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Chapter Text

Po's POV

It was one of the few days when it was nice out. There is no overheating weather and a nice lake to enjoy looking at. It felt emptier than usual. Noo Noo wasn't here to greet me this time. He's been gone for a few days, and everyone else has been worried sick. I didn't want to freak out like the rest, but it's been getting to me. It's like a cold chill crawling down my back. I've been so paranoid that something happened to him that I've had less time to think about my siblings. They haven't been taking it well, especially Laa Laa. The lake didn't feel nice to look at anymore, so I had to go home. "Everyone probably misses me," I sighed to myself. Turning away from the beautiful view back to the one place I call home.

"Hey, Po!" Tinky Winky cheerfully ran over to me, nearly trampling me. "Hey, Tinky! I got bored of the lake." "Ohh, well, I've been starving. I was wondering if you could make us some custard." I nodded in response, but he stopped me before I could go to the dome. "Check in on Laa Laa first before we go inside." I guess she's upset again. The three of us noticed she's been more inactive after Noo Noo disappeared. It's gotten to her more than the rest of us. I think I deserve to check in on her. I walked over to Laa Laa, who seemed anxious; she appeared to be shaking a bit. She's not being her happy self right now. "Hey Laa Laa, are you doing okay?" I asked; she nervously looked up at me. "I'm doing alright; I just had a bad nightmare last night. Strangely enough, it was about us and bad things happening, but you weren't there." Huh, that's odd. It must've been a really bad dream, but I'd have to be thankful I wasn't in it. 

"It was just a bad dream; you shouldn't let it get to you. You wanna play?" she shook her head and stared back down at the ground. I guess not. Tinky and I headed inside, where Dipsy was casually sitting on the slide, kicking his feet around. "Hey Dipsy, have you found your hat yet?" he shrugged, "Nope, still missing. I might just give up on finding it." "Oh well, hope you find it soon. I'm gonna go make the custard for the four of us!" I trotted over to the button and turned it on. Then, back to the machine, the thing seemed to have blown a fuse in an attempt to make some custard. "Go get the toolbox, I'm starving!" Tinky whined as he said. I went over to grab the toolbox and brought it back to the custard machine. Fixing the thing back up, new and improved. The rest cheered while I proceeded to get each of their custards.

Before I could get my own, I felt a sense of danger. Making me feel nauseous. I don't think I'll have a bowl today; my stomach is upset again. It's been like this for a few days, annoying the hell out of me. Tinky Winky looked at me, "Aren't you gonna have a bowl, Po?" "Don't worry, I ate earlier. You guys just enjoy your custard." they'd all gone back to slurping down their custard. The feeling had gone away a bit, but it'd be back soon enough. I should enjoy the rest of my day and not worry about anything.

Nighttime had arrived faster than I thought; I couldn't sleep and felt more restless than yesterday. As I was about to close my eyes, someone had gotten up from their bed. Gosh, who's awake this late?? It turned out to be Tinky Winky; he was hovering over the custard machine, not moving an inch. "Tinky- get back to bed. What are you doing?" I groaned, rubbing my eyes and tiredly staring at him. He didn't move, and as I was about to say something again, a loud noise infested my ears. Tinky had broken the machine. I quickly arose from my bed; he seemed to be going somewhere. I rushed for a flashlight, and in a state of panic, I took off without waking the two. "Tinky! Where are you going?!" he didn't stop, I soon lost sight of him. Oh no, no, where could he have gone?! I have to find him. I was stopped by two paths; I might as well just trust my instinct and go left. It felt like I was walking on forever until I stumbled upon a custard. "How did a custard get all the way out here?" I observed the abandoned treat, only to hear a noise that came from the beach. Maybe that's where Tinky Winky is! I ran towards the beach, and he stood ominously still there. 

"C'mon it's late, why are you out here? Are you okay?" I reached out to comfort him but was now faced with a soulless creature. His eyes were all blacked out, a wide, crooked smile took form on his face, and he'd lost his tan color only to be replaced with a shocking silver. My ears began to burn as he released the loudest scream I've ever heard. With not even a word, I started running, and it didn't feel like I had even told myself to run. It was just instinct to get the fuck out of here. I bolted all the way back to the house, expecting to see Dipsy and Laa Laa awake. I reached the house to see Dipsy dead on the floor, his body oozing blood while his head was now far from his body. Something or someone had decapitated him.

 I turned to be faced with Tinky Winky, who'd now been fueled with rage from my sudden flee. He's gonna kill me! I gotta get out of here! He lunged towards me, but I sprinted away before he could grab me. I was getting so dizzy from all this running, but I had to get out of there. I glanced back to see him still chasing after me, my ears only filled with pained screams from Tinky. If it couldn't get much worse, a tree had fallen in my path, fuck! I ran around it and got back on the path; my body was aching. I was numb from running, but I couldn't give up. I was told never to go to the mountains, but it's my only option. The mountains were in my sight, I reached out to it but steered too much attention on it. Only causing me to collapse to the ground. I tried getting back to my feet, but to no avail; Tinky Winky caught up. To only be greeted with him pouncing on me.

Chapter Text

White's POV

I was vigorously awoken by my computer's sudden error noise. I angrily rubbed my eyes to wake myself up; what was happening this damn late?! "Bloody hell..." I hissed, getting up to check out what was going on. I got an eerie feeling from looking at the cameras. The Tubby Dome is empty except for the sight of Dipsy's now-deceased corpse. "W-what- what the actual fuck?!" I scanned through the rest of the cameras, with no sight of the other three. Oh god, what happened?! All I did was try to get some sleep. Now, one of them is dead while the rest are missing! I should try to contact the Satellite Station. In an attempt to contact the Station, the computers went blue screen. 

"Godamnit!" I slammed my fist on the table. "Guess I'm gonna have to find out what's happening myself. I need to get my night vision camera." I walked over to the control room, where the button to open the storage room was. "Locked, gotta fix the pressure real quick." I noticed an extra pipe I had lying around and picked it up for the thing. The control door should be opened once the missing pipe is inserted and a few twists are made. I went over to press the button and soon made my way to the storage room. "There you are," I commented, picking up the night vision camera along with a small, long brown satchel bag. "Now, let's go see what's happened to the four."

The power had suddenly cut once I was almost out of the room. This wasn't supposed to happen. I sensed something walking by, turning on my camera I was faced with an armless figure going by. I hid behind the walls, thinking of a way to avoid contact with this creature. It was facing the wall, so I decided to escape, to be met with more. I have to be careful not to get in the way of these things. I hid behind some of the crates that I left lying around. What was so weird is that they were crying, it was a soft whimper. Maybe to attract tubbies to them? I don't wanna test it out. I quickly rushed out of there before they could notice me. Climbing the ladder and making it to the top, I closed the rock that led into my home.

"I should go to the Tubby Dome; I have to see what happened to Dipsy."

It was quiet out, which made the fur on my body spike. Anything could happen right now. I made my way to the Dome, nobody else in sight except for the remains of Dipsy. I observed his body; a clean cut through his neck must've removed his head. What could've done this? I know they had a chainsaw around for woodworking use, so that probably did this. "I'm so sorry, Dipsy; I should've been awake to prevent this." I painfully tried avoiding looking at his corpse. I caught sight of the custard machine. It was broken. Someone or something had destroyed it. In the distance from the Dome, I noticed something glowing pink up ahead of me. I stumbled towards it; custard? What is it doing all the way out here? I thought the machine was broken. Something seems off about it. Maybe I should keep it. I picked up the custard and placed it in my bag. There's probably more around here; I should go look for them.

Making my way throughout the area, I found two more custards. How the fuck are they getting here? They're scattered everywhere! I ran into another, and while trying to grab it, I heard a blood-curdling scream from afar. "What the fuck-" It sounded close to my area, is that Po? She's still alive! I followed the screaming, terrified of what I was witnessing. Tinky Winky was attacking Po while she fought back against him. It seemed like she was about to give up. My god... there's so much blood... I gotta do something to stop him.

Po's POV

What the fuck is wrong with him?! I suddenly get pounced on by Tinky Winky, and now he's trying to kill me! He's already scratched the shit out of my collarbone area and nearly my face! My arms started getting weaker; he was way stronger than me. I tried pushing him away, but my hand slipped, giving him an opportunity to leave two large marks on my face, blinding me in the process, letting out the loudest scream. With a swift punch from reflexes, I got him nearly off me. But it was no use. I'm gonna die... there's no way I'm gonna get out of this. I almost gave up when I heard something hit Tinky Winky. It was a large rock, but where did it come from?

"Hey! Over here!" a voice from afar rang out. Tinky Winky noticed this and was immediately distracted by it. Giving me time to escape from his grasp. Whoever it was kept throwing things to get him away. I didn't want to let whoever it was get mauled by him next, so I took one of the rocks and threw it at him. Making him confused about who to attack. The tubby who saved me finally came out of the shadows; they had strange white fur and Dipsy's cow leather hat. How did they get that?! And are they wearing pajamas? "C'mon, Po, run for the mountains!" they yelled at me while pointing towards the direction of the mountains. Without hesitation, I started running but looked back at the scene with one unhurt eye. Tinky Winky had somehow had custard on him despite breaking the machine earlier. In a split second, he had turned into an overly large creature with muscles. Attempting to attack the white fluffed tubby but to no avail, they ran in my direction and caught up to me. I was so tired, but I wasn't letting whatever that thing was grab me. We both ran to the mountains until it was all snow. Leaving Tinky Winky behind.

I was out of breath once we stopped; the white guy also seemed to be. I still wondered where they ever got my brother's hat from. It's been missing for more than I can remember. "Are you okay?" they asked, observing me with an uncomfortable look. Besides my eye, which is potentially blind now, and the claw marks, I was fine. "Yeah... yeah, all good. Who are you, and why do you know my name?" I curiously wondered if I had never seen this tubby before. Their worried brown and blue eyes pierced my soul a bit. "I'm White or well The Guardian, I was kinda put in the position to watch over you and your siblings. I know that sounds weird, but it's my job." he nervously laughed, so he's been STALKING the four of us. Despite him saving me, he didn't save Dipsy from being murdered or Laa Laa from going missing! "That's weird; why didn't you save my siblings then?! One of them literally nearly tried to murder me after murdering my BROTHER!" he looked ashamed; I guess I can't really blame him. I couldn't save Dipsy, either. "I'm sorry that happened; I didn't know what was going on until I saw you being attacked. I didn't want you to die either." I'd have to excuse him from it. He wasn't aware of all of it, probably not even before It happened.

"Well, where do we go now? We can't go back; Tinky is guarding that area."

"We're heading towards the Satellite Station. I am unsure of what happened to Tinky Winky, but I have a theory that those custards have something to do with it. I know you'll be fine since I noticed you didn't eat yesterday, that's why you're important too." I'm important to a fucking murder, and my brother becoming a monster?! I need to find Laa Laa, I didn't see any remains of her so she's alive somewhere. Maybe at least one of my siblings is still alive in all this mess. "Then let's go; I'm getting cold," I stated, starting to shake from the cold. He nodded as we both continued through the mountain. This place was so cold and abandoned; It felt like I was gonna freeze all this fur off. 

We both had made some small talk, but it wasn't much. White seemed like a chill guy, but I still had some issues trusting him. A sudden childish wail was heard from in front of us. We both stopped in confusion, "What was that?" I asked, "I don't know, probably the wind, let's keep going." he shrugged. Continuing to walk through the snow, we found stumps, someone has been through here before. "That's odd; I thought this place was long abandoned," White commented, seeming really suspicious of the mountains now. Causing some concern for me now, we might not actually be alone again.

I wanted to discuss more about White, but a terrifyingly violent booming started running towards us. "Goddamnit run!" he yelled, I noticed a large figure running towards us. I went to flee, but White had pushed me, causing me to fall to the ground. It was only seconds before he was gone from my sight. That fucking bastard! He left me here to die! I knew there was something up with him! When trying to get up to run, I was grabbed by that monster and slammed back into the ground. Making me blackout instantly.

Chapter Text

Po's POV

I shakingly woke up in some kind of snowy area. I lay there for a moment, freezing like hell. But noticing the amount of blood and bones surrounding me, I immediately got back up to my feet. It took me a second to realize what happened before this. White had abandoned me, he put me in the way of danger. That asshole! I should've known he would've done that. Now... I need to get out of here. I looked around; there were bones everywhere around me. There is so much blood, more than what I saw around Dipsy. I stepped one foot only to step on something squishy; it was an eyeball. "Oh, gross!" I screeched, kicking my foot in the snow to get it off. It was getting colder, and I wasn't a fan of it. "I just need to walk until I find somewhere that isn't snow." If it wasn't bad enough, a small storm started while walking. 

I found something buried in the snow, a malfunctioning robot broken into pieces in the frozen snow. That monster must've torn it up, I should really get out of here before it tears me up too. I don't wanna be its next victim. Walking was starting to get slower as the snow began to get harder. There was no light in sight and I kept going, I should just give up now. That fucker left me for dead; I just wanted to find my sister and be safe again. I squinted my eyes a little, and a small flame came from afar. It's LIGHT! Oh, I'm so lucky right now. I ran towards the light; a menacing figure came into view. Hoping it wasn't White, or else I'd punch him. It was an older tubby, with dark blueish purple fur and wielding an ax to his side. His hair is fluffy, and he has a short curl hanging out. Eyes of a light purple. He seemed to have scars on his face. He noticed me running towards him and disappointingly sighed.

"What the fuck are you doing out here?!" He hissed, not seeming to take kindly to my presence. "I was out here with someone, and all of a sudden, I was in some weird bloody nest. I need to find the way out," I panicked. The man groaned, "You found your way to the Yeti's nest, huh?" The Yeti's nest? That's what the creature was, it was a goddamn Yeti. "Listen you should be lucky you made it out alive, it eats other Teletubbies for nutrients and you would've been its next meal. I was sent here to find and kill that thing by request of the Military. Still can't believe those fuckers sent me despite having a child to look after." he ranted out loud, guessing this man is also going through a lot like me. I haven't heard of the military before, but it must be a group of very important people.

 "Can you just help me find the way out? It's freezing like hell!" I shrieked, only for him to respond with a simple 'Follow me.' I followed him around until it started to get warmer. There was a small route that seemed like it led somewhere out of the mountains. "Just take that path, and you'll be out of the mountains in no time. It's better than leaving out the gateway. Usually, the Yeti hangs around there." I thanked him, but before I left, I asked him his name, "It's Mylo with a y, not a fucking i. If you make your way to the military base I might be there later on. Stay safe out there, shit has been weird lately. Also, take this," he took off his coat and gave it to me, "You're shaking, you need it more than me. I'm used to the cold by now." I put on the coat, thanked him, and proceeded on my way.

I had walked to some sort of desert area. Like an outskirt. I only saw signs of rocks and older decaying destroyed monuments. I wonder if it's safer here than back there. Well, it's at least warmer. I walked farther until I noticed a small campfire in the distance. I wonder who it could be this time. It better not be that White fuck. I stepped closer and was shocked by who I saw. It was Laa Laa, alive and well, sitting by the campfire. 

"Laa Laa?! Is that you?" I excitedly yelled, grabbing her attention. She also looked shocked to see me; a smile had latched onto her face. "Po!!" She ran over and pulled me into a hug. My sister is still alive, I can't believe it! This is the happiest I've ever been! "Oh my god, Laa Laa, are you okay?! Did Tinky hurt you?!" she shook her head, "No, but I saw what he did to Dipsy. It's awful, it happened so fast. But you, you have claw marks on your eyes and shoulders!" she grabbed my face to touch the scars. It burned, causing me to flinch. "Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!" she whined, "It's okay, Laa Laa. How did you even get here in the first place?"

"After Tinky Winky killed Dipsy, I just ran as far as I could. I found myself in a cave; a huge monster was there, but I escaped it. I then ended up here, where I made myself a campfire to keep warm. Hours have passed and I'm still so shaken by what happened." she explained, she was still extremely worried about me since I looked shitty from Tinky's attack. I had to tell her about everything, even about White and Mylo. "So that's where the new coat came from; it's very fitting for you." she giggled. We both chilled for a bit, especially me. I've done so much running in the past few hours. "Hey, is that custard over there?" I had taken notice of a bowl of freshly made custard sitting in the ruins. It's here, too; custard is just everywhere!

"Oh yeah, I ate some earlier since I was pretty hungry." my body froze from what I heard. Despite me hating White, his theory on the custard being the reason why Tinky Winky acted out stuck with me. The custard is infected with something. Laa Laa is gonna- I think I'm gonna be sick. I felt too frozen to mention it to her; how would I even explain that?! "O-oh... well, maybe we should get going. White mentioned a Satellite Station, and I need to find it. It might be here; it's our way to help." I nervously suggested, but she didn't seem to pick up on my restless talking. She just nodded with delight. "It's gonna be so great when we get saved from this mess! I hope it's soon." she cheered, thinking we'd both get out of this alive. 

She doesn't know, SHE DOESN'T FUCKING KNOW SHE'S GONNA BECOME THOSE THINGS. 

It felt like torture listening to her be happy, I didn't know when was gonna be her final moments but it was soon. We had made it to this arch, and I saw a building from afar. That has to be the Satellite Station up ahead. We kept walking until I heard something collapse behind me. It was Laa Laa; her breathing seemed to get heavier, and she was holding her stomach. Please, not now.

"I feel weird, Po; I don't think I can walk any further." she painfully grunted, "I think- I think I need a nap." I can't give up on her; she can make it. "Laa laa you can make it to the Station, it's just up ahead! Please get up!" I tried dragging her, but to no use; she wouldn't budge. She's not going anywhere, "Po... am I gonna die?" my eyes widened at her, even thinking of saying that.

 "No, you're gonna be just fine. I want you to just look in the distance. It's morning; you love watching the sunrise. Focus on that." she didn't say a word; she admired the sky. I knew if I stayed, she would attack me. I slowly backed away while she didn't take her eyes off the sky. "It's beautiful. I never say this a lot, but I love you, Po, you're the best sister anyone could ask for." tears streamed down my face, "I love you too, Laa laa, you're the best older sister ever." she had collapsed over, her body now losing to the custard. 

She yelled in pain as a purple mist overtook her body. In less than a minute, I lost my sister, my last sibling. This now tall, skinny, violently shaking creature was now Laa Laa. The creature moaned, its arms weirdly paralyzed. It didn't even stop with paralyzation; she was blind, too. That infection had taken her eyes, it seemed. I needed to put her out of her misery. I can't let her live like this. 

I noticed a column that seemed like it was about to fall over, maybe if I hit that with a rock she'll notice it and it'll fall onto her. I grabbed a medium-sized rock from off the ground. Lining up the shot and throwing it as hard as I can. It hit the exact spot. It needed to. The creature rushed over and attacked the column. Losing its balance, it fell on her. Trapping her underneath to whine and scream. I had to do the final step. Picking up a larger rock, I hovered over her head. Her creature-like form tries to escape but fails miserably.

"I'm sorry, Laa Laa. I didn't want to do this—" I shut my eyes, but that didn't stop the tears from dropping. The creature was loudly crying in a moan as I struggled to help her one last time. I lifted the rock high, and despite my quivering arms, I did one last swing. I could now only sit in silence.

Chapter Text

???'s POV

My lungs were burning from running; this green headless thing was after me. I don't know how it even spotted me; it's headless! Whatever it was nearly ripped my arm off with its chainsaw. My left arm only hung on by a thread while I sped through the station for a spot to hide in. I soon turned a corner where I thought I'd be safe. I could still hear the humming of the chainsaw, but it started to sound farther away. I can't believe it, all my friends are dead! I'm gonna be dead, too, if I can't find something to stitch my arm up with. The chainsaw sound soon died out; I sighed in relief and laid back against the cold station walls. My fingers on my left hand started to become numb, and the fear of losing almost my entire arm settled in. "I'm gonna die, this is it..." I mumbled, becoming dizzy from the amount of blood loss. As I laid my head back, it all went black.

Po's POV

I didn't stay much longer in the ruins. I couldn't bear looking my dead sister in the eyes. It's ironic, considering whatever happened took her eyes once changing. I had stepped foot onto the path of the Satellite Station; I presume it was, at least. The entrance seemed to have been opened for a bit. A strong smell of blood came from inside the place, "God, this place reeks," I pinched my nose and walked into the hollow, musty station. There were bodies everywhere; I couldn't believe the sight. Stepping around them without getting blood on me was proving difficult. I saw a red laser ahead of me, "I might have to jump over that," I jumped over the laser to only see more bodies lining the hallways. Whoever was here must've been sure that everyone was dead.

