he's been hugged. Much less from a child, he feels like he almost missed it.

She's warm, alive, she'll live longer, he knows it.

She's a strong kid, a good one too. He doesn't say anything though.

He remembered the children that would follow him around. He didn't hate them but was never too good at talking to them. They would climb and chase after him before they were called back, and he went back to protecting the school.

They trusted him, and every one of those children trusted him to protect them.

He failed.

Maybe he can at least save this one child, this one kid.

"I'm sorry."

She whispers out as she slowly let's go and doesn't look at him again.

He looks as the girl leaves, it for the better, he turns around and lights the cigarette before putting it in his mouth. He swung his rifle and grabs it before pointing it towards the entrance.

"What are you fools waiting for! Go!"

He yells at them which got them out of their trance. Marc grabs the girls wrist as she starts to follow and soon they are out of the way.

"Goodbye, Katalina."

He hears heavy footsteps on the steps and gets ready, he honestly never thought he get to choose how he'd died, he's glad about this though. A suitable death, the sacrifice.

The doors swing open and he opens fire.

Marc pulls her out of there, they push another pair of doors before shutting them close.

He hears a yell and shots being fired, he pushes her forward as they make it outside, the air hot and burning as they make it out of the building.

The sound of bang goes off, the feeling of the fire burned his skin as the girl covers her head and both fall on their knees as he covers her with his body.

Eventually only the sound of the burning flames it left, he slowly looks over at the building, it was in flames as the screams and cries of those in its flames burned alive.

Hell had taken over the building.

Katalina watches as the inside burns along with the old man she once knew. They both looked as the firey trap killing what it wanted from the inside, including Khonshu with it.

The black smoke suffocating whatever went near it, nothing was left.

He slowly gets up as the girl looked at it. He was gone, he was alone with the kid.

He feels like he should feel relieved to no longer be in Khonshu presence but feels sadness, the man was not great, he was manipulative and hard on them. But that guy had saved his life, not only his but Steven's and Jake's life as well.

His eyes flickered for a second as if waiting for the old man to come out, but nothing. He wasn't coming back, he had burned himself alive for their sake.

He looks down at the girl who looks like she's about to cry, he wants to tell her it won't do any good but leaves it.

He turns around and looks the other way, they have no other choice but to keep going, what other option did he have.

She looks at the building, the heat radiating off it, she wonders if it hurt, to die the way he it. It was instant, but it might not, the gun fire going on couldn't have been just him.

She looks down at the bracelet he gave her, another thing to remember someone by, again.

Her eyes burn but she shakes her head, crying won't do shit for her. It won't bring him back, she takes in a breath before getting up.

She looks back at him, the guy who didn't want to be anywhere near her, she wonders whether he would kill her if he had the chance. She wouldn't blame him if he did.

He looks at her before walking, she follows behind.

That's the end of this chapter, yay!!

So...I killed off Khonshu, yep.

Took like weeks again but managed a lot due to figuring out whether or not I wanted to kill Khonshu off, but I knew I had to decide, so there's that.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as it was a pain to write.

Comment and tell me what you think, tell me if I could improve on something, until then, Good Day, Afternoon, and Night.

Love:

Sky 💜

This is how it felt to write this chapter. Hopefully, it will be easy sailing from here. (It won't help me....)

WARNING: TALKS ABOUT DEATH, GORY DESCRIPTION, GUNS, EXPLOSION, STABBING, AND MORE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ⚠️

CHAPTER 4: The Infected Type

The mosque was abandoned but it had windows and there were things to cover up the doors that no longer locked.

"That should hold, for now."

Jake said as Khonshu went to one side of the mosque while the girl was at the other side in more a darker corner.

They had already searched the place but, luckily, manage to find no infected that were alive to attack them.

The place itself was not in the greatest condition.

It still had a roof and windows that were covered with wood or anything whoever stayed in the mosque the last time could get their hands on.

He looked at the other two as they situated themselves, he walked over to where Khonshu was.

"She's gonna turn sooner or later. Than you'll have wished you listen to me."

Is the first thing the old man says as Jake sighed.

"Don't worry so much, if she turns la mataŕe, fin de el cuento."

He says as he takes out the revolver that Marc had packed in the backpack and places it close to him.

"Even so, we should take turns. One sleep the other watches the girl."

Khonshu said as he looked at Jake.

Jake sighs before shaking his head.

"Your not only looking age but also starting to act like it too."

Khonshu glared at him before Jake had to stop himself from laughing but managed to keep it in.

"Watch it before I hit you with my old man cane Lockly."

Khonshu warned, like a joke but he was not kidding at the same time. He would know, he has wacked them with that cane when he and the others started to training to be Moonknight.

He was making sure that they had lots of endurance and pain tolerance to be Moonknight.

"Alright, fine."

He responded as Khonshu got up and put his stuff down getting ready to sleep. The sky was still slight dark but bits of light were starting to now peaking over the horizon.

He watched as the stars at the sky were slowly fading now as he looked through the boarded up openings.

The world was quiet, for the most part. Little whisp of wind would be heard every once in a while as the grains of sand followed behind it.

He turned to look back at the girl who had fallen asleep by now, she had used her backpack as a pillow and her hoodie as blanket.

He sighs as he holds the revolver and checked it again. The other two would rest for a couple hours than they can sleep a little too.

His fist and feet burned, he looked down at their fist, torn bits of skin were off and the blood had finally run dry from before.

His hand slightly shook as he opened and closed it.

'Not broken at least.'

Is all he can think as all he can think is that moment. He could feel the moment when that FEDRA soilder pointed the gun at Steven and the girl.

It all came back in a flash, it was too familiar for his liking. He looked at the girl but nothing, she was breathing fine.

He not really sure what to make of her, usually he would have asked for more evidence but this time, this time he didn't.

'Why didn't he ask for more proof?'

He looked at Khonshu who looked knocked out as he got up and walked around the mosque, the echos of his boots hitting the floor.

He swung the rifle he was given by Khonshu during the whole "incident" and walked to the front. The architecture of the place was something he admired.

There were little details and patterns everywhere, even with the little bit of light that came from the outside didn't show everything he could tell.

His hand stroked the walls as he felt every dent and curve of the art in front of him and he wondered what it would have been like if it was slightly brighter in the place.

The sound of rustling caught his attention, he pointed his revolver in front to where he heard the noise, the sound of his leather gloves tightening.

He looked only to see it was the girl. He sighed as he quietly walked over. His weapon still in a tight grip as he was somewhat close and waited for anything.

The girl moved again as it looked like she was just uncomfortable with the side she was on and turn the other.

The light that came through beamed on her, her hair slightly curly at the ends as they became wavy at the top. Her hair was slight frizzy at the sides and ends.

There was also the small splat of dried blood from a couple hours ago still on her cheek.

'Eso puede ser un problema.'

He goes to his pack and gets a small handkerchief before walking back and laying it down on the ground. He pulls out a small water bottle puts it there.

'she can figure it out.'

He tells himself before be goes and gets up and leans on the floor as he waits for his turn.

"Alright, your turn Lockly. You get three hours."

Khonshu said as he gets up, the sun high now in the sky as Jake nods and hands over the rifle before walking over to where Khonshu had laid.

The girl was still asleep, it had been 5 hours now.

Small orange butterflies flew above her, they had managed to get through the cracks of the boarded windows.

One landed on her head, it's wings gently and slowly fluttering, a soft sight to see. He sighs as he looks down at his watch, they needed to go soon.

Katalina feels the warmth on her cheek as she opens her eyes before closing them again and turning the other way as the ray of the sun hit hard.

The butterflies flew from her as she started to wake up. He sits up straighter as he points the rifle at her as he waited for any wrong move to come from the girl.

She rubs her eyes wearily before she started to sit herself up. She blinks a couple times as turned her head and seeing the old man looking at her.

She sigh as she looks at the rifle in his hands.

"I'm not gonna attack you, you can put the gun down man."

Her voice quiet yet echoed nonetheless against the walls of the mosque.

"Still could happen worm. You may have been able to convince them of your immunity but I'm not taking that chance."

Khonshu responded as his eyes dug into her brown ones. His black ones reflecting the girl as her eyes flickered between his.

She huffed before she looked at the colorful floor then she see seeing the handkerchief and a water bottle.

"What?"

She muttered as she picked it up, the cloth was slightly worn down but still had slight softness to it as she felt the fabric with her fingers.

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

She puts the handkerchief in her pocket and picks the water bottle up.

"He left it out for you, clean your face. Along with whatever you need to do as well."

Khonshu instructed as he threw her a magazine at her which she barely caught. The magazine was a food magazine with foods she's never even seen before.

"Do what you have to do as well, we're gonna be walking a while so hope you rested up enough."

She opened it to see different recipes being shown from dinner to deserts, they all looked good but even she knew she would never get a chance to eat it. Maybe in her dreams she could.

"Where?"

His eyes darted to a pair of doors which lead to the rest of the Mosque.

"Nothing bad gonna pop out of there, right?"

She asked as her head turned to looked at him.

"Just you."

He replied with a deadpan face which she returned before rolling her eyes.

She hesitates before feeling for her switchblade and sighed in relief when she felt it there.

The doors were slightly heavy but she pushed through as the sight of a red rug was shown laid out, it was slightly dirty after many years but the color of red didn't fade.

