A/N: My punk ass has no excuse why this took so long to come out other than me being lazy. lol. I still haven't quite figured out how the progression is going to work, so it's going to take some thought. I don't want this story to run over TOO long, but I don't want it to skid to a sudden halt either.

"Any word from Crane?" Brecken asked, walking into Lena's office. His eyes gave this part of the med bay a once over, and almost every singe bed was filled. Most of them were infected people sitting at the fever stage. It would take a few days for them to turn, but those would be a tortorous few days.

They had no Antizin to help these people. Hell, they had no Antizin to cover themselves. And he and Spike had to take over the night runs since Crane wasn't available. He certainly was the best runner at the Tower for a reason. He could handle night runs like Brecken couldn't. He didn't need a team. He could do it all himself.

"No. Even with the radio towers active, over there, I can barely even talk to him. For the past few days, there's been nothing but static," Lena said, her tone betraying some of her worry. "I'm afraid something may have got to him."

"I would certainly hope not. Crane didn't go through the trouble of killing Rais only to die by some random cult. Because no zombie could've ever killed Crane. You said Crane mentioned something about this 'Mother?'" Brecken asked.

"Yes. From what I heard, she runs some group called the Faceless. Crane couldn't tell me much more than that given the frequency," Lena said. "You think they may have done something to him?"

"Like I said, no zombie couldn't have gotten to Crane. He's dealt with every species of infected this godforsaken world has had to offer. Either they got him, or he's taking a really long time," Brecken said.

"Neither is an option we can afford. These people are dying Brecken," Lena said.

"Yeah. And I don't know how Crane is surviving out there. We only gave him a few days worth of Antizin. It was all we could spare at the time," Brecken said, putting a hand on his forehead with his eyes closed. These past few days have not been stress free.

"Him finding something out there was the only hope we had of finding a cure. If he doesn't come back in time... we're going to have to dig a lot of graves," Lena said solemnly.

"Has Dr. Camden found anything?" Brecken asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Not yet. He says the samples he has hold promise, but it is taking forever to find anything that could possibly help with resistance or flat out immunity to the virus," Lena said.

"We don't have forever. We need a miracle, otherwise these people are going to die," Brecken said, turning as he heard movement behind him.

"Brecken, one of the scouts saw something come out of the tunnels towards the east," one of the Tower soldiers said.

"That's the entrance where Crane was. You sure it was him?" Brecken asked.

"Unless Crane can somehow sail in the air like Superman, then no. Whatever or whoever it was, it's here now," the soldier said.

"Tell all Runners to keep their eyes open. Whatever Crane may have found, it could lead to trouble," Brecken said, making the soldier nod and walk away. Lena looked towards the windows with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Where are you Crane?" she thought.

"Another beautiful morning in the Slums," Crane thought dryly, standing up straight on top of a building. UV Light may have hurt like hell, but sunlight apparently, did not come with that deal. Good. It would make traveling far easier. He didn't have to dive for cover in a volatile hive or something. Then again, there probably wouldn't be many left given his work with Kurt as well as the plastic explosives he planted in one of the biggest hives here. Though, those had nothing on the ones he found in Faceless territory.

Crane flexed his fingers before jumping in the air and latching onto another building before flying through the air with casual effort. Moving like this was awesome in its own little way. It was like flying, only done with grappling. Crane only wished his grappling hook had THIS kind of capability. Then again, he'd probably break his legs if he fucked up.

"What the fuck?!" a voice yelled as Crane landed on a roof. He turned with a soft grunt of acknowledgement, and saw that it was a lone survivor by himself. There was that urge again. A soft growl left Crane's lips and he was fighting tooth and nail not to give into the urge to kill him.

"Are you with the Tower?" Crane asked in a low growl of a voice, making the survivor's eyes widen.

"Are you... talking to me?" the survivor asked before he jumped at the sound of a zombie coming his way. Crane used his Tendrils to pounce the zombie and use his jaws to tear it apart. He leaped into the air with a roar to the sky before facing the survivor.

"More... more..." a voice in his head said. He faced the survivor and a soft growl left his lips. His pupils dilated in fear before he raised the bat in his hand to arm himself for a swing.