 It all just reminded me of my siblings, with their depressing fates that came to them. The station was dark and cold; I thought more lighting would be around here. This place was spooky, for sure, with so many dead tubbies and blood everywhere. What did White say to do again here? I'm here now, but he never said exactly what I should do. Maybe I have to look around for something. I was cut off from thought by a loud struggle of coughing; someone was in here with me. It seemed to have come from the hallway to my right; I should check it out. I cautiously tip-toed over to the hallway, only to get a glimpse of an injured blue tubby. He'd look like he had been struggling even to breathe.

"Hey- are you alright?" I bent down to his level, noticing the almost practically ripped-off arm. The male tubby looked at me, startled as if I was a threat to him. "Oh, thank god! The military finally came to my rescue!" he cried, shrieking back in pain from his condition. "I'm not in the military; someone just told me to go here for something-" "You shouldn't be here! That headless monster- he's still roaming around! Y-you're gonna get killed!" headless monster, sounds familiar like it's someone I know. But I didn't seem to run into any problems coming in here. All I heard was terrifying silence. 

The man continued to sob; he was a mess about something. "Hey, calm down- I didn't hear anything on the way in. You look like you are in really bad shape. Is there anything I can do to help?" I insisted maybe he could help me out in some way. He sighed, staring down at his fucked up arm. "I- I need stitches or at least bandages to put my arm back together. Anything! Just use that vent; a keycard should be in the room next to us. My friend, Tobby, tried to lock the monster out, but it didn't work. If you get Tobby's keycard you can access the secret center, he has the lighter blue fur and wacky hair. I'm sure there's also a medkit somewhere around there." I nodded; I just needed to find a medkit and Tobby's keycard. The tubby pointed at the open vent, before I crawled in I looked back at the struggling tubby. 

"If there's a monster roaming around here, you should hide in the vents. It would be safer for you." he just raised a brow, and I pulled him into the vent before he could open his mouth. He clutched his bleeding arm close to him, laying back on the vent wall covers. "Thank y-you, my name's Ron, by the way. I work at this station as an engineer. I worked here, well BEFORE this disaster happened." Ron explained, "Well nice to meet you, Ron, I'm Po, stay here while I go find you some stitches or bandages." I exclaimed; he only replied with a nod, seemingly tired. I crawled through the vent to reach the blocked-off room.

This room was also laced with dead bodies, not a good sight. But whatever the creature is, it doesn't seem to be here anymore. I should just find the medkit and keycard and get the hell out of here! I stumbled around, my head felt fuzzy, and I began to sweat a bit. I felt like I had a fever, but I wasn't sick. I looked in front of me; there stood the three.

Tinky Winky, Dipsy, and Laa laa.

I couldn't believe the sight. I rubbed my eyes, and they disappeared. My throat began to burn afterward. I chose to ignore what had happened; I didn't want to think about it. It felt like I was walking on nothing for a bit; I soon stumbled upon bandages that a dead tubby held in their hands. They were supposedly going to use it on themselves but died due to quick blood loss. "Sorry, whoever you are, my friend Ron needs this more." I grabbed the bandages and put them in one of the coat pockets. The keycard should be around here somewhere, who knows where, but I'll eventually find it. I strolled around the hallways until I came across another body. Their body mangled, with the large intestine completely ripped out. This must be Ron's friend, Tobby, that must suck to die like this. What was strange was there was no keycard with him. How odd! This is the right person with light blue and wacky hair. Maybe it's not here anymore. I didn't have time to look, so I began my way back to Ron.

He was sitting in the same spot I left him in. "Did you get the stuff?" he asked, with a short smile lining his face. I pulled out the bandages, "I couldn't find the keycard; maybe someone already got ahold of it." "That's impossible; he had it last. But maybe you're right." he held out his arm the best he could without flinching back. I wasn't skilled in bandaging, but I've done it before for minor bruises and scratches. I wrapped the bandage around the open wound; he whined from the pain while I tightened the bandage. Enough to put the two parts of his arm back together until we could find stitches. Blood soaked the bandage as I tied the bandage into a bow after finishing. "There, does that feel any better?" I grinned, bending his arm a bit to test if it was working. "Yeah, I can move my hand again, thankfully. Thank you, Po," he observed his bandaged arm and gave me a small, gentle smile. We both stepped out of the vents. Now what? No keycard means no secret center. 

"I haven't heard the monster in a while, maybe it's gone" Ron exclaimed, I never ran into it on the way in so he's probably right. We both walked to the room that led to the secret center, but the doors were wide open. "Someone's been here; they must've called for help." Ron had a puzzled look on his face, "but- everyone died. How can this be?" I shrugged. I had never seen anyone come in, and nobody ever came out. "Let's just get out of here; we can find help elsewhere," I suggested. Ron saw it as the more reasonable thing to do. I led the way since I knew exactly where the entrance was. Upon getting closer to it, the laser was off, and a familiar body lay there. It was Dipsy, still headless and flopped over on the ground. 

How did he get here?! He's fucking headless, for bloody hell's sake! The custard must have done this to him once he was murdered. Tubbie bodies are able to continue living as 'zombies' even after being dismembered when eating the custard. This whole thing is so complex! 

"That's the monster! It's dead, though, but it was alive earlier." he shuddered, kicking the body with his foot. "I know him; he's my brother. Something did this to him; at least he's at rest now." I sniffled; Ron patted me on my back to comfort me. Dipsy is somewhere better now, and probably with Laa Laa. Tinky Winky is still out there somewhere. "C'mon, let us get out of here. Help might already be on its way." I agreed, but I was greeted with screaming and yelling from outside. Ron and I decided to go check out what was going on.

White had returned if it wasn't bad enough, but to his right was Noo noo. The two had been in a heated argument about something. They didn't notice me or Ron either and continued fighting

"What the actual fuck is wrong with you?! Do you have any idea of what you've done?! You bloody twat!"

"What I'VE done?! You don't understand anything, do you?! I'm trying to make everything better, you white furry fuck!"

The two were so concentrated on it. My own father and the man who left me behind to die, fighting. Did they know each other? They seemed like they were old friends or something. White had a chainsaw in his hands and looked like he was about to use it on Noo Noo. "What are you two doing?!" I yelled, getting their attention. White had a shocked face while Noo noo had more of a grin, "My beloved youngest daughter, Po! I'm sorry you have to see me like this. This thing here is just wasting my time," he glared at White, who growled in return.

 "Po, don't trust this vacuum motherfucker! He's a violent manipulator!" the chainsaw hummed loudly. I didn't understand a thing, but I was so unbelievably happy to see my dad again. He'd been gone for so long. "Why should I trust you? You left me with that cannibal!" I snarled but didn't get over him, leaving me behind. I don't think I will even accept his apology. "It was an accident! Please!" he fretted, keeping a close eye on Noo noo.

 Ron stood behind me, confused; he had no idea who they were or what conflict was happening. "Dad, they're all dead! I'm tired of all this running around! I don't care about your fight; I wanna go home!" my voice cracked; I just wanted my family back. "I know, dear, just come with me and we can go home and figure this all out," he assured me, I knew I had to trust the person who cared for me my whole life. I'd most certainly be lost without him since my siblings are gone.

I got closer to him, receiving a trusting look back. I was almost entirely back home until I saw White take his chainsaw right down the middle of Noo Noo. Cutting him in half.

"NOO NOO!" I cried, all my anger directed rage towards White now. Who gave me a regretful look. "You fucking monster!" I shouted, rushing over to White and slapping him to the ground. I couldn't control my anger; I just lost the only parental figure I had in my life. First, my siblings, now the person I called my father. "You don't understand Po! I was trying to protect you!" he worryingly shrieked, dropping the chainsaw. "No, all you did was make me less than safe! You're cruel!" It looked like he started to cry but held it back. A sudden helicopter started flying over all of us; help must have arrived. White just got back up to his feet and ran. He didn't know where but was away from us. I must've upset him, but I could have been more upset than he was. The helicopters started to land, and I lost sight of the white fuck. Leaving me and Ron with our supposed rescuers. 

Chapter Text

Po's POV

The helicopters had landed, and many people with helmets came out. A darker green tubbie exited, as well as a pink tubbie with a camo hat. Two others joined them, a dark grey tubbie with a helmet and another white tubby with a long sword. This was the most menacing group of people I've ever seen. The green one stepped towards Ron and me, and both of us had puzzled faces.

"We got a distress call from here. You two are the ones who called, correct?" he asked. We didn't get a chance to call for help, but someone already did for us. "Well, we didn't call, but we do need help," Ron replied, showing his bandaged arm, which was extremely bloody. The man called over the white tubbie to examine it. He then whispered to the green one.

"Well, after you explain what happened here, I'll take you and your friend here back to base." he appeared to look at me; I can't honestly tell from his helmet covering his face. I opened my mouth when another tubbie ran over to him, "Sergeant Miles! There's an issue up ahead; I need you to come look at it with me, sir." Miles nodded following the other tubbie, I decided to tag along to see what was happening now. 

He'd led the both of us to a cliff in the distance, which was something we'd never seen. An army of supposed furless Teletubbies heading this way, posing as a threat. Sergeant Miles gave a long sigh and gave a command to the green tubbie. He then supposedly glared at me, "you need to go back with your buddy, I'll be sending you back to base with Dutch and Conor." he sent me back to where the others were. Ron didn't seem to want to start a conversation with anyone. 

"Alright, Conor and Dutch, you take these two back to base. Anne, you stay with me, we have a threat around the corner and I need your help." the woman, Anne, nodded and immediately commanded the group of people they had to go investigate where me and Miles just were. The two, both Conor and Dutch, invited us over to the helicopter. If I had to be honest, I was afraid of heights, but we needed to get Ron some medical attention. We stepped onto the helicopter; my stomach felt sick when the helicopter started going up. Ron noticed my sick face, "Are you okay, Po?" I shook my head, avoiding contact with the ground that was far below. He held my hand close, trying to distract me from the heights. It worked; it's kind of him to comfort me.

"So what's both of your names?" the darker tubbie asked me and Ron. The white tubbie stares down at the ground below. "I'm Po, and this is Ron. What about you two?" "Oh, I'm Dutch! This beside me is my best buddy, Conor! Miles told us to take you two to meet the captain, Richard" he happily exclaimed, Conor gave us a little thumbs up. They both seemed very trusting and tried to give us a nice introduction to make us feel safe.

"We're almost there; we apologize for having to fly you two since I noticed Po has a fear of heights. But this place was far from our base, so it took us a while." Dutch explained, chilling back in the helicopter seat. After a while of trying to look at the ground to ignore being high in the sky. The helicopter started to reach the ground and soon landed. "Alright, this is your stop," the pilot announced. The four of us got off, and Dutch and Conor led us into the base. This place was large compared to the Satellite Station. There were a lot of guards around the place. This must be a really secure area. 

We entered a room where a bunch of blue tubbies were around computers. One of the darker ones was beating the computer while holding a knife in one hand. What is this weirdo doing? Why's he hitting that computer? "Lenny- we have a few guests." Conor tapped on the blue tubbie. He turned around to look at us, "Oh hey, Dutch and Conor," he noticed Ron, "It's my best buddy Ron! I never thought you'd visit! Who's the cherry?" he pointed at me. Cherry, what an odd nickname. But I kind of like it. "This is Po; we found her and Ron outside the Station. I think they might have a clue of what's going on outside with the new 'apocalypse' that's going on." Lenny seemed excited but was annoyed by the constant error messages on the computers.

"By the way, Lenny, where is Captain Richard?" Dutch asked, Lenny only shrugged with a mumble of 'I don't know'. The Captain must be a very important person if they want us to meet him. "Well he did say he got a distress call from some abandoned Fortress, he and the Lieutenant went to check it out," he mentioned, before going back to hitting the machine. Both Dutch and Conor talked about flying out to the exact location of the Fortress, while Lenny was annoying Ron in the meantime. So this is what I have to deal with now; I think I could get used to this.

Chapter Text

Finn's POV

We'd received a distress signal earlier about the old abandoned Fortress. Richard and I decided to be the ones to check it out, along with soldiers as backup. In case anything goes south. So far, we'd seen nothing on our way there, but that doesn't mean the coast is exactly clear. We've been hearing about strange 'creaturoids' roaming all over the place. The scientists in our unit have been trying to figure out what they are, but no one has any idea what they are. I wouldn't bother with them unless they became a serious threat. But as a Lieutenant, it is my duty to take this still seriously. 

Richard shook my shoulder, notifying me that we arrived at the location. I hopped out of the helicopter, where Richard then commanded the soldiers to follow him. I trailed behind him and a few soldiers, the Fortress up ahead getting more into view. We'd found a way in and stopped in the middle of the Fortress. Nothing was here; it was uncannily empty.

 "Are you sure this is the location?" Richard asked one of the leading soldiers, who then looked down at his radar. "Positive. It leads exactly to this spot, sir." Richard took the radar from the soldier's hand and poked at it for a bit. He did that for a minute until a soldier rushed over, "Sir! There is a newborn army coming this way." The two of us sprinted over towards the Fortress walls. The soldier was right; an army larger than we've seen so far of newborns was coming this way. 

"Stand your ground guards! We can handle this." he motioned the others, getting out his gun and gunning down the arriving newborns. I took a few shots but it was no use, they were overrunning us. Soldiers were mauled to death while the rest continued to shoot the newborns. "Retreat! Retreat!" I yelled; Richard and I decided to head for the stairs. More and more soldiers began to die from the invading newborn army.

"What are we going to do?" I fretted, shooting the newborns below that were getting closer to the stairs. "Just follow my lead, Finn. Snipers! Get up here and shoot the enemies below!" Richard shouted, pointing them to the position to shoot. I was getting lower on ammo, It was stupid of me to not pack more! It wasn't stopping the coming newborn army; they just kept on coming up the stairs. Soldiers fell, and eventually, I was just the only thing in front of the newborns. "Finn! Get back here!" Richard yelled for me. I panicked; I felt frozen from trying to move. Shooting wasn't an option; I was nearly out of bullets! Newborns approached me; I anxiously closed my eyes, awaiting my fate.

Richard's POV

Finn wasn't moving; he was gonna get himself killed if he didn't move! A newborn was about to sink its teeth into him, but I was luckily able to grab his arm. Pulling him far away from the army of freaks. "Finn, what the hell were you thinking?!" I didn't let go of his hand if he tried anything else that was stupid. "I'm sorry; I guess fear just overtook me," he nervously laughed, "thanks for that, handsome." I rolled my eyes, and he did stuff like this even while in danger. "Men! You all take care of the arriving army," I commanded, despite nearly all of them being deceased from the surprise attack. The rest understood and continued to fight.

Finn's POV

Richard saved me; well, this isn't unusual. But I thought he'd let me do stuff on my own this time. The newborns kept evolving into bigger creatures; we couldn't take them down. He'd taken both of us to hide out in one of the Fortress' rooms so we could call for help or at least wait for someone to arrive. I was shaken up by the near-death experience; Richard must be doing this to help me calm down. Hearing the others outside be torn to pieces by those creatures. Absolute torture for them. We'd found a spot to stay in but were greeted with the faint sound of crying from the other side of the wall. "Huh? Someone's here," I said; Richard got his gun out. The noise didn't sound like the newborns; it had to be a normal tubbie. We both peeked around the corner to see a crying tubbie. Who wore pajamas with straight white fur and a cow leather hat. Someone is alive, but they weirdly sound British. Gross.

Chapter Text

Po's POV

"Gary, you son of a bitch! Get back here with my knife!" Lenny yelled, chasing after an orange tubbie with a chainsaw. They'd both run off around the corner; a bunch of yelling and struggling went on for a little while. Lenny soon came back down with no chainsaw and his knife back. "Sorry you two about that, Gary just- decided to be a jackass." he brushed himself off. Conor and Dutch had planned to leave, but only one of us could go. Ron decided he'd stay back with Lenny just to catch up with him. I needed to meet the Captain anyway, so I might as well go along with the two. Again, my fear of heights would be triggered, but it's important. The two already had a helicopter waiting outside to pick us up. I waved goodbye to Ron and Lenny as we took off for the Fortress. 

This trip didn't seem like it'd be far this time. Dutch had attempted to make small talk with me, but I was tired. I haven't gotten any sleep since about two days ago. Once I meet the Captain, I go back and explain and do whatever else they need. I can get a snooze. "Alright, guys, this is our stop!" Dutch announced. I gazed out of the helicopter and saw a large building that looked like a castle. The helicopter had landed and let the three of us off. I eyed a few bodies of those creatures at the entrance of the Fortress. This can't be good. Conor had gotten out a long sword; what did he say it was again? A kah-tan-ah? Ah, who cares. Dutch had brought the gun he was using before; I, however, was empty-handed. "I'll wait here for you three to find the Captain and the Lieutenant," the pilot carelessly chilled in his chair. Conor gave him a thumbs up, already taking off towards the Fortress.

"Richard?! Finn?!" Dutch called out, but no response was heard. Conor was stepping around all the bodies of dead soldiers. Checking for any pulses for some of them. It looked like the Satellite Station all over again. All these corpses, what if the two aren't even alive? I don't wanna assume these two seem important to the others. I hope we find them soon. We kept looking around, but there was no sign of them anywhere. Just a bunch of deceased tubbies. "I guess they took off; maybe we should-" a sudden cough came from one of the Fortress' rooms. Alerting the three of us. The two entered inside with me trailing behind them. In the corner were three tubbies, one with a grey beanie and crimson fur, the other with a helmet and black fur, and the final one- the dreaded one of them all. White. 

"Oh Captain we finally found you, are you two alright?" Conor asked, observing the two for any wounds and conditions. "Yes, yes, we're fine, Conor. The others, however, didn't make it. It was a trap; we were overrun with newborns. Finn and I were the only two to escape." the captain explained, fixing his beanie. White hadn't noticed me yet; the others were busy checking on each other and explaining the situation. I, however, wanted to tear that motherfucking white piece of shit apart. I curled my fingers into a fist, soon enough about to lash out. I couldn't hold myself back; White took sight of me as soon as I lunged at him.

"Well, I'm glad you two are- what the fuck?!" White was trying to fight back against me, but I wasn't gonna let this fucker kill me. He already did the same towards my own family. "You! Damn! Prick! You thought you could run away from your fucking issues?!" I yelled, not even caring if my punches were sloppy. He looked like he was about to cry. I wanted to put in one last punch, but the Captain pulled me off White. "Let me go! This fucker has to pay for what he did to my FATHER!" I tried to weasel my way out, but he had a strong grip.

"Po! Calm down, seriously, the dude has been beaten enough!" Conor interrupted, getting in the way of White and I. White was terrified but decided to put his input anyway, "Your 'father' was a literal lunatic! I was only trying to protect you!" What does he mean by "protecting"? My dad is dead! The black-furred tubbie seemed confused by our brawl, it looked like he was more conflicted but wanting to take White's side in this situation. "Huh- but White isn't a 'prick.' He sounds pretty nice to me." he commented. "Stay out of this dumbfuck! You don't know what he did! He calls himself The Guardian of me when he left my family to die and then just killed my own father!" that made him take back his statement. Nobody knew what to say; even Conor and Dutch seemed surprised to hear that come out of me. 

The captain scoffed, "How about we stop this conflict and finish it once we're back at the base? I don't have time for this; is this really how you introduce yourself to the Captain?" he's right; I kind of overreacted. But what an introduction for the man who's in charge and his partner. "Sorry, sorry. I'll stop now." I sighed, the Captain letting me go back onto my feet. "Now that the issue is solved, Captain, this is Po. She knows a bit about the virus, we found her outside the Satellite Station and we'd like you to meet her." Dutch smiled, showing me off like I was some kind of prize. The Captain, who was intimidating as fuck, gave me a short grin.

"Hello, Po, If you haven't heard already, I'm Captain Richard. The sort of leader of the military. Over here," he looked at the shorter black-furred tubbie, "is Lieutenant Finn, my partner and husband." he happily waved even after I insulted him a moment ago. "Nice to meet you! Despite the rude introduction a bit ago." Finn laughed, taking hold of his husband's hand. Everything was now situated, and the two had introduced themselves to me. The six of us were now leaving the Fortress. Richard was looking at something off in the distance but ignored it on the way to the helicopter. "I think we might have an issue," Richard admits, the five of us seemingly confused.

"The newborn army, they're heading towards the base. I noticed the direction they had come from the old Custard Facility and headed north. In days or weeks, we might be under attack by a large army. Larger than anything we've seen before." "he's right; they're stronger than anything we've dealt with before. They invaded us and caught us at the wrong time. That's why the others are dead. We hid before they could get us; they didn't try looking for us." Finn added, so this is a bigger problem than it seems to be. Besides other tubbies turning into weird, corrupted monsters, an army of them is heading toward the most secure area I've ever seen. This doesn't sound good at all.