The walls were decorated with patterns and designs, some chipped from the weather but most still intact with cracks here and there.

Soon she made it to the restroom, she pulled out her switchblade and opened slowly opened the door as it squeaked.

She felt herself tense. She knew they went around the check the perimeter, but that didn't mean nothing couldn't have gotten in when they were asleep.

The door opened as the she saw it.

The roof of the ceiling had been broken which would explain the dead infected and the large invasive cordyceps that took up half the wall.

The air around smelled of infected, dryness and a rotting corpse made her retract a bit.

She stood there as she looked at the dead infected, before looking at the ground and seeing a piece of the ceiling.

Picking it up and throwing it at the infected, the sound of a crunch answered her question as her shoulders relax.

She looked at dirty mirror that was covered in dust of the cordyceps that accumulated over the years.

She wipes the mirror in a circle motion and finally seeing herself after 3 weeks.

'I look like shit'

Her hair was slightly frizzy at the sides and bottom. She wished she had a brush but used her fingers to try and pat down and run her fingers through it.

She pulled some hairs out but it definitely looked better. Soon a glimmer caught her eyes as she felt the necklace and the locket.

Slowly she opened it to see the writing ingrained into the metal.

" There is nowhere in this world I won't be there to protect you, whether death or life."

Her finger traced the lettering of the sentence, just feeling it gave her a sense of comfort. Her eyes read the sentence over and over until she felt it was being said to her.

Tucking it back under her shirt she grabs the handkerchief from her pocket and the bottle of water before pouring some on.

She saw the splat and droplets of dried blood from her attacking the soilder. She could still remember how she felt the moment that device was on her neck and the pinch came.

Fear.

That was all she felt, fear.

She felt her chest tighten, her hand scrunched her shirt as she felt the air leave again.

Shutting her eyes tightly she sat down on the floor and started to take deep breathes, she just needed to breathe.

Her eyes burned as she tried to keep it in, in and out her breathe went as the air around suffocated her.

She couldn't breathe.

She just needs to breathe.

Her nails dug into her skin as her hands shook.

Eventually, everything slowed down, she looked around, and felt light headed, finally inhaling the air that was avaliable that he lungs would take she started to count.

What she heard.

What she tasted.

What she could feel.

She was here, here in this broken and beautiful Mosque with people who saw her as an object to trade for weapons.

She wanted her parents back.

She wanted him back.

She knew, knew that they would never come back though. They are gone, no one is gonna protect her from this.

Her fate. Her fate was to save the world, that's why she is here, her immunity, it would make up everything. Every sin that she had ever committed.

Against humanity for the pure reason of her existence being both a blessing and curse.

She took another breath before wiping away the few tears that did fall. It would be over soon, they would take her and leave her alone.

Just how it was meant to be. She was afraid but willing to be alone for the rest of eternity if it meant that she could fix the world with her immunity.

Because that meant something.

It has to mean something.

Pushing herself off the floor she opened the bottle and poured water before rubbing the handkerchief on her cheek.

The dried blood rubbing off as she did motions in circles to take it away.

It would always be there, because she would know it would be there.

She sighs as she looked at herself again.

Her beginning eye bags starting to form from the amount of sleep she didn't get. This was probably the most sleep she's gotten in days now.

Her parents would scold her, saying things like.

"Te vas a quedar corta así."

She chuckled at the made up version of them. She missed them.

She poured some water into the palm of her hand as she splashed it on her face to wake her up more.

Soon there was a knock.

"Niña?"

A voice called out, she knew who it was.

She turned towards the door.

"Estoy bien. Almost done!"

She yells as she looks at herself one last time before putting the handkerchief back into her pocket and grabs the water bottle.

She opens the bathroom door and looks around before finding him leaning against the wall.

"Vamos, we're leaving."

He said before getting up and down the hallway. The revolver in his hand ready to shoot if nessecary.

She looks at the gun and then remembered the switchblade she has, it feels heavy in her hand as she closes it and shoves it back into her pocket.

"Took you long enough, we have no time to waste."

Khonshu rushed them both as they packed up what they had.

The wooden table tables were removed by the two as Jake went first and checked around for any infected.

"Clear."

He states as Khonshu opened the door more and starts to get out before Katalina follows behind.

There are other buildings around but most had been lost to the sand or by people.

"I thought cities were full of infected?"

Katalina questioned as she looked around but ultimately there was much but streets and broken down shops and cars around.

The sand had covered due to the winds and broken windows, no longer were building or apartments protected by the harshness of Egypt nature.

"Thats what they tell you. But they only say that to keep people in, away from others to keep them isolated."

Khonshu explains as she paid attention while Jake overhears the conversation as he looks around for any infected of unwanted people.

The sun rays burned on to of the city as light shined on the broken down city that once thrived of life.

There we no vendors, no shops, no children playing around, no mothers telling the older ones to watch the younger.

Nothing more than rotting, burned buildings and stands that will never have a full living person to occupy the space.

A arm is put out before she stumbles and looks at who had stopped her.

"Oh."

She looked at the giant hole, it was filled with piles and piles of what remains of the "old ways."

Clothes, electronic, cars, corpses.

The smell was mostly covered by the smell of ash and dust of how long that was hole was created.

"This is how they tried to keep the infection from spreading. "

Jake spoke as she was about to ask but eventually just closed her mouth before nodding.

They walked around the filled hole.

It was quiet as she found a rock on the floor and kicked it around as the two keep going looking at each other speaking through their eyes as she kicked the rock in front of her.

"Here, help me up."

Khonshu voice rings out as Jake grabbed Katalina shoulders and pulled her back as he went to help him.

Jake put his knee and palm out as Khonshu climbed onto the tipping structure, the structure looking at its last leg about to sway one way or the other like the tower of Piza.

"Ven acá."

Jake ordered as Katalina walked over before putting his knee out.

"Climb."

Is all he says before she looks at him hesitantly to which he sighs at it.

"Just do it."

At his words she starts to climb, he starts to stand up and she jumps a little before Khonshu grabs her hand and pulls her up.

Eventually she makes it to the top before looking down as Jake jumps up and Khonshu grabs his hand and helps pull him up.

The building started to shake slightly, they all stood still as they waited for it to stop.

The ground eventually stopped shaking as they waited another minute before starting to walk inside the building.

"See if you can find anything."

Jake tells the both of them as they nod before Katalina follows Khonshu while Jake goes into another room.

Jake opened the door to an office, signs of new projects needing to be done were scattered on the floor, some with drops of blood.

It smelled of metallic and dryness filled his senses, nothing he couldn't handle.

"We can't stay here for long."

Marc says as he appeared in a broken window, he seems anxious but tries his best to repress it.

"Ya sé."

Jake replies as he pulled the drawer on one of the desk. It held nothing, he leaves it as he goes somewhere else.

"How is she doing?"

Steven said as he appeared in the dirty mirror as Jake started to rummage through the cabinet.

"She's fine. Deja de estresarte por ella Steven, te va dará dolor de cabeza así."

Jake asserted as he found a water bottle that was dried up.

Nothing. Everything in this place was practically useless at this point. Nothing would really be of value for him or the other two.

"Why did you give her the cloth?"

Marc asked to which Jake stopped, he wasn't sure about that one.

No, he did know.

"If we ran into anyone, you really think it would be normal for a girl her age to have splattered blood on her face with us?"

Jake argued before he just rubbed his temples.

Marc looks at him deeply, he doesn't believe him.

Steven gaze lingers on Jake who usually had a better responds but something seemed different this time. He could tell something was different.

"It would raise too many question."

Jake uttered to the reflections, both nodded as they took the answer because they knew they would get nothing else out of the alter before disappearing. He doesn't like arguing with them, that not his job.

"Hey?"

He turns quickly pointing the revolver towards the girl before seeing that she raised her hands up. Her eyes widen at the weapon pointed at her.

"Woah! Sorry, sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

She voices as she put her hands down so slowly that he notice the slight tremble her hands did when they did come down.

"Didn't scare me."

He responds.

"Doesn't look like it from here."

She muttered before clearing her throat and looking down after seeing his deadpan expression.

"The old man with the cane, Khonshu. He needs you for something."

She tells him as he nods as she leaves and he follows behind.

"He's over there."

Pointing towards what seemed like another entrance he walks over to Khonshu who is looking out into the world.

Khonshu hears the sound of Jake's footsteps and turns to see him.

"Took long."

Khonshu comments as he points to a building, but the building is shining brighter than the others.

The top pointed up with its roof still intact unlike some other apartment and structures that surround it.

"That is where we go to drop her off."

Jake looks at the whole thing, the building that hide the capital building were either titled or the tops completely destroyed with only rubar and concrete left behind.

"We would have to cross through the Tanta Museum to get to the capital building, its longer but safer that way and less chance of attacked by infected or by other groups."

Khonshu hummed at the information.

"The shorter route would make the drop faster. The longer we are out here, the higher chances of groups finding us on this tra-"

"Guys!"

A shout intrupped the two as they turned around to see what the girl was shouting about, a small dust cloud was in sight of Sand Riders came into view.

"Shit. Sand Riders must have saw us back at the Mosque."

Jake cursed as he looked at Khonshu.

"Grab the girl!"

