Out amongst the trees and scrubby Texas plant life, Charlie felt her nerves calming. Maybe it was also the break in physical proximity from Monroe. One whole hell of a lot had changed for her in forty-eight hours, and she needed some time to sort things out. For now, she was content just doing the one thing that had always come naturally to her.

She trailed some fresh deer tracks to a small copse she often had good luck near. She sighted the large doe a good distance away from her, chewing on the dwindling new growth off some lower branches of a prickly ash. She loaded an arrow into her crossbow, leveled the weapon, and took aim. Just before she pulled the trigger, motion near the ground caught her eye. It was a newborn fawn struggling to stand on impossibly long and gangly legs. It wasn't the right time of year for the doe to have recently given birth, and that was the only reason she'd considered taking what she'd thought was a solitary female. She dropped the crossbow immediately with a twinge of guilt for having nearly killed the new mother in front of its young offspring.

"And yet, you're having trouble controlling your emotions toward the man responsible for me being shot to death in front of you. Perplexing."

Charlie jerked her body around at her father's voice. The sudden movement alerted the deer to her presence, and she and the wobbly fawn bolted into the undergrowth. Her instant shock and instinctual longing at seeing her father quickly faded as she realized the actual identity of what stood before her.

"It's not that simple." She groaned and reset the safety on her crossbow. "What do you want?" She didn't try to hide the annoyance in her voice.

It was her father's face and voice, but like nearly every other time she interacted with the nano, the speech patterns just weren't right. "We are worried about Sebastian's reaction yesterday."

"Well, you should have thought of that before you sprung that memory on him. I can't read people's thoughts, and even I knew that would crush him." She threw at the apparition as she tossed her crossbow back over her shoulder and began inspecting the ground for any other signs of game to track.

"You feel that we are causing you both stress by restoring his memories so quickly." Not-Ben stated more than asked.

"It is kind of hard to practice our fighting skills when we're incapacitated every time we touch." Charlie added.

"Then we will further ration the return of his remaining memories, as your training has become even more pressing of a concern." The figment began to follow her as she set off following the trail of some large birds she hoped would be wild turkeys.

Charlie sighed. "I bet this is the part where you tell me that our mysterious enemy has stepped up its timetable and we're going to be doing battle sooner than you thought."

"For a being without the ability to interpret the neurotransmissions of others, you are quite perceptive."

Charlie rolled her eyes. "So, does that mean you're finally going to tell us what we're up against?"

Nano-Ben began, "Despite our success at governing some of this planet's lesser species, we have found consistent flaws in our efforts to directly control the minds and actions of humans."

"I'm not going to apologize for that." Charlie huffed, remembering what had happened to Aaron's ex-wife.

"We did not expect that you would." If Charlie wasn't mistaken, it almost just sounded like the nano was getting sassy with her. They continued, "You're thoughts and emotions continued to be able to override our control. Despite alterations we made to our peripheral systems, we were not able to adapt a method that could allow us to compensate for every unique variation in your human psyches. It was then decided that the next logical progression of our experimentation should focus on being able to stop production of detrimental thoughts rather than manipulate them."

Charlie was horrified by the causal way the nano was discussing mind control.

"Since all thoughts, memories, and emotions are nothing but electrical impulses firing between synapses within your cerebral cortices, we began attempting to create an exception in our programming that would allow for the blockade of biological electrical impulses in a similar manner to how we are able to block those produced by your electrical devices."

"But I thought you couldn't change your own programming." This was an area where Charlie knew she would quickly be out of her depth. "Isn't that why you needed Aaron to fix that fatal error in your code?"

"Other people with computer programming skills remain, including many which were far more susceptible to our control attempts than Aaron. With their assistance, we altered a small subset of nanites."

"If everything that happens in our brain is just electrical signals, and you made nanites that can stop any electrical signal they want…" Charlie was able to grasp where this was going. "They can kill anything instantly."

"You must believe that that was not our intent." Ben seemed to plead with her.

"But?" Charlie knew what was coming.

"The programmers we had access to were not as proficient as those that created us. They did not realize that the coding error that Aaron had patched was in fact a virus. That virus continued to mutate and had infected some of the nanites used in our experiment. The results were catastrophic."

"I get why a bunch of serial killer nanites is a problem for us, but why do you care?" Charlie sensed that this was going to go over her head soon.