"That's terrible. We had better head back to the base to inform the rest. We haven't heard from Miles and Anne for a while, though; we might have to check in on them too," Dutch replied, all of us stepping into the helicopter. I couldn't stop glaring at White, who, in return, tried avoiding contact with me. That bastard is lucky we are riding in a helicopter right now, and I have a fear of heights. I would throw him right off. 

Chapter Text

Ron's POV

These two won't stop fighting. They'd been going at it for a while ever since Dutch, Conor, and Po left. Lenny threw a random knife at Gary, which the orange tubbie avoided. This is so embarrassing. I sat there in one of the chairs that Lenny offered me, watching the two brawl in the middle of the base. I noticed another person walk out of a room; they had a bag over their head. This is not how I remember how the people acted here before. So much chaos all at once, ugh. The mysterious person walked over to a cooler, opened it, and gasped. "Gary! Did you take my favorite Tubbie Energy drink?!" he growled, the orange-furred tubbie shrugging his shoulders while attacking back at Lenny. They looked like wild animals fighting over a scrap of food.

"Yeah! What the fuck you gonna do, Ninja?!" Gary smugly smiled, slapping Lenny, who was yelling about his knife. The baghead tubbie scoffed and took a can out of the fridge. Going back into the room they'd come out of. Doesn't seem like he cares much for confrontation. I heard a helicopter beginning to fly down nearby, oh finally they're back! The two stopped fighting; Gary ran off somewhere else while Lenny tried to adjust his goggles. "Seems like they're back; I wonder if they have the Captain," he said, picking up the knives he threw at Gary.

The three had entered with three others trailing behind them. One of them was the white tubbie with whom Po had a fight after we left the station. He didn't seem pleased about coming to the base; Po didn't either. She kept eyeing the stressed tubbie. Did something happen? The Captain and Lieutenant were also both visible, casually holding hands on the way in with a bit of small talk. "I see you all made it back safe and sound; who's the snowball?" Lenny asked, obviously pointing at the white tubbie. "This is White; Richard and Finn found him all cooped up in the Fortress. He and Po have some kind of ongoing fight between them." Dutch explained; Lenny only nodded in advance and tried talking to White. Who was uninterested. The dude looked like he'd been recently beaten, probably by Po. 

The last time we saw him, he killed her father. No wonder she is giving him the most bizarre glare. To my surprise, the other two who helped us get out of the Outskirts aren't here. They must still be dealing with all those newborns. "Lenny, we're gonna need you to take White for now. We haven't heard anything from Anne or Miles and need to bring them back for an immediate announcement." Richard explained, straight away Lenny had already dragged White away. To do whatever Lenny does for fun. The others needed me, though, since I'm an expert at the Outskirts' layout. They seemed like they already wanted to get this over with since, a second later, we were already sitting in the helicopter again. I'm gonna have to get used to being in a helicopter almost all the time.

Po's POV

I'm never gonna get used to being in a helicopter all the time. Just looking anywhere else besides the helicopter makes me queasy. This fear of heights really just needs to go away. I'm glad they decided to leave White behind; that asshole hasn't seen the worst yet. Once we get back, I'll get some sleep, then beat his ass. But I never really put it into consideration; what if he's right? Noo Noo had been missing, and the last time I saw him, someone accused him of causing this mess. Ugh, it's too much to think about! I should just forget about it. The helicopter had landed, and I was back at the same place where I saw my dad die. Hasn't even been two goddamn hours yet! The Station door was still wide open, but there were new things around. 

The place was littered with bodies outside the station, all from military members. There were the creatures as well; Finn called them 'newborns' on the way here. A lot were decaying, some fresher than others. It was still gross to see. "No sign of Miles or Anne; they could've taken shelter inside from all the newborns," Conor commented, using the scope of his sniper to watch for any suspicious thing moving far from us. I wanted to become useful, too, and investigate the area around the entrance of the station. I stepped in some weird goo-like substance; it was blood. Except thicker than normal average blood, this is so nasty. Puddles ran into the Station, becoming smaller as it progressed. "Heyy guys- I found blood." I sickly cringed; the sight of blood made me feel weird. Finn came over and inspected it, "Someone is injured inside the Station; it might be either one of the two." he concluded, following the other trails inside.

There wasn't any sign of the two, not yet at least. Ron was the leader since he knew this place for almost his entire life. "They have to be farther into the station; they could be in the secret center," he guessed, leading us to the secret center. The door was wide open, and we were lucky not to go back there. It's so spooky and covered in blood. I had a strong sense of being followed; it made my fur stick up. But nothing was ever creeping behind us. It just had to be my mind making up things; I've already seen enough. The others started calling out for them, waiting for a response. "Hello? Miles?! Anne?!" Dutch shouted, scanning for the two. "Dutch? Is that you?" a voice was heard from the other side of the short wall. 

There was the green tubbie and pink tubbie, both appearing to hide out in the secret center. Anne had a large wound across her stomach; she was hunching over and leaning on Miles. "My god- what happened to her?" Dutch rushed over to Anne, who was falling in and out of consciousness. "One of the newborns hurt her pretty badly; she needs medical treatment immediately," Miles responded, carefully picking her up in a cradle-like style. "Then we have to hurry; Ron knows the way out." Richard motioned the rest, and Ron led the way again. This was simpler than I thought; I had only one hour of constant helicopter humming in my ears, and I could go back and get some rest. We'd made it out of the secret center but heard a noise. It wasn't like any normal noise either. It sounded like a weird moan, I couldn't guess what but it sounded like it was painful. This caught a chuckle from Finn, who heard it too.

"Whatever that moaning thing is, it sounds a lot like what Richard sounded like earlier." He laughed, Richard, nudging him to 'knock it off' with a long sigh and red face. I didn't understand what it meant; maybe Richard just got hurt earlier. Yeah probably it, they both just found it amusing. The others looked disgusted, "Seriously? Finn, we didn't want to hear that." Conor groaned, looking like he wanted to slam his head into the wall. "Oh come on, it's funny!" he playfully punched Conor, who still wasn't amused. I guess he finds his husband getting hurt funny; couples are weird. The noises only got more aggressive and louder; it sounded like danger. The others pulled out their guns while Ron and I were left defenseless. The thing had turned the corner to stop in front of us. I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was Laa laa.

I thought I put her out of her misery, but I guess not. However, it showed that some parts of her body looked like the fur had been ripped off. Her head is a bloody mess, dropping blood in every step. Her vibrating body only seemed to get shakier. Her noises sounded different, moaning but mixed with something pleasant. Possibly, they could still be the pained ones I heard earlier. Oh no, no, no, no! I thought- I thought I- this isn't real! I couldn't control myself; tears flooded my face, and my body froze with terror. Moving wasn't an option; I stood there, trembling, thinking this was some fucked up nightmare. My throat began to burn again; it worsened with each tear. Finn had heard my sniffles; he hurried over to my side. 

"Po?? Hey, kiddo, are you okay?" he sounded concerned, not even focusing on the monster that once was my sister. I tried to peep out a word, but my voice was shaky and unreadable. "That... sister..." I was only able to mumble out, trying not to collapse into tears. Finn somehow understood; the monster wasn't moving but instead walked by due to us being quiet. He now seemed focused on getting us out of here. "That monster reacts to high levels of noise- we're gonna have to sneak out. No point in fighting; we already have a wounded with us," he told the rest, signaling Ron to sneak all of us out a way faster. Finn hadn't gone back to Richard's side; instead, he stayed beside me. He tried calming me down by holding my hand and telling me that everything would be alright on the walk out to the helicopter. After what seemed like an eternity, we made it out. I was shivering and covered in tears, but it lessened with Finn's reassurance.

"Po, was that by any chance your sister?" he asked, sitting beside me on the helicopter. I nodded; I didn't want to risk bursting into sobbing. He understood, "I'm sorry that happened to her, kiddo. But you're safe now; I promise we'll keep you out of harm and turning into 'those' things." he gave me the warmest smile I've ever seen. "Y-yeah, you're right. Thanks, Finn." I wiped my tears away, trying to forget about seeing Laa Laa. Remembering only brought back those bad memories, but I'm only glad we all got out alive.

Chapter Text

Ron's POV

I thought the Satellite Station would still be dead once we'd gotten there. Turns out a monster had taken it over as its habitat. Even worse, I noticed it upset Po as it did when she saw her brother. That monster could've been another one of her siblings. She never specified or went into detail about if she had multiple siblings, so how could I know? Though she was still agitated, Finn even had to sit with her to get her to calm down. Even though they just met her, they already accepted her as one with them. The ride back was quiet; two people were distressed, and the others didn't want to make a commotion about it. We swiftly landed, and a group of tubbies had come out to take Anne for medical treatment. Miles had gone along with them, leaving the rest of us to go find Lenny. 

He was still at his usual spot with the computers, he never leaves this space. It's Lenny we're talking about here, so what do I expect? White was sitting at one of the tables, looking extremely bored. Can't blame the dude, one hour with Lenny is complete torture at times. Worse when it's both Lenny and Gary. "I see you all made it back! I saw the team taking Anne and Miles; she was hurt pretty badly. But now we can start the recordings!" Lenny exclaimed, the 'what' now? 

"Yes but we do have a slight issue, you might have to go tell Miles about it after this." Richard added, "Newborns are heading this way towards the base, I would've gathered everyone together but with Anne's injury and other problems. I rely on you to get this information to him after the recording session; Miles will take care of it from there." Lenny only nodded in response. Conor and Dutch had to deal with business elsewhere, but Richard and Finn stuck around. Maybe out of Po's sake. Lenny told us he really only needed me, Po, and White. For a rundown of our experiences with the apocalypse outside. Po didn't seem so happy to talk about it, but Finn insisted that it would help not only her but all of us. He'd gathered us in a small room with a recorder, pen, and paper. Probably to take notes on us.

"Now, I brought you three here because the military finds it important for us to collect information on other's personal views of the chaos going on outside. Since all three of you have your own views on it, we find it extremely useful to each hear both your sides. Though, on countrary to the orders, you'll be given three weeks to regain your thoughts and take time to relax." Lenny explained. It was Po first, then me, and finally White when it comes time. Who only melted in his chair with a sad look. Lenny then guided us all elsewhere, where we'd be cared for by other members until the dreaded recordings.

Po's POV

I was anxious about having to talk about the events that occurred. Lenny reassured me that he'd stop the recording if I needed a break or to calm down. Besides, they gave us three weeks to prepare our statements. I wasn't ready to talk yet, despite how excited Lenny is to do it. It was by Finn's orders anyway. Both him and Richard went elsewhere, maybe to warn of the oncoming attack. I have to be calm, It's just for information. I'll be fine, I'll get through this. Lenny wrote a few things down on the paper. "All right, as soon as I click the record button, you can begin." he put his finger over the red button and proceeded to click it. It's time, just take it easy. 

"It all started when I noticed my older brother had gotten up from bed, he then broke the custard machine that we had in our home. That day we'd all eaten custard except me, I had this gut feeling to not touch the custard or even make myself any. My siblings, on the other hand, ate away at it. I feel like it could've been the reason why they turned into those creatures. I had followed my brother outside to the shore of the ocean. That's where I found out he'd turned into a monster. He chased me, along the way I found my other brother dead and decapitated. My sister was nowhere to be seen. I kept running until he eventually caught me and scratched the hell out of me. That's when White came along and helped me out of it, I thought he was a nice guy. But once we'd gotten to the mountains, well- he left me for dead where a cannibalistic Yeti had taken me. It didn't eat me thankfully, I woke up in its habitat and ran off to try and get out of the mountains. A military member named Mylo helped me out of the mountains and gave me this coat," Lenny paused the recording,

"So that's where I recognized that coat! I didn't expect someone as cold as him to give you his coat. If you're wondering, he came back earlier to get work done and spend time with his daughter. You can continue now, sorry just thought I'd bring that up." he unpaused it.

"I eventually got out of the mountains and into some weird desert outskirts. I found my sister alive, but that only lasted for a bit. She'd eaten more custard before I arrived and wasn't feeling great. We almost made it out of the ruins when she collapsed, it had killed her and turned her into a monster. We ran into that monster in the Satellite Station earlier, I guess she inhabits it now. I went to the Station to get help, White, before he abandoned me told me we needed to find it. There were so many corpses- every step you took there was a new body on the floor. I then found Ron, he was in terrible shape. His arm looked like someone had about ripped it off. I found him some medical supplies and we decided to try to call for help afterward. Someone already had so we left, we'd found my dead brother in his monster form. But he'd already been taken out by the laser system. Outside was White and my father arguing, I don't know what had happened between the two but it wasn't good. My dad offered to take me home, knowing I've seen so much. But White killed him, I confronted White but he ran off. That's when help arrived"

 Lenny was taking down notes and stopped the recording. He thanked me for my time and sent me out to where Ron and White were waiting. Ron walked past me after Lenny called for him. I was now stuck with the asshole himself. He didn't give me a passing glance, trying to not take even one look at me. He's still a prick, no matter if he wants to admit it or not. Nothing can change my opinion about him.

Ron's POV

"I hope those two don't start fighting again" I glanced back at Po and White. Both didn't interact and merely avoided each other. "They'll be fine, plus Po is probably not in the mood to start a fight with him. "Yeah, you're right." Lenny smiled, motioning me to go sit down. Now I guess it's my time to explain my side of the story. I wanted to keep it short since I don't exactly remember everything. It all happened so fast and I could only piece together some parts. Lenny flipped his notes to a new sheet. The one for Po was filled with a lot of information I couldn't read. Lenny messed with the cassette tape in front of him for a bit. "Once I click the record button, you can start." he hovered his finger over the button, clicking it. 

I started explaining how it started out as a usual day for the Satellite Station and then how it all collapsed once a green monster with no head broke in. I didn't have much to explain and Po probably explained how I even got out of there alive even with my arm severely injured. I ended it off with how White ran off and we got saved. Lenny finished the recording, "We're almost done with this, just now we need White's point of view." I nodded, walking back out to the waiting area. White didn't notice it was his turn, but that wasn't important. A large rumbling noise started coming near us. Were they working on something? It sounds like something is breaking that wall in front of us! The wall began to crack, loud metal noises rang out as the wall collapsed. On the other side was a large robot with what appeared to be a duplicate of White's hat on its head. Swinging a sword to its side. Ready to charge at us.

Chapter Text

Po's POV

The robot had entered the room where Ron and I were sitting and staring directly at me. The others rushed down from all the commotion. If it didn't get any worse, a hoard of those weird creatures started invading the building. White and Lenny noticed what was happening outside, causing Lenny to call for people to come to deal with this. I was petrified; the attack had come earlier than Richard had suspected. The robot had a target on me but didn't seem like it was gonna attack me; it stepped closer. "Po, watch out!" Ron tried to intersect the distance between the robot and I but with its free hands, it knocked Ron out of the way. He fell into the wall; it didn't knock him out, but he was too scared to intervene again. 

What does this thing want from me?! I have never seen this robot before! The others were trying to kill off all the entering newborns, too busy to notice this giant robot hovering over me. "Po," it said, with a raspy robotic tone. This voice sounded familiar. It can't be, can it? The robot then picked me up by the back of my coat; I couldn't escape its grasp. "What do you want from me, and how do you know my name?!" I anxiously asked, trying to slip out of its grasp. No use; it kept a tight hold of me.

"Po, it's Noo Noo. Your father." It spoke. Wait- my dad's alive?! He's back! I can't believe it! But how?! "D-dad? But how are you alive, and what the hell is this new form?!" The robot's design was weird. It was rusted and seemed to be running off a pink fluid. It was probably custard. He wore the same hat Dipsy did and one that White wears now; it was an exact replica. The sword was menacing, to say the least, one wrong move, and it could slice a part of me off. "I transferred my data into a new robot before HE killed me. C'mon Po, I came back for you; let's go home. You don't need these guys." he was persistent with me leaving. It was odd the more I thought about it.

 "But they're my friends; I can't do that. I'm not leaving." His facial expression changed from one of trust to utter disappointment. "I knew they corrupted you; this is why I came prepared. I even brought your brother to celebrate, but I guess there is no more celebration." His grip hardened. I felt like my guts were going to pop and turn into mush. A tall, slimy green creature had walked in after a few newborns.

 It was well obvious Dipsy turned into a fish-like creature with a new head in tack. He's turned into a worse infected, like Tinky. Why did Noo Noo do this? I thought he actually loved us. He's just using us as war weapons and wants to turn me into one! Fish Dipsy let out a roar, "Now, Dipsy-" Noo noo pointed at Finn and the rest, "Attack." The fish sprinted at the group but somehow targeted Finn. Who was concentrated on the newborns' attack. "Finn! Watch out," I yelped, Noo noo hadn't lessened the grip. Instead, he was tightening it, even more, I could feel the blood rising to my throat. It was no use, Dipsy had attacked Finn who reacted too late. He'd roughly grabbed his left leg and threw him across the room. This caught Richard's attention, and he used his shotgun against Dipsy. He didn't stop shooting; Dipsy couldn't attack from all the bullets hitting him. Dutch had run over to assist Finn, he was surprisingly fine, but his leg was fucked up.

"That stupid dipshit didn't mean anything to me; he always was the weakest out of you four. He was a useless son. I raised you better, to be stronger. That's why I need you. Don't worry, you'll see your brother again. I didn't bring him due to his overlapping size. Should've, he would've wiped out everyone in this goddamn room!" he hissed; I couldn't speak, only letting out a small noise. Blood was seeping out my mouth, by now my bones had to have been crushed. My vision was getting fuzzy and airy. 

If I don't escape now, he's gonna crush me to death. Dipsy was defeated; Richard had beaten the fuck out of him after what he did to Finn. I didn't know where White and Lenny went; White left me to die again. Those guys are too distracted by the newborns to notice me. I can't get out of here; I'm gonna die right here. In the hands of my own father, who I thought loved me. Instead, he wanted to use me for this sick apocalypse.

"You get your hands off of her!" someone yelled; my eyes widened as I saw White running towards us with his chainsaw in hand. In a split second, Noo Noo's arm that was holding me was sliced off but exploded on impact, hitting directly in my eyes. I fell to the floor, my head banging off the tiles. "You ruin everything!" Noo noo screamed, using his other arm to pummel White. Who thwacked into the wall due to the impact. He risked his life to save me... he does care. I crawled away from Noo Noo to avoid getting squeezed to death. White was out cold, but he hit the wall pretty hard. The newborns were almost gone; Dutch and Conor had already taken care of almost all of them. My vision was blurry. I tried rubbing them, but to no avail; they stayed the same. Maybe they're still adjusting to no longer being squeezed out of their sockets. I heard someone walk over to me. But I couldn't see who,

"Po?! Are you okay?!" It was Finn, even after the chances of being killed. He still came to help me, "I-I can't see Finn." I muttered. I looked around until I saw his figure. I couldn't see all his details anymore, but I was able to recognize that it was Finn. Everything behind him was a blurred mess. He panicked, holding up a few of his fingers in front of my face. "How many fingers am I holding up?" he asked; it took me a minute to figure it out. "I uh- five?? four??" I rubbed my eyes again, but it didn't help. "It was four fingers, but your eyes are messed up badly. I think he partially blinded you." he sputtered. Am I blind? What Noo Noo did ruined my eyesight. It was as if getting one nearly scratched out by Tinky Winky was enough. But now I'm gonna have to live my life somewhat blind. I was terrified out of my thoughts from what I tried to make out.

Richard cocked his shotgun and shot at Noo Noo. Who in return was grasping his sword. "You fucking piece of shit! Look what you've done!" he yelled, continuing to fire at Noo noo. He wasn't amused by Richard and tried to attack him back, but it didn't work. Richard avoided it, his reflexes faster than Noo Noo's ever could be. He shot right at the pink fluid; it busted open and spilled out onto the floor. It was the custard he was storing in there. One shot by one, he'd broken the thing holding the custard. The robotic body wasn't gonna hold up much longer, losing all of its energy.

"Do you know who you're messing with?!" Noo noo shouted, his voice getting glitchy from losing its life source. "I'm messing with the worst father I've ever seen. Ruined your own kids' lives just to get back at tubbies; what a lowlife move." he seethed, all his anger going toward destroying Noo Noo's new body. 

The newborn army had stopped earlier, but everyone was now focused on the event between Richard and Noo Noo. He cocked the shotgun one more time, "You don't deserve the daughter you have, go to fucking hell." Noo Noo decided to get in one last line, "Oh, but she's just like me, and you can't do anything about it." he laughed. Richard was tired of hearing him and shot the middle area of his chest again. Causing the robot to start malfunctioning and spew shock waves. Richard tore apart Noo Noo's robot form out of pure anger until Finn stopped him. "Fucker deserved it, he hurt you and Po." Richard gritted his teeth, calling for someone to come clean up the mess of dead bodies. I was afraid of getting up in fear of falling over myself.

