Hello everyone, Lazersword88 back again after another punishing month of my semester. Nothing kills your desire to write fanfiction quite like three term papers in four weeks. In addition, an internship that I started after the end of my last semester has eaten up a good deal of my usual writing time. We have quite a bit to cover before we jump back into the story. I suppose the logical place to start would be examining the two character deaths from last chapter.

The first of our two characters to die last chapter was Forrest. While my disagreements with Forrest's creator are well documented in the last chapter, don't misconstrue Forrest's death as a means of getting back at him. Forrest was going to meet his end either last chapter or this one, so I decided to let a character I was going to have meet their end last chapter have one more chapter to shine. Forrest made it as far into the story as he did because he was actually very statistically solid. Forrest had the potent combination of both the ability to slide and costless agility, making able to avoid single attackers with ease. In addition his high rear perception and teamwork meant that it was unlikely he would be backstabbed by anyone while he was in the group. However Forrest's lack of persuasion caused him to slowly grow more distant from the group along with the psychosis that was hinted at throughout his character application. Forrest's low luck is what ultimately sealed his fate, as multiple attackers were able to come to Xandra's aid at the worst possible moment. Finally Forrest's inability to parry gave him a large disadvantage against melee heavy hitters like Robin.

As for Denise, her death has been on the cards for a while. I was honestly surprised that Denise was as loved a character as she had become before her death. For those of you who do not know, Denise started merely as a request for an easily expendable character for a now discontinued story. From there I added her into my first story, Dancing through Flames as a somewhat reluctant villain. Realizing after her 'death' in DTF that she had more room to grow, I included her on the list of characters to be the protagonist of this story. In all honesty though, I did not expect her to be the winner. Denise's personality was largely based around a girl who I knew back when I played on my college's ultimate Frisbee team. This captain of the girl's team was simultaneously motherly, wise about relationships and yet very adventurous when it came to her relationships. I used her as the baseline for Denise's character and then built the rest from there. Denise's end can be attributed to her origins, the fact that some readers thought that I would never kill a main character, the fact that many authors in the genre have never done something similar and the fact that I just like the rest of the female cast a bit more. In terms of her stats, Denise is a heavy hitting tank of a character with high defense and teamwork skills that made her invaluable in a group. However those teamwork skills were of no help when she was isolated. In addition her slow movement, inability to avoid hits without something to block them, lack of real puzzle solving skills and an unfortunate lack of luck lead to her bitter end.

Finally, we reach the responses to last chapter's reviews. I did see a few of you reviewed previous chapters in your attempt to catch back up, which I'm really appreciative of. However I will only be directly responding to last chapter's reviews as always. With eight reviews we are a little bit down from last chapter, but that's to be expected with how long the story had been on hiatus. I would be absolutely ecstatic if we could get 10 reviews on next chapter, but I would not be surprised if the numbers are similar to this one. Anyways, on to the review responses:

Enarmonios: I felt it was the right time to start moving Adam and Robin in the direction I had been slowly nudging them in for about a dozen chapters. However I want to try to make sure that the characters are not drowned out with all of the relationships in the story. I think a lot of people have grown to like Robin, who started as one of the story's most reviled characters. I think you might be mistaken, as Ariana has nothing to do with the cloaked figures or the lab yet. The characters you might be thinking of are Lexi and Amelia. Thanks for the review!

HellKing666: Sorry to make you wait for the update again. Sometimes real life gets in the way. I hope you're pleased with the direction I take this new chapter.

Will you make it in time: Are you a new reader or did you just change your username. The central motif of this story in many ways is change, as some people like Robin change for the better and others like Forrest change for the worst. I did not want to go quite as far with Jack and Charlie as I have with other pairings. However I thought that in a world with everything going wrong, things becoming hopeless and the duo not knowing what became of their families, they might start to gravitate more towards each other. Thanks for the review man! I don't want to talk about anything else you wrote for fear of spoilers…

Gambit Hawk: I couldn't agree more in your assessment of SYOC stories and the unwritten contract they entail. Part of the goal of this story was to have the threat evolve from one scenario to another. Rather than just having the zombies as the main obstacle, I thought it would be interesting to have the characters at odds especially given the setting. Don't you worry; the twists won't stop in this chapter. In intend to take this story in a somewhat darker and more philosophic direction than most. As for your concerns with the endings, the separation of characters will only occur for one or two small groups. For all of the other groups that survive, characters from the story will appear in the endings of other characters in creative ways. As for a Dead Delinquents 2, it would be harder than you think. I would say only a little bit more than half of the readers who first started this story are still reading it now, with new readers catching up and contributing their opinion. A direct sequel may drive away new readers who want to submit their characters, though I may have a work around. My idea was a possible prequel of sorts that explains how all of the labs test subjects wound up there. This would allow for a fresh cast while also keeping a consistent setting and the ability to have references to the first story. Thanks for the review.

ShinBP: If you need a refresher, just read through the intro chapters again old friend! Plus with all of the deaths recently there are fewer characters to remember now. Jeez, just remembering sending that message while on vacation makes me feel like a dinosaur. Thanks for the review!

Bunnyeria: Hopefully by now you have had the time to sort out what you think about the characters now! I totally agree with on your views about characters authors like me hold dear. Is Lexi that kind of character for you? Thanks for the review again!

Giggity090: Man, we all really have been around this site for a long time haven't we? Are you ever going to try to reboot your story man? As soon as I'm finished with Dead Delinquents I'd be willing to help some. Hopefully this chapter does not disappoint!

Awesome D.T.: Seeing as the central motif of Dead Delinquents is change, it was inevitable that some characters would change for the worst like Forrest and Ai did. I glad that someone else likes the Raul and Ariana pairing which is my personal favorite in the story. They just had such a perfect character dynamic from the moment they first met in the intro chapters. You forgot Molly, so add her to the list of unpaired individuals. Thanks for the… enthusiastic review!

Alright, let's jump into the chapter…

Z day + 3 months and 2 days Early Morning Prison's Second Floor

Jack climbed up the rubble that had piled up from when Murph destroyed the 2nd floor as Charlie trailed behind him.

"You know, if you wanted to talk in private…" Charlie said, her pale hand reaching out for something to pull herself up. "…You could have picked somewhere a little easier to get to!"

"Come on, this isn't that hard!' Jack chuckled as a he gave Charlie a hand and pulled her up. "I thought you'd have more experience with climbing with all of your breaking and entering".

"Fuck you man" Charlie playfully yelled with a laid back smirk. "I worried more about the art than getting to my graffiti's canvas. So what are we actually doing here?"

"I wanted to see if we could observe the conditions out there" Jack said, pushing open a splintered wooded classroom door with chunks taken out of it by debris. "You know… the number of zombies and stuff. We're going to have to make a move soon because of our food shortage".

"Won't we just get torn apart by those bugs?" Charlie sarcastically muttered as she followed Jack into the room.

As the early morning light flooded into the dark room through a broken glass window, Jack felt a tinge of unease as he observed the desks of the classroom still perfectly in line as if everyone hadn't met a grisly end. Jack pulled up a chair next to the window and let out a worried sigh.

"Well, we can either starve here or at least try to make a break for it" Jack muttered. "I'd rather pretend I'll have another chance to see my sister again".

Charlie noticed Jack's somberness and pulled up a chair next to his. She noticed a tear slowly roll down his tired looking face.

"I know she means a lot to you, because I feel like that too" Charlie replied, wrapping an arm around her troubled friend. "We'd put ourselves through hell just so they'd have a chance".