Khonshu stressed as he puts his pack down and starts to dig into it for something. Jake has an idea of what he is going to look for.

"Grab on!"

Jake shouted as Katalina ran over to him as his hand was extended, she jumps but can't reach.

"Merida, hold on!"

Katalina curse her body in that moment, she really needs that growth spurt to kick in soon.

Jake jumps down and get back into position like before.

"Just like last time."

He tells her as she nods and doesn't hesitate this time, one shoe after the other she climbs and gets one shoe on the palm of his hand before he lifts her up and she jumps as well.

She grabs the edge as she dangles slightly before pulling herself up with what she had, she makes it up.

She turns around and extends her hand out, he sees it, he seems hesitant to think the girl could even take his weight.

"I can take it!"

She shouts before he grumbles under his breath and jumps, she grabs his arm tightly as she pulled as hard as she could.

He started to pull himself up, she let go of one hand before grabbing one of the loops of where his belt was on his jeans and helping get him up. He makes it as well.

They look at each other for a second before she nods and he nods back, he pulls her up on her feet.

"Come on idiots!"

Khonshu yells as he goes down the line onto the next building over.

The line was long but eventually he made it as he got rid of his harness and roped it around for them to use.

"No, no. Your kidding me?!"

Katalina exclaimed as she saw what he wanted her to do, the drop was high, she could do heights but not this height.

(Okay, maybe she pissed him off a little more than she thought.)

They were going to kill her.

She was going to die from falling, splat, dead, all her brain matter would smudge the already dirty floor below. She really wishes that FEDRA soilder had kill her when he had the chance.

"No, I'm not."

Jake answered as he reached for the harness and grabbed her arm.

"Look I'm sorry about the joke from before. Just don't make me do this."

She says as she pulls her arm a little away from him, he could tell how scared she was of this, her backing away, her shoulders getting tense, they way her words cane out much more quieter than before.

He looks behind her, they were getting closer, he need her to just do this. He gently pulls her closer by her shoulders to make her look at him.

"It's not because of that, no tienes mucho opciones ninã. Trust me. That dust cloud is getting bigger, the bigger and closer it gets the more chance you are of being in danger by that group than this rope."

He finally says as he looks at the dust cloud that had just gotten closer, he's got no time.

She nods as her eyebrows furrowed but understood what exactly he was telling her as he starts to put the harness on.

The sound of a click let her know she was attached to the rope and he pulled it slightly to make sure it held her to make sure she didn't fall off in the middle of her ziplining down.

"It won't snap, right?"

Her eyes turned to face him as he was about to let her go.

Her brown, golden eyes digging into his darker, brown eyes, the sunlight hitting her as he stood in the shadow of the inside of the toppling building.

Her eyes searched for something in them. Reassurance, cause she needs that from him.

She needs to know she'll be okay. She needs to know if she can trust him.

He told her the truth.

"It won't."

He reassures as he let her go before a small yelp came out of her as she slid down the zipline, grabbing onto the line as hard as she could, her curles whipping in the air as she went down.

"Watch her, please."

A voice said, it was Steven, he knew it was him so he did. For his sake.

He watched as she made a stop with Khonshu grabbing her arm and pulling her closer to the inside of the other broken building he landed on.

Khonshu starts to get her off the line, Jake take it as his signal that he can go now. He looking inside his pack and pulled out his harness.

He checks the rope before going down the ziplines across the other building that had either troppled or were just left in rubbles below him.

His curles going with the wind and before he knows it is caught by Khonshu hand who pulls him in.

"Make quick work."

Khonshu whispers as Jake nods and grabs the rope before pulling at its ends as it snaps. The line is cut and the rope dangles on the other side.

"Lets move."

Khonshu commands as he breaks the door down Katalina and Jake following behind him.

The place was much more brighter than the one they were in previously. The sound of clicks stopped them from observing the building.

Clickers.

Both Khonshu and Jake looked at each other with a nod.

Jake turns to look at Katalina who looks confused, he puts a finger up to his lips before mouthing.

"Don't make a sound."

She reads it and nods as Khonshu grabs her by her wrist and they slowly go the other side making sure to look where they stepped.

Appearing on the other side was the clicker itself.

'What fucking luck.'

She feels like the world was just messing with them at this point.

They froze as it screeched in their face, the other two stood still ans didn't make a sound nor breath as it twitched as if was trying to find them.

Katalina could feel her muscles and jaw tightened as she tried not to make a sound. Her eyes were closed as her hands turning into a fist.

Jake knew he could get rid of the thing, but he would need to be quick about it.

It was only until another screech that Jake eventually stabbed the clicker in it head, the knife digging into the thick layers of gray and green harden skin.

The blood spilled as he takes it out and stabs the clicker again, it overflows as the infected crumbled and spasms on the floor before dying all together.

Katalina could finally breathe again as she unclentches her jaw and her muscles started to relax again, they wait a second to make sure it died. Khonshu nudges her as he tilted his head for her to get moving.

They all slowly walk down broken stairs as the sound of clickers starts to fade, they hopped down once the end of the stairs came.

Well, the guys did.

"I don’t know about you guy, but I don't plan on making my knees hurt just yet."

She whispers as she looks down at the two men who look at each other before Jake sighs and Khonshu takes out his rifle leaving the two as he searched the area.

"Necesitas auyda ?"

Jake ask as she looks down then at him

"Nope. Just give me a second, I think I might have an idea."

She says as she sits down and slides down, Jake can only look as the girl then dangles herself from the edge of the broken floor.

He watches the girl knowing damn well that this was a stupid idea but letting her figure that out might be good for her.

She holds on before seeing that this was probably not her best idea with no way of getting back up to think of something else. She's stuck.

"Fuck."

She mumbles under her breath as she sighs.

"I might need help."

She finally admits

Jake let out small snort at the girls stubbornness but also realization that her "idea" wasn't gonna work.

He shakes his head and puts his bag down at the side before looking up at her.

"Let go, I'll catch you."

He says as he opens his arms to show her that he was ready.

She feels her face heat up a little not by the heat of sun but of the pure embarrassment she is feeling, but she doesn't think she has another choice.

She can try though, right?

"Isn't there like something I can climb down on?"

She grimace as she says that.

"Ninã."

He started to scold her.

"Alright, okay. Fine, just-"

'This is embarrassing.'

She takes a breathe before letting go and falling, closing her eyes last second as the feeling of her stomach dropping lasted a second.

Before she knows there are arms around her back and knees holding her tight to make sure she didn't slip through. Her arms hugging his neck for support, her head under his jaw as they stood there for a second.

It was tight but not enough to hurt her, just enough to keep her close to him.

It felt like a hug, something neither him nor any of the alters have had in what felt like years.

He feels a memory come back.

Randall, when he was a kid, he loved going at the top of slides or swings before Marc, Steven, or Jake had to catch him as he flew through the air making him feel like a hero from his action figures and show.

Because he trusted them, that they would always catch him, protect him.

They couldn't, not when it meant the most.

What makes them think they can protect her anymore than they could have Randall.

Jake felt as his eyes rolled back.

Marc fronts as he starts to turn and dropping her on her feet. He unwrap his arms from her and she unwrap her arms from his neck.

"Thanks. Sorry for all....that."

Is all she says before she rushes herself out the feeling of embarrassment still left behind for him to catch on.

He remember how it got to here, It's not like he had a choice. It was either they catch her or she literally breaks her knees.

He stays there with his thoughts, he still feels the weight of his brother like he was still there. He feels the weight leave of a child in his arms, there was nothing left to protect after all.

He shakes his head as he grabs the backpack from the ground where Jake had left it and followed behind where Khonshu was waiting the girl looking at the scene.

"This place once was filled with people, language, culture, and so much more than you could have imagined worm."

He hears Khonshu tell the girl as she looks up at him then back at the broken and wreck the world had become since the days of the outbreak.

She looks back the sight, she can't really imagine that, she has lived in a place where sure their were people but definitely not as many as their was before.

She wonders what kind of things would they sell, would they sell shoe laces or food instead, what type of clothes did they wear, what would they talk about?

"That's, hard to imagine."

She says as she looks out, the places was lifeless, the only thing left was stains of blood and the undead taking over anything with life in it. It sucked the joys of living into the more black and white of surviving.

Marc could feel a small ping of sympathy for the girl as he thought about it from her point before shaking the feeling away.

He can't get attached, that's how he gets hurt.

"How did you get that bite mark worm?."

Khonshu ask as he looked down at the young girl next to him. The next generation of people who will never know about the world before which he grew up and was raised in.

He thought maybe he would die in it too. How foolish of him.

"You know that hotel that was cut off from becoming apartments a couple districts down 11 and 4."

She replies, might as well give it up now.

Marc listened from a distance.

"The one they told everyone never to get close to because it being full of infected?"

Khonshu replied as she nodded.

"It was a good place to see the pyramids and I wanted to see it for myself, got to. But got jumped by a runner and then I got bit."

She told him as picks at her nails looking at them like they were more interesting than the story itself.

"And you went there, by yourself, at 14."

He stated as she nodded. He lightly chuckles.

"You got guts worm, I'll give you that. All for the sight of the pyramids."

He says like a fever dream almost. Deja Vu in a sense it seemed to roll off.