White was right; my father was a lunatic. He tried even to make me believe he was good. The fear I imagine if I believed him and went with him. I would've turned into one of the monsters as my siblings did. I feel guilty; I defended my father even though he's the reason my siblings are gone! I couldn't stop crying; I regretted ever trying to defend him. I cover my face in disappointment; I'm the worst person ever. I'm just like my father; he even said so. Finn didn't hesitate to hug me, running his hand through my hair. 

"Hey hey, kiddo, it's alright. He's gone now, you're safe" he smiled, holding me close. It was hard to calm down with all these rushing thoughts going through my head; I couldn't stop them. They made me hate myself more than I already did. Richard sighed, "I'm sorry kid." he patted my head, the rest were silent and more shocked than anything. My head was fuzzy; the others kept talking to try and comfort me, but I couldn't hear them. I was drifting off to sleep, and the stress made me tired. I eventually passed out in Finn's arms.

Chapter Text

Po's POV

I woke up in what seemed to be a warm bed. My eyes are still severely fucked up and most likely will stay like that as long as I live. At least I got that long-needed sleep, but who brought me back here, and whose room is this? This isn't the guest dorm they stuffed us in. I heard a knock at the door. It was Finn, "I see you woke up. Did you enjoy sleeping for a day?" I was asleep for a day. Yeah, I was stressed a lot and couldn't get sleep, but god, it was a day of sleeping. "I feel much better than before; where am I?" I asked, hopping out of bed. 

The room was excellent; it seemed like a temporary room, though, just for me. "Your new room; after you passed out, we'd tried to distract everyone from what happened. We forgot about giving you three a permanent place to stay, so we quickly prepared yours. Richard, of course, helped me; he felt bad after what had just happened. He checked in on you while you were still asleep. The others are doing fine. White woke up quite sore after a while. I had to get my leg bandaged. It's not broken, but now I have a limp. Doesn't stop me from walking, though!" he graciously smiled; this man cares a lot about everyone. How sweet of him.

"Well, what now?" I asked; he thought about it for a moment. "Oh, that's right! We're going to the Custard Facility today; we wanted to check it out for any hints about possible cures for the infected. You're coming with us; I'll be sticking with you since I offered to help you out with looking. You know- your eyesight and all." he explained, that's an understandable reason. I am having trouble right now even seeing certain things. That's sweet of him to do. "Well let's go then, I don't wanna slow you all down." I tried following Finn out of my room but nearly hit the wall. I need to be more aware of my surroundings after what happened.

Ron's POV

Finn had made it back with Po, who looked tired. Richard requested that Po and I take him and Finn with him. We've had some experience with the custard and can help. I feel sorry for Po; she was knocked out for a day after witnessing all that. At least Finn will help her with searching; they feel terrible for letting her get into that condition. Richard almost hesitated to take the two because of their injuries, but Finn insisted. I only want to go to help, White refused to, and it's understandable why. He was the one to tell us about this place. That's why we're even going. 

"Alright, you're both here now; we're going to make this quick. Finn and I have radios to contact each other at any given point if anything happens." Richard showed off the radio to make us fully aware of them. The pilot was waiting for us to quit bullshitting, jeez these people never have patience. After a few more explanations of stuff I don't remember, the four of us got on. I had a distasteful feeling about going to this Facility; something about a place oozing with infected custard was terrifying. We are going to have to be extra careful going around those parts. 

I peeked down off the side of the helicopter. Seeing a whole new area, buildings surrounding the parts, and the dreaded thing of the custard supply. It was huge, and I couldn't imagine falling into it. Let's hope we don't have to go near that. We'd landed in one of the more open spaces near an open building that appeared to be storage. It was far from the supply of custard but nearby. The distance is frightening. 

"Okay, we split up and meet back in around an hour or two. Find anything that could lead to a hint of what started or what could end this infected mess. Be cautious of any roaming newborns; we're in their habitat. They could be anywhere and could show up at any time." Richard explained he'd stay with me while Finn and Po went together. However, it feels like we're putting the two most injured people together with only a gun and radio. But Richard trusts Finn to be careful, so I respect that. We decided to check around the area we landed in while the two had gone off towards the buildings away from the custard supply.

"You think they'll be alright?" I asked. Richard was concentrating on searching around the construction area. I didn't think we'd find anything related to the infection. The place was abandoned, sure, but it's just the Facility. Noo Noo tainted it, but what could we learn about that? "They will be just fine; I've known Finn long enough that he can take care of himself. Po is also pretty strong herself; with Finn's help, she'll be fine." "But the newborns-" 

"Ron, I've been married to Finn for seven years. Of course, I trust him to be fine and do alright with Po." He didn't like me talking about worrying for the two. I guess that's understandable since there's no doubt he constantly worries about him. We found nothing around the construction area, just old metal rust rotting away. "We're gonna have to check near the custard supply." Richard walked off towards the region. I swallowed my worry about the place and followed behind.

 We checked around it, but nothing was there. We were careful not to step on only tiny custard drops. The building inside had empty shelves, I wonder what they were keeping here. The place didn't even have stairs, just ramps. I guess it made for easier access when pushing stuff upstairs. The top was empty and was right next to the custard supply. Richard had walked off to check the other buildings beside it. I wanted to get a closer look at the main supply. Up close, it was large, filled with a deadly substance.

 I was too distracted by the bright pink substance to notice a newborn had found its way up here. I wasn't aware until it screamed, causing me to fall off the building nearly. I slipped, my legs dangling over the side. Richard heard the oncoming newborn and shot it; the thing fell over instantly. He rushed over to pull me up, "that thing came out of nowhere!" I shuddered, kneeling over a bit to catch up on what happened. Richard had gotten to my level, too, wondering if it hit me. We didn't notice that the newborn wasn't the only thing with us. I watched in horror as a much larger newborn with a bulker, fatter structure, and long nails on both its hands and back hovered over us.

Po's POV

Finn and I had some pleasant conversations on the way around the buildings. We hadn't found anything except for the usual rocks or storage things. We weren't concerned about anything until we heard a gunshot. "That was a gunshot; I wonder if anything happened," I said. Finn shrugged it off. "Richard probably just shot a newborn; I guess they're coming out of hiding now," Finn had wandered off to check something out. I wanted to go off independently since Finn had been helping me recognize specific objects. 

The others had gone behind the custard supply, so I thought it'd check around the big bowl. Despite my sight being complete shit, I had noticed something near the bowl. I couldn't tell what it was due to my impaired vision, but it was small and grey. I walked closer and could see a shape; it looked like a small fuzzy hat. I kneeled to pick it up, and upon inspecting it, I realized what it was—Richard's beanie.

Huh? But why doesn't he have this right now? Maybe he accidentally lost it along the way. I should keep it in my pockets and return it to him later. He'd appreciate it if I returned it to him.

I shoved the hat into my pocket and returned to Finn's location. He was looking at something, I wanted to mention the lost beanie but his radio had gone off. Finn got the radio out of his pocket and clicked the button.

"Something happened- Ron's gone- I can't find him. I don't feel good- Finn, if you get this- I love you. I'm so sorry-" It cut off to static.

Chapter Text

Po's POV

Seconds later, Finn burst into tears. I never thought I'd see him ever break down, but his husband just left the eeriest recording. I tried to comfort him but it was no use, he took off running, screaming for Richard while tears streamed down his face. I tried chasing him, but my sight wasn't helping at all. He eventually cracked and fell to the ground, where I caught up to him. He was a sobbing mess; he tried muttering words out, but it all came out as gibberish. "Finn... I'm sorry." I sighed, reaching out to hug him. He couldn't speak; his cries turned into coughing and sniffling.

I didn't know what to do; he was a mess. We had to get back to the helicopter, and after finding that beanie, I knew something had happened. "C'mon, we shouldn't stick around." "No! I'm not leaving without Richard!" he croaked, covering his face with his hands. "We can wait for him to come back to the helicopter. Does that sound okay?" I asked, attempting to wipe away his tears. He stared at the ground and gave a small nod. It took him a bit to get back up to his feet, but we'd returned to the helicopter. The pilot noticed Richard or Ron hadn't returned with us, "Everything okay?" he heard Finn weeping. I didn't say a thing, and neither did Finn. 

We waited for almost an hour, and there was no sign of either of the two. "We can't stay any longer; we have to go back to the base," he announced. I thought Finn would disagree, but he stayed silent. He was continuously whimpering. The pilot didn't want to wait anymore and took off. Everything was a mess; I didn't know how to feel about it. A thing in the distance from the Facility had caught my attention. A purple mist cloud, exactly like Laa Laa's. Just right next to the custard supply as well. I was horrified about it but didn't want to say anything; it would cause Finn to go crazy.

Arriving back at the base felt more depressing, and there was no Ron or Richard. It felt off-putting, to say the least. Finn was still sniffling; he didn't stop crying. I tried comforting him on the ride back, but he still seemed to be in the same state. What the hell are we gonna tell the others? I nervously gulped, awaiting how the others were gonna feel about this. Finn and I headed inside, but he stayed behind me, staring down at his feet. Miles had greeted us, noticed we were missing two people, and that Finn was upset. "What happened? Where's Richard and Ron??" he asked; Finn broke down again upon hearing Richard's name. That caught the attention of the rest, and Dutch was more concerned about Finn's bawling. White had entered the room and witnessed the commotion. 

"What is going on? Po?" Lenny asked; nobody knew what was happening. How am I supposed to put this in a way that wouldn't set them all to mourn like Finn? "We- we lost Richard and Ron. We don't know where they went, but Richard contacted Finn's radio and said that Ron was gone and that he was sorry. I don't know what happened." I explained; the other's faces dropped to pure sorrow. I never thought I'd see these same people gloom, but everyone has that emotion. "Our Captain is gone?" Anne spoke, and I could only nod. Lenny looked sadder over the fact he lost Ron, considering Ron was the only survivor of the blue worker massacre. "I swear I'll find a cure for this bullshit, just for him. I should've taken this stupid apocalypse more seriously..." Finn lamented, Dutch patting him on the back. 

"It's not your fault, Finn; we'll find one eventually," Conor stated, the others agreeing. I wanted a cure now; I wanted to see Ron, Richard, and my siblings again. But we don't even know if Richard or Ron died; they could be alive. Ron was gone, so he could've been alive. Finn didn't stick around much longer and ran to his and Richard's room. The others didn't want to upset him even more and left him alone. Everyone was in shock and misery; nobody expected this to happen. Nobody was in the mindset to think about who was gonna be the next Captain. But I knew Richard probably left it to Finn since he had a leader's attitude.

I walked around a bit, trying to look for his room. I came across it from hearing soft sobs. Softly knocking on the door, I cracked open the door a bit. Finn was lying on his bed, holding what seemed to be a furred coat. Nuzzling next to it while crying. "Hey... sorry if this is a bad time. I wanted to check in on you," I huffed, entering the room and closing the door behind me. He stared at me for a moment and then back at the coat. "It's alright- w-what did you need?" he asked, setting up and rubbing away the tears. I searched around my coat pocket and grabbed the beanie. Getting it out and handing it to him.

"I found this before we got that message. I was gonna give it back to him, but you deserve to have it right now." he took the beanie from my hands and put it on his head. Surprisingly, it fit him perfectly despite his curly, spikey hair locks. "Thank you, Po, this means a lot. Did you know I got him this beanie?" I shook my head. Finn seemed to be in a somewhat better mood after seeing the beanie. "It's a long story; no other hats fit him, but when I got him this, he wore it for the longest time. Even when we got married, he continued to wear it. Having it now feels like he's still with me." he smiled, playfully poking at the hat. "That's sweet, but Richard will always be with you no matter what." he nodded in agreement.

"It reminds me of how we met. It's a long story, too, but I know you'll listen. We'd met months before joining the military, somewhat convenient, we both wanted to go so we'd gone together. After training for countless years I realized how much I loved him and confessed. He'd felt the same way, and we'd both continue training until we were in higher ranks. After becoming Captain and Lieutenant, he decided to propose. It wasn't like an actual normal boring one, he threw the ring at me and asked me to marry him. It was so bizarre and sudden that, of course, I said yes." he continued to jabber about any other stories he had about him and Richard. 

Despite not knowing a lot about what he said, I listened; I could tell it made him happy. He didn't stop till he felt tired. I was also getting tired and could tell it had reached nighttime. "Thanks for staying with me and comforting me, kiddo; it meant a lot to me. Also, I'm sorry about Ron; he was a good guy," he said, "anytime, Finn, I'll see you tomorrow. It's alright; Richard was a great guy, too." We said our goodnights, and I left his room. Going back to my room, I thought about the two, trying to think of a valid reason for what happened. But none came to mind; I should just get some rest. It's gonna be a long week.

Chapter Text

Finn's POV

I woke up, expecting to feel a warm hug around me. It's been seven days; why do I think he's ever gonna come back? I started sleeping on Richard's side of the bed since it made me feel like he was still there. I even put his usual outfits in the spot to try and make up for the now cold spot. It made me sleep easier at night if I made it seem like he was here. Po continued to check on me every single day after what happened; she's a really sweet girl for that. I hadn't been eating well or been going out like I should, dealing with this grief felt like a cinder block was crushing me. Some days, others would check on me, while others wouldn't. They probably think I want space even though that's the opposite of what I needed. 

I wanted my husband back, just wanting to curl up in his arms again and for him to take away this bad feeling. After sitting up and putting on Richard's beanie, I thought for a moment. I need to go back to the custard supply; I need to go look for my husband. I've been thinking of doing this for a few days. I can't just sit here and think he's gone forever. I know he wouldn't go down that easily. He's out somewhere, and If I have to be the one to go, I will!

I got up and put on some fitting clothes for where I was about to go. I need to bring my bag, there's something in there that might be important for this. I should expect the worst in this situation, nothing less. I got the bag and walked out of the main hall, expecting it to be easy to get out of there and go. I had accidentally run into Miles, who was doing his usual routine. I tried going around him, but he blocked my way. "Finn, what are you doing? Don't tell me you're gonna go back to that place." he huffed, "You don't understand, Miles! I have to go look for him." I tried pushing him out of my way, but he was more muscular than I was. Barely doing anything to him.

"It's dangerous, we don't want to lose you like Richard-" "I won't fucking die out there, I know what I'm doing!" I yelled, attempting to squeeze through, but he was dedicated to not letting me leave. He's not gonna change his mind unless I make him. "Finn, please-" "Miles, if this happened to Anne, what would you do?! HUH?!" I shouted; he went quiet and let me pass through. Bringing Anne up makes him go silent, but that's probably because he has the biggest crush on her. He's so bad at hiding it that it's funny. I walked away to go call for a helicopter.

"Wait, Finn- listen, if it's not too much to ask of you. But I'd like to go; I think Richard would like it if you had someone watching your back." Miles offered to join me; I guess I could let him. After all, Richard wouldn't want me getting hurt on something this threatening and unexpected. I wouldn't mind company as long as they didn't get in the way of finding my husband. He wanted to bring along Anne and White, too, since they'd be useful. I asked Po to join me since she'd probably wanna figure out what happened, too. Also, I trusted her and was the only one who wanted to help her with her issue with sight. It's time we leave then.

Po's POV

Finn had invited me on a mission, the mission to go look for Richard. I wanted to go to find Richard but also look out for Ron. I was worried he could be dead right now; he was the second person to show me kindness. White was the first, but I never acknowledged that until after Noo Noo's sudden arrival. I should apologize to him sooner or later. He deserves one after the beatings he took from my misjudgment. He must feel terrible because of me. I can't forgive myself for that. 

We were right back at the place where we lost the two. Landing in the same exact spot as last time. Finn had made sure we could stay longer since he wanted to take the most considerate time to look for his husband. We didn't want to split up this time after what happened before. Nobody wanted the same result to happen this time. I stayed with Finn than the other three, Anne and Miles were more interested in each other while White was off on his own. This could be a good chance for me to apologize to him, and I hope he forgives me. I slowed down to White's speed. He didn't notice me until I was directly next to him. I sighed; I can't just let him feel bad forever, 

"I'm sorry about what I did." "For what?" "For treating you like shit, blaming you for what my dad did." he was still confused, I apologized, and he didn't get it? "I forgive you but I understand why, he was your father and I was just a stranger to you." he wasn't up for communication after that so I caught up to Finn. Who was carefully eyeing everything, he didn't want to miss a single thing that could help us find the two. Maybe I should mention the purple mist cloud I saw near the custard supply to Finn. I was too afraid to tell him from the beginning if it upset him. He's been more irritable towards people, and it has been frightening. Without Richard around to calm him down, he's not been able to be his usual self. 

"We should check around the custard supply," I told him; he raised his eyebrow, "when we had left after losing the two, I noticed a purple mist cloud beside the supply. I've seen it before, with my sister. It happens when a normal tubbie becomes infected, so we might have a better chance of looking there for clues about them." Finn's face dropped to one of misery, but he understood it would help us get closer to finding them. He didn't wanna talk about it afterward. He was a bit upset again, he probably thinks his husband or Ron became infected. I hope that didn't happen at all.

We approached the entrance of the building, sitting beside the large container of custard. Finn had noticed something in front of the doorway. It was a puddle of blood; it looked fresh but was drying up by now. "Something has been here; maybe an animal got hurt?" Anne wondered, Miles, examined it a bit to determine it was a few days old. "It's recent. Let's hope that wasn't either of the two; it was just a newborn," I added. We explored the building; it was empty except for the out-of-place shelves. Nothing was inside; the blood didn't drag anywhere. The place had another entry, so we'd go out that way. Now, directly in front of the giant bowl filled with custard. 

I had turned a corner to see some smaller puddles of custard, some staining the sides of the container. "Did something fall into the container and escape?" I asked, "It's what it appears to be; it could've been an animal again." That changed the opinion of all of us as we saw a larger puddle of custard. Not only in a puddle but appearing to look like someone was dragging themselves out of it. It made a long trail of dragged custard that didn't seem to end. The figure that dragged itself looked larger than an animal. It was a huge thing of custard compared to the smaller drops. It didn't end either; the path got smaller and eventually ended at some point. 

"That can't be an animal, can it?" Miles shuddered, walking around the dragged custard. "Still possibly a chance that it's a newborn that happened to be larger than the rest," Finn commented; he was certain it could not be the two. He wanted to deny it, I could tell by how much he wanted to assume it's a newborn. It was awful to see him going through something like this. As if one was enough, on the other side, there was another pool of custard except for footprints. They appeared to stop and circled after a bit but then looked like they headed for the exit. Then disappearing.

This is weird. It's only been a week, and there's so much abandoned custard lying around, sticking to every crevasse of the ground and sides of the container. None of us knew what was going on anymore, and this situation was getting more confusing as it went on. Finn wanted to check every corner to be sure those weren't the only pools of custard around. But there wasn't anything left.

"There has to be something else here, that didn't lead us anywhere!" he grumbled, started to get irritated again. We were not likely to find out a whole lot about what happened to the two. All we found were random custard pools that escaped the main supply. This, of course, had Finn in a somewhat rage. He was determined to find his husband and Ron. "Maybe we should go back? We've checked everywhere." White shyly said, for Finn to grit his teeth. "We're not fucking leaving British boy! You all can but I'm staying until I leave with my husband!" he hissed, White was terrified of Finn's yelling. It was scarier that Finn had a weird accent that only happened when he was shouting at people.

 The wind had blown; we didn't want to say anything else that would upset Finn. A shuffling noise came from behind him; a few papers flew by in the wind. He had hurried and grabbed all the ones he could find or were blown around. "Notes?" he raised a brow, reading through each of them. We didn't know what was on the notes or what he saw. But whatever it was made his eyes widen and fill with tears. "This is Richard's handwriting!" he gasped, shuffling through all the papers. "How can you tell?" Anne tried grabbing one of Finn's papers, but he refused to give them up.

"I can tell my husband's handwriting from anywhere! He's around here somewhere!" he cried happily. He put away the notes in his bag quickly and ran off. It happened so fast, too; he must've been really excited to see signs that Richard was alive and somewhere around here. We were confused, not only did we not see the notes but at the same time, Finn seemed both happy and sad. The mixture of the two didn't appear to hit him well. He was screaming for Richard to come out, "Finn! Quiet, you might attract newborns!" Miles shushed him, but that didn't stop Finn.

He stopped at a building, thinking he'd lost hope. Nobody was answering or responding to him. Miles was trying to calm down Finn, but it didn't work. I caught a walking noise coming our way. Something was coming towards us. The two caught notice and brought out a gun. It was a tall shadow. Whatever it was, it seemed frightened by the guns. It wouldn't come out. Finn lowered his gun, inspecting the figure's shape.