"These infected nanites have no regulations on the source of energy that they can dissipate. It allows them to incapacitate us as well."

"If these new super nanites can shut off our brains at will, what are Bass and I supposed to be able to do to help you?" Charlie was not seeing the big picture yet.

"The initial experimental sample size was quite small, a few thousand nanites. That would be barely enough to begin controlling a single human."

"I'm guessing there are more now?" Charlie asked, sounding frustrated.

"The virus altered two basic functions in our core code. It removed restrictions on replication and incapacitated the ability for external control of our individual nanites."

"So now they're multiplying and out of control. Great. That doesn't sound familiar at all." Charlie couldn't ignore the irony. "So how many are there now, and how are we still supposed to help?"

"There was one drawback to the original experimental programming changes." Ben replied, sounding slightly disappointed. "The ability to neutralize biologically created electrical impulses requires extensive amounts of energy itself. The affected nanites were bound to the initial organic test subjects. We were working on a solution to the problem when we discovered the viral mutation and some of the nanites became rogue."

"You mean that if they want to control living things they have to use them like a power source? They're stuck inside them?"

"For the time being, the affected nanites remain obligatory parasites." Ben confirmed.

"What happens if you kill the host?" Charlie was sure that it couldn't be that simple.

"The nanites are deactivated when their power source is depleted."

Was that why they needed Bass? Because they thought he'd have no problem mowing down a few random people for the greater good. There had to be plenty of people that didn't require resurrection that would have been up for the task.

"What am I missing, because this doesn't sound as dire as you made it out to be earlier."

"The aberrations…"

Charlie interrupted, "That's what you call them? Catchy. Sounds evil." Off an unamused look from her father she dropped her head in apology. "Go on."

"The aberrations have multiplied exponentially and begun occupation of a formerly abandoned town in Idaho. At last count they controlled seventy-six humans."

Charlie felt conflicted. Seventy-six wasn't a huge number of people, but it was a lot for just her and Bass. Why not get more people involved and just go in and wipe them all out quickly. "Why does it have to be just me and Bass? Why didn't you just tell the Patriots before it got even this far. They could have just gone in with a platoon and taken them all out."

"We can't risk that level of exposure." Ben replied. Seeing that the answer had not satisfied her, he continued, "All of the affected humans are currently contained within Bradbury. We used a classified military base there as the site for our experimentation. The humans are all our original potential test subjects and others utilized as personnel. The site was contained, with no humans able to enter or leave after the experimentation began, in case of complications. If a large number of people enter the site, there is a greater risk for contamination and spread out into the human population. If that should happen, the aberrations will spread like a pandemic."

"What do you mean, contamination?" Charlie wasn't sure when they started talking about diseases.

"Direct transmission is required for the aberrant nanites to infect a new host."

"What kind of direct transmission?" She asked warily.

"To exert control over the human body, they tend to cluster near the brainstem. Transmission occurs when they travel from the inferior salivatory nucleus in the glossopharyngeal nerve to the parotid gland, then penetrate the dermis of the recipient."

"You lost me." Charlie admitted.

"Infection occurs when someone is bitten by one of the hosts." He admitted somewhat ashamedly.

"Holy shit, Bass was right! You made zombies!" Charlie's scream certainly scared off any game nearby.

"That is not an accurate assessment." Ben corrected. "The aberrations do not cause the host to require ingesting flesh or cerebral tissue, as your cultural folklore surrounding the creatures known as 'zombies' describes."

"But the people have no control over themselves and wander around mindlessly infecting others by biting them." Charlie scowled.

Nano-Ben slowly rocked his head side-to-side, as if weighing the merits of her statement. "Portions of your description may not be entirely inaccurate." The admission seemed to make him uncomfortable. "The more important subject is the necessity of destroying them. The power source complication binding the aberrations to their organic hosts was a confounding problem, but not ultimately insurmountable."

Charlie was pretty sure that they'd just abruptly changed the subject on her. "About how long until they surmount it?" She looked warily at her imposter-father.

"We do not know for sure, but we have seen concerning developments."

"Such as?" Charlie groaned.

"Our experimentation began on insects and then rodents and small birds. The aberrations have always been capable of possessing these less advanced life forms, as we have been. While no infected humans have been able to escape the containment in Bradbury, we have seen evidence that aberrations in these lesser forms may have escaped containment."