"So if we can even make it out of this place, what do you plan on doing next?" Jack asked, taking his eyes off of the barren wasteland outside in favor of the girl beside him.

"I don't know, but whatever it is I hope that you're there with me for it" Charlie proclaimed.

A dead silence filled the room as Jack blushed and Charlie realized how blunt what she had said was.

"I… umm… I mean… I didn't mean it like that… if you don't want…" Charlie stammered franticly.

"No its fine" Jack said, turning away from Charlie as if to hide his blush. "I just didn't know you felt that way…"

The air grew warm and the room grew tense as her mint green eyes met his deep blue ones. Both had never kissed anyone outside of their family before, so they awkwardly waited for the other to make a move. It was finally Charlie who wrapped her arms around Jack and pulled their lips together for a quick and somewhat awkward kiss.

"See, it's not a big deal" Charlie said with a blushing smile as she slid out her own chair and onto Jack's lap.

"It's just so weird with that lip piercing of yours…" Jack said as Charlie say back into his chest.

"I ought to slap you for that" Charlie said playfully. "Does this mean we're…?"

"I mean… if you want to be…" Jack replied. "It's a bit weird after training to be a priest for so long but… if you want to".

"Do you want to kiss again?" Charlie asked shyly.

She did not have to wait for a response as Jack pulled her in close and their lips met in a long but stiff embrace. Little did they know someone had just crept up to the doorway and was watching them.

"Charlie? Jack?" a voice called out. "Is that… oh ummm…."

"Is something wrong Iris?" Jack asked as the two turned to face the duo who had entered the room.

"I don't know what's going on, but Denise is missing too" Iris explained.

"We need to find her, now!" Xandra yelled with ferocity. "Have you found my precious Cassie?"

"No, they didn't take her up here to this floor" Charlie replied. "Maybe they might have taken her to the roof?"

"Let's check there" Iris directed. "With all of this shady stuff going on, we can't afford to keep splitting up".

"Shouldn't we try to get the others?" Jack asked.

"Robin and Adam are pretty beat up and need to rest" Iris replied. "Everyone else has vanished. I don't know where they've gone but until we clear up this mess we can't trust anyone else. They might have something to do with what happened to Denise".

As Iris led the way with Xandra close behind, Jack turned to Charlie as they exited the room with a soft smile.

"What's so funny?" Charlie quietly asked.

"I don't know… I guess I kind of like your hair when it's all blond Charlotte" Jack said as Charlie blushed, realizing that the half of her hair that she had once dyed black had faded back to its natural color.

"Thanks…" Charlie smirked. "I guess your blond mop of hair isn't too bad either".

"Come on, let's not get left behind shorty" Jack said playfully as he took Charlie's hand and pulled her along.

"Oh! I know you did not just call me short!" Charlie shouted back.

The four climbed what was left of the rapidly crumbling staircase, with Iris using her parkour abilities to ascend the fragmented structure and pull everyone else up. As Jack pushed the door to the roof open with a strong shove with his crucifix, the four ran onto the roof only to find that there was nothing up there.

"I guess we should turn around" Xandra suggested. "They aren't up here".

"Wait, I think I see something" Charlie motioned, causing the others to join her at the edge of the fenced roof. "That's Raul, Ariana and… Ichihiki?!"

"Wait, Ichihiki?" Jack proclaimed. "I haven't seen him in months! I thought he'd run off or died!"

"This seems pretty fishy…" Iris contemplated. "A bunch of people disappear and then someone we haven't seen in a long time suddenly shows up again. But what does he need Raul and Ariana for? Have they been helping him this whole time?"

"That's preposterous" Charlie cried out. "Raul's rationing is the reason we've lived this long and Ariana wouldn't hurt a fly".

"I still don't trust them…" Iris began before being interrupted.

"Wait, what's that clanging sound?" Xandra asked.

The foursome turned around to face the entrance to the stairs from whence they came as a loud metallic clanging sound grew closer and closer.

"Get your weapons ready" Iris suggested. "I don't like the sound of this…"

The noise grew louder and louder until it suddenly stopped, barely out of view from the doorway. Then without warning the intruder let out a viciously barbaric howl and the sound of the clanging metal multiplied. From out of the dark corridor spring a small pack of uncharacteristic undead. These undead monsters moved with greater speed then most of their brethren and surrounded the inmates in a similar manner as a pack of wolves hunting their prey. All of the dozen or so monstrosities that surrounded the group had metallic claws on their hands and a large metallic wired dome penetrating into their skulls with rigid metal spikes. As the undead encircled their prey, one more zombie raced towards the action from the stairway. This beast moved far faster than even the others, darting towards the fray at blinding speed. This particular undead was also different from the others because of the metal reinforced knuckles it had in place of the other creature's claws. As the creature grew closer, Jack's eyes grew wider.

"Damian…" Jack muttered. "What the hell did they do to you?"

The creature that had once been Damian let out a battle cry and the other undead charged the group in a brutal frenzy.

One of the clawed undead slashed as Jack, who blocked the attack with his crucifix and pushed the assailant back before following it up with a quick slice into the back of its skull with his knife. As another zombie lunged at him with its claws, Jack tucked and rolled away. Charlie lunged with her metal pipe's sharp edge and plunged it straight through Jacks assailant's neck. As the newly decapitated zombie's head fell to the floor, Charlie corrected her footwork and swung her makeshift spear towards the chest of another approaching undead. As the sharp end plunged into the attacker, Jack knocked the foe onto the ground before crushing its skull with the long end of his heavy blunt instrument.

Xandra stayed close to the group, but her fatigue from her fight with Forrest was really starting to hit her. As if noticing the drop in her performance, four of the undead swarmed at Xandra and forced her away from the others while they were distracted. In her feral rage Xandra swiped at one of the undead as a spray of blood cover her arms and face from the hit zombies oozing stab wound. The other three clawed undead ferociously slashed at the girl, causing her to direct all of her waning focus on dodging and parrying their strikes.

"Help!" Xandra cried out as she struggled to avoid the onslaught of claws swinging at her.

"One second Xan!" Charlie yelled back as she pushed her metal pipe's edge through the last of her assailants' face before removing the carcass from her blade by pushing it off with her leg. "Catch this!"

With the immediate threat to her removed, Charlie threw her pipe at one of the zombies that swarmed around Xandra like a trident. As the weapon sliced into the back of one of their heads, Xandra dropped her knives and grabbed hold of it. Using her momentum from contorting to grab the weapon, Xandra swung and drove the pipe through the other two zombies head. As the cleaved craniums fell to the ground, Xandra drove the spear's head through the zombie it had first come into contact with.

"I'll make you feel good for that later!" Xandra cheered before the color dropped from her face. "Quick, duck!"

"What?!" Charlie exclaimed before quickly following Xandra's instruction.

Xandra heaved the pipe back towards Charlie as she quickly dropped herself to the ground. The metal spear traveled quickly through the air, striking a zombie right behind Charlie in the chest. Now understanding what was going on Charlie quickly sprung to her feet and grabbed her weapon, pushing the zombie to the ground. With on ferocious strike, Charlie plunged the edge through the enemy's head before quickly freeing her weapon.

"You shouldn't throw that thing!" Xandra chastised.

"Now is not the time girls" Jack proclaimed. "There are still a few more!'