"I'm not going to..." Crane snarled as he looked at him. If anything, tearing apart that zombie just made him want to kill this survivor more. But base urges could be controlled. It just took a lot of self control.

"Tower. Yes or no," Crane said. The survivor was too scared to answer. A talking mutated zombie that could rip a person apart with just a yank of his jaws would probably kill him if he thought he was part of Brecken's team of survivors.

"N-no," he stammered. Then, the zombie reached into his pockets and pulled out a vial.

"Take this to them anyway. Give it to Camden," Crane told him, forcing the vial in his hand. "It is important that they get it." His voice sounded like a gurgled mess of his own voice, but his words were distinguishable. And that was all that mattered.

"Who... what are you?" the survivor asked.

"Get to the Tower," Crane said with a point in the direction. "Protect those vials with your life. It could very well mean an end to all of this madness."

"Kill... kill..." Crane's mind screamed, but he only jumped in the air and grappled away. Trying to restrain the side of him was painful. It was hard to hold back a base urge, but this seemed like that feeling times ten. It was almost a need to kill and destroy.

"There must be... something... something to rip... tear..." Crane growled aloud. His hearing was peaked by the shouts of survivors. He immediately grappled over to the area, and he saw two survivors fending off a group of zombies. He knew he should leave now. Before he made a mistake. But he only let out a loud, terrifying howl that caused the survivors to stiffen before turning around. The looks of fear he got were satisfying in a horrible way.

"What the hell is that thing?!" one of the survivors said while trying to keep a zombie off him by struggling with it.

"I don't know, but..." The survivor was cut off by the feeling of tendrils wrapping around his entire person. Seconds later, he was forced to the ground by a powerful body slamming into him. Crane let a snarl while looking in the survivor's face. Crane let his tendrils retreat back into him as the survivor let out a scream. A snap of the jaws later, and the screams stopped. There wasn't much of him left.

The other survivor managed to get the other zombie off him, but froze up when he saw that the unknown, yet powerful zombie was looking dead at him, blood dripping from its decayed chin and powerful teeth. He didn't even notice that his entire body was shaking with fear.

"Feed," Crane said mindlessly before clenching his claw-like fingers. The urge to not kill this man was strong, but his urge to kill was fighting tooth and nail to win. Eventually, the urges won out, and survivor lay in pieces like his ally. Then Crane sunk his claws into his head.

"Goddammit! These stupid urges... Focused on nothing but death and feeding. I just killed two survivors because of it!" Crane thought before letting out a frustrated howl. His claws then shredded the zombie that was next to him to pieces with a single swipe. Followed by the next zombie. And the next zombie. Murdering zombies didn't quell this damnable bloodlust within him, but it would at least solve something.

When James went out for food, zombies he was expecting. Every time he went out, he expected to one day get overrun and then torn apart. What he wasn't expecting, however, was a talking mutated zombie telling him to give a vial of liquid to the Tower. And from a desire to keep his body firmly intact, he was going to do what he said.

"Hey!" one of the soldiers up to shouted, pointing his gun at James. "I've never seen you around here."

"And I'm here because I got something to show you," James said.

"What is it?" the first soldier asked.

"Something that... something asked me to show you," James told him. The first soldier raised an eyebrow at the man before raising his gun up to where it was pointing upward and touching his shoulder. He gave his partner a glance, and he only shrugged.

"Alright. Climb up. Do anything, and we drop you. No hesitation," he said. James nodded before feeling his pocket to make sure the vials were there. With a grunt of effort, he made the leap up to the place and he noticed that everyone was staring at him.

"What do you got?" the other soldier asked, making James fish the vial out of his pocket and show it to them. "What is that supposed to be?"

"I have no idea. I was just told by something to bring it over here," James said.

"You keep saying 'something.' Not someone. Was it like a gut feeling?" the first soldier asked.

"No, it's... this is going to sound really bizarre, but this strange zombie told me," James said, making both of the soldiers raise their eyebrows in disbelief.

"A zombie told you?" the first soldier said, his tone matching his expression.

