FSE

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New to the story? If so, please read the previous parts first! At this point, you REALLY should! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~CHAPTER 24~~~

I wearily opened one eye, and saw that it was already morning time. I slowly raised my head up and hoped that my neck wasn't stiff from sleeping on the ground, but thankfully that wasn't an issue.

The reason being, I looked down and saw Kyla right underneath me, still asleep on the ground, and realized that I had been cuddling her throughout the night like a makeshift pillow. Not that she necessarily minded, if the look on her face was any indication. Despite the horrific events that plagued the two of us the day before, she seemed perfectly at peace as she slept, while I felt like I hadn't gotten any sleep at all.

You lost a teammate, one of my own teammates sacrificed his life for yours, and you almost lost me numerous times... And you can still sleep soundly at the end of the day with hope in your heart? Hope that you draw from ME of all people, who has almost none for himself?

Damn... You're something else, Kyla Briggs...

Her peaceful serenity reminded me of the aftermath of the first night of our short-lived relationship, which now seemed like it had happened such a long time ago. The relief I had felt that she was alive... The amazing sex... Even the pillow-talk that came after was just so beautiful. But the very end, where I lay in bed with her draped over my chest fast asleep, idly rubbing my fingers through the fur on her back and just letting everything that had happened between us really sink in... THAT was the real icing on the cake. Every one of my misfortunes accumulated over the prior months simultaneously melted away in that one instant, and every hole in my heart had been filled with her smiling face.

It was good to have been loved again. And even if things were different and more complicated at the moment, at least _that_hadn't changed.

I smiled at those fond memories as I brushed a few strands of her blue hair away from her left eye, which was enough to gently rouse her from her slumber with a smile of her own. The two of us slowly climbed off of each other and sat up against the rocks protruding from the ground. But as I moved myself around, trying to get comfortable, I noticed that Cali was nowhere in sight. I remembered that she was way more active in the mornings than I was, and thus chalked her sudden disappearance up to her not wanting to wake us up. A nice gesture, but I would've preferred her company anyway.

Wonder what she's up to...

"Hey, you. Sleep well?" Kyla asked sweetly, turning my attention away from my thoughts.

"Not really" I replied truthfully. "I mean, I can't say that sleeping with you and Cali by my side is a BAD thing, but I guess sleeping soundly for even one night is impossible in a situation like this. It's gonna take a while for what happened yesterday to stop haunting me."

"I know... Nobody said it'd be easy. But speaking of Cali, where'd she go?" Kyla asked while looking around for the redhead.

"Knowing her, she's probably off doing something productive" I replied. "Unlike me, she's an early bird."

"Heh, I'm not. I HATE morning people" Kyla said. "Not the ones that can just wake up and be active; I mean the ones that rub it in your face and make you want to strangle them. Like the early-morning English professor I had back in the day... You know the type, right?"

"Sadly, I do. Had a teacher like that myself" I chuckled. "Wonder what he'd say if he could see me majoring in zombie killing instead of mechanical engineering?"

Kyla laughed at my lame joke as she pointed to another rock formation close to where we were. "Well, I'm gonna go behind those rocks over there for some, uh_, private time_. You go find Cali and find out what everyone else is up to. I've got a feeling we're not staying in the middle of the desert for too long."