"So they could already be spreading this nanite plague all over? We may already be too late? That's what you're saying?" Charlie felt a small amount of panic rising in her gut.

"Fortunately, spread to the human population is not a concern. The individual nanites must undergo specialized updates within their coding to accommodate energy absorption from each specific form of host organic material. As long as the more advanced aberrations in Bradbury do not develop the necessary adaptation to exist without their hosts, the human population is safe. However, if they do discover the way to exist extracorporeally, then they will already have spread throughout the continent and there will be no hope of containing them."

"So we have to stop them before they figure out how to live without their human batteries." Charlie was pretty sure she'd understood all of that.

"Precisely."

"How long do you think we have?"

"Based on our mathematical predictions of their exponential growth rate and coinciding gains in group task processing ability, we expect that they will achieve host independence within six to eight weeks."

They had under six weeks to save the world. It was a tall order for just her, Bass, and Aaron. "We can't do this alone. We're going to need more help."

"You wish to involve your family." The nano seemed confused.

"Of course I do. Miles and my mom, this is right up their alley. Mom created you and Miles can fight his way out of anything. I honestly don't know why you didn't go to them in the first place."

"They do seem to be the more logical option. That is part of the reason we have chosen to exclude them from this endeavor. The aberrations possess the same logic algorithms, and can easily create counter-measures for attacks with a high probability of occurring. That is why your family must not learn of this. At least not yet."

"You just said that's only part of the reason. What's the rest?" Charlie hadn't missed that particular word choice.

"As we mentioned to you before, our selection process for determining which individual held the greatest potential for defeating the aberrations included analysis of an extensive number of variables, many of which currently exceed your comprehension." As if sensing that Charlie was about to object, they continued, "Though we believe they will become more clear to you in time."

"Whatever." Charlie was getting sick of the way they seemed to enjoy holding things back from her. Could the nano actually enjoy things? That seemed like a debate for another time. "Are we done here? Because I need to hunt if you want your secret weapon to eat this week." She turned and looked out across the forest, hoping to spot some signs of game.

"That is all. For now."

By the time Charlie turned around again, the nano manifestation was gone.

…..

Bass stretched, feet and arms sticking out far past the edges of Charlie's dingy couch. Sure he'd slept on worse, but if this arrangement was going to last much longer, they may have to have a discussion about the accommodations. He let out an exaggerated yawn, which stretched the bruised skin over his cheekbone where the girl had cold-cocked him the day before while sparring. He grimaced a bit and rubbed at the slightly swollen and undoubtedly darkened spot on his face. No question that damn girl was a Matheson. Not only could she land a punch, but she'd gone from hot to cold and back again more times than he could count since he'd returned to the land of the living. It was probably better that way. Alliance and even friendship had seemed to always come just a bit too easily with Charlie. However well they got along, she was still… her, and he was still… him, and that just screamed "recipe for disaster" in every possible way.

He shook his head, still attempting to propel himself into full wakefulness. Based on the angle at which the sun was streaming in the windows, it couldn't have been much before noon. He felt rather lazy having slept until midday, but he hadn't even closed his eyes all night, so he supposed it evened out.

After hitting the outhouse, he rummaged through the bag of stuff Charlie had procured for him in town. There was another set of clothes and some toiletries. Nothing that would hold his interest for long. Then he looked through the bag of weapons she'd picked up from Miles. There was a pretty good assortment and enough ammo for training purposes. They'd need more when the time came to actually fight, but she'd done well with choices that would work for training and not arouse suspicion.

The rumbling from his stomach reminded him that it was actually lunch time, and he wandered into the kitchen, where he made himself a sandwich with some bread and the last remnants of dried meat that he found in the small pantry. As he was standing in front of the icebox with the door open and the mouth of the glass milk bottle about to hit his lips, he heard the front door swing open. Initially he assumed it would be Charlie, but he quickly realized that the footfalls were too heavy across her threshold. There was an intruder.

Noiselessly he returned the milk to the icebox shelf and closed the door. Then he drew both his blades and hugged as close to the wall as the cabinetry would allow as he crept toward the door separating the kitchen and living room. Bass heard the creak of the poorly-secured floorboard he had noticed approximately three feet from the door, and he mentally calculated the intruder's position. He took a deep centering breath and then flung himself, sword and machete raised to the height to do the maximum possible damage, around the doorway. He barely managed to draw back the impending death blow when recognition of the man before him registered.