"Guys put the guns down," he whispered to the others. They were confused but put them down anyway. The figure walked closer to us, coming out of the shadows. The tubbie had long, crimson, greasy, and messy hair filled with bits of custard. Along with signature fully grey eyes and black tear marks, blood dried to their mouth, deadly sharp teeth, and the longest black nails I've ever seen. They were sharp and pointy, wearing familiar clothes, but they were covered in dried custard. It was Richard.

Chapter Text

Po's POV

I can't believe it. Richard's back, but he's infected. How did this even happen?! Wait- were those custard pools his? That must mean that the purple cloud must've been his. But where's Ron? Did he run off, or is he hiding somewhere? I was scared of Richard and even hid behind Miles to avoid him. Miles didn't mind since this was an intense situation. Richard wasn't attacking us; he stood there looking at Finn with a happy expression on his face. Finn clutched onto his gun, digging his other hand into his bag, and inserted something into the gun. "I'm sorry, Richard." "Wait Finn what are you-" it was too late, Finn had shot Richard. He slowly fell to his feet and onto the floor. I was stunned; he shot his own husband! "What the fuck, Finn!" Miles yelled, but Finn didn't react.

"Calm down, dumbasses, it was a sleeping dart. I knew if we found him and he was aggressive or turned into this, I would've used it on him. Better safe than sorry." he scoffed, walking over to Richard's unconscious body, taking two fingers and putting them up against his wrist. He did that for about a minute until a smile came across his face, along with a few tears. 

"He's got a pulse! He's alive!" Finn happily chuckled while crying, hugging Richard's body. Alive? He's infected! He's a monster now! The others, including myself, were uncomfortable with the fact Finn was excited over his infected husband. "Miles, help me get him back to the helicopter," Finn asked. Miles didn't want to fight Finn and helped him instead. The rest of us made our way back to the helicopter, all of us processing what just happened. Taking off after they safely got Richard in.

This doesn't seem good at all. I know what happened with my siblings, and I know that Richard will be the same way. Finn is so excited about finding his husband that he probably wouldn't listen to my concern. I feel anxious even sitting in a helicopter with that unconscious monster. I don't like how this is going. I wanna tell him bringing Richard back to the base as an infected is stupid. We could all get killed! Everyone's worried about Finn, especially Finn, and this could make him look insane. Even though he didn't attack us, he still frightens me. 

The landing was smooth; Finn took Richard to clean him off once we landed. He was covered in infected dry custard and smelled like shit, so I can see why. Miles had run off to tell the others to prepare a room. Probably for Richard to stay in while he's infected. I was terrified of all this. The others had scattered, and I went back to my room to contemplate this. Fearing the absolute worst.

Finn's POV

Thank goodness that sleeping darts have long-term effects. It took me a while to clean off Richard due to how sticky the custard is. Some people would think this is weird: washing your own infected husband so he's comfortable and safe. He would've locked him away with no bath if I had left him with Miles. I felt bad that I had to knock him out, but the others would have shot him if I didn't do something. I was careful to wash him, too, with his new long nails. I attempted to clip them but could only make them as short as I could. No matter what happened, he's still my Richard. 

I couldn't clean off the dried black tear marks, but the blood came off easily. Once I was finished, I put him into a grey shirt and pajama pants. Something comfortable to wear when he gets to his new room. I'm disappointed they won't let him sleep in the same room as me, but they don't want me to get hurt. Even though Richard would never hurt me. They might let me stay with him if I convince them that he's still the same Richard but with an infected look. I noticed too that he's grown taller, whatever happened made him grow about four inches. Picking him up, I carried him to his new room, where he'd stay while we figured out what to do.

I closed the secure door and looked through the window at him. He was asleep; the effects hadn't worn off yet. Lenny was watching from the offside, helping set up the room. "I'm sorry this has to happen, Finn; at least they're allowing you to visit him at any time." he depressingly mentioned, crossing his arms. "Yeah, but this isn't right. I know he's not aggressive; he's the same man he always is." he bit his lip, looking conflicted.

"Finn, he's infected and we're taking the necessary precautions to keep all of us safe. He's a monster-" "DON'T SAY THAT ABOUT HIM! I will prove to you all that he isn't a threat to us!" I exploded, getting into Lenny's face. "O-okay, please calm down, Finn! What even is your plan to prove that he isn't?!" he backed away, petrified by my sudden outburst. "By tomorrow, I will prove to all of you, even the soldiers, that Richard is in control of himself. I will walk into that room and stay with him for five minutes when he's awake. I know my husband; he won't attack me. I will prove your stupid theories wrong!" Lenny looked at me like I was stupid. 

"Are you kidding me?! You'll get killed doing that! Every infected you've run into has always tried to attack you! Why do you think he'll be different?! Oh because he's your 'husband' doesn't change a thing!" he ranted, I could care less about what he had to say. I know I would come out successful in this. I just want to see my husband again. I hate locking him away like this. He doesn't deserve this treatment; they'll all see that they're wrong. I know what I'm doing. Lenny had left the room because I ignored his little rant; I looked at the ground. I glanced at my wedding ring that was on my right hand. Letting out a large sigh, I held my right arm close to me. I will prove to them that Richard isn't a monster, no matter how long it takes.

Chapter Text

Po's POV

I was concerned about Finn; I couldn't stop thinking about him possibly getting hurt by Richard. I hadn't left my room since yesterday, for fear that something would happen. How dumb does he think he is? Bringing this monster back here where he could get his hands on all of us! What a dumbass move. I got up from my bed and decided to take a walk around. The other soldiers were all in their own groups, talking to each other in whispers with snide and weird looks. What is going on? I noticed White chilling by himself, glaring at everyone who was whispering. "What's happening?" I asked; he noticed me and huffed. 

"You didn't hear? Finn's planning something." the others around us chattered loudly; I could hear something about Finn but nothing else. "What is he planning now?" I remotely groaned; it can't be anything good. I worry that White is gonna tell me it's something bad or even worse. "I don't know. Something about Richard; apparently, he wants to show everyone he's not a monster. I am more neutral about the situation and curious about what will happen. But still, I worry for Finn." Of course, that's what it is. I hate to say it, but this was a stupid idea. He's risking himself getting killed all to prove that not all infected are the same. I get that it's his husband, but he could badly injure himself in the process.

"I knew it was something stupid. He wants to convince people that all infected aren't bad. Every infected person I've seen has tried to sink their teeth into people! But what did I expect from someone who can't even listen to basic instructions!" Finn's idea was provoking me enough to start ranting about it. White found it amusing and started giggling, "You know, Po, you are a lot like your sister Laa Laa. Both of you are sassy." "Where do you think I got it from? You dumb brit." White gave me a sour face, rolling his eyes. The soldiers continued their rumor spreading; I only took in a few of what they heard. Finn and Richard, that's all I could hear. I need to go talk to Finn about this. I didn't know where to find him, so I checked the first room where they kept Richard.

While on my way there, I heard different opinions about Finn's plan. "He's gonna get himself killed-" "Finn knows what he's doing-" "I would much rather stay out of this." "Did you hear about what we're having for dinner tonight?-" "Shut the fuck up, Dave-" There was too much talking going on that I couldn't focus on it all. I walked through all the soldiers having a conversation; I didn't have time to hear everything. I noticed Lenny was half asleep at one of the tables near the entrance of the room where they were keeping Richard. He was tiredly holding up his head with his arm, about to collapse down on the table. It didn't help that he was snoring loudly. I quietly strolled over beside him, patting him on his shoulder.

"Lenny?" I annoyingly poked him, and he flinched and woke up. Groaning and rubbing his eyes, "What is it, Po?" he muttered, sitting up straight. "What are you doing out here?" he scratched his face, "just... sleeping. What about you?" "I was gonna go see Finn; I heard about him planning something." Lenny wasn't too happy and got out of the chair. "God, Finn- he's been wanting to show everyone that Richard isn't aggressive by staying in the same room with him for five fucking minutes. I just- don't think it'll end well." he sighed, "Yeah me neither, I'm gonna go tell him how I think about it." "Go ahead and try; Finn won't listen." he walked off to do something else. I will find a way to convince him to listen.

I pushed open the door to the room, Finn was pacing around the room thinking about something. I glazed over to the small room they kept Richard, he was awake. It's awake; I thought they'd keep it knocked out for a bit longer. It wasn't doing anything, just sitting there, staring at Finn, who was seemingly frustrated with himself. "Hey, Finn," I wandered over, staring at both him and Richard. Finn let go of his exasperation and gave me a small smile, "Hey kiddo, what did you need?" he exhaustingly questioned, my smile faded and became one with anger. I scampered to him and slapped him, causing him to flinch and grab his cheek. 

"Are you STUPID? Do you really want to get killed for something like this?! It's not worth it, you nonce! My siblings are a great example of why your idea is so flawed! THEY NEARLY KILLED ME!" I ranted; Finn wasn't impressed and didn't listen. "ARE YOU STILL NOT GONNA LISTEN?! RICHARD IS AN INFECTED! NOT THE SAME PERSON HE USED TO BE! DO YOU THINK HE'S GONNA REMEMBER AS HE KILLS YOU?!" I shouted; he backed away towards the door that led into Richard's room. He slowly turned the handle, not saying a single word. Lenny had walked in by that time, having an immediate face of panic. 

Finn didn't care and entered the room. I rushed over for a closer look. Richard had noticed Finn come in and dove under the blanket they gave him. Shaking a bit, his nails piercing through the blanket due to their sharpness. What the fuck is wrong with it? Why's it hiding from him? Lenny had run over to check out what was going on. He attempted to open the door, but Finn locked it so nobody could stop him.

"Finn!" he yelled, banging on the glass. That frightened Richard, who was whimpering under the blankets. Finn had approached Richard and kneeled down to take the blanket off of him. He gave him a warm smile, messing with Richard's crimson locks of hair. Richard tilted his head a bit, reaching out to Finn. What is he doing?! He's gonna attack! He then attempted to caress Finn's cheek but scared himself with his nails. "Don't...want... hurt... Finn..." he stuttered, Richard can speak?? But I thought being infected took that away! 

"It's okay, Richard; I know you won't hurt me. You never would." He smiled, pecking a small kiss on his forehead. Richard promptly blushed and a grin came across his face, he was happy. This isn't right, infected aren't supposed to act like this! This is- how is- what?! Lenny, by then, had brought the others to help unlock the door. They saw the two sitting there with each other; Richard wasn't attacking Finn. But more like he wanted to comfort Finn. He started crying while grinning, "I told you all, he's not a threat. My husband would never betray anyone." he was then hugging Richard, who was conflicted at his long claws. "Claws... sharp..." he attempted to speak again, spitting up a bit of blood from forcing out some words. "It's okay, Richard, your claws won't stab me. I made sure to trim them to where they won't. Though I notice they grow back quickly." he tried avoiding making his nails touch Finn when hugging him. He wasn't attacking anyone, not even us, who were watching them.

Lenny nervously laughed, "I guess you proved us wrong, Finn. He doesn't seem like he wants to hurt anyone either. It is our Captain, not some lousy infected." he picked the lock, getting it unlocked. Finn turned back to me, "You coming in?" he asked, laying his head on Richard. I was hesitant, what if he switches up and tries attacking me? I carefully stepped forward into the room. My eyes began to twitch, it didn't help that my chest started feeling heavy and my throat was burning. I feel sick, I can't do this! Finn had gotten up and tried comforting me, "Hey hey, it's okay, look, he's not gonna harm you. It's Richard; he knows you enough not to attack you." I started shaking, and my vision got extra blurry.

I carefully reached forward at Richard, who was giving me a small look. I can't back out of this; I brought myself into it. He tried poking my hand without the claws getting in the way. He found it funny, he didn't mean harm towards any of us. I rubbed my eyes and laughed with him. But his voice was raspier than how it used to be, his body looking weaker than usual. One of the newer recruits had come in, which alerted his attention. He turned to growl, his claws growing longer and the hair on him sticking up like a cat. 

Lenny forced the new recruit out of the room, which calmed down Richard. He looked like he felt bad for reacting terribly. "He's not friendly to anyone new he sees; that's interesting. But he enjoys or can be with people he knows." I had so many questions to ask Richard about what happened and how it is to be infected. I just need to know how it is for my siblings. "Can I talk to Richard?" I looked over at Finn, who nodded. I bent down to his level; he gave me a questionable look. "How did you become infected, and how are you able to control yourself?" Richard tried to murmur more out but he coughed up blood, he can't speak full sentences. 

Finn had an idea, "Hey, Lenny! Hand me some paper!" Lenny had a confused look, "For what?" "Just give us some paper and a pen! Now!" he groaned, getting the two items. "I am the engineer boy, not the delivery boy!" he slid us the papers and pen. Finn sat down the paper in front of Richard and gave him the pen, "Alright, dear, tell us how you're infected." Richard began to write down a long thing on paper. Both Finn and I observed it but were not able to read all of it. After a couple of minutes, he slid the paper back to us. I grabbed it and started to read it out loud.

"Ron and I had run into a newborn; it attacked Ron, and I was able to kill it. But another one came along, bigger and more vicious than the last one. It had forcefully grabbed us and thrown us into the custard supply. Due to my training, I held my breath, not ingesting any custard. Ron, however, panicked and drowned a few minutes after coming to my senses. I was able to tell by my foot touching his body. I had to breathe and accidentally let a bit of custard into my mouth. I managed to get out but left a huge puddle of custard around, I dragged myself somewhere safe where I then passed out. Before I did I was in agony, my body felt like it was on fire. I woke up to the stinging pain but everything was different, I was still in pain but my skin had become paler and I had grown these weird claws. I could sense more but it came at the cost of eyes switching up, I feel color blind. Though only a bit, I am able to tell who is who. I tried looking for you two, especially Finn. I cried out; it left these black tear marks on me. I searched everywhere for you two, every crevasse of that cursed place. I eventually ran into Ron, and he became infected. His body was skinnier and weirder, built like Po's sister but with the same exact claws as me. It didn't help that his body was melty and bumpy, his one fucked up arm has grown its own sentient blades out of it. He was way too aggressive and tried attacking anything in his path. I didn't feel like dealing with whoever this monster was, so I scared him off. He didn't even pause for a moment and left the area. I haven't seen him since. I began to write down notes from the paper I had found from one of the buildings. I missed Finn and everyone so much. It was so lonely and isolating to deal with; I hated it. I didn't understand how I was in control. I had to feed myself still, I began to eat berries I found but I couldn't stomach all of them. It made me throw up all the custard I ingested. My body feels so weak, but I'm able to manage it well. I don't like being this way. I'm so thankful I can control myself; I would never want to hurt any of you. That's all I can remember from the week I was alone."

I couldn't help but feel awful for him, he's suffering so much right now even trying to live. Ron's infected too but his whereabouts are unknown, it doesn't seem like Ron is passive like Richard. Finn started crying but kept it back. Richard tried hugging Finn but couldn't because his claws were getting in the way. It didn't stop Finn from hugging him, "I'm sorry we didn't find you sooner. You were so lonely out there... this shouldn't have happened." he shuddered, sniffling a bit. He got up after a while and concluded a theory, 

"From Richard's note and the infected themselves, I can conclude that the infection is not just one thing but multiple. There's more than a fully infected group; Richard is a part of the partially infected group. One who didn't get the same effects as the others, maybe due to eating less custard than the others. Such as droplets. He is calmer and in control of his emotions and actions. He can sense danger like the other infected but does not immediately make it his priority to attack. The other infected will chew and claw at anything; Richard doesn't unless it's someone he doesn't know. His body isn't dead either; it somehow still works but is slower from being weak. The infected custard didn't fully kill him, he's still alive explaining the pulse I found when we found him back at the Facility. Concluding that he's a tamer infected and isn't a braindead zombie like the rest. He's half infected and half alive, but still considered infected to the other infected and people who aren't aware of what he is." Finn theorized; the others listened in and agreed with him. 

They'd seem to have felt bad for talking bad about his idea backfiring, but he understood it looked stupid to others. It wasn't a bad theory, certainly a starter for things we don't understand yet. I think there is some hope of finding a cure and gathering more information about the infected.

Chapter Text

(This begins after Richard and Ron are thrown into the custard)

Richard's POV

All I felt was aching; I could barely remember what had just happened. All I saw was that large monster, and now I'm here. Sulking in some liquidity goo. Wait... goo- the infected custard. I came back to my senses, realizing I was thrown into the container of custard with Ron. I couldn't see where Ron was. I heard splashing and felt movement near me, but it became silent after a while. I can't allow myself to panic; I don't wanna accidentally ingest this dastardly vile fluid. I began to try swimming up, but the custard was sticky and made it harder to swim in. I didn't know how much longer I could hold my breath.

 I could feel myself reaching the surface until something touched my leg. It had suddenly alarmed me, causing me to suck in a bit of custard. Fuck! Not what I wanted to do. I closed my mouth again, my throat burning and feeling like it was closing itself. I checked for what was touching my leg; it felt like an arm. I put two and two together and realized it was Ron. His body must've rubbed against my leg, though he drowned from panicking. The poor lad, he didn't deserve that. I dove out of the custard and got air, trying to spit out any remaining custard in my mouth. I had swallowed the tiny amount before I could spit it out, too. Fuck- this is, oh no, this can't happen! Goddamn it! I dug in my pocket for my radio, shakingly turning it on. My throat was burning, but I needed help.

"F-Finn?! Oh god!- Something happened; a monster threw us into this container. Ron's gone; I can't find him anywhere. I think he might've drowned in the custard. I don't feel good; my stomach is entirely in pain. Finn, sweetheart, if you get this. Please return back to the base and get help! I love you so much, more than anything. I'm so sorry this had happened; it was stupid to split up." Before I could say over the radio, I let off a roaring static noise, dying from being soaked in custard. I threw it in the custard, slowly sinking to the bottom. Disappearing into the pink gooey unknown. My body was covered in this smelly, sticky substance, and attempting to climb out was gonna be difficult.

 I tried climbing up, but a loud crying shriek startled me. It was Finn. He sounded like he was in so much pain, screaming for me. I need to get out of here! I began trying to climb out, but it was no use every time. Finn wouldn't stop, making me more determined to get out of this hellhole and comfort him. I tried yelling back, but it came out muffled and raspy; I was losing my voice. This fucking custard, I can barely get out a word! "F-Finn!" I tried to scream, but a small croak came out instead. I was getting furious with being unable to escape this gooey pink hell. With every grabbing attempt, I slid back into the custard. I kept trying, my eyes watering, making my vision watery and unclear. The anger building up that I couldn't reach Finn made the already existing pain in my stomach feel even worse. It had become silent; I hadn't realized it with the sound of my constantly struggling in my ears.

An hour or so passed, though I couldn't tell time. I grabbed the edge of the container and lifted myself out; my body was starting to feel weak. My vision is getting dizzy and faint. I flopped onto the ground, holding myself; the aching got worse. I continued to weep, worried something could've happened to Finn. 

I left him and Po alone, knowing they both were injured. Oh god, this is all my fault for agreeing to go out here! My head is spinning, and I can't stop thinking of the two getting into some kind of possible danger. I care about them both deeply, Finn being my husband and Po as a daughter to me. I hope they got my message; all I want for them is for them to be safe. I know Miles will handle it from there; he's always been there for Finn and me. 

My body was starting to reject the custard that was sitting in my body, making me very ill. I began to try crawling somewhere safe to wait for help. My eyes fluttered, a sudden tiredness coming over me. I could crawl only a few steps until I eventually hit the floor and passed out. The pain came to a sudden stop.

I awoke to a sharp discomfort in both my stomach and hands. I noticed I had been drooling, my hair drooping over me, some pieces stuck together like glue from the custard. I tried rubbing my face, but I was met with long, almost curled, black nails. They were sharp and could pierce through anything. It stunned me for a moment; I noticed my vision was also weird. It appeared to have changed to a redder color, almost seeming like I was colorblind. But I could still see things normally, only being less colorful. What happened to me?! I passed out, and now I have really sharp claws, and my vision is all fucked up! 

It took me a moment to remember the custard bits I swallowed while in the container. It hit me like a train all at once: I'm infected. But how was I maintaining all this control of my body?! Wouldn't I be dead and not in control anymore?! Just some sentient being?! It doesn't make sense! I carefully got up, trying not to prick myself with my long claws. These things scared me; I could easily impale myself or someone with them. I need to find the two; they could've come back for me.

Trying to yell was an issue; the infection took away my ability to speak proper sentences. Only easy words could come out, but they sounded like shrieks. Compared to other infected people, I could still speak, but not as much. The infection was holding back my ability to scream for help or even talk to anyone. This sucks more than Gary's attempts to be a part of any of our activities. I just need to look around; any sign of them would help. I was out for a few hours; It was starting to get dark. I gotta look for them quickly, then maybe get some shuteye.

