Chapter 27: Never Giving In

What had made Lucy so nervous was the wall to the right of the car. At first Erza hadn't given the symbol a second thought until something clicked in her mind.

"Stop the car!" She shouted out of the blue and Gray slammed his foot down immediately, tires screeching.

"What the fuck, Erza? You could have killed us!" Gray shouted, clutching his sprinting heart. But nobody paid any heed to his words, much to his annoyance. Of course, that was until he saw what had caught their eyes.

"My god." He murmured at the scene, noticing Lucy lift the walky0talky to her lips again.

"S-sorry. Umm… scratch what I said. Tell Makarov to get everyone armed. I think Phantom Lord is coming our way."

In front of them stood a wall, covered in spray paint in the form of a notorious symbol: the Phantom Lord symbol.

"Impossible," Erza whispered.

"Apparently not," another voice said behind them. It was Natsu, who had stopped the car upon seeing Gray's panicked brake slam.

"No fucking way, sherlock," Gajeel joined.

"And yet I didn't ask for your opinion… Watson." Natsu snapped.

"Guys. Please. Now's not the time," Wendy said, her face showing her fear. She still remembered the last time they attacked and her worst fear had come true. Natsu had been seriously injured and the only one who had anything close to the severity of his wounds was Erza, who had also given the fight her all.

But there had also been many other injuries that had filled up too many rooms with wounded people. And the people who had died… It was traumatic for everyone.

"We need to hurry," Lucy said softly. "Let's go."

Laxus was the first to greet the returning party of now 4 people, desperate to see the whole dilemma through.

"Thank god. I take it you guys found Loke?" He asked, but something was off.

Gildarts pushed past Loke, his face contorted in worry.

"I need to speak with Makarov. Now." He commanded, and Laxus feared the worst.

"What's wrong?"

"...nothing. I just need to speak to your grandfather right now so please take me to him."

Laxus looked to Jellal and Cana for answers, but neither met his eyes. As much as he wanted to refuse to lead them to his grandpa, it was obviously a serious matter.

"Just tell me as soon as possible." Laxus growled. "He's in Natsu's old room."

"Huh? His old room?"

"The one he used to share with Gray."

"Oh yeah. Of course," Gildarts said quickly. He forgot that Natsu spent so much time in Lucy's room that he practically lived there.

Cana and Jellal brought Loke to the infirmary and slapped on a pair of handcuffs.

"Just a precaution," Jellal said only for Loke to reply with, "Kinky."

Meanwhile, Makarov was startled when his door slammed open to reveal a disgruntled looking Gildarts. His hair was a mess and his clothes were more tattered than usual, not to mention that the look on his face was the very rare look of panic that Makarov had the privilege of witnessing.

"I suppose that you're not here with good news, huh?" Makarov said, gesturing to one of the beds as an invitation for Gildarts to sit.

"Is it ever?" Gildarts asked, refusing the offer. Makarov admitted Gildarts had a point. Bad news and Zombie apocalypse went hand in hand.

"It's about Lucy's team. They were successful in collecting all the keys-"

"That fast?" Makarov accidentally blurted out, a very unusual blunder for the man.

"Well, Loke had his on him."

"Very well. Sorry for interrupting. Please continue."

"We gave them a call on the radio and caught them on their way back. Things were all great and shit until they came across a sign."

"...sign?" Makarov questioned.

"Makarov. It was the Phantom Lord logo." Gildarts said, desperation apparent in his voice.

Makarov dropped the object he was holding in shock.

"Come again?"

"Phantom Lord left a message. They're coming." Gildarts cried. "We need to alert everyone and reinforce the walls."

Makarov took a deep, but shaky breath. This was bad. They still needed to get the cure, find a way to reproduce it and then spread it around Fiore.

"And the cure? Are we just going to wait?"

"Lucy said that she could manage with a small team to retrieve the cure. But the problem is that the cure… it's not very close and we need everyone if we can even hope of winning."