"It sounds insane, I know. But it was a zombie like I had never seen. It had boils coming out of the top of its head, bones coming out of his back. His fingers were more like claws, but he could change them into these type of tentacles. If it helps, he looked at me like I was dinner at first. It was more terrifying than the Volatiles to be honest," James explained. He had one run in with Volatiles when he got caught outside too long. He didn't wish to repeat the experience.

"But then he seemed to ignore the urge to kill me and told me to deliver this vial to the Tower," he continued. "I don't want to disobey a thing like that, so that's what I'm doing."

"That's hard to believe. Most zombies can't talk or resist the urge to kill anyone. You sure you didn't smoke something?" the first zombie asked.

"Not while I'm out scavenging for food! I don't have a deathwish!" James exclaimed, sounding indignant. "He just told me to give these vials to someone named Camden. Do any of you know who that is?"

Here both soldiers were shocked. No one really knew of Camden except those select few in the Tower and Rais' men. No one else.

"How do you know that name?" the second soldier asked.

"I told you. That thing told me. Look, whatever person that guy was, he seemed to be doing something important given how he still had these. He obviously had ties to you. Any idea who that person may have been?" James asked, making the soldiers' eyes widen at the same time in shock and disbelief.

"There's no way..."

"Bastard's tougher than any of us..."

"There's... there's got to be..." the first soldier trailed before piercing James with hard eyes. "Come with us."

James followed the soldier without a word. They seemed to have an idea as to who the person was, and judging by things, he was no ordinary person even when he was alive. It stands to reason he would become no ordinary zombie either.

"Brecken, I got something you might wanna hear," the first soldier said as he walked in with James in tow.

"What is it?" Brecken said, sounding exhausted.

"We may have an idea as to where Crane may have ended up, but you're not gonna like it," the first soldier said, catching both Brecken's and Lena's attention at once. If any exhaustion was there, it was gone instantly.

"What happened to him?" Brecken asked before looking at James, anger quickly flooding to the surface. "Did you do something to him?!"

"No, of course not!" James asked, quickly pedaling back and raising his hands in surrender.

"Crane's infected now," the first soldier said, making Brecken stop in his tracks.

"No..." Lena trailed, a distraught expression taking over her face. Brecken looked to be in disbelief. And frustrated.

"How? Or do you even know?" he asked.

"No, I don't know. But this guy right here seemed to run into Crane's mutated form when he was out looking for food," the first soldier said.

"Mutated? So what is he? A Goon? Whatever he is, we ought to put him out of his misery. I mean, after everything's he's done to try and help us..." Brecken trailed, but the soldier shook his head.

"Not even that. Something far more advanced. And more when it comes to what he can do," the first soldier said.

"What do you mean?" Brecken asked. Curiosity beat out Lena's grief and she too, stopped to listen.

"This guy ran into Crane's form, and he actually talked to him. As in, he was able to speak," the first soldier said, making both of their eyes widen.

"That's impossible. There's no way..."

"That's possible?" the first soldier finished. "Yeah, I thought so too. Until he started explaining. He handed this guy this vial and said it needed to be given to Camden. It seems whatever he found may have been the cure to this madness, but it cost him his humanity."

"Only not all of it," Camden said, looking at the vials. "Gather every Runner we can spare along with me. I'll take these goddamn vials myself if needed. If what Camden finds actually is what we need to end this nightmare, then we go looking for Crane."

"I'd be careful if I were you. He said that Crane looked like he was fighting tooth and nail not to kill him in order to give him the vial in the first place," the first soldier said.

"So the hunger is there. It just does not dictate all of his actions," Lena said.

"Did the sunlight seem to bother him at all?" Brecken asked.

"Not in the slightest," James said, speaking up for the first time. "It was almost as if he was human."

"We need some insurance when we go looking for him to make sure he doesn't accidentally kill us. Volatiles hate UV light. Maybe he'll work the same way," Brecken said.

"Couldn't hurt to try it. First things first," the first soldiers said, pointing to the vial.

"You," Brecken said, pointing to James. "You know what he looks like and what he can do. Stay here while we go to Old Town to deliver these vials." Brecken then started to gear up while already knowing who he was going to take with him on this trip. He'd be damned if he'd leave Crane to rot as a zombie for eternity. He became that way because he needed to go find a cure for all of them. And this might be it. He just hoped to God it was.