As the chaos continued, the monster that was once Damian charged wildly as Iris. Iris loosed the metal spike from her makeshift slingshot, missing the undead to the right. Iris fished through her pocket for another spike to shoot and quickly fired it. This time, Iris was dead accurate. However the undead monster that was Damian caught the projectile in midair with his metal reinforced hands. Iris swore that she could almost see the creature smile as it continued to race towards her.

Damian's monstrous undead visage leaped at Iris and unleashed a powerful kick. Iris barely dodged to the left, astonished by Damian's sheer speed. Unlike most of the undead the group had encountered, this one in particular seemed to have speed comparable to Bradley or even Damian back when he was still alive. Realizing that the engagement was now at close range, Iris dropped her makeshift slingshot and drew her dual knives. Another clawed zombie swiped at Iris from her flank, but Iris saw it coming and ducked under the assailant's clumsy swing and retaliated with her knives before the undead could bite her. As the clawed zombie hit the concrete, Iris turned her attention back to undead Damian with a murderer's eyes and twisted smile that had made her so feared during her time as an inmate.

Iris charged at the monster and ducked under its wild swing, slashing into its chest with her two knives at the same time in a vertical cut. Damian retaliated with a hard punch straight into Iris' chest. However Iris did not even flinch from the strike, instead swiping in alternating direction repeatedly in a berserk fashion. Damian struck Iris in the face with a powerful crack of his metal backed fist, causing Iris to stammer backwards. However like a woman possessed Iris continued forward in her assault as her face began to bruise, an ear to ear grin sadistic grin lining her face.

"Yes!" Iris hissed. "I want more! Give me more!"

The monster ran forward with its jaw open, only to miss its mark as Iris tucked into a dive and roll away from the husk of her former fellow survivor. As she sprung up to her feet, Iris observed how twisted and mangled the creature's head was. It was almost like something out of a Frankenstein movie, with different skins and pigmentations stitched together around the metal protrusions like a morbid quilt.

Unrelenting, the creature charged at Iris again. However this time, Charlie swept in from the side with her metal pole ready to strike.

"Wait!" Iris cried, halting Charlie. "He's mine".

"Are you crazy?!" Charlie yelled.

Without heading Charlie or any of the others, Iris rushed the creature. Her focus was all on the monster before her, since all of the other monsters had been disposed of by the others. Damian's husk lunged at Iris with a quick swipe, but Iris ducked under the attack. The husk quickly followed with a jab that found its mark into Iris' stomach. However the girl did not flinch as she drove her knives straight into Damian's skull, her murderous gaze emanating at its strongest. As the last of the modified undead hit the cement with a loud crack, so too did Iris as she stumbled and collapsed.

"What the hell were you thinking Iris?" Jack yelled as he ran towards her.

"I just thought it would be the way Damian would have wanted to go out" Iris replied as she coughed up a small amount of blood, having returned to her normal self.

"Holy shit Iris…" Charlie whispered in awe as she pulled up Iris' shirt slightly to reveal her bruise laden stomach.

"Don't worry you guys" Iris groaned. "I can stand".

With some effort Iris was able to get on her own feet and was quickly helped along by Xandra.

"You think we have anything to patch her up?" Charlie asked Jack as he stared out to where he had seen Raul run off to.

"We might have some painkillers and maybe some ice" Jack replied, picking up Iris' crossbow and watching the blood flow into the roof's unmaintained pool. "I don't know about that first one though. Raul was in charge of rationing that stuff".

"You think Raul is up to something?" Charlie asked, as the trio began to walk back down the stairs.

"I don't know" Jack replied. "One things for certain though. After we patch up Iris, we're getting some answers from him"…

Elsewhere, inside the Lab hidden in the tunnels underneath of the shed…

Laz could not feel any part of his body as his eyesight faded in and out. He was sliding on the floor… No, he was being dragged. Laz felt the slightest tinge of sensation in his fingers as he slowly began to realize the full gravity of his situation.

Laz felt hands pull his belt, shoes, holstered gun and shirt off in a frantic and hurried pace. All of the gear that he had been wearing was piled up in the corner of the humid dank room. He felt the moistness of the floor against his bare back and heard the slow sloshing of some sort of liquid below.

Oh no. Was this the chemical disposal shaft? Laz's mind raced in fright. How did Ai even know about this place? If he was to be dropped down the drainage shaft, there would be no way he would be able to climb back out of the thirty foot deep drain.

Almost as if to confirm his worst fears, Laz heard the loud clanging noise of the metal drain being pulled off of the shaft's entrance echo through the confined room. Removing the last of garments besides his underwear, Laz struggled helplessly as his body would not respond. The most he could do was let out weak noises that would have otherwise sounded like despondent sighs.

Finally his assailants face came into view of his sight. Ai had a sadistic grin on her pale face as her cold fingers grabbed at his face.

"There's no way that you're going to come back from this, even with your healing ability" Ai squealed, her grip on reality become looser. "But I think I'll have some fun making 100% sure".

Laz continued to struggle, but was unable to do anything as he felt Ai's fingernails dig into his eyes. As Ai's grip strengthened, Laz's vision went black all at once and he was hit with immense pain. Ai continued to lean her body over Laz's frame, the blood gushing out of his eye sockets drenching Ai's clothing with a warm ooze of blood.

After having her fill of seeing Laz writhe in pain, Ai got to her feet and dragged Laz's still motionless body to the edge of the drain.

"Denise is mine now Laz" Ai gleamed eagerly. "And you're going to die a horrible death because you tried to stop me".

Without any second thoughts, Ai pushed Laz down the large drain with one shove. The air rushing around Laz as he fell into total darkness almost felt peaceful for moment. Then the impact with the water struck him like a fall on concrete, further disorienting him. After the impact of the water died down, Laz was struck with an even worse pain. The liquid that sloshed about at the bottom of the pool started to corrode his skin and eat away at it with acidic nature. Still unable to move his body, Laz was forced to swallow the chemical bile as it burned both his insides and outsides. However, despite Laz desiring a quick death and an end to this pain, his healing factor only prolonged his suffering. Laz slowly started to feel his mind break from the insane pain as he sunk to the bottom of the pool, his frame a mere skeleton with a thin layer of flesh that was constantly ripped off and then replaced in a never ending cycle. Laz's mind went blank…

Back at the top of the drain, Ai stopped hearing any noise from the bottom of the pool. The girl let out a prolonged uncontrollable laugh, as if having just heard a hilarious joke. Realizing that it would be a fruitless hassle to clean the dark red gore from her hand and clothes, Ai slathered all of her skin with the warm red substance and drenched what little dry spots were left on her clothes. There was no point in trying to stop now. All she had to do was kill every other person who wouldn't help her. Then she could be transformed into something like Bradley and be able to live with her undead bride to be. As she licked her hand of the blood, she contemplated how she would soon be addicted to the stuff. As she left the room Ai picked up her metal pipe, strapping on Laz's revolver and taking his coat to stay warm. Her biggest problem had been dealt with. The rest will be cleanup work with Denise's help.

"Now all I need to do is find Molly" Ai muttered to herself before she heard voices nearby and stalked closer to them.