Katalina felt a a tug at the sides of her lips at the compliment from the man, a smile of pride about it but got rid of it quickly so he couldn't see it.

She wasn't sure if doing what she did was even a proud thing to have accomplish.

Khonshu eventually looks out one last time before turning around and leaving through the hole in the wall, she watches before looking back up at the sight again.

Marc listened to the story, it seems realistic enough.

He watches as her eyes flickered, the sunlight making her not seem so much rougher than she looks.

She looked softer, much more younger now. Her eyes however told another story, she was exhausted not just by sleep but what seemed like living in general.

Just like he was, and he could understand. He was there, they all were, but he had to find a way to move on, it took years and he was much older.

This girl was 14 and she seemed so tired, much more tired than he did or any other kid should be.

She eventually rubs her eyes from how the sunlight hitting her iris and started to follow through where Khonshu had also went to before he following behind her.

The three walked a little more now with more distance from the Sand Riders, Marc and Khonshu knew they would eventually lose interest in them since they tended to only just stick around when they found people vulnerable.

The entrance of the museum was grand yet old. There were plants growing on the building itself and little bits of graffiti like the one back at the QZ littered the forgotten history the place held.

The letters half up and the rest laid on the floor of the steps to the entrance of the museum cracked and destroyed.

It was a beautiful entrance, the plants that grew around it made it seem taken back by nature which most cities had been taken by.

The cordyceps were scattered all over the walls and stretched like vines as little bubbles of its air were around.

"Get your mask."

Khonshu ordered and Marc obeyed as he dtarted to take out his gas mask. Katalina looked at them both as they got their gas mask out, she wondered if she would need it too.

"You got a mask?"

Marc asked the girl as she nodded.

"Get it out and put it on then."

He told her as he placed the mask over his face and made sure there were no cracks and that he could breathe.

Katalina heard the change again, an American accent. The one that shouted and then apologized for it (not really but it's what she was gonna get from him right now.)

"But, I'm immune to the cordyceps, the spores don't do anything to me."

She tells him before he gives her a look.

"Not asking, just do it. Get a flashlight as well, its dark and hard to see."

He tells her as she sighs and digs into her bag for the mask for herself and got the flashlight that Harrow had given her.

They all slip their backpack on again and Katalina looks at the door, it's slightly open as the inside seemed almost completely black.

Like pandoras box, ready to be open and get you.

She felt a chill go up her spine.

"So, why exactly are we going through this museum anyways?"

She questions as she couldn't understand why they need to go through this specific building and not the other ones around.

"There is a exit at the top floor of this, it's a shorter way, more dangerous but still a way."

Khonshu explains as she just nods and takes it.

"So, it's fine then? To like go through?"

Khonshu nods and she looks at Marc who sighs and nods slowly as well.

That was all she was gonna get from the two.

Khonshu was the first to get closer to the cordyceps before poking his cane at the thick vine like cordyceps that took parts of the building for its own.

He taps a couple times before stabbing it for a loud crunch noise to come out of it. There is a small cloud of spores came out and came to his conclusion.

"Seems like most of the infected are dead. But some of the spores are still around, keep the mask."

Khonshu ordered as the two nodded and he went in first, the inside was dark and filled with dust everywhere.

Broken or stolen artifacts, paintings torn or left alone were around but for the most part everything was where it was left the day of the outbreak.

Katalina looked around, the top of it was filled with designes of constellations words in arabic and english describing them.

Marc looks around the place, it had been years since he's been through a museum, much less one in egypt. However he soon felt his eyes roll back as Steven now fronted.

He was thrilled, the museum had all types of facts such as how things were built in the ancient times of Egypt, the way gods were worshipped, ect.

He looks back then at Katalina who was looking at the ceiling reading what the words said.

"The Egyptian invented modern navigation."

He started out with which startled the girl, that change, it happened again.

"Oh, sorry 'bout that. Just, fun fact, thought you might want to know that."

He says as he looked at the girl who nodded and looked at the ceiling again, she thinks for a second before speaking again.

"Anything else to add to that fun fact?"

She asked as he felt a small jolt of excitement hit him as he nodded and he continued.

"There aren't a lot of land marks in the desert. So, they came up with a way to get about it using the sun and the stars."

She nods with a smile as she ingraves the information into her brain like every other fact she learn in books or movies she's seen.

"It's bloody genius, right?"

He said as she nods.

"Yeah, it is. They are very smart for using the sky as thier way of navigation, like the Polynesian people did as well, they would also use the stars to know which direction to go when voyaging."

She added as well which he made him happy that she was adding to the fact he just told her. Khonshu watched the two talk, he knew exactly that look. Steven.

He uses his cane to slightly hit the wall getting both attention of the two.

"If you two are done, we have somewhere to be, hurry up!"

He reprimand as Katalina looks at him before feeling a little bit of fear and frustration but decided to just do what the old man said.

"Get moving. You, I'll deal with you later."

He says as he pointed at Steven who just looks at Khonshu in annoyance from under his mask, he was just trying to teach her something.

'Hot and cold much'

Katalina thinks as the girl walks pass him following Khonshu who was waiting for them by the stairs.

Steven followed behind before looking at the ceiling one last time. The stairs up were made of concrete with some edges being taken off due to part of the building it self starting to collapse over time.

The two followed Khonshu as as they slowly stepped over the long think vines of cordyceps that took over the rest of the way up.

A sound of clicking caught their attention, a sudden stop was made as they waited for another sound to be heard, Khonshu looks at Steven who grab the gun from pants and pulls it out ready incase of anything.

The girl looks at the two before taking out her switchblade ready to fight for her life if she had to.

They continued up the stairs, their flashlight lightning their way through the dark place as a sense of dread and death went down their spines.

The place started to fill up with more and more spores as dead infected were seen laying there, their bodies no longer resembling anything human or whatever remained of the person they use to be.

They make it to the top, wood and pieces of concrete covered the path of the door, the wooden door was slightly open showing another room of artifacts that never made it to the displays down below.

Khonshu looked at rubble that laid to where they needed to go, he moves forward before squatting down and starting to push it up.

The air started to clear up as the circulation moved, it turns opaque as he moves the junk away. Steven decided to help him as he forward to help him push the things up and out of the way for them to cross.

"Go."

Khonshu strained to say as the girl ran quickly in, the sound of the ceiling about to fall rang out and she push them both back as it fell back. A cloud of gray and yellow dust filled the room and hallway.

The two men landed on floor as they waved their hand to clear some of the dust looking for the girl who was now stuck on the other side, alone.

"You two okay?!"

She shouts as the sound of creaking echoed through out the building.

She looked worried as her eyebrows furrowed, her eyes searching around for the two.

"We're alive, stay over there. Don't move, we'll find a way over there."

Khonshu says as Steven had already gotten up and helped Khonshu us before grabbing his cane.

The sound of groaning and clicking rang in their ears.

"I don’t think I can!"

She yells, her tone noticeable got higher as she hears the stomping of shoes coming, infected, they were awake.

"Then run!"

"We'll find you!"

The two shouted out saying as she runs to the other side, the men see as two clickers were following behind her at full speed.

"They're gonna kill her."

Steven muttered as he felt his mind racing, his chest feeling heavy, it hit him hard, he has this feeling that he needs to get her out of there. And quick.

"Then let's get out of here and find her."

Khonshu rough tone clicking as the two looked for another way out to make sure she didn't get killed in there.

She sprints as fast as she could. She knew about clickers and made a plan on what she probably would do in that situation that had one of them after her.

It went completely out the window.

She looks around for anything, she feels her palm starting to sweat as her switchblade and flashlight were the only thing grounding her. The hurried sounds of the clickers not helping her already panicing state.

The sound of her heart thumping filled her head as she finds a statue and pushs it out of the way before turning away from it and hiding behind a broken display case.

The infected go after the noise as they screeched, she puts her flashlight on the ground and covers her mouth as she tries to calm herself down.

Her nails dig into the palm of her hand but she knows she can't move, if she does they find her.

'However, you aren't immune to being ripped apart, child.'

The words echoing in her mind from what Harrow had said a while back when she was asking him questions.

She hated him at that moment for the image, she could imagine her mangled body as the infected tore through her skin and flesh, her body parts being ripped out whatever made her human.

She could imagine her heart being torn up by their teeth, every little vain and muscles smeared on the monsters mouth as it ate it up.

She tries not to think about that. It's hard.

She looks down at her switchblade, then at the clickers. She doesn't have much choice but to either kill them or they get her.

She rather stay alive to make sure this vaccine thing worked.

She lifted the gas mask and wrapped the straps on her bag. She breathed the air through her nose as it went into her lungs she needs her heart to stop beating so hard.

Sweat formed on her forehead as she wipes it off and looks around.

She needs to concentrate, she needs to remember her training as shitty as it was.

On the ground laid a bottle, a glass bottle, a distraction.

She made a plan, slowly she moves from her crouched position, the clickers still moving around and hearing for any sound to catch their prey.

Prey and predator was the game.

She grabs the bottle, slowly looking behind her, she lifts it and gets ready. The bottle flew through the air and hit the side of the wall earning a yell from the clickers who raced after the sound.

Looking around she found a piece of concrete, grabbing it. She goes back to her spot and ties the flashlight to her backpack.