"Will do" I replied as we went our separate ways.

~~~

It didn't take me very long to find Cali near the base camp chatting with Harry about something. I wasn't able to pick up on their conversation, however, because he teleported away before giving Cali a friendly pat on the back. I almost thought it was because he saw me coming, but it was actually because a hybrid I didn't recognize waved at him to help prepare for the next battle. He re-materialized right next to the hybrid and they both walked off to wherever they needed to go. Cali stood still as she watched him walk away, until I finally caught up to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey... Where were you?"

She took a second before answering. "Oh, I woke up a little earlier than you and Kyla and didn't want to disturb you two, that's all. You looked pretty... comfortable, so I figured I'd give you some extra snoozing time. I just went for an early-morning walk, to, uh... clear my head."

It appeared that I was right about her reason for ditching us, but I couldn't help notice her tone was off. Not 'off' in a blatantly bad way, but in a way that concerned me nevertheless.

"Umm, okaaay..." I replied.

She idly watched several other hybrids in the background all going about their own business, but it seemed to me like she was having trouble looking me in the eye as the conversation went on. "Yeah, that's all. I just... I just have a lot on my mind right now, with everything that's going on. And we've all probably got a lot of work to do before we move out, so..."

You're not very good at this, Cali...

"Cali, I know you playfully call me 'dumb' all the time, but I'm not. Something's obviously bothering you. You can tell me, you know that."

She sighed deeply and stared at the ground, confirming my suspicion with her lack of a response. But one second later, Cali abruptly snapped right back up and grabbed my wrist, though what came after that was... strange. All at once, my vision suddenly blurred up and an unintelligible vacuum-like sound filled my ears, all while giving me the sensation that I was falling off of a building again, only at a much, MUCH faster speed. But as quickly as it began, it ended. And as my vision swiftly returned to normal, I saw that the two of us were in a completely different place than before, with small wisps of black smoke floating around us.

Then it clicked; Cali had just teleported the two of us somewhere, most likely away from everyone else.

So dizzy... stop the spinning please...

...Okay, all better now...

"Whoa... That was trippy... Is it like that for you every time?" I asked her as the hollow echoing left my ears. "My senses don't blur when I use my super speed, but I've never felt anything like THAT before."

She simply shrugged, unsure of how to describe superpowers she herself still didn't even fully understand. "You just get used to it after a while. I don't even notice it anymore."

Gently taking hold of her shoulders, I changed the subject back to my concerns. "So now that we're alone, please tell me what's bothering you, Cali."

I knew she saw the concern in my eyes and wasn't thinking about lying to me or anything, but I could tell she also didn't know how to say what she was going to say without offending me.

"It's not that something's bothering me, per se, but it's just that there's something that's been on my mind for a while and some... recent events made me think about it more and more. Remember way back when you told me why you love Kyla; that because she pulled you out of your stupor of pity and loneliness when you thought I was dead?"

I hated conversations that started like this, but I knew one was inevitable sooner or later. "Yeah..." I slowly replied.

"And remember how I said that I understood why you feel the way you do?"

"Y-Yeah..." I answered again, trying not to jump to conclusions about what she'd say next.

Cali's brow furrowed; she was still trying very hard to choose her words. "Well, it's still true and everything, don't get me wrong. But... I've been thinking lately, and I just feel like I understand the why, but not the how. I guess what I'm really asking is---"

"You want to know how SHE compares to YOU" I determined. "That's it, right?"

Once again, her lack of a response acted as a silent 'yes.'

I... I had no idea you were feeling so insecure about the three of us. But oh God, the TIMING...

"Cali... Why suddenly bring this up now? I mean, we've got a huge fight coming up, you know that. We should be focusing on_surviving_ long enough to figure this whole thing out."