Makarov knew that he didn't have a choice. "Lucy needs to go. If she gets the cure, then we have essentially won."

"Okay."

"Use the loud speakers. Announce a Code 7 and make sure everyone is armed and ready. How many of us are there right now?"

"About 117. Most likely around 110 without Lucy's team."

"..."

The silence said it all. 110 was definitely not enough to fight back against the Phantom Lord, given how dirty they fought. Especially since Lucy was likely to take a good number of their best fighters.

"Go." Makarov ordered when Gildarts hesitated.

"Shouldn't you or Lucy be the one doing this?" He asked. "If they hear Phantom Lord is attacking from me, I can assure you that there will be some who refuse to fight and we need them. But coming from you or Lucy, the one who has offered the most hope for the base, I'm sure it will inspire them."

Makarov felt like sighing was too much of an understatement, but it was the only thing he could do in the predicament.

"I'll have Lucy and Natsu do it. Somehow, they both have a way with words." He admitted, but left out the part where he felt inadequate to lead his base.

But Gidlarts saw right through him.

"You know… out of all the people here, it was you who was ready to open your arms to outsiders. You saved so many lives that in a way, every single person here is indebted to you. And trust me when I say that I speak for all when saying that there's no other person better fit to lead us. Where you go, we all follow." Gildarts said, extending a hand.

Makarov looked up, his eyes tearing up. "Thank you," He whispered.

{tImE SkIp don't friggin' forget hoe]

Only those in Makarov's close circle knew that something was seriously wrong while the rest of the base went about their day. Some were visiting the Cafeteria to see if they could score a snack while others were doing their chores, like laundry and dusting. THe truth was, they had no idea what was happening until a familiar voice appeared on the loudspeakers.

"OI! Is it working Ice Dick?"

Many laughed, memories resurfacing of Natsu and Gray arguing over the loudspeakers and pranking people. No one thought much of it. It just a harmless prank, right?

Some people heard the faint scolding from Gray, breaking the news that he was live.

"Oh. Sorry about that guys. Well, hey. Right now is probably a good time to stop everything that your doing and listen carefully. I'm about to tell you some shit news.

"If you remember back, the last time something to this degree was announced, was about a year and a half ago when we were under attack from Phantom Lord. Out of everything, somehow we ended up losing more people in a battle between humans than when fighting the zombies. The truth was that they were despicable people who only sought the end of society.

"How do I know this? Well… we have significant evidence that makes those bastards responsible for the Zombie outbreak. In fact, they developed the disease and spread it in an attempt to destroy all competition."

People gasped at the news. Most couldn't believe that it was a human who ended the world. And the world… the innocent people who couldn't protect themselves… they were just collateral damage in the big picture. Many felt like throwing up. Why were they being told this?

"And while we won, it was very marginal. But we still won. Unfortunately, their leader got away, and we have recently confirmed that they are planning another attack on us. Why? Why are we being targeted so much? Well, we have located a cure and are very close to getting it. So they have decided to attack us before we can."

There was panicking around the base. They were under attack from something worse than zombies…

"Please. Just stay with me for a couple of minutes. I remember that when this whole thing began, I started without a father because he had gone missing before the outbreak. And honestly, I'm glad he got to miss this, but I struggled to keep my family alive. I was lucky that I succeeded.

"My point is that we have all lost people who meant the world to us and we will continue to fall in numbers the longer the zombies walk free outside. I beg of you… please… help me win this fight. Help me protect my family and I'll help you protect yours.

"For Fairy Tail, I fight."

People were tearing up at hearing the pure sadness, regret and determination in their voice. His words… they were simple, but they sparked a flame in everyone's soul. They could do this. They could protect their family. They could see this to the end.

And then Gray took over, announcing their current status: Code 7.

It was time to finish this for once and for all.

So school is tough. I could barely write this one. I think it's because I used to write during my bio class. But my Chem teacher is really observant, so I can't write in his class.