As Ai shut the door of the chemical disposal room, she failed to hear the shrill noise of bone grinding against the metal of the shaft below…

Near the Test Subject Storage Chamber in the Underground Lab:

Molly paced frantically in the barren and dark hall, at war with her own conscious. What was she even thinking? Everything from the plan was going smoothly. She was able to create a hole in the wall in the side of the prison that could be resealed and she was able to sneak Johnson's corpse back to the underground lab in order to be revitalized. She had been able to obtain a sample of Laz's blood by releasing the failed experiment Bradley and used it to give Johnson nearly identical regenerative abilities. She had even manipulated Ai's deteriorating mental state to cause a rift in the group and manipulate the other bloodthirsty inmates into providing a suitable distraction. And most importantly, she had finally gotten her revenge on Denise for abandoning her to the guard's whims all those years ago. Yet why did she now feel remorse? It wasn't like Molly to feel affection or attachment to anyone, as she stopped trying to sympathize with anyone after her only two previous friends had betrayed her. Her allegiance to Johnson was a purely logical one, with no emotional attachment involved. Before the outbreak of these creatures, Molly was working with Johnson as a means to shorten her sentence and gain enough notoriety in the scientific community to springboard an eventual career. Now that this outbreak had begun, she felt as though Johnson was the one person left who could organize all of the sane inmates into a collective effort in finding a counter or cure to these monstrosities.

Molly stood at the side of the entrance to the larger test subject storage chamber, eavesdropping on the two young women within. Soon Amelia and Lexi's friend would be reborn as a sentient undead or 'degenerate' as Ichihiki had coined them. However, what they may expect to be a touching reunion is just another cog in the plan. Molly contemplated the long history she had with Lexi. Both of them began working with Johnson at around the same time all of those years ago. Unlike Molly who Johnson recruited directly, Lexi had found out about Johnson's underground facility and blackmailed Johnson into becoming an insider in his 'research'. While Molly worked to conduct Johnson's government funded experiments during the night hours while no one was watching, Lexi was also hard at work looking for subjects to use for the experiments. Johnson had very strict requirements for who was to be targeted. The victims must have lifetime sentences, not have many friends who would notice their absence and be weak enough to be easily apprehended without waking anyone up in the middle of the night. Soon Molly had enough test subjects to begin her work and despite there being a rumor that inmates would disappear, no one could really prove anything. The situation was beneficial to all three as Johnson would have been able to claim credit for any scientific breakthroughs that would have taken place, Molly worked towards a more successful future and Lexi felt secure being on the inside of the warden's schemes.

However, this all changed recently with Lexi's defection. For reasons beyond what Molly could comprehend, Lexi fell in love with one of her potential targets rather than capturing her. Despite her happy go luck nature and denial of events, the fireworks factory that Amelia had blown up did kill several people. Therefore Amelia had little chance of ever seeing the outside of a prison for the rest of her life. Because of her sudden attachment to Amelia, Lexi quit her role in Johnson's scheme and moved into the same room as the girl. As much as Johnson wanted Lexi eliminated, he was concerned that any attempt to assault the Native American girl could expose Johnson's secret facility to the inmate masses. However as time went on and Lexi did reveal the secret of the lab, Johnson decided to leave Lexi be.

Therefore, it was no surprise to Johnson or Molly when Lexi was able to 'miraculously' find the lab's location to save Kurt. Rather than risk a direct confrontation and compromise the labs location to the other surviving inmates, Molly planned to feign aid and quietly dispose of her old accomplice. By slightly tinkering with the already defective blood filtering device on the back of his neck, Molly had ensured that Kurt would become a monstrous creature mere moments after leaving the stasis capsule that was currently enabling his transformation. This monster would then attack the two girls and likely kill them. Even if the monster failed, Moly would just be able to finish the job and eliminate the threat of Lexi once and for all.

However, a terrible grief overcame Molly. What about the other girl, Amelia? Was her death really just a justifiable means to an end? Her mind flashed back to a battered and bloody Denise. Even when Molly was totally fixated on getting her revenge on Denise, she still struggled in the moment when she pulled the trigger. Why was this thought coming to her now?

Molly reached into her pocket and felt another small circular device. She had created this device for herself in the eventuality that she would be mortally wounded and have to use her own machine to cheat death. Gripping the medallion like device of twisting circuits and wires in her palm, Molly entered into the light of the room.

Molly pulled the hood of her coat down over her face as if to hide and slip by unseen, despite the fact that she realized her efforts would be fruitless. It just made her feel more comfortable, as if no one could see the internal doubts troubling her.

"Hey Molly!" Amelia yelled out with an optimism that made Molly disgusted with what she had done. "Come to see Kurt back into the world of the living… err… I mean dead?"

"I never thought I'd see the day this stone heart actually cared about someone else" Lexi mocked, her arms nonchalantly crossed.

Molly brushed the two off as she walked towards Kurt's capsule and started typing on a monitor on the front of the device.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lexi asked, walking up to Molly and grabbing hold of her shoulder.

"Leave me alone…" Molly muttered, not paying her former colleague any mind.

"For Kurt's sake I can't let you do that" Lexi demanded. "I'll only ask one more time, what the hell are you doing?"

"I made a mistake goddammit!" Molly screamed as she turned to face the two girls with tears in her eyes.

"What are you talking about Mol?" Lexi asked. "You don't make mistakes. Wait…"

"What's wrong Molly?" Amelia asked in a concerned fashion as she stepped closer to Molly.

"Stay back Amelia!" Lexi commanded sternly as she drew her knife and slid it up against Molly's throat. "You're trying to sabotage his recovery, aren't you?!"

"Get that knife of my face Lexi" Molly scowled. "If you want your friend to be ok, then we don't have much time".

"How the hell am I supposed to believe that?" Lexi snarled, pushing the edge her knife slightly harder against Molly's skin.

"Because the device attached to Kurt's neck was attached to that monster and was damaged" Molly began. "If you don't want him to kill you, you'll let me make this change".

"I should kill you right now!" Lexi barked as Amelia looked on concernedly.

"Lexi stop!" Amelia yelled. "Let her do what she wants".

"Don't be naïve Amelia" Lexi replied. "I know more about this girl than you do, and I know for a fact she wants us out of the picture in the long run. Do you trust me or her?"

"You're one to talk about trust Lex" Molly whispered coldly. "I wonder how many secrets you've kept from her this whole time".

"Don't listen to this nonsense" Lexi said, as her knife began to draw blood. "Do you trust her word or mine? She's probably been experimenting on all of these victims in this lab!"

"Well you didn't give your victims much of choice when you dragged them hear, did you?" Molly grimaced, as Amelia's eyes filled with surprise.

"Lexi, what the hell is she talking about?" Amelia asked, her gaze turning to Lexi.

"Listen, I'll admit that I was tasked to work in this lab by Chief Johnson back when everything was normal" Molly began. "But this girl has been under Johnson's thumb from the start, dragging inmates who wouldn't be missed down here to be experimented on".

"Lies!" Lexi yelled. "Don't even listen to this garbage".

"How did you know where to find this place?" Amelia asked Lexi vindictively. "Tell me! How the hell did you know about the lab?!"

Lexi merely stared back at Amelia despondently as Amelia drew back her the bolt on her crossbow and pointed it at Lexi's chest.

"Tell me right now why I shouldn't kill you both!" Amelia demanded, causing a startled Molly to take a step away from her work on Kurt.

"This is some kind of joke, right Amelia?" Lexi scoffed. "I'm your best friend! Why would I lie to you…?"

"Shut up" Amelia growled, enraged by her friends possible treachery. "You won't say another word or I swear that I'll put a bolt right through your heart".

"You're probably wondering why I'm helping you, but if you want your friend to remain who he is and not turn into a monster, you're going to have to trust me" Molly stated candidly, taking a step closer to Kurt's body as the capsule opened and the green liquid inside started to drain out.