"Yes, yes, I KNOW we do" she answered truthfully. "But I can't help it, Greg. Look, I DO like Kyla, even if we're both competing against each other for you. She's like the sister I never had, but always wanted. The thing is, though... Me and her are very different from one another. Not so much in appearance or interests; we're both supposed to be half-leopardess, I guess, and we're both VERY interested in YOU. But we're different in personality. Don't deny it; I've seen how you are when you're with her, and ever since we left the base to finish this fight, it's like she makes you happier than I seem to most of the time. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I'm just not so sure right now."

That whole speech hit me like a tank. "What do you mean 'she makes me happier than you do?' You BOTH make me happy! Even WITH the love-triangle! You two are literally the only reasons why I haven't gone completely insane from this fucking apocalypse. This whole ordeal has screwed with my emotions nine ways to Sunday, so of course I'm going to lean more towards one than the other at times. And that's why, to repeat myself, I'd rather sort my feelings out AFTER the life-and-death stuff is over!"

Cali studied me carefully as I talked, trying to gage if my words were genuine. But in the end, she didn't look as convinced of my sincerity as I'd hoped she would be. "I meant it back when I said I would accept your decision, whatever it was, but I guess I never considered how it would make me feel if the answer was constantly being rubbed in my face. I saw you this morning with your arms wrapped around her like you never wanted to let go, and I heard that little talk the two of you had last night. I wasn't as asleep as you thought I was."

And that little revelation hit me like TWO tanks.

"What was it you said to her? 'As long as you're here with me, it'll always be okay?'"

Now_I_ was the one unable to respond, which probably didn't earn me any favors with my original girlfriend. "Just answer my question, Greg" she continued regardless. "How does Kyla compare to me, in your honest opinion?"

My mind was reeling from trying to process all the bombs Cali was dropping on me, which made it hard to explain things from my point of view. "It's hard to describe, really... But, let me try to put like this. When you and I met, we happened to bond so closely over similar interests, personalities, and things like that, plus the mutual attraction was strong right off the bat. But with Kyla, it was a different kind of attraction. When you and I went to that club in the first place, we both went in with friends, just looking to have a good time and not necessarily expecting to meet someone special. Me and Kyla, though... we both had large voids in our lives that needed to be filled ever since Z-Day. She wanted to have something resembling a family again, and I just... needed to learn to accept things as they were and let you go. And in the end, we both got what we needed."

I was worried how Cali would react at the thought of me trying to move on from her when I thought she was dead, but luckily it didn't seem to cause any problems.

"So in the long run, we bonded so well because we both hit a low point in our lives, and we both understood what the other was feeling and what the other needed. Tragedy brought us together, tragedy established our relationship, and tragedy strengthened it to the same level as the one you and I had. It's not an_ideal_ way to fall in love, but it's exactly what happened to us."

"So what are you trying to say?" Cali asked.

Suddenly, the answer seemed to become very clear. "I... I guess what I'm trying to say is that me and her are... kindred spirits."

However, I immediately regretted my choice of words upon seeing Cali's melancholic reaction.

"You mean like soulmates..." she mumbled.

"I didn't say soulmates, YOU did."

"But you're THINKING it!"

"I am not! I'm trying to think of... of..."

As I kept trying to think of something to say to rectify the situation, I tried flashing back to every moment I spent with both girls at the same time, wanting to see if what Cali was telling me was true. But inadvertently, when I focused on the events of yesterday, I remembered two small facts that suddenly began to make much more sense, given Cali's assumption.

When Isaac had kicked me off the roof during our fight and I thought I was falling to my death, my mind could only focus on Kyla. It could've been Cali, or it could've been both of them, but it wasn't. And ironically, Kyla appeared out of nowhere and saved my life right in the nick of time. I realized this back then, after taking a quick second to physically and mentally catch my breath, but I was immediately forced to drop the subject and focus on the fight.

And then... The last thing Francis told us before he died;

'I always had a good feeling about you two, even after Cali came back...'

Dammit, even HE thought me and Kyla should be together! He; the brutally honest one who never once talked about his own past love life, if there even was one, was agreeing with what my subconscious seemed to be telling me with his dying words.

Does this mean I... love Kyla more than Cali?

Is... Is Kyla the one after all? My... Soulmate?