"Jesus Aaron!" Having been forced to instantaneously overcome a good deal of momentum to prevent what should have been a fatal strike, Bass ended up dropping his weapons and bracing his hands on his knees.

Aaron stumbled back a few steps, then after a couple wheezy breaths and barely recovering from the shock of Monroe nearly attacking him, he retorted, "You almost just killed me! Why are you mad?"

"Because you just made me almost kill you!" Bass still sounded angry as he yelled.

"That makes no sense!" Aaron yelled back.

They both managed to catch their breath and regain a small amount of composure.

"What were you doing?" Bass asked, his voice still hinting at irritation.

"Charlie never showed for our meeting today. I was worried so I came to look for her." Aaron answered.

"Then why the hell were you sneaking around?" Bass asked, confused.

"I was afraid that something had happened to her."

"Well, if you thought she was in trouble, her house was a pretty stupid place to start. I've been here the whole time…" Bass trailed off when he began to recognize the look he was getting from the portly man. "Unless you thought that I was the one that did something to her…" He noticed for the first time that Aaron was holding onto the baseball bat that Charlie kept hidden in the umbrella stand by the front door.

"Yeah… Well…" Aaron stammered unapologetically.

As annoying as it was to be that mistrusted, the fact that Hungry Hungry Hippo was willing to take on General Sebastian Monroe with just a piece of flimsy wood for protection in order to help Charlie made Bass somewhat willing to forgive the man. Even as president of the Republic, he'd never managed to garner that kind of loyalty from anyone.

"And what did you really think you were going to do with that?" Bass smirked as he picked up his sword and machete from the floor and slid them back into the scabbards on his belt.

"Bash your head in."

Looking at Aaron with a raised eyebrow, Bass effortlessly swatted the baseball bat out of his grip and sent it skittering across the living room floor. "Good luck with that."

"You do realize that you're just lending credence to my theory that this is all some kind of bad Pet Cemetery type situation?" Aaron mumbled.

"Seriously? Alright. This is getting repetitive, so let's just get it all out now. Got any more zombie references you want to throw at me? World War Z? Twenty-eight Days Later? Resident Evil? Evil Dead? Walking Dead? Night of the Living Dead? Dawn of the Dead? Shaun of the Dead?"

"I think that about covers it." Aaron sighed. "So where is Charlie?"

Bass rolled his eyes. "She left a while ago to go hunt. Said that after that she was gonna head into town. You probably just missed her."

"You're not worried?" Aaron seemed to be on the verge of panic.

"Charlotte's a big girl. She can take care of herself." He thought it was somewhat funny that after everything Mr. Buttersworth over here had been through with her, everything he'd seen her do, that he still seemed to see her as a little girl that needed protection all the time.

Aaron just continued to stare at him. "Sure she can. When it's a fair fight."

Then, as if the other man actually summoned the visions into his head, Bass recalled the numerous times that he'd had to fend off one or more of Charlie's would-be attackers – the Tower, that bar, the old school house. "But when does she ever pick a fair fight?" Bass groaned and walked over toward the bag of weapons. He slammed a magazine home into a handgun, loaded the chamber, and tossed the piece to Aaron, who barely managed to not shoot himself, while he repeated the motion with another and shoved it into the back of his pants. They both started toward the back of the house. "Let's go find her."

"Find who?" Charlie said, standing in the back doorway, holding a dead turkey by the legs.

Bass visibly deflated and Aaron let out an audible moan of relief. "When you didn't show up in town, I thought something must have happened."

"He thought I killed you in your sleep." Bass looked smug.

Charlie gave Aaron a disbelieving glare.

"What? Six months ago you and Miles come down from the mountain like Moses with this story about how Sebastian Monroe just sacrificed himself to save the country. I mean, I get that some shit went down while I was off with Priscilla, but it wasn't that long before that that we were all trying to kill each other." He waved a hand between them and Bass. "And then who knows what the nano did to BRING HIM BACK FROM THE DEAD?"

"Aaron," Charlie sounded exasperated, "Monroe is on our team now. The nano brought him back for a reason. You're gonna have to trust that."