"Well, then how about you give me a reason to trust you" Amelia hissed, training her aim on Molly. "Because right now, you have as much explaining to do as her. You obviously knew about the lab too and I haven't seen too much of you since the outbreak".

"Fine, I'll tell you everything as quickly as I can" Molly began. "After all of this started I dragged Johnson back to the lab and I've been reviving him over the past few months. The chief had a major grievance with our fellow inmate Denise and over the past few weeks has been recruiting disgruntled survivors like Tico, Forrest and Ai to help carry out his plans against her. By having the others distract you all, Ai captured Denise and tortured her to near death. In all honesty, I wanted to get revenge on Denise too for actions that she doesn't remember due to her amnesia. But once I saw that Ai had harmed her so badly that she was going to suffer a prolonged and painful death, I put her out of her misery. Watching Denise die made me decide that I don't want to see anyone else die from here on. If that means betraying Johnson to do so, then so be it".

"So Denise is dead and Ai is the one responsible" Amelia answered somberly. "Did Johnson order you to kill us too?"

"He only wanted Lexi dead, but I think he thought of you as collateral damage were you die too" Molly admitted. "In truth I hold no ill will towards you".

"I sure as hell don't like what you did, especially to Denise" Amelia replied, before fixing her aim back on Lexi. "But at least you were just following orders from Johnson. You have my permission to make whatever changes will save Kurt."

"Alright, I'll get back to work" Molly said, before beginning to type more into the capsules built in monitor.

"As for you Lexi, we need to have a talk" Amelia snipped. "Walk towards the back of the lab".

"You're making a mistake Amelia" Lexi whispered.

"Not as much of a mistake as ever getting to know you!" Amelia yelled. "Now get walking!"

Lexi walked further into the underground lab with Amelia a pace behind and crossbow fixed on her former best friend. As they did so, Molly continued to type commands into the capsule's monitor. Soon a crane like contraption protruding from a portion for the ceiling grasped the side of the capsule, unpinning the anchors that held it against the wall and carrying the whole capsule to the waiting operating table in the center of the lab. Quickly transitioning to a main monitor in the center of the room that governed over all of the dozens of similar pod in the laboratory, Molly was quick to key in commands as mechanical implements gracefully danced around Kurt's pod in a precise yet elegant fashion. Without even looking, Molly extended her hand with the cylindrical device and the machine that she painstakingly crafted took the device in its pincers. As she finished with her code, Molly watched as the mechanical implements removed the faulty device from the back of Kurt's neck and quickly replaced it with the functioning equipment. As the medical and mechanical devices whirred from the ceiling mounted machine, Molly saw Kurt begin to stir and hoped that she was not too late. However as quickly as the process started, the capsule was again being lifted to its cradle on the wall and flooded with the soft green liquid that had previously filled it.

"Is this what you would have wanted Denise?" Molly wondered out loud.

"You speak about Denise as if she's dead" a familiar voice said as it approached from behind Molly.

"That's because she is dead" Molly replied coldly, as her former conscript Ai emerged from the shadows that had concealed her. "You watched me kill her".

"But I thought out of anyone, the genius of our little group wouldn't be so naïve" Ai gleamed, the blood all over her making Molly sure that madness had begun to claim her once ally. "Honestly before I realized the genius of your actions, I was really I wanted to kill you. But now I know what you were trying to do. You were trying to let Denise and I be together forever…"

"Back away Ai, you're crossing the line" Molly said coldly, raising her homemade knuckleduster.

However instead of heeding the redheads' warning, Ai simply laughed as she overpowered Molly's meager physique and pinned her against the wall. As Molly struggled unsuccessfully, Ai pressed her cold blood covered lips against Molly's in an attempt to seduce her. However this only resulted in Molly biting Ai's lips, drawing blood.

"You varmint!" Ai hissed, moving her hand over Molly's neck. "We could have done this the easy way, but you just had to make this a struggle, didn't you?"

Ai's grip tightened around Molly's neck, causing the redhead to flail and gasp for breath. A wicked smile grew on Ai's blood soaked face, her black hair almost a shade of dark crimson.

"You can either help me, or I can kill you right here" Ai explained. "Which will it be?"

"Please… I'll help…" Molly muttered weakly before Ai let her drop to the floor.

"Excellent, let me go grab my pet" Ai exclaimed before reentering the shadows.

Molly thought about trying to run, but she barely had the energy to get back to her feet. Maybe if she could reach her homemade shotgun, which was propped up against a chair on the other side of the room she might have a chance…

Then Molly froze in her tracks, horrified at what she saw before her. Ai led along Denise towards the operating table using one of the chains that had been used to restrain the girl while she was alive and being tortured. The tattooed girl had clearly become one of the undead, with vacant eyes and slow shambling movement. Molly was surprised that Ai was able to control such a large undead with her thinner physique.

Carefully prodding the undead along and pushing it onto the table, Ai tied the chain she had been holding to leg of the operating table before turning back to a visibly shaking Molly.

"I want you to make her like one of those zombies with the headgear" Ai explained. "Like the ones that you could control with the remote. I also want you to make as many combat augmentations to her as possible. I want her to still mostly be flesh and bone, but use mechanical implants to make her stronger and more viable in combat. I want her to be able to kill every single one of those annoying pests in the prison".

"Why do you want to kill the rest of them?" Molly shouted out as Ai stepped over to her and grabbed her by the chin, caressing it with her fingers.

"Because they will never let me live the life I want to live with Denise" Ai replied as she stared straight into Molly's eyes, causing the Irish girl to shiver in fear. "I want to become a sentient undead, like that Kurt guy. From there you will be able to give me the same mechanical implants into my head as Denise will have. You explained to me when you first showed me the lab that those zombies with devices in their brains are able to share brainwaves wirelessly to function as a single collective entity. With that kind of power and my own sentience intact, Denise and I will always be on the same page and share the same feelings. We will be able to live together forever as undead, with not even time itself being able to stop our love!"

Ai quickly grabbed ahold of Molly and snatched the defective circular device from her pocket, unaware of the device's defective nature.

"However, if anyone else finds out about what I'm planning, they will try to stop me" Ai continued. "I can't have anyone come between the eternal love that Denise and I share, so I'm going to have to remove anyone who can stop me from the picture. Laz was the first one to be disposed of and if you don't play your cards right you might be next".

Molly started to truly understand the depths of Ai's depraved insanity, and in turn the direness of her own situation. As much as she hated the thought of it, she would have to play along until Johnson or someone else intervened. She couldn't call for Lexi of Amelia, as she was sure that Ai would kill her on the spot.

So Molly, with Ai closely behind her, sat behind the monitor and got to work on Denise's transformation. Mechanical instruments plunged into Denise's husk, stabbing deep into her brain and affixing foreign implements onto her limbs.

"For the time being, I'll have to control you with a remote" Ai gushed. "But after all of those pesky runts are squashed, I'll be able to join you in our eternal undead bliss!"

The operation was soon completed and as the tools retracted back towards their ceiling basin, Ai gawked at the massive improvements made to her undead muse. The machine had drilled into Denise's frame to mount a mechanical exoskeleton to bolster Denise's already impressive physical strength. The frame was bolted to the outside of Denise's limbs, allowing for minimally compromised movement and the preservation of most of Denise's undead infected bare skin. The exoskeleton ran from Denise's feet, up her legs, across her back, over her arms and all the way up to the back of her neck. Protruding from the ends of the mechanism near her hands were two piston powered retractable blades that would protrude from below Denise's hands at the touch of Ai's remote. Triggered by the same button was a see hollowed circular helmet like plating that was attached to the exoskeleton and rested behind Denise's neck that would flip over Denise's head to protect it while in combat. It was needless to say that Ai was impressed. However, unknown to her, Molly had built in a failsafe into the new system…

"Excellent work Molly!" Ai said, hugging the unemotional girl tight and making her uncomfortable. "When will she be ready?"