Or was I severely overthinking this? Was it not a matter of subconscious desire as much as the circumstances of the situation overtaking me? I remembered how I wished I had gone back to my friends as I fell to the ground; specifically back to Kyla because she, like me yesterday, needed comforting over losing someone. And as it seemed death was getting closer and closer, it was possible that my thoughts became solely fixated on her simply because she was the most prevalent person in my head at the time. Logically, if it had been Cali grieving over Ross and not Kyla, then I probably would've wanted to go to her and make her feel better. As for what Francis said, those were just his opinions... How could he even BEGIN to understand what was going on in my head?

I mean, that DOES explain things from a logical standpoint...

But what if it's true and I'm just denying it? And if Kyla IS my one, true soulmate, what does that make Cali? I don't want to break her heart!

The truth was, I had no conceivable way to end this conversation in my favor. And it looked like Cali knew it. "Okay, um... I need to get back now. I... I think we're done here" she said while staring at the ground.

She abruptly turned and started to walk back to the rest of our team, not even bothering to teleport the two of us back. I kept sputtering as she walked, trying desperately to find my words. "Wait, don't leave, I just..."

"Greg, just stop."

"No, I didn't mean---"

"Yes you did, I can take a hint."

Dammit, why won't she just LISTEN?

Crap, I need to pull out the big gun here...

I sighed deeply. "Caroline, WAIT. Just listen to me, please!"

She stopped dead in her tracks, and slowly turned back around as I caught up to her. "Oh, you must be REALLY desperate if you're going THERE, Greg" she said with a small fake smile.

"Well, yeah, of course I'm desperate!" I replied, almost frantically. "You're not getting what I'm trying to say, so how else can I get you to listen to me!?"

It had been a while since I'd addressed Cali by her actual birth name, since I only did so when I REALLY needed to get her attention in an argument. Not even on Z-Day, since I could barely even think straight that day. She had legally changed her name to 'Cali' when she turned sixteen; a small fact I only found out about from her little brother who loved nothing more than getting on her nerves. It didn't matter to me back then or right now, though. To me, she'd always be Cali, despite what her birth certificate said.

"Please... Just listen to me..."

I beg of you, don't let it end like this...

She took a long breath, trying her hardest to calm herself down for both of our sakes. "Greg... Sometimes it's still hard for me to roll with all this, remember? As far as I was concerned, three weeks ago, we were studying for midterms. And now, this..."

I gently took her hands in my own. "I know. But look, Caro--- Cali... This isn't the time for us to have 'the talk.' But for now, I need you to know that you are not second-best. It doesn't matter what me and Kyla are; soulmates or otherwise, you and me are still SOMETHING. Something strong. Something beautiful... Something that I would fight and kill for."

Please, Cali... I honestly can't think of anything else to say here...

After a long minute of silence, she finally seemed to be taking my words to heart. "You really feel that way, don't you? Even if you choose her over me, you'll always feel that way about me, huh?"

"Of course I will" I replied. "One way or another, I will always love you."

She sighed deeply, finally at ease with herself and with me. "Okay. You're right; we'll figure all this out later. After we've kicked OGD's ass and go home happy. Me, you, and Kyla. But for now, I just need you to do me one small favor. And don't worry; this has nothing to do with relationships."

"Anything."

Her sorrowful expression shifted to a sheepish grin, much to my immediate relief. "Would you mind terribly making me a set of armor, like how you did for everyone else? I was also thinking earlier that I really don't want to use that OGD suit while fighting anymore... I want them to see which side I'm really on, clear as day."

It was an obvious attempt on her part to immediately change the subject to something that didn't involve making difficult lifelong decisions, but I didn't care. I smiled and wrapped my arm around her shoulder, simply glad that the Cali I knew and loved was back. Whether it was just an act for my benefit or not, all I wanted was for her and I to laugh and get along with each other like we always had.

No matter what would happen between us in the present and the future, that was ALL I wanted to remain the same.

"Come on, there should be some junk around here I can use."

She reached up and pecked me on the cheek. "Thank you, Greg. But if you let anyone know my name was freaking Caroline, I'll break your face."