The two clickers twitched and made small noises as they couldn't find where she was. One eventually moved towards another part of the room, an opening.

She puts the brick down as she moves up.

She knew where to hit as she had seen the guy named 3 names had before and go for the head.

She jumps on its back wrapping an arm to keep her there and she can only reach the neck and goes for it, she stab at the side of its neck, digging deep as the blade goes in again and again.

Blood starting to spill like a fountain from it.

The creature yells and screeched in agony, it tries to claw and bite at her. Eventually she jumps off once she thinks its enough and backs up as it falls to the ground still trying to fight off its attacker.

The sound of the other one becomes clear as she remembers the concrete brick on the floor and throws it at another wall, it turns that way as she moves away from it.

Her hands and blade bloody again. As she looks back and sees a puddle of blood pouring from the infected, it wouldn't get her at least. She was just a little but safer.

She needed a way out, but couldn't find one. The old guy, Khonshu had said there was an exit around this floor, she just wished she knew where.

A bellow was heard grabbing her attention as turned around to see the other clicker getting ready to pounce on her.

It falls down with a thud as it tried to attack whatever got it, a silver cresent in its back glimmered with blood coming out.

Soon, a black boot stepped on its back before the sound of a gun went off as the sound of splattered matter echoed in the room

She flinched at the sound before looking at who had taken down the other clicker. It was the guy with 3 names, he looked concentrated, his eyes narrowing on the dead clicker as if seeing if it would try and fight back.

It didn't, he looks up and spots her as she looks at him then at the dead clicker he just killed.

A switch in emotion happened in his eyes as furrowed concentrated eyes turned into concerned and relieved ones.

"There you are."

He says as he steps over the dead infected and goes to her. She looks at him as his eyes searched for something.

His eyebrows furrowed as he looks at her arm, she looks down and sees the bite mark, it was a little deep and it was starting to bleed. His eyes looked back her concerned and worried about the second bite mark on her.

"You alright? Where did you get the other bite?"

He questions as he puts his bag down and starts to search for something.

Must have gotten her and the adrenaline must've kepted her from feeling it, it was starting to weaken though.

"I'm not dead so that's the good thing, to answer your other question, look over there."

She points to the other infected that she had stabbed to death.

Khonshu came into the picture as he walked over to the dead clicker. He taps on it with his cane as if seeing to make sure she had actually killed it.

"You killed it?"

He didn't really believe her.

"Yeah, with this."

Showing the now bloody switchblade and he hums before nodding.

She's not sure what to make of that, looking back at Steven who now has a bandage for her and a small alcohol wipe.

"Do you want me to clean it or can you?"

He ask her. Nobody has asked her that in years.

"I can do it."

She takes the alcohol wipes and rubs it in deep, it burns and she want to cry a little but holds it in as she finshes cleaning the wound.

"I'll wrap it, alright. Tell me if it's too tight."

Steven tells her as he starts to put a small cloth on the wound before wrapping around some bandage, he is gentle as ties it up.

"Good?"

And she nods.

"Let get out of here then."

Khonshu says as Steven closes his bag and lets Katalina walk in front of him as she gives a small nod of thanks to the gesture.

They make it to the roof of the museum, the exit Khonshu was talking about. The other two take off the gas mask as the bright sun blinded them, they all blinked a couple times to adjust.

"Wait! You were breathing in spore!"

☆ .𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍. ☆

Hiiiii!!!

This is my main page/masterlist.

🐋ᩛ⃪᭫᭰. Call me Sky! 🪼᭰ᩛ⃪᭫᭪

●○ I won't lie and say I had trouble making this whole thing but I wanted to make sure I could at least organize this whole mess of a place where my fanfiction is going right now so there's my reason for this. ○●

𝙍𝙐𝙇𝙀𝙎:

I will write what I am comfortable with and only what I am comfortable with.

Not including:

■ NSFW

■ Incest

■ Noncon

Ect.

Please understand that I am not okay with any of this. If that changes, which most likely it won't I will let it be known. But for sure, most of these are set in stone no matter what.

What I will write:

☆Fluff

☆Found family

☆Angst

☆Gore (certain degree)

☆ Romance (to a certain degree)

And ect.

🫧̸̷̶̺᪲ׄ 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐌𝐒🫧̸̷̶̺᪲ׄ

° ᴏᴛʜᴇʀs ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴘᴏssɪʙʟʏ ᴡʀɪᴛᴛᴇɴ ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ °

🌙𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐊𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓🌙

The Moon's Child: 𝙻𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚄𝚜 𝙰𝚞

📖 𝑷𝒐𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒚📖

1. 𝐎𝐡 𝐦𝐲, 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞

🪼 !sᴛᴀʏ ᴛᴜɴᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴡʜᴀᴛᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴇʟsᴇ ɪ ʜᴀᴠᴇ

ɪɴ-sᴛᴏʀᴇ!🪼

Jellyfish banner credit - @animatedglittergraphics-n-more

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 💜

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)

Heyyy!!!! New chapter released (wrote like weeks ago, please just go with it.).

Anyways, as always let me know what I can improve on. Repost if you can, as always have a good day, afternoon or night.

WARNING: METION OF BLOOD, ALCOHOL, ABUSE, DRUGS, CURSING, and GUN Violence

You have been warned about the contents of this chapter.

Chapter 2: The kid Problem

Marc wakes up gasping for air, his chest rising up and down heavily as he panted.

He sat up quickly before he looked around his apartment, the apartment itself barely looked homely.

A couple books and maps he had traded with ration cards. The only real color in the damn place was the couch which was blue.

He sighs as his heart calms down now, another nightmare.

"Always the damn same one."

He grumbles under his breathe as he gets up and walks to his small kitchen before he feels a hard tug on his ankle and the next thing he knows he is flat on the ground as his cheek burned.

"Steven! Again, seriously!?"

Marc exclaimed as he pushed himself off the floor, a scowl making its way onto his face.

"Mate, you had it coming. You broke your promise, you know I hate it when you do that."

Steven surfaced as Marc looked at the dirty mirror they owned with his eyebrows furrowed.

Steven had his arms crossed against his chest with one lifted eyebrow clearly not sorry about what he did.

"Look, it wasn't that I didn't want you to front. Just, he needed me Steven."

Marc tried not to get angry, he knew he screwed up, he always does.

He looked at the cuffs that were on his ankle and already went to look for the keys. He lifted the floor board and there was the silver key to his freedom.

He uses the key and gets his ankle out of the cuffs before he got up again and rubbed his head.

The smell of liquor still hanging in the back of his throat. He overdid it again, he always does when it gets bad again.

"So, was the whiskey worth it?"

Steven said almost scolding knowing that this was hurting not only him but Marc's body.

"Can we not talk about it, I already have a headache."

Marc sighed as he felt like shit right now and didn't need a reminder of how shit it was to be like this.

"I wonder why."

Steven mumbled as his head lowered and he shook his head as he left the mirror into another space, Marc's jaw harden as he tried his hardest to not punch the mirror with his fist.

He tells himself that he doesn't want to have to replace the mirror again, also he didn't want to be alone.

Steven and his relationship was damaged after everything that happened in the last 15 years.

Fight after fight yet by the end of the day they had each other and that's all they really had.

Wendy and dad weren't in the picture anymore. The smacks and vemoned words that came out of the women they called their mother left her mouth he knew she would never be the same.

Steven,eventually, after lots of convincing had finally gave into to the fact that they had no mother anymore. Their dad was not any better honestly, he tried to keep the beating to a minimum but it could only hold on for so long.

So when they turned 18, they went to join FEDRA and stayed employed for a while before he got into a nasty fight and was terminated from the job.

It's been 14 years since they last saw the people they once called parents. Every once in a while though he would just follow them, more his dad to make sure no one tried to hurt them.

Eventually Layla came into their life for a while and things were to some type of normalcy, domestic even, of course they had to skrew that up too.

Both went their separate ways after a nasty argument and haven't seen each other in a year. Both men still worried about her, they know she is capable of taking care of herself, it's one of the reasons they fell for her.

Still, that didn't mean their wasn't any worry that she could have gotten killed of murdered after they separated. She had left England to go to Egypt.

Her strength was something they admired, how reliable she was, how she always had their backs. But more than anything it was her heart, how even after everything she has been through she was able to still love them for wow they were and how they were.

Sometimes they wished they could have worked it out better.

"Ey, hermano, door."

A voice called out and there was Jake, they had figured out Jake a couple years into their time in FEDRA, he took over when an invasion of infected managed to escape. He kept them alive and they were thankful for that.

"Shit, who?"

Marc whispered as his head pounded again at the noise of his door being knocked on.

"Marc Spector! "

A voice boomed, a familiar sense of dread filled the apartment. It was Khonshu, fuck.

"I'm coming! I'm coming."

He shouted as he walked over to the door, he really didn't want to but didn't exactly have much choice since he knew the damn man wouldn't stop the banging.

He took a deep breathe before opening the door and in came Khonshu, the man had platinum white hair and his eyes were empty with almost not shine to them like he had no eyes.

His clothes match his personality honestly, he was wearing some black jeans with a white button up that had grim and some pink splatters which he knows where it came from.

His jacket has a patch of a moon on it.

"Where were you yesterday night, we had somewhere to be!?"