"It won't be too long" Molly replied, handing Ai a small remote. "She still needs another fifteen minutes to fully adapt to the change. The remote I just gave you can either activate make the host more aggressive or pacify them for a brief period. You may need to still lead her around with the chain until we make the changes to you as well".

"Damn, why can't she be ready sooner?" Ai pouted before turning to Molly with an insane grin. "I have an idea, partner in crime".

"I'm not your partner…" Molly started.

"Shh… be quiet!" Ai barked, silencing Molly. "The first people who need to pay are that traitor Adam and the swine Robin. If I can capture Alice, I'd be sure to draw out Robin. Then after she's gone, I can kill Adam too. By the time I've captured Alice, Denise should be ready. I can hand Alice of to you and then you can then deliver her to Johnson. You guys still need experiment subjects, right? Everyone wins!"

"Alright, I'll stay here and await your return" Molly stated calmly as she watched Ai walk towards the entrance.

"You better not try to run" Ai yelled. "If you do, I'll find you and kill you".

As Ai walked off, Ai sunk lower in her chair and cradled her head in her hand.

"What the heck have I got roped into?" she muttered to herself…

Deeper Inside the Lab…

"Go up against the wall and put your hands on it" Amelia ordered as Lexi complied, placing her hands on the cold moss covered wall of one of the laboratory's holding cells.

"What are you going to do, shoot me?" Lexi scoffed, her patience wearing thin.

"Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't, you liar!" Amelia cried out, tears streaming down from light green eyes and on to her olive skin. "Tell me why I shouldn't make you feel like the dozens of people whose lives you ruined!"

"I did it because I wanted to survive you ungrateful bitch!" Lexi snapped back, causing to Amelia stumble back. "You should know damn well that if you're not the hunter around here, then you're the hunted. How dare you act this way! Don't you know I'm the only reason you're not in a test tube too?"

"Liar!" Amelia howled.

"No matter how much you want to deny it, we both know you killed people the day you decided to blow up that fireworks factory!" Lexi yelled back. "You were sentenced for life, no one in your family cared about you and neither did anyone else in the facility. If I hadn't thought you were special, I would have dragged you back her just like all the others".

"So you do admit it!" Amelia cried out. "How could you do something like that Lexi?!"

"Amelia please" Lexi begged as she turned around to face her estranged girlfriend. "I may have lied to you and kept you in the dark, but I've always been true about how I feel about you".

"Stay the fuck away from me" Amelia warned, her hands shaking and barely keeping hold of her armament as Lexi stepped closer.

"I love you Amelia" Lexi pleaded. "Please forgive me".

"No" Amelia snarled as she loosed a bolt from her crossbow straight towards Lexi's chest.

Lexi was extremely quick to duck under the incoming projectile, closing the gap between Amelia and herself. She rushed towards Amelia, but instead of drawing her knives she reached for something else in her pockets. Lunging with the sharp object, Lexi popped the cap off of the needle as she stabbed out towards Amelia's arm. Amelia was able to catch Lexi's arm and push it away before the needle could touch her, but Lexi's larger size caused the momentum of her swing to push Amelia into the wall. As Amelia struggled with all of her might to resist Lexi's push, it took every ounce of her being to do so.

"Stop struggling" Lexi said seductively. "This needle is all that is standing between us being together again".

"I'll never forgive you…" Amelia hissed, her breath short and body tiring.

"I'd have to disagree, my love" Lexi whispered. "These beta blockers are strong enough to make someone like Denise forgot her entire time at the prison. This is a smaller dose, so you'll only likely forget the last few months".

The needle was getting closer and closer to Amelia's chest as her former friend slowly overpowered her. Amelia strained, gritting her teeth together and fighting back with every fiber of her body. She felt a sharp pain in her arm as the needle slowly pierced into it. Seeing the needle find its mark, Lexi frantically fumbled for the needle with her thumb.

"Get your hands off her!" a voice yelled out from outside the room.

"What?" Lexi cried out.

Before she could fully turn herself to see the newcomer a shovel struck Lexi in the head on its flat side, knocking her unconscious. Amelia fell into a slump, her vision beginning to blur. Her vision flashed out for a second as she felt herself being hoisted onto the frame of a thin girl.

"Are you ok Amelia?" a somewhat familiar voice said as Amelia's vision started to return.

"Cassie?" Amelia muttered, still feeling woozy despite barely any of the drug finding its way into her system.

"Hang on" Cassie replied as Ariana grabbed hold as hard as she could. "I'm going to get you out of here".

Cassie began to run out of the lab with Amelia piggybacking on her back, completely missing Molly as she hid out sight behind the operating table. She had to inform the others about what she had seen and heard, and she knew they would be more inclined to believe her if Amelia could back up her stories too…

As Lexi came back to, she picked herself up off of the floor and rubbed the bruised area of her head. She saw the syringe, now shattered into many glass pieces on the floor and a trail of blood droplets running from where the syringe fell all the way across the lab floor. Lexi cursed her luck and tried to evaluate her options. Amelia would assuredly let the rest of the group know about the lab and Lexi's role in it. An even more bitter realization than the fact that she would be exposed was knowing that Amelia would never forgive her now. Lexi knew her estranged love very well, establishing that she was the type to form long term grudges against those that lie to her. However Lexi could not let her love for Amelia go nearly as easily. She had to try again. She had to make Amelia love her again, no matter what to cost.

"Can you see now?" a voice that Lexi hadn't heard for a long time said as the older man entered the room. "You were one of my most esteemed helpers and even a friend. Yet you let love on a whim cloud your perfect judgement and foresight. Do you see where it has gotten you?"

"Hello again, old man" Lexi replied, an inquisitive look on her face. "Let's not pretend that you haven't made mistakes either. Your short stint with death should be evidence enough to prove that much".

"That may be true" Johnson said, stroking his short white beard. "Many mistakes start with humble intentions. For example, this here lab. I was given the opportunity to develop a cure to death for my country and I did everything within my power to do so within the confines of morality. But because of this lab, I may be responsible for all of those abominations that walk the grounds".

"If you're looking for my help again, I'm not interested" Lexi interrupted, as Johnson gave the girl a puzzled look. "The only thing that matters to me now is surviving this with Amelia by my side".

"If we work together again as partners, we would be able to accomplish both of those things" Johnson replied, his wise grey eyes perceiving what one of his favorite inmates may retort with. "There was a reason that I let you be even after you left your post, and that is because I have a great deal of respect for you. I only ask that you help me yet again".

"If you promise me that you'll help me win over Amelia again, I might consider it" Lexi replied, think her situation over more and realizing that she was quickly running out of allies.

"I can promise you that" Johnson said, shaking Lexi's outstretched hand. "I also promise that we will try to save as many of the surviving inmates as we can. There will be losses of course, but I can guarantee that I will keep all of the ones who can function in society alive".

"Alright then, let's get back to work old friend" Lexi replied, following the police chief out of the room…

Later on that morning… Prison Basement Cell Block Girl's Wing

Alice was the first to stir as the cold winter air circulating through the dark prison confines painted a stark contrast to the bright light of sunrise flowing through the thin cell windows.