~~~

Sure enough, it took less time than I thought to scavenge some discarded materials, and then separate and purify the metallic components. I formed them into a block like I always did, roughly a cubic foot and a half in volume. Like making my new sword yesterday, I felt that though it was something I'd done hundreds of times before, this time in particular just felt more impacting. I made a suit of armor for every one of my brothers in arms, but this one was for Cali. Like Kyla's suit, this one would be special.

I held the cube outwards and instructed Cali to place her own hands on it. "Just keep your hands on top of mine, and keep your arms perfectly outstretched. When I start molding the armor around you, it's gonna feel a little weird, though. It doesn't hurt or anything, but just don't freak out... You know, because it's gonna be covering most of your body and all... There's really no way I can describe it."

"Heh, every day's felt a little weird for me so far" she chuckled. "I doubt this'll be any different."

Thank God Harry's not here to make a horribly inappropriate joke or something right now...

"Yeah... you hold onto that thought. Because whatever you do, you can NOT move until it's over. I know from personal experience that doing so can be... problematic. Ready?" I asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be" she replied.

I took a deep breath and readied my mind for the process. "All right then, let's begin."

At once, the cube slowly began to melt apart where Cali's hands were, becoming aqueous enough to begin encasing her hands and creeping along her arms towards her chest. Her expression immediately changed to a mixture of confusion, awe, and slight discomfort, and whereas my mind was solely focused on my work and not making any mistakes, Cali's was most likely swimming with activity.

As soon as the block was depleted, I shifted Cali's metal-coated hands to hold mine, as physical contact with the material was an absolute MUST at this point. If I had suddenly broken that contact with the liquid metal, it would've instantly regressed back to its previously solid state and make things very uncomfortable for Cali. A thick layer of the material covered not only her hands, but her entire body from neck to toe. She looked almost like a female Silver Surfer, albeit a very fascinated and simultaneously creeped out one.

I couldn't help but chuckle, seeing her like that. "You okay?"

"Umm... Yeah, I guess..." she replied with unease.

"Don't worry, the worst is over" I reassured her. "Now comes the cool part."

With only a single mental image and a single thought required from me, the coat of liquid metal surrounding Cali began to mold itself into the armor; hardening into separate pieces around her joints and vital areas while leaving enough room for ease of movement. The arm and leg bracers, being the smallest, finished first, while the chest plate took nearly twice as long. I scanned my thoughts to precisely shape the armor into the form I had in mind, focusing on something different than what I normally created. Cali turned her head every which way to watch the process as it drew to a close, with her uneasiness rapidly fading away. And after only another half a minute, it was done. The entire block had been reshaped into exactly what I had in mind, and the results looked quite promising.

"And that's that" I smiled as I let go of her hands. "One last suit of armor, ready to go."

I took a step back and admired my original girlfriend, now clad in the shining, metallic armor. I had made her suit especially sleek and angular as to make her faster, unlike other suits I had made for the bigger hybrids with the goal of shrugging off hits in mind. Most of the other suits were balanced between speed and protection, my own included, but Cali's acrobatic abilities proved to be very valuable in our fights yesterday and thus required a lightweight, angular design like her OGD suit had. Aside from that one major difference, her new armor contained the usual set of shin, leg, torso, arm and shoulder plating like mine had from the very beginning. Like Kyla's, it was armor that reflected beauty as well as ferocity thanks to my personal touches in making it more feminine in appearance.

The OGD suits were definitely more intimidating, I had to give them that, but mine were way more 'humane,' so to speak. Ironic, considering we weren't exactly human, but the point stood that these suits better portrayed us as the good guys in this war. 'The shining knights of Human Advancements.'

"So, uh... What do you think? Do you like it? Does it fit well?" I asked Cali.

She did a few stretches and motions to ensure nothing was uncomfortable for her, and shot several fireballs into the air to see if it would make her gauntlets melt. Fortunately, I had taken that into special consideration for her, as I did with Harry and all our other pyrokinetic allies. I was also concerned that her secondary oleokinetic ability would damage her armor in some way, which I couldn't do anything about at all, but this proved to be a non-issue as well. Overall, everything worked as well as it should've for Cali, and she looked very pleased with the results in both fashion and function. Especially fashion, it seemed, as she sarcastically asked me if the armor came with a regenerating Energy Shield.