It was pitch black out, with no sign of them anywhere. They're not here, but I know they'll come back for me! I wasn't tired, but I knew I should get some rest. They can come back for me anytime now. I sat my butt on the cold hard floor. It felt like my body was turning into ice. I might freeze out here, but I can do nothing about it. I curled into a ball, resting my head against one of the cold stone walls. The custard stuck more to me, making me extra colder. I miss Finn; I don't like being out here on my own. I wanna go home; it's so cold.

It started out of nowhere; I cried, black marks running down my face. Crying at least warmed up my body a bit, but with the cost of not stopping. I wished harder than I ever did before to go home. I never admitted to anyone except Finn that I feared being alone. Being in the military took my grasp of being dependent away, though it should be the opposite. The thing I feel when nobody is here is that fear is swallowing me whole. Finn was the one person who always stuck by me, never leaving my side. But now he's gone and probably feeling the same as me. We both practically can't live without each other. The time I nearly lost him at the Fortress came back to mind. Making my painful cries louder, curling myself even more into a ball. I cried out whatever was left of my heart until I fell asleep.

The sun was bright; I was chilly all night. I had an aching headache from last night, my face numb, and black tear marks now stuck to my face. Since it was brighter out, I noticed that my skin was paler. How wonderful all that tanning for my mixed skin, to only be turned pale. What a shame. I got up and began looking around for anything to do; my search for Finn and the rest wasn't over. I still believe they'll come back for me. I heard a loud noise coming from the custard supply; being the sneaky man I am, I decided to check it out. I peered from a corner, noticing a tall figure looming near the supply. 

It was Ron; he had become infected. But worse than what I faced. His skin was pale, too, appearing bumpy and melty. His wounded arm had grown blades out of it, his veins now infuriated by the sudden mutilation. He'd grown taller, too; his healing black eye had become a bloating, bumpy mess. He looked awful, appearing skinner, too, with the long claws I developed. I never felt more thankful that I didn't turn out like that. He was quietly growling and breathing heavily.

Ron is fully infected; I heard him drown. There's no way he's in control like I am. I don't want him to stick around, if Finn or Po come back for me he'll hurt them. I wouldn't want that to happen. I came out from hiding and approached him; he stared at me for a moment with his blank black eyes. Hissing at me a little. Unsure of how I could get him to leave, I pointed towards an open exit. "Go," I said raspily; his facial expression didn't change. He walked towards the way I pointed and left that easily. I guess the infected can talk to other infected, but he didn't want to have a conversation. He just did what I said. At least he's gone now. He was gone; I continued my search for anything to do.

I found a pen and some paper in one of the buildings. Seemingly abandoned enough. I wanted to write down my experience in case anyone ever finds them. I hope Finn finds them; he can come to my rescue. I started writing about how I was doing and how much I missed Finn. It went on for three pages until I felt tired out. I should document how I'm doing until they come back for me. I started to feel hungry despite my organs now being half-dead. I need to eat something. I looked for any animals that were passing by or food that somehow found its way here. I spotted a berry bush that was close to the facility but wasn't on it. Rushing over, I plucked a few off. 

Instantly shoving them in my mouth didn't take long for it to upset my stomach. I couldn't hold them in for a minute, throwing them back up along with custard and blood. My stomach can't digest food; how am I supposed to survive?! But at least I'm getting rid of the custard that turned me into this monster. I wonder how Finn is gonna react to me being this creature. I don't want him to hate me, but he'd never hate me. Even if I became infected, he loved me enough not to care about that. I know he'll still love me the same way. I thought of something: I should get rid of the custard sitting in my body. I don't like throwing up, but the long-term effects this could bring if I let it sit there. Though I could've already thrown up all the custard anyway. I'll see about it later when I come back to eat again. I already lost my appetite from that experience.

It had been days; I don't know at this point. I was losing hope of ever seeing anyone again. My notes were starting to get extremely worrying; I was not doing well. I couldn't eat properly, and my stomach rejected anything I could find to snack on. Thankfully, I did eventually get all the custard out. I've noticed that, being infected, I lacked the need for food or sleep. I guess I can do more than a normal tubbie can. I wanna go home; I can't stop believing that Finn will come for me. He would never leave me behind, despite, I think, a week passing. Maybe they got caught up in something else? I hope they're all doing okay. I did what I usually do when I'm bored: go and look around for something to do. I sat my notes down near the stairs, hoping they wouldn't blow away from the wind. 

I wanted to do some searching outside the Facility. I spent some time exploring and doing whatever passed the time. I noticed a noise from the Facility earlier, like a helicopter noise. I wanted to go check it out now, thinking It was dangerous earlier. I avoided it. But I'm now generally intrigued to see what it is. Finn has come back for me, hopefully; he's the only person I wanna see right now. I sneaked back into the Facility, hearing people talk. A grin took over my face, and I heard Finn. So they did come back for me! Though they're probably a week late.

I mysteriously peaked to see Finn, Po, Miles, Anne, and White. Miles looked angry at Finn, who appeared to have found my notes. He knows I'm here! What did I expect? He's quite the handsome genius. I quietly walked towards them, and Po picked up on me while I was walking towards them. I froze once the others had aimed their guns at me. It'd be awful if they shot me. Finn stared at me, lowering his gun. He had whispered something to the others that had gotten them to put their guns down.

I stepped out to reveal myself; everyone was surprised to see me somehow thriving. Especially Finn; seeing him light up was the best moment ever. I won't ever forget that cheerful look on his face. But the others seemed scared; Po was hiding behind Miles. Looking terrified for her life, I couldn't feel more awful for scaring her like this. But seeing Finn made me happy; I couldn't stop grinning. He had dug something out of his pocket with his gun; he brought it? He's smart for bringing that, knowing something as crazy as this would happen. I can't be mad at him for doing this. I'm just happy to see him again. He aimed at me, taking the shot and firing. Everything goes dark.

Chapter Text

Finn's POV

A week had passed since we got Richard back. I had been spending every single day with him. Occasionally, Po or Miles would visit and hang out with us. We've been trying to find a way to get his claw issues under control. But I haven't found anything yet to use. Dutch has been suggesting gloves, but they'd have to be handmade to fit his claws. I still haven't told Richard about still having to go on missions and leaving him for a bit. Miles and Anne want to go try and find another lead to the infection. He isn't fond of being alone. I wanted to ask Po or Miles to stay with him in the meantime, but that probably wouldn't make him as happy. 

I jumped a bit from feeling a small poke on my shoulder. I had been dozing off in Richard's temporary home. "Hey, hun, you must be getting hungry. Huh?" he nodded in response, cuddling up close to me. I miss hearing him speak. After getting him back, we discovered he has issues with talking. So, he can only speak simple words one at a time. But I've been married to him for so long that I know exactly what he wants. 

He tends to do stuff himself now after getting used to being in this new home. I've been trying over and over to get the others to let him stay with me again, but no dice. They're worried about him coming in contact with new recruits. "Hungry," he muttered, his stomach rumbling as he lay on my shoulder. "I'll go get you something to munch on. Potatoes and sausage again?" he happily nodded, letting off a small purr. The discovery that he purrs lit my heart up, it's adorable to hear something like that from someone as masculine as him. But he doesn't have a choice in his infected state. 

As I got up, Po entered the room with some crayons and paper. "Good timing, I was about to get him something to eat. Are you gonna draw with him again?" I asked, "Of course I am, we both enjoy it and he likes the drawings I color for you two." I glanced back at the wall where a few drawings, almost looking like they were drawn by small children, were hanging on the wall. Po started drawing to help her cope with her past bad experiences. Richard enjoys seeing her drawings and even draws with her at times. Though the both of them have never drawn anything before. But they're both proud of their work, and I'm proud of them. They do try their best, after all.

Po entered the room and dropped the stuff on the desk. Immediately grabbing Richard's attention, he snuck over and took a piece of paper. "You two have fun; I'll be back shortly." I kissed Richard on the head, he made a happy noise and went back to drawing. Whatever passes the time for him, though the drawing stuff is childish. It's Po's thing, and Richard enjoys it. It's at least something he can do while stuck in containment; I hope they let me take him out soon. I exited the room and went straight towards the kitchen. I usually never cook; it was always Richard who did. I would only do that if I wanted to introduce him to American dishes. He, on the other hand, would make German dishes. I'd been eating the food for years, even before we got together. He helped me learn to cook in the first place. So now I repay him by making meals. Though he loves my cooking, even writing critiques to help me improve.

The time passed, and I finished cooking. It wasn't much food, but Richard's stomach couldn't handle it. He can only eat small portions before throwing them up. The infection ruined his organs; it's sad to witness him suffer like this. I prepped the dish and made sure it wasn't too hot. I have to be exact, or else he won't be able to eat. I wonder if he ever feels bad for me having to take extra steps to help him with things. He was the one to help me with things constantly, so now it's my turn. I carefully started carrying it back to the room. I had blanked out into thoughts for a moment, almost entirely back to the room.

"THESE GODDAMN RATS! I WILL SWEEP EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU." I nearly dropped the plate, instantly glaring over at where the noise came from. It was Lenny with a broom, waving it around as if he was trying to kill something. We'd recently found out that we had a bit of a rat issue; the others aren't so happy about it. Except for Conor, he wants to keep one and train it to cook like that one movie. "Lenny what the fuck, they aren't gonna come out if you keep waving that thing around." he rolled his eyes and sat the broom down. "Well, they'll come out eventually! I wish we had something around here to help with the issue. Rat poison isn't exactly working." I huffed and just told him to ignore it for now. He did as I said and went off to either bother Gary or White. Sometimes, even both at the same time. I pushed open the door with my back and stepped into the room. The two looked like they were passing notes to each other.

Po has been wanting to try to extend her communication with Richard. She wants to talk and understand him at a level I do. She's making great progress so far. I've been helping her at times to get her to have a better understanding. After this whole mess is over, I wanna help her along with more basic common sense. She didn't exactly grow up with the information that she needs by now. I still feel insanely bad for what happened to her. She's not exactly recovered either; she awakes from night terrors due to it. I'm not able to sleep with Richard again yet until the claws thing is figured out. But I've been keeping a close eye on her and continue wanting to, once I get to stay with Richard almost full-time. It could be like a fun sleepover. Yet again, once this is over, we should really think about getting our own home. Privacy would be really nice.

Po had accidentally drawn on the table; her blindness wasn't helping. But I could see that they both were making nice notes and drawings. Po was writing in another language, Cantonese. She informed us that she not only speaks English but also Cantonese. It wasn't too much of a surprise since she's Chinese. I knocked on the door to his room and entered after a few seconds. The two of them looked at me, "Here's your food, Richie." he grinned at the nickname as I handed his plate over to him.

 He can't use utensils, so his claws are his best bet at picking up food. It doesn't bother him; in fact, he actually keeps his claws extra clean compared to other infected. Richard slowly ate his food, setting aside the papers. "I guess I'll be going now. White wants me to help him with something. I'll be back later, though. Bye-bye!" Po waved goodbye, took her things, and went out the door, leaving both Richard and me alone.

I should tell him about the mission thing, it's best if I explain to him now. I'm sure he'll understand. It's not like he'll get super clingy, right? I sighed. Richard was still chowing down on his food, but he soon raised an eyebrow at me. "I'm glad you've adjusted so well here, and we get to be together again, but I still need to do my basic duties and take over for you in the meantime." Richard's face dropped into one of sorrow. He ignored his unfinished food to cling to me. His claws accidentally dig into my skin, causing me to flinch. He shrieked and let go, "Hey- hey, it's okay, it was an accident, dear. I know this is different since you always get to go with me on missions, but you have to stay here. It's for your safety, hun. You have Po and Miles; they can stick with you while I'm gone." Richard was neutral on the ideas. 

There has to be something other than me that can accompany him.

I shrugged it off and tried to ignore it; we could figure it out later. I felt the urge to go on a walk; I hadn't been out in a while since I was always in to be with Richard. "Hey I'm gonna go on a short walk, I'll be back shortly, okay?" He was hesitant to let me leave but let me go anyway. I gave him a small cheek kiss and left the room, heading towards the entrance of the base. On my way, I ran into Miles, who was talking to Anne. The two have been getting more friendly lately than usual, but I know exactly why. 

"Where are you heading off to?" he asked, crossing his arms. "I'm gonna go take a short walk; I need a refresher," I replied, continuing on my way. He told Anne something and followed me, "I'm gonna join you." "Why? Don't you have some flirting to do with Anne-" "Can you not bring that up!- No, I just wanted to talk to you." he groaned, a small blush coming over his face through his helmet. I didn't mind, and Miles would keep bothering me if I didn't let him. We both eventually made our way outside the walls. The soldiers closed the gates and wished us a safe walk.

"What did you need to talk about?" I curiously questioned, walking alongside him. Today's forest was beautiful compared to other days, but I haven't been out in a week. It hasn't been beautiful since before the apocalypse. "I wanted to talk about Richard," he answered, examining the views around us. "What about him? He's doing great and is getting better about things." I raised a brow. "Yeah, he is, and I'm glad, but without him being able to boss us around. It just feels weird. I look up to him every single day as a role model, but I do not know how he can do that now. It's not the same; I understand there's nothing we can do about it, and you're trying your best to help him now" 

It's no lie that Miles and Richard are close. He's inspired to be like Richard, which is why he works so hard every day just to satisfy him. Miles is a great person; I like him too. He's hard-working and straightforward about everything. I say that out of everyone, we trusted him the most with taking over if anything ever happened to Richard and me. 

"I get that. He might not be able to say it, but he's definitely proud of you for still working hard. He enjoys seeing both you and Po visit, it means a lot to me as well to see you there too. Don't beat yourself up over this; he'll soon be back to bossing you around again." I giggled; he let out a small chuckle as a smile widened across his face. "Yeah yeah you're right, I knew I could trust telling someone like you Finn. You know, you kinda boss people around as he does too. Is this something that rubs off in the marriage?" he laughed; I playfully punched him while laughing with him. The walk was going great; we were just enjoying our time out here.

A small scream came from a part of the woods to our right. "Something's out here," I whispered; Miles automatically got his gun out. It didn't sound like any newborn or infected. It was a small animal, but what animal? It came from the bushes; they rustled a bit as I got closer. I slowly pulled them away to reveal two small kittens. One was an orange cat; the other was a Siamese. What are two kittens doing all the way out here?! I honestly thought animals were gone after the apocalypse. I guess I'm wrong. Miles put the gun away after noticing what they were. "Odd, not something you see every day in this neck of the woods. We should take them back," he suggested, petting the small orange one who meowed back. I picked both of them up, since they are babies, they're lightweight. 

Richard might like them, but animals aren't a threat to the Infected. They shouldn't be, at least. I think we have someone back at the base who knows a bit about animals, especially cats.

They didn't seem injured and were just tired, ordinary cat behavior. Miles attempted to play with the orange one again, but it wasn't up for it. I couldn't tell what gender they were just yet; I'll have to check once we get back. We entered the gates after they were opened and headed inside. Lenny still had his broom and looked like a child throwing it around. He noticed me with two cats in my hands, "Holy fuck! Cats! That's just what we need for this rat problem!" He made little 'psh psh' noises at the sleepy cats. "They're kittens, Lenny; the rats are probably bigger than them." I sighed; he rolled his eyes and continued with his broom dance lessons. Miles observed the cats a bit longer, "the orange one is male, and the Siamese is female." he chimed in, "Don't even wanna ask how you got that, but I trust your word for it." After that, Miles left to catch up with Anne. He is really obsessed with that woman.

I quietly entered Richard's room, but one of the cats loudly meowed. Scaring Richard, who quickly turned around to stare at me. "Since we were having problems finding someone to be my replacement. I stumbled upon these two in the woods. You'll love them, especially since you wanted cats in the past. Just never had time to care for one. But we can now!" I smiled, cautiously setting the two kittens down, hoping that nothing would go wrong. But it didn't; Richard grew a grin across his face. 

"Cats!" he happily yelled, attempting to pet the two. If it's two things that make him a softie, it's me and cats. We needed names for them now, but Richard's ability to speak only small, easy words made it tough. I thought for a moment, then had some ideas. "I named them already too, they're easy names just for you, honey" I picked up the orange cat, "This is Mark," setting him down and picking up the Siamese, "And this is Mischa, It's German just like you." I smiled; he loved the names. He sat there for a moment, "Mark... and... Mischa." he raspily looked down at the two cats. He didn't have a problem pronouncing their names, which made me grateful. "Thank... you... Finnie." he purred, hugging me as the two cats curled next to him. I hugged him back and watched as the two cats soon fell asleep. Things are finally improving for everyone.

Chapter Text

Po's POV

I quietly closed the journal that was given to me by White. That reminds me, how is White? I haven't talked to him in a few days. Nothing too important has overcome any of it, thankfully. Richard and Finn have been doing better with the new company they found. I guess I should go ahead and talk to White. I slid the journal into the bookshelf beside my bed. My room had become more decorated as the days passed. I started collecting things I considered treasure. Finn promised me that we'd return to Mainlands for my scooter. I didn't feel comfortable enough to go, but he insisted that he be fine by himself. I'm unsure of when he'll go out since he's still trying to adapt Richard to being with cats. Then again, they finally made gloves for Richard to wear so Finn could sleep and stay with him. I'm getting off track; I need to go see White. I shook my head to erase the thoughts arising from my chair. I stuck my arm out to avoid accidentally hitting the wall. I really need glasses, if those would be useful at this point.

Safely exiting my own room, I retraced my steps to where White's room would be. I've been getting better at memorizing locations. Carefully walking over to the large door, I curiously knocked. Hearing a small rustle from inside, White opened the door. I observed him; he looked more energetic than usual. Something you don't see often from this white furball. "Hey, Po! Did you need anything?" he asked, looking behind him I could see piles of paper. He must be working on a new project. White is usually working on something sciencey. It's what he does to help around. "Oh I don't need much, I just wanted to come talk to you." he casually nodded and let me inside. He had a pretty nice room, but I think mine is better. "So what did you need?" he plopped down on a swivel chair.

"I wanted to ask how you're doing. It's been a few days since we last talked, and I'm still not over what I did to you." I sank into the chair; he slightly frowned with a small sigh. "I've been okay, just working on my ordinary junk. It's been a few weeks, by now it should be a thing of the past. We should focus on now, I mean stuff is so much better than it was before. So, how have you been holding up?" He feebly smiled, grabbing his mug of tea from the table and sipping it. "Fine, I still have my struggles here and there. Finn calls it 'PTSD' as if I know what that is." he carelessly giggled. "Did he even explain it to you? It was a mistake that Noo Noo never taught you guys anything, having let you learn independently." I found it a little funny, but truthfully, we learned stuff on our own. My siblings know a lot more than I do, and they made jokes about it. I never understood a thing.

"Nope, it's apparently serious and even permanent, but some days I just don't see it that way. There will be days where it plagues me constantly and others where it doesn't. It's such an odd thing; he told me all the terrors and hallucinations I have are from it. My moods have been switched up, too; it also has an effect on me. That's what Finn told me." his facial expression changed to sorrowful regret. "I'm sorry, Po, I couldn't imagine how it feels to be in your shoes. What happened that night gets to me as well. Sometimes, it wakes me up in a cold sweat as if I was somehow reliving the moment. It reminds me that I have to deal with a thing called Autism, though I suppose you wouldn't know since nobody was ever there to explain anything to you." I shook my head, sulking deeper into my seat.

I feel like an idiot, not knowing what anything is. Of course, I know what swearing is since Tinky would use the language like there was no tomorrow. Makes me miss when he'd accidentally say something like 'fuck' and Laa Laa would tell him to knock it off. Oh, to see the three again, it'd be a dream. 

White tapped my shoulder, noticing I had zoned out; this sometimes happens when it's something about the three. "I don't know what that is either. Maybe soon after things get settled completely, you or Finn can school me on everything I missed out on. This reminds me a lot of Finn's weird comment when we explored the Station for Miles and Anne. We ran into Laa Laa, but before it, she was making weird moaning noises, and Finn said something like, 'It sounded like how Richard did earlier.' Conor got mad at him for it. I still don't understand what he meant by that." White's face dropped and cringed; I could hear him say, 'What the hell, Finn?' from his mumble. He looked like he wanted to say something, but whatever I said refused him to.

It was oddly silent for a few minutes until White remembered something. "Oh, that reminds me of Anne and Miles inviting me to go and look for some abandoned Teletubby machines. Just so we can check them out and figure out how the infection even spreads to them. I wanted to invite you since I feel like it'd be important to learn about it. You can bring someone else if you want; the extra help would mean a lot to the three of us." He explained, taking more sips from his tea. Finally, I need something I can get out of this claustrophobic base. We can start trying to find pieces for a cure or at least something to help get rid of the spreading infection. I can bring someone too, maybe Finn. He might not be busy today. "Thanks for informing me. I can ask Finn if he'll go. I have to run now; bye, White!" I got up, giving him a small wave while receiving one in return. I swiftly exited his room and took off to go ask Finn about going with us. It was a long distance from White's room to Richard's replacement room. In other words, it was gonna take me a few minutes to guide myself to the right area. Luckily enough, I had made it to the room. Carelessly opening the door to let myself in.