"Robby?" Alice whispered, giving Robin a nudge but not getting any response.

Robin was still embracing Adam in a bear hug as he slept beside her. Her long chest length light brown hair was strewn messily all over the bed and pale skin seemed to almost naturally match that of the ethnically British teen. Seeing Robin so peaceful made Alice happy, but she resisted the urge to wake them up as she climbed out of bed and headed out into the hallway. She wanted to see if anyone else was awake.

"We think today is going to be special" Alice said as she wandered the vacant grey hallway with childish optimism.

From down the hallway, she saw a familiar face come out from her cell and approached her. Maybe she wanted to play a game? As Ai slowly walked towards her, Alice noticed that she must really like to play games too because of all of the fun liquid all over her clothes. Alice only grew concerned when she looked into Ai's eyes and saw the same sort of eyes her parents used to have when they played with her…

A shrill noise awoke Robin from her slumber, cold sweat on her forehead.

"Robby!" Alice's screams shrieked from across the hallway.

"Alice!" Robin screamed in a panic before rolling over and shaking Adam. "Adam! Wake up!"

"Ughh… watch how you shake me" Adam complained. "You're making me burn scar sting".

"There's no time Adam!" Robin said in a panic. "Someone has Alice!"

Immediately realizing the severity of what was happening, Robin and Adam grabbed their equipment as quickly as they could and dashed towards the source of the noise. The pair followed the screams down the hallway, up the stairs and into the main corridor. Once on the ground level, Robin could finally see the kidnaps' culprit.

"Here she is Molly" Ai said as she smacked Alice in the head to knock her unconscious before handing her off to Molly.

"How dare you hit her!" Robin snarled as she raised her giant wooden pike and charged towards Ai.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" Ai cackled. "Take another step and Molly will kill Alice with her own knife".

"What the hell are you doing Ai?!" Adam yelled. "Have you lost your damn mind?"

"No Adam, I'm more aware now than ever" Ai hissed. "I know now how you were always undermining my true love for Denise and how everyone else in the group thought of me. You being friends with that filth is proof!"

"Stop this nonsense Ai!" Adam yelled. "We both know this isn't the real you. Let me help you!"

"Screw helping her!" Robin interrupted. "Hitting Alice like that is your death sentence!"

"Take her back to the lab and wait for me there" Ai ordered as Molly carried Alice out of the hole in the wall and towards the lab outside the prison's confines. "Now that she is out of the way, I do have business with you two swine".

"You must be a fool if you think you can kill us both alone" Robin laughed.

"Robin, keep it together" Adam whispered. "We need to focus on dealing with her as quickly as possible".

"Oh, I'm not alone!" Ai retorted with a maniacal laugh. "My eternal flower should be here any time now!"

"She's completely lost it Adam" Robin whispered to the rebellious teen. "I know you were found of her once, but we have to kill her if she's totally lost it".

"I know" Adam said, his grip tightening around his metal staff. "We'll do what needs to be done. Let's attack on three. One… two…"

Before Adam could reach three, a loud cracking sound echoed through the corridor. The pile of corpses that had sealed off the entrance to the facility was beginning to crumble down as a force outside the prison tried to push through them.

"Oh no!" Robin cried out. "The wall!"

In quick time, the powerful undead outside had ripped through the corpse wall as a red mist of blood soaked its shiny new metallic appendages. The best then ran to its master's side at the press of Ai's remote, causing the building's shaky foundation to rock with every step it took.

"Oh god…" Adam murmured in horror. "What did they do to you Denise?"

"Behold the perfection of my undead bride!" Ai proclaimed with a twisted look on her face. "Surrender now and I'll make your death quick".

Robin turned to Adam, who looked to be petrified with fear. Taking his hand and shaking it to grab the jet black haired teen's attention, the girl gave him a reassuring look.

"We're in this together, ok?" Robin soothed. "I need your help now. This isn't a fight that I can win by myself".

"Ok... we can do this!" Adam proclaimed, hoping to convince Robin but still feeling some doubt.

"One more thing Adam" Robin whispered as the undead monstrosity started to march closer. "If I don't live through this, will you take care of Alice?"

"You know I would" Adam responded. "But you can be damn sure I won't let you die either".

"Now there's the Adam I know" Robin whispered back.

Ai dashed quickly behind Denise's undead husk, pressing her remote again. As she did, the blades sprang forth from the monster's armor and its helmet quickly followed suit. Letting out a vicious howl, Robin charged towards the two monsters as Adam followed closely behind…

The Tunnel Leading to the Underground Lab…

Alice's eyes opened as she felt she was being dragged by one of her arms down a long smooth downward sloping hallway. Her head was still ringing and she could feel a thick stream of fun liquid slowly rolling down her forehead and over her mouth. She gleamed with a wide smile, reminded of how her lovely parents used to have similar fun with her back before the fun she gave them made them fall asleep. As Alice glanced from side to side, it seemed that Molly was not aware that they had woken back up. Out of the corner of her eye Alice noticed something metallic gleaming from the corridor's faint light. Alice's eyes sparked up with enthusiastic delight as she realized that the item in Molly's pocket was a knife.

Almost instinctually, Molly looked back and saw Alice eying the knife. However she could not stop Alice as she ripped one of her hands free from Molly's weak grip. Alice snatched the knife and cut horizontally across Molly's chest in one fell swoop using the momentum from her spinning fall to the ground. As Alice quickly got up from the ground and brandished the blade Robin had given to her, Molly's hand tried to stop the blood from flowing out of the deep cut across he chest. However, Molly soon realized that the effort was in vain and slowly started to back away from Alice in an effort to reach her machine. The crazed look of madness crossed with one of bloodlust washed over Alice's features as she sprinted towards Molly with her knife raised.

Realizing that she had no chance trying to run away, Molly flipped up her homemade shotgun and took aim. She pulled the trigger and loosed a barrage of metal shrapnel at the girl. However the short stature of Molly's assailant coupled with an instinctual roll from the pursuer meant that the spray of shrapnel missed its mark by a wide margin. As Molly realized that she had missed, she flipped the handle of the weapon and wielded it like a club. As Alice was within striking distance of Molly, she lunged out at her captor. Molly attempted to parry the strike with a swing of her own weapon, but her strike was immediately overpowered by the small girl's stab. For a moment, Molly felt no pain as the cold steel slid into her chest. However soon the pain of dying set in. Falling off of the blade and onto her back, Molly looked behind her to see that she was not too far from her workbench. She tried to crawl towards it, leaving a trail of thick red crimson in its wake that Alice slowly walked behind.

Molly nearly made it to the operating tables with her last breath, but even she knew that Alice would just kill her even if she made it. As Alice walked up to Molly to finish the kill, the defeated genius looked forward and tried to make sense of her life.

"Even though every friend I've had has betrayed, why do I long for that compassionate warmth now of all time?" Molly muttered, blood starting to trickle from her mouth when she spoke.

"Why did you do it to us?" Alice asked. "We never did anything to you? Why hurt Robby and we?"