The man shouted as Marc closed the door and locked it, he knew what was coming, all of them did.

"Look, I just got sidetracked, okay? Something came up and something was going on with Ste-"

He didn't even get to finish before the sound of Khonshu's cane hit the floor of the apartment was shaking slightly.

"You swore he wouldn't be a problem, that he would cooperate with this. Maybe you should have had Lockly front more often, that is a man who can get the jobs done quickly."

Khonshu retorted as he looked out the window and turned to Marc before motioning for him to come closer.

Marc looked at him before he walked over to thw window and seeing people, just people.

"You see these people, they rely on us to keep them safe. You are in debt to me Marc Spector, I saved your life and therefore you must now save theirs for me."

Khonshu said with no hesitation, sure Khonshu could be an asshole but he was okay every once in a while like this.

Sure he had imprisoned Marc and the alters in his escapades of "saving" people but he really did want to just help, he was just really shitty at doing it.

"Fine, fine. I promise it won't be a problem again."

Marc finally replied as he sighed and Khonshu only hummed as he made his way to exit the apartment building.

"Let us see Marc Spector, tick tok. Make sure not to skip this times patrol, I will see you then."

Khonshu finally said before he closed the door behind him. Marc sighed, he really hated the guy sometimes.

"He's an asshole."

Steven remarks, Marc holds back a smirk.

"One thing we can actually agree on."

Marc shakes his head as he goes and starts to get ready for the day of labor he's gonna have to do.

"El tiene razón."

Jake voice echoed in the back of their head. At least this is something they could all agree on.

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

Jake shoveled the ashes from the firey pit that raged on, buring their skin but not enough actually do damage.

"Ey, Marc. Got a minute."

A man called out, Jake's eyes went to the back of his head as Marc fronted. Marc blinked as their eyes focused again and turned around to face the man that called for him.

"Yeah, what's up?"

Marc answered as he pulled down the bandana that covered their nose and mouth from all the ashes that were made from the burned body of infected and Ammits followers.

"I have a job you might be interested in."

The man whispered as he slipped a paper into Marc's hand.

Marc sighed as he pocketed the note into his jeans.

"I told you I don't do that type of work anymore."

He whispered back as he bent down to "tie his shoes" and the man looked down and did the same action.

"It's good pay man, lots of ration cards and maybe even a bit more."

The man said as he tried to convince Marc to do the job, he and this man didn't really know each other very well but the guy did owe him something for saving his life.

"Look man, I told you I can't take the job. No matter how good the pay is."

Marc remarked as he got back up from "tieing his shoes" so that he could back to work.

"Just, just think about it. Alright."

The man muttered before he went to the other side where another hall of bodies came in trucks to be burned.

He sighs as he grabbed the shovel again and starts to dig the ashes and putting them into barrels.

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

Drip

Drip

Her brown eyes watched as the water leaked from the floor above and dropped in the wet puddle that formed.

"Nomas querría ir a dormir, es mucho para pedir."

Katalina groaned as she looked at the chains they put on her, her ankles and wrist were starting to bruise red from the amount of times she tried to slide them off.

She slouched on the wooden walls as the rumble and sound of FEDRA trucks were coming and going.

The places wasn't the best, but honestly better than the hole or cells they put the orphans if they couldn't follow the rules drilled into their brains.

Creak

The sound of the door opening got her attention as she scooted back into a corner and got up from where she was sitting.

Two people walked in, one male, one female. The female had a sort of limp on her left foot, her eyes seemed lively yet so dull.

The man had a scar across his face, a mustache and a beard to compliment it as well, his eyes seemed more glossy along with slight puffiness to them.

"We are here to test you again."

The women's started as she has a clipboard.

"How many more time do I have to do this?"

Katalina asked as her eyebrows furrowed with both frustration and impatience. She has been here for 3 weeks now in this room and it was starting to get to her.

"Just until we know."

The man came forward slightly which made the girl take a small step back, the two adults noticed and took a step forward.

"Why do you always have to get closer?"

The girl asked not really as a question but more as a confused threat of some way.

"testing something."

The women said and she clicked the pen and started to take notes on the piece of paper stuck to the clipboard.

"No soy tu maldito guinea cerdo."

She grumbles under her breath as she picks at her nails, she's been doing that alot. Honestly she has nothing better to do right now and it went on like that for the weeks she's been here.

"What was that?"

The man spoke up which startled the girl for a second before she looked at the guy and responded.

"Nothing."

The guy sighed as he rubbed circles at his temples.

"Alright, let start. One hand steady and coun-"

The lady started before she was intrupted.

"Count from 1 to 10, I know. We've done this hundreds of times already."

Katalina says as she puts her arm out and starts to count, she finishes quickly.

"Alright then, now speak sp-"

"Spanish, I get it. Don't need to keep repeating it."

Katalina remarked .

"Me nombre is Lisa, tengo trece años."

She replied as her boredom and tiredness was kicking in.

"Alright, that's it."

The man said as he put down something from behind his pocket, it was good for the evening. A can of peaches and water.

"Great, a feast for a queen."

Her sarcastic remark gets her a look before she put her hands up as of saying "I'll back off.".

They look at each other before a knock takes their attention away, with a small "Come in." was heard and suddenly a man with cane came in.

He was dress with red button up shirt and brown pants to help contrast the tan color jacket he had on.

His cane made small noise as it the ground softly he came into the room, his hair was pretty long and almost looked slight disheveled.

"How is she doing?"

The man said as the others hand him the clipboard and he starts to read it before he nods and they nod back before leaning in and whispering something she couldn't make out.

The other two left the room and it was only Katalina and this man who looked over the clipboard again before looking back at her.

"How are you doing then, Katalina?"

Her heart skipped for a second, how the hell did he know her name?!

Never once has she given out her actual name.

"Como sabías es-"

The man chuckled lightly before he sat down across from her.

"I know a lot of things child, many, many things that many wished they could possess."

The man said as he reached behind his back was pulling something out of his back.

Katalina senses went off and she closed her hand into a fist, her nails dug into the palm of her hand, her knuckles white.

Then man noticed this.

"It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you, just wanna return something that I believe is yours."

The man said as he pulled out a picture, a locket, and a small switchblade.

Katalina eyes widen at the sight of her most precious objects, the only picture of her family that was given to her, a locket that her first love bestfriend gave to her, and the only weapon her parents left her with.

The man gaze was on her reaction, he got what he wanted.

"Do you want them back?"

The man had said softly as he looked deep into her brown eyes that were slightly softer, more emotional.

Vulnerable.

"Y-yes, yes I want them back."

She stuttered for a second but quickly regained herself.

"You can have them."

He simply said, she was hesitant and skeptical on his words that lingered in her ears.

Have them?

She can just, take them?

No consequences, not "but" or "if"?

Nothing?

"Go on, take it."

The man encouraged as he gently laid them on the ground in front of her, easy for her grab.

Her breathe hitched, she reached out for a second before looking back at him, nothing, she couldn't read him.

"I don’t bite, I swear."

He adds as his gaze lingered on her.

She is quick to grab the things before he second guess to grab her things and held them close to her chest, to her heart as it thumped hard for the return of something that truly only belonged to her.

She puts the necklace back on and the locket is tucked into her shirt, the picture is in her clutch and the switchblade was in her back pocket of her navy jeans.

"Who are you?"

She asked as she looked at the man, really looked at him, he had slight eye bags, his posture was almost straight but also crouched, the cane had a wooden carving of a crocodile on its handle.

The man smiles.

"My name is Arthur Harrow, I am the right had man of the organization that's gonna save and clean the world."

Arthur answers as he puts his hand out to shake hers.

She can't really understand why she a little scared of him, he hasn't done anything really since talking to her so why does she have a sense of dread in her stomach.

She slowly leans in and shakes his hand, the sleeves that covered his arm was slightly lifted and the tattoo of scales is there or from what she can make out.

"Your timsaeh people?"

She stated as she takes back her hand.

"I am indeed."

He answered back as he lifted the sleeve up to show the scale in full. He seemed proud to be called that almost.

"I am sure you have multiple questions."

He says as he scoots a little closer and puts a hand on her shoulder.

"I will try my best to give you answers to any question you give me."

They looked at each other in the eye for a long time before she is the first to look away down at the ground, she thinks.

And thinks before nodding and looking back at him.

"Okay."

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

Jake huffed as the sound of the alarm went off to tell everybody that working hours were over.

He pulled the bandana off and walked over where the rest of the workers were heading to get their pay for the day.

"Next!"

The holder said as Jake was next and waited for the guy to give his ration cards of the day.

The holder grabbed a 20, two 5, and four 1's.

"Here's your pay."

The Holder said as Jake took them and counted them, less than usual.

"Any better paying jobs tomorrow?"

Jake asked as he put the ration cards in his small wallet that they had managed to find in the garbage one day, and in good condition too.

"Probably the one with the shit, if your up for it?"

The man said looking up at him for a response.

"Really, shit. No way we are doing that job, that would take weeks go get rid of the smell! We barely even get rid of the smell of burned ashes off our clothes."

Steven said in the back of the mind, Steven was willing to work hard, they all know it, but even then there was a line he crosses and it was this.

"Any other trabajo?"

Jake sighed as he put one hand on his hip.

"Well, there is one with electricity, dangerous but pays better than this."