"Hardee-ha-HA" I responded in kind. "So I'm not very original sometimes... Can't blame my subconscious mind for taking a few liberties, can you?"

"Hehe, I guess not" she replied. "But as much as I like this little upgrade... I take it back; when you were doing your ferro-whatever thing, it really WAS the weirdest feeling I've ever felt. No lie. I don't know how it doesn't bother you."

I smiled and repeated her words from earlier; "You just get used to it after a while. I don't even notice it anymore."

~~~

"No. No way. Find someone else."

"Greg, you need to. They need you to, since you're the only one left!"

"I am NOT the only team leader left, Harry!"

"You're the only leader left who can TALK, Greg" Smith chimed in. "We've lost almost half of our forces, most of them being the better soldiers, so morale is REALLY low right now. But you're one of the best, if not the best of us all. They'll listen if you talk."

Reeeally? I'm the best hybrid soldier, Smith? I can run really fast and I've got a big sword, how does that make ME the best?

"If you're gonna butter me up, you're going to have to try harder" I retorted.

After fitting Cali with her armor and walking back over to where everyone else was, the guys had begun hounding me to talk to everyone else and rally them for the final fight against OGD. A decent request to ask of me, HAC's original 'knight in shining armor,' because as Smith already pointed out, spirits were low across the board. We were as ready for the advanced zombies as we could've been, but nobody could've guessed that those zombies were ready for US.

Because having a twisted, corrupted hybrid pulling their strings was a real game-changer...

We were made the way we were to fight against the undead; it was what we were good_at. And THAT was the problem. We had expected heavy undead resistance, but we all knew in the back of our minds that they were still _just zombies. Stronger, faster, but still the mindless automatons we had spent months dispatching in the streets of decrepit cities. Maybe some of us were overconfident... Maybe some of us couldn't adapt to the zombies' increased intelligence well enough... Or maybe some of us just burned themselves out yesterday and had no fight left in them for today.

Regardless of the reason, my friends seemed to believe that I was the only one capable of rallying our group for the final confrontation with OGD. Not Harry the optimistic, energetic one, and not Smith, the OGD agent-turned-spy with valuable inside information. No, it was the duty of Greg, the moody one who traded PTSD for unexpected girlfriend issues.

But what choice did I have? Despite my attempts to brush Harry and Smith off, I knew in the back of my mind that I needed to say something, and that the guys wouldn't have asked me if they weren't sure of it.

Well, it's not as bad as my chat with Cali from earlier... So there's that...

"FINE, I'll say something to everyone before we move out. Happy?"

"Enthralled" Smith replied. "Even if you have to ad-lib the whole thing, just do it for everyone's sake. It's YOUR squad now, Greg. All of them, including Harry and me. We believe in you, and hopefully you can convince everyone to believe in themselves."

"All right... But no promises."

~~~

The morning went by fast as everyone readied themselves for what was to come. I spent my time thinking about what to say, trying to make it sound like a hopeful dream instead of a harsh reality check. Finally, as everyone packed up our supplies into the vehicles and equipped their Omega armor onto one another, I navigated to the front of the pack and grabbed everyone's attention.

"All right everyone, listen up. I'm not very good at giving big, motivational speeches or anything like that, but I'm gonna try. So bear with me."

I quickly gathered my thoughts and, for better or worse, began to speak.

"Look, I get it; we're all tired, worn, and not very optimistic about what's coming up. And I don't blame a single one of you. I mean, how could I? This is almost like a second apocalypse. We used to wake up every morning, spend the day playing furries vs. zombies, and come back at night to sleep. We had a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs, and just enough down-time to actually try and enjoy our lives a little. We didn't have our loved ones or any of the things we enjoyed before the world went to shit, but we had HAC. And we all had each other."