"Johnson and I thought that you'd never be able to function in a rebuilt society" Molly answered. "Who knows… maybe I was wrong…"

As Molly's eyes slowly closed and she drew in her last breaths, Alice plunged her knife into the back of Molly's head like Robin had taught her to do. Alice looked ahead of her at the laboratory and all of its victims in the vats of liquids. A slight unease overcame her, filling her with a feeling that she had been to this place before. This feeling made the young girl very uncomfortable as she backed away from the lab. However, she was startled to hear footsteps coming from behind her. Thinking that it could be someone coming to make sure Molly finished the job, Alice quietly hid away in one of the dark corners of the lab. She heard a trio of figures enter the lab, not recognizing any of them as Robin or Adam. Not wanting to have to confront the three figures and worried about Robin, Alice quietly slipped out the shadows while no one was watching and scurried back up the tunnel which she had been drug down…

"Did either of you two hear anything?" Ariana asked, thinking that she heard light footsteps but not seeing anyone when she turned around.

"Nope" Raul answered. "We should move carefully though. There are so many experimental pods in here. Who was funding these experiments? Wait, is that…"

"Molly!" Ichihiki yelled as he ran to Molly's maimed figure, sliding to his knees and checking the girl for a pulse. "She's dead…"

Suddenly the sound of mechanically powered machinery steaming filled the room and a pod amongst the ones on the wall began to open. As the liquid inside the pod drained, a figure with lifeless pale skin emerged gripping his head.

"Ugh… I have the worst headache" Kurt said, his glowing red eyes eventually fixing on Molly, Raul and Ichihiki. "The last thing I remember was fighting against that Bradley person and then…"

Kurt's skin was a grey pigmentation that was similar to the undead in its color but it was not decaying or festering at all making it otherwise appear human. The only aesthetic differences Kurt had from the typical human were his glowing red eyes and a circular device that was affixed to the back of his neck. Kurt felt the device on the back of his neck and noticed the difference in the skin color of his arms. He also felt a deep hunger within himself that he could suppress but was constantly in the back of his mind.

"Kurt?" Raul exclaimed, slowly walking towards the man with Ariana close behind him. "What happened to you?"

"That's a fantastic question" Kurt joked. "I wish I had an answer. One second I'm fighting that Bradley guy and he blows himself up, then the next second I'm here. How long has it been since you've seen me?"

"It's been three months!" Raul gawked. "I thought you were dead!"

"I feel sort of dead..." Kurt observed. "In fact I… don't seem to have a pulse at all…"

"Y...you don't want to eat us, right?" Ariana asked, still cowering behind Raul.

"Well, now that you mention it I am a little hungry" Kurt stated dryly, to which Raul gave a dead eyed look. "What? Am I not allowed to joke or something?"

"That is because you are now a degenerate you murderer" Ichihiki snarled, weapon in hand.

"Degena who now?" Kurt asked. "You can't just be throwing out terms with no context".

"I call the finished products of this lab degenerates" Ichihiki explained. "They are beings who have cheated death by becoming infected with the same virus as those monsters outside, but have filters installed into the back of their head to clean the blood that reaches the brain of the portion of the virus that would deteriorate it. Thus the user gains better hearing, has unlimited stamina and loses some visual faculty like an undead while also retaining the ability to think and the sense of self of a human".

"Whoa, seriously!" Kurt proclaimed. "So I guess Amelia or Lexi did this to me. Neat".

"Drop the charade you degenerate" Ichihiki shouted. "I know either you or one of your buddies just killed Molly!"

"Let's not jump to conclusions Ichihiki!" Raul protested. "We just saw him come out of the test tube. I couldn't have been his fault".

"How could it not be him?" Ichihiki yelled as he pointed. "The sword he used to do it are right there!"

When Kurt looked to where Ichihiki pointed, he saw the sword that had previously been used by Bradley sitting a pile of gore.

"Well how about that?" Kurt replied in a resigned matter.

"Ichihiki, wait!" Raul exclaimed. "If you look at Molly's body, the cuts and stabs are shallow. That means she was probably attacked by someone with knives. If Kurt had used that sword, he would have cleaved her in half or at least left deeper cuts".

"Still, doesn't your friend Lexi use knives?" Ichihiki angrily replied. "Guilt by association is good enough of for me, especially given that Molly and I were close".

"Ichihiki, please don't fight!" Ariana begged. "You'll both just get hurt!"

"Are you going to start sympathizing with monsters now?" Ichihiki howled. "I thought we came down to this lab to destroy it!"

"I'm not going to destroy it if the people inside these capsules can still think and feel!" Ariana yelled back.

"She has a point you know" Raul replied, the most level headed of the group currently. "We should at least screen each of these people before we decide if they are sane or not".

"Fine!" Ichihiki growled. "If you useless fools can't see how dangerous he is, then I will kill him alone!"

"It sounds like you want to tango big man" Kurt said sarcastically as he picked up the bloody sword. "Try not to bore me…"

"No!" Ariana screamed, trying to intervene and stop the fight.

"Stay back Ariana" Raul yelled, pulling Ariana back. "I can't have you getting hurt too".

As Kurt charged at Ichihiki with broadsword in hand, Ichihiki began to start the rotation of his chain and flail. Ichihiki's weapon built momentum as it rotated, with Ichihiki masterfully guiding the chain's length as he swung it. Kurt nonchalantly walked towards his enemy, batting and parrying the strikes from Ichihiki's hook end and bola end.

As Kurt walked forward, he found a metal piece of medical waste. Scooping it up, Kurt threw the item at Ichihiki while his back was turned at he spun. Ichihiki was able to perceive the thrown weapon as it spiraled towards him, masterfully dodging with a spin to the right while also jumping over his own revolving chains in order to maintain their momentum. It seemed that the combatants were very evenly matched as each fighter settled into the bout and started analyzing the opponent's strategy. Ichihiki was able to successfully keep Kurt at arm's length with his ranged swinging barrage, but the combination of Kurt's serviceable parries and high strength meant that none of Ichihiki's probing strikes were able to break through Kurt's staunch defense.

Ichihiki braced himself for a long drawn out battle, unable to get a good read on Kurt's unconventional technique and hoping his relentless martial barrage would win him the day. However Kurt becoming a degenerate would afford him with as much stamina as he needs, making that an extremely difficult proposition for Ichihiki. Kurt on the other hand was a deeply analytical combatant and was starting to see a pattern in some of Ichihiki's rotational attacks. He just needed to find a way to exploit it.

Ichihiki swung the bolo side of his chain flail out towards Kurt, who was able to position his sword so that the chain the bolo was attached to would coil around it. With that end of the chain stopped, Kurt was able to use all of his strength to swing his sword away from Ichihiki and tug his opponent in the opposite direction. As Ichihiki was off balanced, Kurt removed his blade from the chain's coil and slashed at the chain with all of his force. The chain shattered under the weight of the strike, leaving Ichihiki with half of his weapon. Ichihiki reeled back before using his hook chain to grapple from the machinery on the ceiling and get the drop on Kurt below. However Kurt to one of the pods and used his parkour skill to jump off of it towards Ichihiki. The two traded strikes in the air and landed on the ground. As Kurt looked down he noticed that Ichihiki's hook was sticking in his side. However, when he looked over to Ichihiki to see if he would pull it or not, he realized that his midair sword slash had chopped Ichihiki in half. Ichihiki was dead before he even hit the floor.

"Well, I'm bored again" Kurt said, without much care.

However, as Kurt stood up he heard clapping applause from the shadows that appeared to be getting closer. Soon an older figure and his Native American ally emerged from the shadows.

"Impressive" Johnson stated. "Most impressive indeed"…

To Be Concluded…

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I would go into more detail on the three characters that died, but at this point I just want to publish the chapter so you'll hear my reasoning next chapter. Please be sure to leave a review with your thoughts on the chapter.

Until next time everyone! This is Lazersword88 signing out. See you at the finale…