The Holder says as he looked up at Jake who is deciding, it's better pay but it would put them in danger.

"I'll go with the shit."

Jake says and the Holder nods before ripping a slip off and handing it to him.

"Take that tomorrow to sector 5 and they will give you a position to work at."

The Holder yelled for the next person and Jake left, he knew Steven would probably complain and maybe even Marc but it would pay better and less dangerous.

"Why did you take the job!"

Steven exclaimed as his image slid on and off the mirrors and window that he passed.

"Because the amount we are making isn't enough hermano, nosotros necesitamos otro trabajo que pagarán bien."

Jake says as he looks at pair of gloves that caught his attention.

They have enough to make trades and for smuggling still, so he buys it the gloves for 2 ration cards. He thanks the seller and put the new gloves on putting his old ones in his pocket.

"Did you just spend 2 ration cards on another pair of gloves, I swear you ware those our way too fast man."

Steven comments.

"You have your books, I have my glove, Déjame en paz Steven."

Jake says as he walks into the allyway and makes his way to the place where smugglers thrive on the ones willing to pay the right price.

Jake finally leaned against his usual spot where people can find him usually, he waits and not a second later as a FEDRA soilder comes over looking almost new at this whole thing.

"Your the guy with the goods, right?"

The man asked in a hushed tone, Jake could see this guy was new to this, he wanted to mess with him but was too tried right now.

"Yeah, I am. What are you looking for?"

He ask as the guy slips him a piece a paper.

What was it with people slipping paper to them?

Jake took the paper and opened it, the guy fidget with his vest before looking around.

"So you got it or no man?"

The guy was getting inpatient now.

"Sí, le tengo."

Jake answered putting the paper in his back pocket.

"Does it look like I know Spanish man!"

The guy was getting on his nerves but he tried to calm himself down. There doesn't need to be drama right now.

He pulls out a baggy from the pocket of his jacket and out came the blue pills.

The man sighed in relief about to grab the bag before Jake moved it away.

"Gotta pay Hombre, can't give you it until you pay."

The guy eventually scoffed before digging into his pants pocket and pulls put a wad of ration cards.

"How much?"

Jake saw the ration cards, enough to maybe get them through a couple months.

"Three 20's, six 5, and eight 1's."

He said as he put his hand out, the man just nodded before handing him the pills and Jake takes the ration cards.

"I'm gonna need the bag back though."

He added as he counted to make sure it was the right amount, it was. The man may have been new but he has what they need to keep them afloat and some what comfortable still.

The man dumps the pills into his vest pocket and gives the plastic bag back, Jake nods in a silent thank you before the man comes close.

Jake get ready the beat the absolute shit out this man before words were said.

"Don't come out for a couple nights, FEDRA soilders aren't right in the head right now. Might make a mistake, easy to make one in the dark."

The man whispered before walking away, Jake looked as the man walked away. He unclentch his jaw and fixed the shirt.

"Maldita sea."

He grumbled under his breathe as walks away, it's almost time to get to patrol they need to get moving before Khonshu yells at them again.

‐------------------------------------------------------

"This is Cameron, Cameron this is Lisa."

Harrow says as he introduced Katalina to another one of "helpers" of the place.

They have walked around for a whole now, she kepted rubbing her wrist as she nodded in acknowledgement, she needed an out.

She can't stay here, FEDRA will kill her if they find out she left. Maybe they would hung her, beat the ever living shit out of her even just to get the anger out.

"And here is the cafeteria where we keep the helpers fed, are you hungry?"

He asked as he got a plate and handed it to her, she slowly reached out for it and took it as she got into the line and he got behind her as his hands were on her shoulders.

"Give this young lady our best please Beth."

The man said to the younger looking lady who just smiled and nodded before grabbing a big metal spoon and scooped up a chunk of soup.

"Thank you."

Katalina whispered as she looked at the soup, looked like tomato soup, haven't seen that one in a while.

He gave a small nod in thanks before pushing her slightly to start moving which she did, slowly her tray filled up with 2 biscuits and an apple.

How the hell they had fresh fruit and biscuits was a damn mystery to her.

Soon they sat down at a small table near some statue, it was a statue of a crocodile that held a scale in one hand.

She looked at it before she looked down at her food, this was the most food they have given her in the 3 weeks she's been here.

"You can eat, no one is gonna take it away from you."

Arthur said as he pushed the tray closer to her, she was skeptical about it though, everyone is hungry. She could see that people were staring at her and him.

He notices and looks at the people who look away immediately and go back to their conversations.

"They just haven't seen you before, no need to worry."

He said as he nudged his head a little to signal to look at the bowl of soup and not the people looking at her, their eyes burned into the back of her head to her body.

She picks up the spoon and holds it close to her mouth before looking at everybody else, they were eating fine so she takes a bite.

The soup was rich and flavored to the right amount or as much as soup can be flavored. She hasn't had anything this nice in, well, never?

"Gracias."

She says as she eats more going for more of the soup, they sit in almost comfortable silence.

She feels a little bad for being skeptical about the guy, he hasn't done anything to her yet, maybe.

"Aren't you hungry?"

She ask him as she shallows the warm soup down and wipes her mouth with her hand.

He hands her a napkin before he responding.

"I am alright, thank you for worrying about me."

She grabs the napkin and wipes her mouth with it, she nods before thinking. She has one more biscuit to spare, she already full anyways.

Grabbing the biscuit gently and held it out for him to grab.

"Here, you can have this. Estoy llena."

She reassured as she pushed the biscuits towards him for him to grab.

He took it from her hands and smiled softly, it was nice.

"Thank you."

He said as started to eat the biscuit and she looked around for anything or anywhere there was a weak spot here.

She couldn't stay here, she has to go back.

30 min later...

They were walking up a hallway, they had made their way back to where she was kept, she kinda was glad as messed up as it was.

She was use to, this. Even if she hated the damn leaks it was something she was familiar with.

"I will come by later to come check on you, alright."

Harrow said as he opened the door and Katalina looked at him for a second before nodding and went inside the room.

"Buenos noches Katalina."

Was all he said before closed the door behind her not even noticing the way she turned around, a chill went down her spine.

That usually was a nice thing to say, even a more enduring thing to say. The way he said it though didn't feel good, didn't have the warm essence to it.

She didn't even know how the hell the man managed to make those words sound like soul less lies.

She sat down on the floor and looked out the window that showed the evening sky, the colors of orange and yellow coming together to make a warm essence over this dull gray world she was brought into.

She laid on the wall and pulled herself up against it a little so that her back hit the wall.

Taking off her sweater and using it as a pillow, she wasn't given much of a living space to really get rest but the corners were comfortable.

1 hour later...

BOOM

The room shook as Katalina was woken up by the sounds of gunshots and screams of people.

The sound of a thousand of footsteps were everywhere that she could almost feel them. They made her stomach turn.

Maybe 5 minutes later it was silent, completely and utterly silent.

She feels for her switchblade and gets ready to fight if she has to, she knows she probably will have to.

Slowly walk towards the floor as it slightly creaks with every contact the shoes and the floor has. She leans in and can hear footsteps, two to four people are still here.

She hears one is getting close, she'll just stab them and then get out of here.

Once whoever was on the other side was close enough she opened the door and gets ready to stab whoever was on the other side.

However she unsucessed at it and got thrown to the wall, her back stung now. She needed to get up before whoever she tried to stab now tried to return the favor back.

She looks up to see a man, his hair was curly and short and his eyes were like hers, or whatever she remembers since the last time she looked in a mirror.

The brown eyes started back at her confused before looking down and seeing the switchblade, she saw it too and tried to grab it but he got to it first and kicked it away.

"Asshole."

She grumbles as she pulls herself up and looks at the guy who eyebrows were furrowed and he had a gun.

He has a gun, she now noticed the blood on his fist, the beaded sweat that was falling from his forehead.

His attire wasn't something she had seen before but has heard, a man with white attire would come during the night and "protect" the different divisions of the QZ.

They called him Moonknight due to the fact most his weapons were the shape of moons.

Maybe calling the guy who looks like he went through hell an asshole wasn't her best idea.

The man still has the gun pointed at her and she just stares at it, the hole in the middle pointed to her chest.

If he did shoot her at least it wouldn't be too painful and end quickly. She puts her hand up in surrender.

They just stare at each other, brown on brown. Both had slight eyebags to compliment each other.

"Who are you?"

The man said as the sound of footsteps were heard, both heads turned to the direction.

"Marc Spector."

They both recongnised the voice, Harrow.

Another sign of footsteps appeared and a man in almost just white and back came in with a gun.

"The 4 and 5th floor have been cleared out, Spector we must leave. FEDRA might be here soon!"

The man said as he turned around to see the scene of Marc with a gun pointed to a teenage girl who seems confused and her hands up above her head.

Then there was Arthur with one of his men.

"Arthur Harrow."

"Khonshu, Marc."

The whole thing was awkward, everything about this was confusing, they had history but Katalina wasn't sure how.

"Me, now what in the fucking hell is going on?!"

She exclaimed as she put her hands down in exhaustion and honestly tired of people in a whole.

"I strongly urge you to point the gun away from the child, Marc."

Harrow said as he stepped closer which in turn got two guns pointed towards him instead.