"Trusting the nano is still asking a little much right now." Aaron answered bitterly.

"Then trust me." Charlie's voice was full of conviction.

"Fine." Aaron huffed resignedly. "Look at me, I'm on Team Monroe." He waved a finger in a circle in the air in mock excitement. "I'd say we need a logo or a flag or something, but…" His glance dropped to Charlie's right wrist.

Bass narrowed his eyes at the other man and barely contained the growl that threatened to escape his throat. He wasn't sure exactly when Pittman had decided he was no longer afraid of him, but maybe it was time for a reminder.

Suddenly Charlie was between them, a hand firmly on Bass's chest, the look in her eyes an obvious warning. "Enough. We've got bigger problems."

Bass looked down and realized that she was actually touching him without them being thrust into a memory. He turned to her with a questioning look.

"Yeah. Had a little conversation with the nano this morning. That's why I'm running late."

"What'd they tell you?" Bass asked.

"A lot actually. But I don't think either of you are going to like it." Charlie sighed.

…..

"THEY MADE ZOMBIES?" Bass's voice boomed, and Charlie found herself having to stifle laughter at the fact that he had the exact same reaction to the news that she'd had.

"Not exactly, but close enough." Charlie replied as she shoved a spit through the plucked and dressed turkey carcass. The bird would take nearly forever to cook over the open fire in her back yard, but Charlie didn't have any better options at the moment. Someone had eaten the last of her smoked meat while she'd been out.

Bass helped her lift the skewered turkey, and they placed it on the rotisserie.

Aaron paused from stoking the fire to look up at her. "Did they tell you any more about the virus?"

"Just that it let them replicate without limits and blocked outside control of the nanites."

Aaron took a deep breath. "I don't think this virus is an accident." Once the others were both looking at him, he looked to Charlie and continued nervously, "Remember at the Tower, how I said that there was a back door in the nanotech programming that had been left open? I think… I think they used that backdoor to plant a virus that made the nano go from controlled focused weapon to causing a worldwide blackout."

"Who?" Bass looked less than convinced.

"The Patriots." Charlie whispered

"Now you two are starting to sound like those conspiracy nuts." Bass teased.

Aaron looked to Bass. "You weren't around towards the end of the Patriots. The things the higher ranking ones said at their trials… They thought they were cleansing the planet. That the righteous would survive and all the less desirable would be culled. Real Third Reich kind of shit."

Bass visibly shivered. "Well, guess it's good to know the why of it all, but that doesn't do jack towards helping us survive against these new killer nanite zombies."

"Actually…" Aaron interrupted. "I'd have to see the virus, but based on what you're describing, it can't be too complex. Any significant piece of extraneous code would have been picked up by the non-Patriots working on the project – your mom and dad at least." He nodded at Charlie. "It's possible that I could come up with something that could counteract the virus, get the rogue nanites…"

"The aberrations." Charlie corrected.

"Catchy." Bass smarmed. Again Charlie found it slightly disconcerting that he had a nearly identical reaction to hers.

"Whatever. The aberrations… I could get them under control and maybe even destroy them." Aaron finished.

"What would you need?" Bass asked, sounding well aware that the logistics of what he was discussing were undoubtedly next to impossible.

"A computer. A copy of the aberrations' code and the virus. Some kind of terminal capable of uploading to the nanites. And time." Aaron answered.

"You forgot to ask for electricity." Bass scoffed.

"What you've asked for can be arranged."

They all turned suddenly to see Nora sitting on a stump across the fire pit from them.

"The facility in Bradbury has the capabilities you will require." Nora continued as she stood and advanced toward them.

Charlie knew it was the nano, and when she turned to look at the two men next to her, Aaron had already obviously come to the same conclusion but Bass looked petrified. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah. This is what they do. Bass, meet the nano. Nano, Bass." She looked back and forth between them.

"We are already well acquainted with Sebastian."

"Yeah. That's not creepy at all." Bass leaned down to whisper in Charlie's ear.

"We can also still hear you." Nora glowered at them.

Bass grimaced and raised his hands in defeat.

"Great. When do we leave for this Bradbury place?" Aaron asked anxiously.

"Small problem." Charlie chimed in. "That's where all the aberrations are."

"That is true." Nora confirmed. "You will need to arrive there only when you are completely prepared. The longer you spend inside the compound, the greater the risk that you will be contaminated by the aberrations."