I peeked over to see Finn dozing off in Richard's arms. The two newly adopted cats lie in their laps. Richard appeared to be trying to sleep, but his body refused. We did recently learn that the infected don't need sleep unless they are extremely low on energy. I guess Richard still wants to try to live like a normal tubbie and do it to make Finn happy. I know it's gotta suck not to be able to sleep. He was alerted by my approaching presence, carefully nudging Finn. Who groaned upon being awoken, rubbing his eyes before noticing me. "Oh hey Po, did you need anything, kiddo?" he continued to rest on Richard, distracted by the cats. "I just came to ask if you wanted to come along with me, White, Anne, and Miles. We're going to go check out abandoned Teletubby machines; I thought you'd be interested." 

Finn gave it a thought for a moment, then slowly shook his head, "Sorry, Po, I would love to, but I'm still trying to work out with everyone higher up in the military a way Richard can be included in going on outings. For now, I'm just gonna stick with him and the cats, they finally let me stay full time since he's got the gloves. But soon we can. Once he is allowed, I promise he and I will first go get your scooter." I was somewhat disappointed again; I was hoping he wanted to. But I agree with him; bringing Richard is a safe option. He can basically defend us if anything ever attacks us. Richard complains a lot about being stuck in this room as if he's developing cabin fever. "Alright, I'll go ask someone else. Sorry for interrupting your nap." he shrugged it off and went back to dozing off. I quietly left the room and began walking the halls. I wonder if anyone else would join us. If only Ron had been here, he would never have missed the opportunity.

I almost bumped into two figures in front of me who were loudly joking around. It was Conor and Dutch. Dutch had noticed me behind them, "Hi Po! I see you almost ran into us." he gleefully greeted me; Conor had just waved. "What are you two up to?" I asked, and the two glanced at each other. "We were talking about ideas for a party. It's been a while since we've done one. Maybe a year or three. Though- it's a drinking party, and you're 16, right?" I nodded, "Yep, you can't have any, two more years. I know Finn would destroy us if we tried to sneak you any of it." Dutch shivered at the thought. 

Drinking? But I drink all the time; how does that affect my age? It could be an adult drink, and Noo Noo sometimes talked about those.

I noticed Conor's clothes had moved, and I tried not to look until I saw the head of an animal pop out. I shrieked upon seeing the smaller animal crawl out of his jacket. It crawled onto his shoulder and sat there. "What the hell is that?!" I fearfully stared at the small creature. Conor tried holding in a laugh but let it out, and so did Dutch. He pets the small creature, picking it off his shoulder.

"This is Ryōri, my pet rat. His name means cooking in Japanese." Conor smiled, hovering the rat at me. I cautiously pet him; his fur was soft, and he was surprisingly calm. "Oh, how sweet. Though you better not show him to Lenny, he'd freak out." I chuckled, finding my small joke funny. "We did before; he nearly beat both of us with the broom for scaring him," Dutch exclaimed; it sounded like a Lenny thing to do. "Well, since I ran into you two, I was wondering if one of you would go on this small mission with me, White, Anne, and Miles. It's to look into the abandoned Teletubby machines. To help us get incited by the infection. Are any of you willing to go?" The two gave my question a moment, processing a thought. But it appears that they rejected it, too.

 "Neither of us have the time to go anywhere like that. We're planning the party, though it might flop since Richard can't join. He would always flex about being able to drink a bunch of alcohol until he got alcohol poisoning, and Finn would have to lecture him about it. He was also the highlight of the parties; he enjoyed entertaining us. Someone else would be happy to accompany you four." The two went back to joking around. I started walking off, but Dutch stopped me, "I know someone who might; his name is Mylo. He's excellent with the outer surroundings and practically does jobs like that already. It's up his alley. His room is down the hall to the right, you shouldn't miss it!" he added, by then the two ran off somewhere else. 

I recognize that name. It's the man from the mountains—the one who gave me this coat. I never interacted with him after the mountains since I never saw him. He likes to keep to himself, apparently. I guess I do need to visit him, too. Hopefully, he will accept my request. 

Chapter Text

Po's POV

I was thinking of what the two said from a bit earlier. Okay, down the hall to the right; I hope I'm going the right way. I was nervous to talk to Mylo, after all, we only met once and that was after I got attacked by the Yeti. I bubbly walked forward, suddenly smelling burning plastic that hurt my nose. Oh god, what is that smell?! Yuck! It profusely made my lungs burn upon smelling it. I noticed It came from a cracked open door to my left, maybe he's there. I held my nose, trying not to take in any more of the toxic air. I curiously wandered over to the door from which the smell lingered. I saw Mylo sitting at a desk inside, inhaling the toxic fumes from a small papery cigar. I slowly knocked on the door, gathering his full attention to me awkwardly standing there.

 He gives me a small glare and then rolls his eyes, "What do you need?" he coldly stubbed out the cigarette on his desk. I felt immediate intimidation stepping into the room. His room was a little larger than the others, had much more space, and was clean. There was a cabinet full of alcohol near the closet, along with other belongings in the corner. A shelf with a few photos of familiar Teletubbies and others I don't recognize. He's got so many things but his room is spotless, I'm impressed. "I uh- well just came to ask you about something" I intruded, he groaned in reply while grabbing another cigar.

"Is this something outside of the base? Don't tell me Miles sent you-" I shook my head, and he let out a small sigh in return. "No, Conor and Dutch suggested me to you. I was wondering if you wanted to go along to look into the tubby machines. White, Anne, and Miles are going too." he frowned, lighting the cigarette and taking a puff. "Tubby machines? That'd be intriguing to add to my research and something I can spend my time researching. Though it would be if you hadn't invited 'him', that Viridian colored fuck. I don't want a damn thing to do with him." he scoffed, meanwhile flipping through his notebook to write down a few things. 

What does he have against Miles? There was nothing ever mentioned of the two ever having conflict. He doesn't seem fond of me even mentioning Miles. I never see them in the same room or interacting with each other. I should ask him about it, maybe even Miles, once I get back to the three. 

"What's wrong with Miles? I think he's a neat guy..." Mylo's face turned saltier, obviously growing more annoyed with the mention of Miles.

"Yeah, he's fucking 'neat' alright. I don't wanna talk about it; it's personal business. Anyways, I see you still have the jacket. Cozy, isn't it?" he eyed the dark blue long coat. He gave this to me back in the mountains; I still continue to wear it since it's comfortable. Everyone else likes it, so I like it too. I fixed the coat and nodded back, "Yeah, it's pretty cozy. Do you want it back?" I asked; he shook his head with a small hand motion. "Keep it, kid, it's yours now. It was a gift from someone I knew a few years ago..." he stared down at his desk, huffing from the cigarette. He mumbled something else under his breath; I could barely hear it. "Oh well, thank you. I didn't know you were this nice." I innocently smiled, and he shrugged. "Everyone just calls me cold, but I have a soft spot for kids. My daughter is one of the reasons; I'm surprised you haven't run into her yet." 

That's right, he has a kid. Lenny mentioned it before the whole Noo Noo attack. I wonder where she is. 

Despite his wholesome mention, he kept his straight face with no emotion. "I haven't. Where's her other parent? Does she have another dad, or don't I know? I grew up with two father figures." I explained, and then something clicked in my mind after saying that. My dad is gay and homophobic?! What the fuck- He had a confused look but eventually understood. "She doesn't have another parent; I adopted her three years ago. I found her near the Mainlands, abandoned, so I took her in. She would've had another parent, but- never mind. She's still the best thing to ever happen to me." letting off a short, soft smile. "How nice of you, though, does she ever go out anywhere? Seems like you only ever do." Mylo shook his head.

"I don't let anyone take her outside except for me. I don't trust anyone else, especially Miles, with watching her. Gary sometimes watches her as a babysitter, though he's terrible at it. Probably what he's doing right now since she ran off a bit ago." he huffed, snubbing out another cigarette. Miles must have done something terrible to Mylo if he was dedicated to keeping his daughter away from him. He doesn't trust anything with him. I seriously gotta ask what the whole deal is between them. I was cut off from continuing the conversation by a girly shriek. Both Mylo and I turned our attention to the open door across the hall. 

Gary had quickly rushed around in the hallway; attached to his leg was a smaller brown-furred tubbie. He immediately stopped to try and grab the tubbie off of him. "AAH- STOP FUCKING BITING MY ANKLES!" He screamed, and eventually, she got thrown off. That didn't stop her from coming right back to him, which scared Gary even more. He noticed the two of us watching him, concerned. "MYLOOOOO!" Gary cried, grasping the kid and holding her away from his legs. She looked like she'd just discovered what candy was. Gary was annoyed and traumatized by the nuisance that was attacking him. Mylo stood up and faced Gary; the kid forced herself out of his arms. Running to Mylo, who comfortably picked her up and carried her.

"Gary, what did I say about trying to babysit Ophelia? You know her hyperness is more than you could ever handle." His daughter jokingly spits at Gary, who is distressed in return. "I know! But she was running around and could've gotten in someone's way" Mylo frowned, "She definitely won't get in your way, you don't do jackshit around here anyways" he didn't feel like arguing and ran off to do what Gary normally does. Either bothers White or Lenny like it's a daily hobby. Ophelia had been staring at me for a few moments, making me uneasy. However, I know that some younger tubbies generally get intrigued by others. A smile came across her face, "Pretty hair!" she pointed at my messy locks of red hair. I managed to keep it almost the same after the events, and I am not home. Finn helps me with it sometimes. But he helps me with almost everything. The comment flustered me; I never received a compliment from anyone besides my siblings and very close friends. 

"Aww- well, thank you! I think yours is very pretty, too!" I warmly smiled back, nervously complimenting her shiny, long, soft hair. She found it amusing and giggled, pulling a bit on her father's hair. Who just grinned and sat her back down on the ground. "Alright, kiddo, go run around now, but make sure to be back later." he set his tone in a whisper, "Make sure to keep annoying Gary for me." she energetically nodded, mischievously going back to pester anyone else. I noticed whenever Ophelia had come around, Mylo's mood shifted. As if he was acting happy just for his daughter's sake. Once she was completely out of sight, he shifted back to how he was originally. Taking a seat in his office chair, flipping through notes. I wandered my eyes to see that he was writing what seemed to be characteristics, but of who?

"What're those notes for?" I took direct notice of the filled pages. He sat there for a moment upon pulling out other journals full of neatly written notes. "These are my studying notes, all of them are of a particular tubbie or thing that I research into. The one I'm writing about currently is for the mountain tubbie, the Yeti. I've learned a lot about it upon getting into its habitat and even up close to its feeding grounds. It's fascinating that a muscular and large creature can survive in such a freezing atmosphere," he chatted, closely talking about his work and every piece of thing he's ever found. "So what's the reasoning for studying the Yeti?" I asked; his face had dropped a bit.

"Well, I did tell you the fucking military sends me out sometimes, that's one. Writing about what I'm dealing with is much more helpful than you think. Two, it's- something personal, I mostly do this for my own sake and nobody else's. It's dedicated to someone who was very special to me." he anxiously spoke, seeming to be quite uncomfortable trying to bring it up. I just nodded so he'd know I understood what he said before. He didn't hesitate to change the subject to something else. There's more to this story than he puts on. I sincerely need to ask Miles now.

"As I said before, do you wanna join in or not? I'd really appreciate your help." I inquired; Mylo had looked off to the side. Giving it a moment to think about, scratching his head about it. "Alright, kid, though having to deal with that shitbag Miles is gonna be tough to deal with. I'll only do it just for you and to get out of this goddamn base." he arose from his seat and looked for his things. Grabbing his axe along with some small baggage. He cleaned everything up, and the two of us walked out of his room. He screamed at Gary again to watch his daughter while he was gone, to which Gary responded with a small shriek in return. 

This dude is menacing and intimidating towards everyone. 

I paced behind him, he was a wider bulkier figure than me. Of course, I was practically a twig, but so was White. "I never thought I'd see the day I go on a mission again where Miles is involved. But to hell with it, I do have to confront that dick about something anyways," despite it not being my business, a cold chill ran down my spine. It felt like something bad was gonna awaken after we all met. I don't wanna pry myself in his business, though; he probably doesn't like that. But what's happening doesn't seem good; this will be a mess. I heard talking from the other side of the wall, three familiar voices and one I'd never heard. I practically know everyone in the base! Who the hell is this?! Mylo scoffed at Miles' voice, which was getting louder as if booming from the other room. We turned corners to see the three with the baghead tubbie. If I remember correctly, that is Ninja. I guess he helps Miles, too.

"Listen, Ninja. I get you don't want to go out, but I need you and your men to scope out another location. This will help both of us. I can keep in contact with you through the radio." The tubbie with the bag shook his head, taking a sip out of some weird Energy drink. I'm honestly confused and concerned about how he is drinking that.

"Do it now, don't make me call Finn or Gary." The bag had changed to one of anger, making a '>:(' face. He growled, snatching the radio from Miles' hand and walking off towards one of the other helicopters. He held his middle finger up at Miles, who seemed unimpressed. White wasn't focused on the situation at all, more on doing his own thing. He slightly adjusted his eyes and noticed Mylo and I standing there.

"Hey, Po! I see you got—Oh, I thought you'd be busy." Mylo shook his head, immediately glaring at Miles, who was growing uncomfortable by it. It was awkward for a moment until Anne stepped in. "I think the helicopter is here. We should go on ahead," she indicated, the five of us beginning our walk to the helicopter we'd be taking. The two auras took up a lot of space, and there was unspoken conflict battling each other as we walked. 

Mylo never took his eyes off Miles despite his attempts to stay away from him. Then there was Anne trying to make it seem like nothing was wrong. White and I both left confused, as always. The pilot signaled us inside. I sat between Mylo and White, with the other two sitting in front of us. I noticed recently that those two are really close. Maybe they're in love? However, I have seen Miles look at White the same way. This is confusing.

Almost the entire ride was silent; I nearly dozed off on White's shoulder. He also seemed tired and careless too. That didn't stop the silent conflict; nothing was ever brought up. The urges to ask, but Mylo is near, and what if that pisses him off? I gotta be careful with things like this. "Alright, what's the plan once we arrive?" Miles spoke up, and everyone else was thinking of some ideas. "Not sure, but I don't trust your communist ass to make decisions," Mylo butted in, lighting another cigarette. 

"Is it because I'm Russian? I'm not a fucking communist, you prick." Miles groaned, looking as if he was about to punch Mylo Anne bit her lip and thought of something so a fight wouldn't break out, "well maybe let's just look around, once we find the machine we plan what we'll do with it by then." I nodded in agreement, earning a small smile from her. "There are multiple ways we can deal with the machines, just which one will be smarter once we find it." White blatantly pointed in. My eyes stopped working well whenever I got tired; stuff became harder to see. But I could tell that we had arrived at the Facility; nothing more traumatizing than this creepy abandoned place. Just need to get this over and done with, though I know it'll probably be an interesting experience. "Alright, here's your stop, sir," the pilot yelled at the five of us in the back. Miles was the first to exit the helicopter, then Anne, Mylo, White, and me.

"If my calculations are correct, we need to find the sewer system in this place. There should be a lid, well-known as a manhole cover. If we find that, we find the closest entrance to the machine itself." Anne explained she had small written notes with her about this. I guess she's the one who keeps track of everything around here. "Then that's what we'll do; keep your eyes peeled for the lid. It's somewhere nearby." Miles added, already going off to look for it. Everyone split up in an instant; I didn't know if I wanted to go with someone or go by myself. Then again, I could be the one to find the manhole before the others. 

That would be so cool. I hopped around the area, looking for any sign of any worn metal circle in the ground. Every time I look closely at this place, I get reminded of what happened to Richard and Ron. The stuff that happened is still left behind here; it's ominous. I don't wanna think about it anymore; after all, Richard is in good hands. Ron, we still don't know and deem them missing; who knows when we'll find him again? I continued looking while fighting with my thoughts about this place, but I couldn't find anything.

"Guys, I found the manhole," White yelled in a monotone voice, gathering the other four of us to him. He did indeed find it, my jealousy rising a bit since I wanted to be the one to find it first. Miles tried to reach down to open it but Mylo stepped in his way, with no struggle, he lifted the lid off. Miles gave him an annoyed face, "What? I guess you were too damn slow then, Miles. But then again, you always are. Aren't you?" Mylo snidely remarked, climbing down the ladder first. Miles rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath. He let Anne go before him. White dropped in after Miles, which left me last. I'm last yet again, damn it. I took a deep breath and climbed down into the unknown sewers.

Chapter Text

Po's POV

This place was smelly—it smelled worse than the Satellite Station. The others didn't even mind or care for the putrid smell that infested this claustrophobic area. Mylo immediately took off to look around, and Miles did the same thing. I was unaware of what I could do to help find what we came for. Anne chilled back on one of the walls near the ladder for the way out of here. She didn't appear to want to get invested in searching around.

White disappeared too but he was probably with Miles, I wonder what they're up to. Maybe I should talk to Anne; I haven't even talked to her before. We're mostly on mutual terms, and that's how it is. She is the only woman besides me, Ophelia, and some of the other scientists. Such as that one girl who has an obsession with science and is energetic like Gary. but the only one who's at least an adult. From what I know, she's a very nice woman, which is probably why Miles likes her.

I sneakily stood by her side; she didn't notice as she was more concentrated on messing with the walkie-talkie. "Hey Anne," I said nervously; she turned in my direction and gave a small wave. "Oh, hello, Po! I thought you'd run off with White; I guess you don't wanna have too much involvement either." I slowly nodded, remembering what I wanted to ask her. Hopefully, she will have an answer to this or willn't take it the wrong way. "I wanted to ask you something," she raised an eyebrow, "It's about Miles and Mylo; I noticed that they never get along or can't even work together. Why is that?" her face had cringed, the look she had before was gone. She pulled me to the side; I guess it's a secret thing. Anne struggled to open her mouth but eventually let it out.

"It's been like that for three years; something happened that changed a lot about them. I was fairly new to the Military and was only a trainee at the time. I was friends with Miles; we had gotten along during my training. Of course, Richard was still running this whole shebang and had been running it for a few years. Mylo had also been working there for a few years. I didn't know him well, but everyone who knew him described him as a laid-back, friendly guy. He was kind of a jokester. Mylo had a wife, Viyra, who worked alongside some of the other members since she had influence in a lot of missions. The two were basically inseparable, like Richard and Finn. Miles put together a mission one day, and Viyra wanted to tag along. Despite Mylo disagreeing since they had plans for tomorrow for their anniversary, she went along anyway. I wasn't there for the mission but heard and saw the aftermath. A few hours passed, and eventually, Miles was back, but Viyra wasn't with him. Mylo had questioned him while staying calm, but he was freaking out and starting to get a mixture of sadness and anger. Miles explained that he lost sight of her halfway through it and couldn't find her since a snowstorm had started before it. Mylo had an answer but was practically harassing Miles about it, 'Why didn't you look hard enough?!' or 'She might be dead!'. Everyone had heard the yelling and didn't step in. Not even Richard or Finn would since they weren't present half of the time it happened. Didn't even know where they were." She sighed, eyeing the others.

"Mylo had given up and soon took off to go find her himself. Everyone was extremely worried for the two, but especially Mylo. He'd lost his wife and even spent two days looking for her. Once he returned, he wasn't the same person anymore. He'd become more irritable and quiet, isolating himself from everyone else. That's how he started lashing out at Miles, and the two became practical enemies. Richard had tried to speak with him a few times, but to no avail; he wouldn't change. He felt guilty for letting her go and not finding her. That's why he still goes out looking for any remains of her in the Mountains. It hit Miles pretty hard, too; he felt guilty and regretted ever letting her go with him. Every day, he'd get angry with himself and didn't know how to handle it. I was always by his side to help him through it, and that's how we became best friends. The effects never left the two, and they both continue to hold that burden. The situation years later is still a rocky mess; I hope that clears it up for you."

I had felt empty; hearing that information and putting it into context about the two made more sense. The feeling made me feel awful for what happened to the two. Now I can see why Mylo holds a grudge against Miles, though it makes less sense in a way. He didn't mean to lose her or let her get out of his sight; it just happened. But at the same time, Mylo had lost the closest thing to him. It's like when Finn lost Richard for that one week after the Custard Facility incident. I wonder why the two can't come to a closure that it's none of their fault. It must be such a traumatizing experience for them. Maybe I could find a way to get them to speak to each other or at least try to regain a friendship.