He slowly put his hands.

" Keep that gun at me, not her."

He says as he looked at her and she looked at him with clear annoyance in her eyes.

Marc looks at her one more times before looking at Khonshu.

"So this is who that maggot went to trade our supplies for! The Che Guevara of Cairo."

Khonshu retorted as he stepped forward, now next to Katalina and Marc who watched the interaction.

"How I haven't misses that voice. Let just say that he didn't like the response he got from us when we saw what he brought to us."

Harrow says as he winced and put a hand to his side, Katalina finally could see that small drops of blood that had fallen from him.

"Oh, shit."

Her voice softer and eyes filled with concern as she took in the injured man, her eyebrow furrowed as she was about to get up.

Harrow looked at what she was about to do and shook his head which made her falter.

"On another note though."

She speaks up on which attention is all on her again.

"I agree with the old man over here, FEDRA would have heard all that gun fire so maybe get this going or we are all going to die like this."

She states as she stands up and rubs her shoulder, it wouldn't really bruise but it would be sore for a while.

"Old!" Khonshu exclaimed.

"The child is right. We we're gonna have her out of here tonight."

Harrow says which caught her attention.

"You never said anything about moving me?!"

"Sorry kid, thought you'd run."

She sighs and rubbed circles on her forehead.

"What does this have to do with us?"

Marc asked as he ans Khonshu looked at the girl and then back at Harrow.

"We don't have a group to go and protect her like we had planned, so now I am think you both are gonna do it."

Harrow says as he gets a paper out, it's bloody but still legible.

"Wait a minute!?"

"I'm not gonna go with him!?"

Marc and Katalina shouted at the same time, their reluctants overlapping with each other.

"Listen, if you do this we can not only give you weapons, but also much more. We can show you if want but you have to take her away from here."

Harrow says as he stares at the three who just stand there in shock.

"We aren't babysitters parasites."

Khonshu said as he took a step closer now infront of Marc who is still standing there with a gun held up towards Harrow.

"Not asking you to do charity for me Khonshu, I need you guys to move cargo cause that is what she is to you."

Harrow said as he looked at the girl who eyebrows were furrowed.

"You show me the reward we get for this then I will give you a response. Marc, take the girl back to your apartment and keep her there until I return."

Khonshu said as he lifted his cane and hit it on the ground causing the ground to shake slightly.

Katalina flinched at the noise for a second and so did Marc.

"We are seriously considering this."

Marc whispered to Khonshu as he looked back at the girl who hasn't really moved since getting up.

"Do this before I make you."

Khonshu hissed back at him which made Marc falter.

"Go grab your bag."

Harrow said as the girl just looks at the three men.

"Su pinche madre."

She grumbles under her breathe making sure they still heard her as she goes back into the room she came out of.

They waited until she came out the room again. She comes out with a green jacket and her backpack, she looks at Harrow who just sighs.

"This is for your good kid, trust me. It's better you go with them than with me, for better or worse I am aware of what they are capable of and know they won't let anything happen to you."

Katalina stared at Harrow for a while then at the man next to him, she really has no choice in that matter anyways, it was all planned for her.

"What are they capable of?"

She ask as her eyes stay at him.

"Alot, many things someone your age shouldn't see."

Is all Harrow says to her.

Her gaze goes to the floor before she shakes her head along with a dry chuckle.

"Little too late for that."

She turns around and grabs her switchblade and walking towards the stairs walking over the dead bodies that laid there.

The blood now on her shoes as she see the bloody footsteps that were being left behind now.

Harrow sighs.

"Show me the weapons now."

Khonshu said as he stared at Harrow who nods before walking to another hallway.

"Follow me."

Is all he says before he dissappear.

"Make sure to not let that child out your sights you three, understand."

Khonshu orders as he walks away and follows Harrow.

The men sigh, it was a long night already.

The followed where the girl had went as their shoes were now painted in red sticky blood.

This is the end of chapter 2!!!!

This one took a little longer but I am happy with how is came out!

Anyways, see ya in the next one!!

-Sky 💜

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.

Hey

.....

So, the story might come out soon, I know I had the idea for a while about the whole entire Moonknight TLOU AU and guess what...

It's almost done, at least the first chapter. Still got something to figure out but I promise I might release it tomorrow or in like 2 days so, watch out for that!!!

Happy Holidays to all of you, along with thinking of the people in Palestine and hope that they have another day of life, especially today and the rest of this year and the years after.

-Sky ❤️🇵🇸

Okay, so. I decided that I am gonna write the idea I was thinking about doing.

One problem, I have no idea who is gonna be Marlene and who is gonna be Him!!!

Like, I got everyone else figured out except for those two, like how would I go and do it.

If you have any suggestions I will take it, it might make this process go just a bit faster and easier to write if I have who will be who!!

Thanks!

-Sky

Drawings & Doodles

I relate to Steven Grant, because I too, am a coping mechanism for a mentally ill forty year old man

uhhhh what if like. the moon haunted you. or something

WERE SOOOOOOOOOO BACK

Moon Knight boys, but it’s how they see themselves in headspace

Tumblr, please don’t take this down for man tiddies 🙏🙏🙏🙏

Also, new banner alert ‼️‼️‼️‼️

Ma’am, that is my emotional support traumatized man in his 40s

”Rise and live again. As my fist of vengeance. As my Moon Knight.”

Hello, Moon Knight Nation. How we feelin tonight?

so, in case you couldn’t tell, MK autism has taken ahold of me, and I’m about to make it everyone’s problem.

Bonus 👇

My baby girls (Jake Lockley fan art coming soon, probably)

How would the OI characters react if the reader accidentally called them "husband" and was embarrassed after she realized her mistake?

This is so cute, oh my gosh! <3 Thank you so much for sending it!

OI Characters Called 'Husband' By Accident Headcanons

Steven: Absolutely giddy with joy! Yes, he is your husband. 100% heart eyes from him, he’ll grab your hand and squeeze it and smile. If you’re around other people he will call you ‘his wife’ straight away playfully and give you a sweet kiss on your cheek. 

Marc: Bless this man, he freezes. Error screen across his eyes and frantically inwardly asking Steven and Jake if they got married before he realises he’s being silly.

Jake: Without missing a beat, will ask, “Where is my ring?” And then will tease you about it playfully for ages until you're laughing.

Nathan: This idiot doesn’t even notice. You think, at first, it’s because he’s not paying attention. But when he sees you’re embarrassed he’s like, “why? What wrong? Why’s that bothering you? I basically am?”

Anselm: It doesn’t matter where you are because Anselm’s going down on you there and then.

Cecil: If he’s high it takes him a good fifteen minutes to register what you said. 

Club!Blue: He’s (unsurprisingly) a little shit about it. “Oh, you like me that much do you? You want to marry me?” Will smugly tell everyone. “They want to marry me.” 

Orderly!Blue: He’s going to tease you until you cry, I’m so sorry. (He’s then going to fuck your brains out).

Jack: Do NOT say this unless you want to end up tied up in his trailer.

Santiago: Will joke with you about it, “Oh, calling me that because I nag you too much, huh?” Is secretly very pleased, but doesn’t want you to feel embarrassed. 

Shimmer!Kane: Doesn’t quite get the implication, but he doesn’t like seeing you upset/embarrassed. Will give you a hug.

King John: Similar to Club!Blue, he’s going to be telling everyone and preening about it.

Rydal: Surprisingly gets all shy and blushes. 

Laurent: He’s already got the ring in his back pocket.

Poe: Giggles about it in a very ‘oh my gosh, hee hee hee, do you like me?’ way, even if you have been together for years.

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

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Thank you for reading!

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If I had a nickel for every time I seen a emotionally unwell man with a pet fish I would two.. it’s not a lot but it weird that it happened twice

:)

The Blood Red Moon

(Moon Knightober 13th) 

Those nights when the moon was blood red, were the nights where Marc felt more angry, more violent. Those nights he got a lot more done, Khonshu loved those nights... Marc’s suit gets covered with blood, and all he has to do to rid of it, is transform out of suit, and when he summons the suit again it will be pure white. Marc is fully aware of this, but he doesn’t do it, he can’t for he truly believes, he deserves to see all that blood. To see what he has done, what a “monster” he was becoming. Marc wishes more the blood red moon nights to be over, that relentless angry to go away, but those nights seem to last forever.

(This was my first time doing something and writing something like this, so bare with me)(This short text was inspired by one my previous post, about if/what would happen if the moon colors affect Moon Knight)

Bonus: Blue moons made Marc feel such overwhelming sadness, even unexpected grief with hints of angoy. Those nights were the hardest to keep Steven from surfacing,. He can’t let Steven be dragged into this mess, how could he. Steven deserves a happy life, not him...it the least he could do for Steven, right?

If the phases of moon affects Moon Knight’s strength, would the colors of the moon also affect them?

I don’t this been shown or discuss in the comics or the show, but I would to like to think the colors of the moon would affect their emotions!

Like a bloody moon would make them more angry or violent, a blue moon would make them more calm or sad, and a white/gray moon would not affect their emotions! Just to name a few ideas!

Bonus: Would they get stronger during a lunar eclipse, or would something else happen?

thinking about jake being all so tough but yells "EL GATOOO" in high pitch everytime he sees a cat/kitten on the streets