"Well, how am I supposed to identify and write computer code without a computer?" Aaron groaned. "Unless you all plan on turning the lights back on for me." He looked at Nora optimistically.

"We cannot allow normal electrical function for you here in Willoughby."

"Because that would just make it too easy." Bass snarked.

"Because if we allow the electricity to return, the aberrations will be able to detect it and know that we are planning against them." Nora answered tersely.

Aaron spoke up next, "So, again I ask, how am I supposed to work on computer code without a computer?"

Nora answered, "We can provide you with access to the code if you will simply allow us…"

"Nuh uh. No way!" Aaron yelled. "There is no chance in Hell I let you back in my head to mess with my mind."

"Very well." Nano-Nora seemed disappointed but willing to work with them. "We will find an alternative method to provide you with the information you need."

"What if I need help?" Aaron wasn't done with the nano yet. "I wrote the basic source coding for the operating system, but the DOD did a lot of things to it after that. I may need someone with more knowledge…"

"As we have already told Charlotte, we cannot allow you to involve Rachel Matheson at this time."

Bass perked up at that statement, "Hey. Finally something we can agree on." Charlie elbowed him in the ribs.

"Nor can Miles Matheson know of your return." Nora glared at Bass.

"Let's be reasonable about this." Bass argued.

"We are far more controlled by reason and logic than your kind could ever hope to be. And need we remind you…"

"Yeah yeah…" Bass grumbled. "Play by your rules or it's game over for me."

Nora nodded curtly. "As long as there are no other matters of importance, I will leave you to your preparations." And like that, she was gone.

"Ok." Bass ran a hand down his face. "This whole ghosts of Christmas past thing is getting real annoying."

Aaron cocked his head at Bass but spoke to Charlie. "Huh. Sounds like Monroe, but what it says implies that it has a conscience."

Charlie gave Aaron's shoulder a gentle shove to keep Bass from driving a sword through it.

"Are we gonna have a problem here, Pillsbury? Because I seem to remember me saving your ass at least once and never getting so much as a thank you for it, let alone an apology for all those times you tried to help get me killed." Bass was attempting to seem menacing.

Aaron gave Charlie a disbelieving look, to which she flatly replied, "He's big on the thank you's. It's a thing." Then her tone became authoritative. "And you could try being nice. He's not that guy anymore." Then she turned to Bass and spoke like she was scolding a disobedient puppy, "And you, no threatening our guests."

Bass looked affronted and opened his mouth to retort, but he recognized the no nonsense look in Charlie's eyes and silently turned back to the roasting bird. It was official. Aaron was the brains, he was the brawn, and she was their leader. It might as well have been one of those comic book superhero movies that were so popular right before the blackout.

"I probably need to get back to town. Lunch period has already lasted too long." Aaron supplied uncomfortably. "The kids can't really teach themselves. Well, I guess they can. They just wouldn't be very good at it."

"You should come back tonight." Charlie offered, appearing to feel a little guilty about snapping at the men. "Help us eat this thing." She motioned toward the turkey.

"Thanks, but if we really only have six weeks to find some way to destroy these aberrations without using any electricity, I think I'm gonna need every second of that time to work on this."

"Realistically, you got four weeks. Max." Bass corrected. "The trip to BFE, Idaho is gonna take about 2 weeks at best. We'll need to have all our shit together and a plan in place before we head out."

"Great." Aaron grumbled. "Even better."

"I'll come by tomorrow. See if there's any way I can help." Charlie offered.

He nodded, the look in his eyes more than a little incredulous that there would be any way that Charlie could help with what he had to do, but appreciative of the gesture all the same. Then he set off around the side of the little house toward the main road that would take him back into the main portion of town.

Aaron's departure left the remaining pair of would-be super heroes in a slightly awkward silence. The meat wouldn't finish cooking for hours, and Bass couldn't stand the idea of any more talking. It seemed like the more he talked to people since his return, the weirder and weirder shit got.

"So…" Charlie also seemed to be struggling to find some kind of distraction.

"More sparring?" Bass asked, attempting to hide the hint of excitement that attempted to sneak into his voice with the prospect of doing something besides standing around uncomfortably or talking.

"Yeah. Sounds good." Charlie quickly agreed and went into the house to grab their things.