My eyes glanced at Harry, and would've done the same to Francis if he were here. "For some, that was enough to keep them going. Some easily moved on from their normal lives and embraced their new roles in the world. They had been given a gift, and wanted to use it for a good purpose."

Then my gaze shifted to Kyla, and Evan, who was standing right next to her. "For others, HAC was like a new family; one that gave them the love and support that they needed to come to terms with all the changes in their lives. A different kind of gift, but one just as important."

My attention returned to the crowd as a whole. "And a couple of weeks ago, most of that was taken away from us. Taken away from us by an enemy we knew nothing about; an enemy who hates us and wants us dead for absolutely no justifiable reason. They hit us, and they hit us hard... We were pushed to the brink of survival, almost as if it was Z-Day all over again. Actually, scratch that, it WAS Z-Day all over again; people died, everything was destroyed, and it was just horrible. I won't sugar-coat it for you. I... I won't go into detail, but I myself almost went crazy over both what was and what might've been..."

These people don't need to know about my love lives... They've suffered enough...

"But there's one thing that OGD seems to keep forgetting; the fact that we've kicked their ass time and time again! They came to our doorstep, and we drove them back! Our other HAC bases might not have been as lucky, but if we were able to be there for them, then I know things would've been different. And what about OGD's second attack? They had time to prepare, but so did we! And we won that battle without taking any heavy losses because of it! And finally, even though yesterday didn't go as well as we planned, no matter how you look at it, we still won!"

I can't tell them about Isaac... Not yet. They're not ready for it...

"So with all that in mind, the last thing I can say is that despite every disadvantage, despite everything that the universe wants to throw our way, we will_endure_ and we will survive. And we always come out on top. We've come way too far to lose everything now, and there's no way in hell we're going to let the sacrifices we've made have been in vain. We're not only going to fight for what we've gained in this ugly world, or to avenge those who helped us along the way, but so we can keep on_gaining and so we can _help others_along the way. WE want to save the planet, and OGD want to keep it the way it is! We've done a good job of winning our world back from the millions of zombies, so we can _definitely win it back from a fucking pharmaceutical company! The one that we called home may be all but gone, but together we can still make HAC's vision a reality!"

For a few long, awkward seconds, nobody in the crowd said anything. Some stared at me with blank expressions while others simply stared at the ground, unsure of what to think. But then, Harry stepped to the front of the pack and thrust his fist into the air with a huge, almost zealous smile.

"FUCK YEAH, GREG!"

And immediately after, Evan followed suit: "WOO! We can DO IT, Greg! We can DO IT, HAC!"

And one by one, all the other hybrids flared to life and started cheering in unison; "HAC! HAC! HAC! HAC!" They shook their fists in the air, some even jumping up and down with enthusiasm.

Smith nodded in approval and gave me a thumbs-up. Brent fired his arm-cannon into the air, his celebratory gunfire almost resembling fireworks. Kyla blew me a kiss and seemed to mouth out the words 'Good job, stud.' And Cali high-fived Harry as they both began cheering even louder.

I was amazed at what I had started, whether I had really wanted to or not. Regardless, even I was suddenly getting caught up in the moment.

"We will FIGHT! We will WIN! And we will NEVER lose to anybody ever again! BECAUSE WE'RE HUMAN ADVANCEMENTS!!!"

I guess everyone's right... I really AM a true leader!

And for what would be the final time, one way or the other, we set out. We set out to go finish the fight.

~~~

~~

~

And THAT, my friends, is (probably) the last non-actiony, filler chapter. Brace yourselves for the FINAL BATTLE!

And on a side note, after finally beating Survivor Mode Plus, I'd like to say that if The Last of Us came out a year ago, I definitely would've put Clickers in the advanced zombie army :D Not Bloaters, though. There will be no faces getting ripped off in MY story!

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