"That's terrible; now it makes more sense. Why can't they just agree on closure?" I asked; Anne had only let off a disappointing shrug. "Who knows, but I know for certain that Mylo doesn't actually hate Miles. He just can't deal with the fact of his wife going missing, it's why he blames himself too. He probably feels awful about what he conflicts with Miles, but he can't get himself to say 'sorry' or even talk it out. After all, he became more of a hardass when the events were over with. I feel like it's also why Miles is overprotective of me. I understand that he cares, but I know he's doing it to not repeat what he did in the past." I agree with that; Miles is protective of the people he cares about. Anne, who he's with constantly, walks with her to her room to ensure she's safe. It's terrible to see him feel extremely guilty about the past, and the same for Mylo.

I had wanted to ask more about them, how Anne was, too, and how she really thought. I was cut off by a loud scream from one of the rooms next to us. Miles and Mylo noticed it, too, heading the way toward the noise. Anne and I had followed along with the other two. We were greeted by White hunched on the floor softly crying, he was trembling and seemingly paralyzed to the floor. Miles had rushed over to aid him, asking him if he was alright. White could barely mumble out a word; he was shaking out of his mind. Something had downright scared him to his core.

Mylo rolled his eyes, "get off the ground and stop whining, you probably saw a damn cockroach running around. You're wasting time." he hissed, Miles giving the older man a glare while helping White up. "Are you alright, W?!" Anne panicked, checking him to see if he was okay. His face was sweaty and pale, as if he were seeing a ghost. "M-mhm, just peachy! I probably saw a cockroach, haha..." he quietly responded. The three of us consoling him could tell that he wasn't telling the truth. However, we didn't want to push White to be uncomfortable.

"Well, what happened then?" Miles asked. White bit his lip and looked off to the side. "I- I don't know, I just felt like I was walking down a long hallway and was suddenly in some void-like realm. My body felt under pressure and slow; I couldn't run. That's when I saw the thing; it was like some large shadowy figure. It had a creepy grin and was targeting me. It got me, and that's when I saw you all around me. It freaked me the hell out!" he shivered; his legs were shaky and somewhat twitchy. The other two tried to comfort him, but I watched cowardly.

That must suck for White; whatever he saw must have been the scariest thing known to tubbies. Though, it reminds me of when my sister would describe her nightmares. A void realm, it's familiar from her ranting. She described the monster almost the same way. She'd always scream about 'the shadow man!'. I wonder if that's the same thing that White saw. It doesn't make sense to me, though; how would they both see the same demon? This isn't important right now; we need to focus on our main goal.

White had calmed down after some time with Miles consoling him. There was a door that was locked, and White had been wanting to open it. He started asking each of us for anything to open it with. Miles handed him his knife to attempt to see if that'd work. Everyone stood around watching him pick the lock. Mylo wasn't intrigued by it at all and stood off to the side, glaring mostly at Miles. Eventually, the door was opened; White didn't go first and let everyone go before him. I had cautiously walked down the stairs, trying to be careful not to slip. Miles, Anne, and Mylo were already up ahead.

The stairs scared me a bit because of how long they were, but I was brave enough to get through them. I quietly walked over to the three until I heard a loud thump behind me. It sounded like something had fallen down the stairs. I raced over to see White, who was on the floor, slipping off the last step. It appeared that he lost his foot and had fallen down the stairs. Holy shit! Is he alright?! White is not so lucky in this sewer area; he's just been bullied by everything here. I wonder what exactly happened. Did he get pushed? No- nobody was up there except him. Maybe he's just extremely clumsy.

"White, are you okay?!" I shook him awake, he had a small nose bleed but no major injuries. He slowly nodded, rubbing his head and wiping his face. "Yeah- yeah, I'm okay... damn, that fucking hurts." he winced upon touching his head. "Did you see that figure again?!" he shook his head surprisingly, nearly about to cry. He appeared to try to tell me, but it turned out to be a depressing croak. White sat there for a moment, struggling and stuttering the words out, "Sorry, I'm just a nervous wreck- I uh... saw hallucinations of your siblings and their uh- infected forms..." he teared up, attempting to cover his face from me. My expression quickly changed, the mention of my siblings had affected me too.

"I'm sorry, Po... it felt real, too, like they were actually there. Staring me down as I attempted to walk down those flights of stairs." he sighed, noticing I was starting to cry. White didn't seem in the mood to speak after that. I was still standing there, my mind going a million miles per hour. I felt lightheaded and ill in my own stomach. I shook it off the best I could; I didn't wanna be down in the dumps like White. Not right now, of course.

I had helped White up before the other three came over, but he looked like a disaster. His hair was a mess, some blood from the nosebleed was dried up, and some of his clothes got ripped. We stumbled over to the three, who gave us confused looks. "What happened to the dipshit? Did he have another schizo attack?" Mylo sneered, observing the large room and ignoring the rest of us. "Shut up, Mylo. He's not having a good time, and you don't need to be involved." Miles took a part of his jacket to wipe off the rest of the blood on White's face. He formally blushed while holding himself up despite falling down the stairs roughly. "I don't wanna hear a damn word from you, Miles; you fucked up my life once already." I noticed that Miles' hands started flapping around in some angry movement. Anne caught on as well and got in front of him, "hey hey calm down! Save this for another time, this isn't necessary!" she put distance between the two, She attempted to go back to comforting him, White and I watching from the back.

"It's not my fault it happened! It was an accident; I never meant to lose her!" he whined, his hand flapping aggressively. Anne was getting more worried about Miles, so she tried to pull him back again. She attempted to talk in a whisper, but I heard a part of it, "Miles quit! You are starting to get angry-stims; this fight isn't worth it." She frowned. He gently pushed her away, while Mylo continued his rant, "The fuck it isn't! I lost my damn wife because YOU were being a total dumbass, I lost basically everything! And It's your fault!" he growled, taking his axe from his side latch. "Well, I'm sorry! Don't you think it was your fault for even letting her go?! You're also technically at fault here, too! You're also one of the reasons why she's probably DEAD!" Everyone in the room was silent, including Mylo, who loosened his grip on his axe. Dropping it down on the cold hard floors. He didn't have a single emotion on his face; he was just not there.

A second later, he came back to reality and his senses. "The fuck did you just say to me?!" Mylo screamed, launching at Miles and throwing him to the ground. Who reacted in a painful gasp, the air in him getting knocked out. That's when the two began to beat up each other. Anne tried to step in again but was pushed away by Miles, who, despite having the air knocked out of him, continued fighting. Lots of words and slurs were spread around by the two, mostly the phrase 'fuck you' over and over again.

None of us could step in without either getting involved or hurt. A bit of bloodshed was being thrown around. Miles' head was constantly colliding with the floor, and Mylo was being dangerously violent towards him. Someone needs to step in before they both kill each other! I knew if I did, I would possibly get severely injured. I noticed Miles had started tearing up and giving up; he was getting weaker. Mylo was an older tubby with more training; there was no way Miles was gonna win against him. A loud bang came from behind White and me; we hadn't noticed until now about the newborns. They were stuck in glass containers, one of them banging their head off the glass. The noise of the two fighting was starting to wake them up.

"You two need to stop; you're waking up the newborns!" I shrieked, but it didn't go through their thick fucking skulls. But something else stopped them: the scream of the newborn. I had panicked and thought it escaped, but no, it was enraged from being contained in a glass bottle and the noise. Miles was beaten to the core, and bits of blood were seeping off of him. He also seemed to be developing a black eye like Ron. Mylo was injured, but not as badly as Miles. Both of them uncomfortably got up and avoided contact with each other. "Moving aside from that, we found the machine. White, do you have the keycard?" Miles asked the smaller male, who shuffled his hand through his pocket and handed him the keycard.

"Miles, are you okay though? you got your shit rocked." he tried to ignore the question, but he always gives in to White. "Just a bit sore; I'm fine, though." he wiped a small chunk of blood away from his cheek. White offered to use his jacket to wipe away the rest, but Miles declined. Continue to insert the keycard and wait for the machine to produce the result. 'ACCESS DENIED,' the machine read in bright red; the five of us conflicted with the result. "I guess we need some higher-ranked Teletubby's card instead. It didn't seem like Tobby's was enough to gain access.'' He gave the card back to White, who shoved it back into his right pocket.

We had come all this way just because this faulty keycard was not the right one. I know for sure that Mylo is pissed; I brought him all this way for him to beat Miles and not be able to research any of the newborns. Damn, what now? I was shoved out of the way along with Miles; Mylo had grabbed his axe again while glaring at the machine.

"Since this stupid machine won't give us any type of fucking information. We might as well destroy it." He raised his axe high above the machine. "Wait- stop!" Anne shouted; it stopped him halfway. "What is it, Anne?!" he growled, intensely staring her down. She nervously gulped but wasn't afraid to speak up to him. "We shouldn't destroy the machine. We don't have access, but it's more useful than destroying it. We could find a way to get into it later; for now, we at least know where it is. That's important rather than making it a clump of scraps." she protested, shifting Mylo's mood to destroying the machine. He whined and put the axe away, obviously about to throw a tantrum about not being able to destroy the machine. He tried to speak up about it, but Miles' walkie-talkie started going off. A loud buzzing noise abrupt the room.

"Hey Miles? Are-...-there?" Miles picked up his radio from his pocket, pressing a button, "I'm here, N. What's the situation? Over." The radio produced a static back after Miles spoke into it. On the other side, rushed breathing could be heard, "We need s-...-in here, things are getting prett-..." that earned a confused look from Miles, "N? I can't hear what you're saying, you keep cutting off. Over." louder static kept coming out from the small box, getting intense each wave. "I-...-we're being ch-..." he cut off again; it seemed like he was not getting any signal from his location. Anne winced from the noise, "Oh no, that must be interference coming from goddamn electric hell. They might be in trouble, we have to go find them!" she panicked, grabbing at Miles who was still memorized by the radio. "N, please tell me your current location. Over." he grew more worrisome over Ninja's current situation.

"We're a-...-in the-..." a horrendous static noise played; the radio was vibrating at that point. Almost everyone was covering their ears, the sound of the white noise nearly causing our ears to bleed. "Dammit. I think I completely lost the signal!" he yelled, attempting to turn it off, but the noise continued to infiltrate the surrounding area. "What the hell?! Jesus Christ!" he hissed, grabbing at all the radio buttons and pushing each of them. Anne tried grabbing at the radio, "Turn it off; it will alert the newborns!" Miles threw the radio and stepped on it multiple times in an attempt to turn it off. It eventually shut off from the pressure, the static dying down. My ears were violently ringing, I couldn't exactly hear but loud banging noises emerged. White gasped and screeched; I turned to what he was looking at. My eyes widened as I saw the Newborns break out of their glass contaminants and roam around the neglected room.

The five of us tried to back away from the machine and the oncoming newborns. But White had accidentally slipped, and a loud echo noise had caught their attention. The Newborns screamed, causing the ringing to expand furiously in my ears. "Let's get the fuck out of here!" Mylo screamed, grabbing his axe as a defense. Miles quickly picked up his ruined walkie-talkie, and we all bolted back towards the exit. We had to climb up the stairs again which was gonna be an issue for White, he probably has a phobia of stairs now. Instead of letting him freak out, I grabbed his hand.

"Here, let's go together so you aren't scared!" I softly smiled, and he gave me a smile back as we both sprinted up the stairs. The five of us made it back but were greeted with newborns blocking our exit. All of them were weeping sorrowfully, making it impossible for us to pass them. "Shit, what now?" White worriedly asked, Miles, grabbed his gun but was already beaten by Mylo axing the Newborns in his way. "Our way around is to slaughter all of them! Do that, you pussies!" he bitterly sliced open a Newborn, then moved on to the next. Miles began shooting at the ones coming up the stairs, trying to slow down the herd. I noticed one of the newborns looked strange; it moved in a manner that you would never see a newborn move.

That's quite odd; maybe some are evolving. That's pretty concerning since the evolved ones are powerful and the biggest menace ever.

The others were distracted by the hordes while I set eyes on the strange, standing-out Newborn. I was appalled when the Newborn had been shot and went flying towards us. The ones blocking the paths had also been shot and pushed out of the way. A tall, looming figure with a top hat blocking his face blew at his exhausting gun. A smirk came across his face as he approached us, mainly in White's direction. He lifted the hat, revealing his true form.

It was an older Teletubby, older than Richard. He had white hair like White with grey streaks in it, with shorter but messy locks of hair and facial hair. A white top hat and a bow around it, too. His outfit consisted of a black turtleneck and a bulky, thick, long coat. He was dressed like he was just in a negative temperature. He had soft, friendly brown eyes and a few scars. Overall, it did not look like he was a threat to us.

He looks oddly like White, though older and has shorter hair. Something about him has to do with White; they're both too similar. He was looking at White, who just looked frightened from all the Newborns. His eyes widened with the biggest grin I've ever seen.

"I can't believe it... I finally found you!" The older man cheered, running up to White and emerging him into a hug. White started weaseling his way out while whining, not wanting to be hugged. "Who are you?! Do you know me or something, old man?!" White pointed at him, oddly uncomfortable. "Right, that was quite rude of me. But I know a way to be sure of my claim." he raised his hand and proceeded to remove White's hat. Revealing a lightning-shaped antenna. Everyone else promptly gasped, including me, at the reveal. White's face went red, and he forcefully put his hat back on.

"It is you! After twenty-three years, I finally found you. My son!"

Chapter Text

White's POV

I was in utter shock, my palms and face becoming extremely sweaty. The man in front of me had attempted to prove himself to be my father. How did he know about the antenna?! Only I ever knew about it! Maybe... maybe he's not lying. My face was warm and red from embarrassment, trying to cover it from my hat that I snatched back. The rest seemed to be in a state of shock, too, even Mylo, who only ever had one expression.

"I- I uh-" I muttered, not knowing how to take this news or process anything that just happened. The man was still grinning but slowly left when he realized he startled me. "Sorry about that; I got too excited. I suppose I can't blame you for being startled. You probably didn't even know you had a dad!" he chuckled, playfully hitting my shoulder. I winced from the sudden touch, still not processing any sort of speech. "I didn't- How did I not know..." I was overwhelmed with multiple thoughts at once, attempting to take it in. The older man had a small, sad look on his face, rubbing at the scars that lined his face.

"You were only a day old; they had taken you from me because you possessed an antenna. Even trying to contain me and erase my memory of the situation. Luckily, I escaped with a few injuries but couldn't get you back. At first, they didn't really want me for anything special but to erase the fact that I even had a son. Until they discovered that I had the ability to jump higher and run faster than others. That caught their attention fast when I was escaping. I was so paralyzed after getting away from them that I almost experienced shock therapy and lost my only child. I had spent years and years searching for you; I almost gave up three years ago until I infiltrated a lab that the people who took you from me had. I discovered that you were still alive from a file, working under the name 'The Guardian' while watching over four Teletubbies just like you. I was confident that I was gonna find you soon and look! I finally did!" he cheerfully cried, pulling me in for another hug. I was frozen, not from fear or shock, but from the fact that I was kidnapped from my own father.

He looked like he suddenly remembered something and backed away from the hug. He scavenged through his bag and pulled out a photo. "I was lucky enough to have taken this after first meeting you," he said, handing me the photo.

It was an old vintage bent Polaroid photo; I flipped it over to see two figures. A young smiling male holding a tired infant tubbie. The infant had a lightning-shaped antenna and short, fluffy locks of white hair covering their face. The father in the photo has short hair and no signs of old age. Looks as if he won the lottery holding his child. Obviously, he was so excited that he took a photo of them together.

The baby in the photo is me, and the cheery father is him. It now makes sense for this man to be the father I had never had. The photo and how he knows of my antenna connect the dots, though it's not his fault for not being a part of my life. He spent years just to find me and tried to make the impossible possible.

I started tearing up a bit, submerged with multiple emotions at once. He looked the same way, taking the photo back and putting it somewhere safe. "All the abilities to be a father to you were taken from me. But now I can finally make up for all the years I missed!" his eyes leaking salty tears, wiping them away with his hand.

"This is shocking- I still can't calibrate something like this. Who took me away? Do they have a name?!" he thought for a moment and then shook his head. "Not really; I called them the 'coat men' since they wore lanky coats and seemed to be a squad of men. From the files I found, I can assume that they experimented on Teletubbies with antennas. Tubbies who were born different from the rest. I have yours and a few others, I kept them just as some evidence that you were still alive and that maybe if I found one of the others they could tell me where you were." he explained, hitting his bag that most likely contained the files he was talking about.

I should ask him a few questions, I don't even know his name or where he's even from!

"That's ominous, but what is your name? Since we're on mutual terms, I would love to know who my father is personally." I asked. He seemed open and chill to questions about himself.

"My name's Villem, an odd name, but I like it! My initials are H.V. don't ask what they stand for, they're just plain weird. I do photography as a pastime hobby; I thank it every day since it's the reason I have that photo. I used to work in the Military for a bit, only for some training to survive out in the world. I travel a lot if you couldn't tell already, haha." he exclaimed, showing off photos that he took during his travels. Some from multiple different areas I've never seen before.

He's worked with the military before, which means he has to know at least someone working there. Maybe that would give him more insight into who he is.

I wanted to ask another question, but Mylo finally stepped in my way. He looked like he had been wanting to talk to my dad for a while. "Well, if it isn't the deadbeat father, It's been a while." he crossed his arms, Villem laughed at him and hit him on the shoulder. "It's been ten years, but I'm certainly not a deadbeat anymore!" The two had a short laugh. Do they know each other? They seem awfully like old friends. Mylo nudged me and muttered something, "You're not as badass and as handsome as your father, but I can see the resemblance." he snickered, continuing to speak with my dad.

"Villem- I mean dad, do you know Mylo?" I asked the two older tubbies gave me a small grin. Villem began to dig through his bag again and pulled out an older photo alongside multiple smaller ones. "Of course I do! I used to work with him when I was in the military. He and his girlfriend helped me out a bunch with settling in. We hung out a lot before I left to pursue traveling to find you again." he explained, showing some photos to Mylo and then handing me the bigger one.

The photo showed five individuals, all in their twenties, except my own father. On the left were two figures posing together, both obviously bright and happy together: Mylo and an unnamed woman I can only assume is the wife he lost. She's actually really prettier than I thought. Mylo looked a lot happier and didn't have facial hair, scars, eye bags, or age marks.

So this is what he looked like before the whole thing with Miles happened; it really affected him greatly. That fucking sucks, damn. My dad was in the middle, always looking like his cheerful self, except he had a shaved face. He still possessed scars that the 'coat men' gave him. There were two more left that I didn't expect to see show up in the photo.

It was Richard and Finn. The two were younger and much different-looking than they are now. Richard had shorter hair, the same beanie, and a different coat than his usual now. Finn surprisingly looked the same; all that changed was his age and his clothes. They both looked like a couple; it wouldn't surprise me if they were together even in this photo.

Villem knows the Captain and is literally best buddies with him! Why did he never come back to help them or stay?! I get he'd be looking for me, but they all look so happy together, unlike now. None of them are happy now, except Villem, but he isn't aware of what happened with the four after he left. I wonder how he'll take that information.

"I didn't expect you to know them; you know Richard and Finn too-" "Those two are still running the place?! Well, they're dedicated to their jobs! I wouldn't be since I'm not the most reliable. I wonder how they're doing." he bubbled, taking the photos back very excitedly. He turned to Mylo, who had a strong glance to the offside, his short time of laughing coming to a close. "On the topic of us, where is Viyra? I thought she'd be with you; she always was by your side on missions. Since you were the most prone to injuries, haha! Not to mention you two were EXTREMELY close, closer in multiple ways than one if you get what I mean aha-" Mylo frowned, grabbing Villem's arm. "Listen, let's discuss this privately." he pulled him off to the side where they both started talking.

The conversation was gonna be about what happened, and of course, Miles was gonna be included since he was one of the main aspects of it. I noticed that my father glanced at Miles, who looked nervous and provoked. That's gonna leave a negative reputation for Miles. He doesn't deserve it. But I don't think my dad would hate him, though. Miles is nice to me and treats me the best. He just hasn't seen any of that yet. I'm hoping that Mylo isn't fully shitting on Miles for what he did in that situation.

However I was wrong, Villem's looks at Miles became more disgusted. That's another person who can't stand Miles now. At the same time, Villem didn't look happy and actually looked depressed again. I could see some tears on his face. For the first time, I noticed that Mylo was comforting someone and caring about them. The two eventually came back to the rest of us, neither having the same looks they did before. "Well, now that's done. How about we head back to the base?" Anne suggested. We didn't have business here anymore, and I sincerely wanna avoid running into more newborns. The others agreed, and we all made our way to the exit. My father trailed beside me, seemingly trying to protect me from anything that might try to attack us. I was thankful to have him here now; nothing could ever change that.

Po's POV

So much has happened in the past hour; all I can say is that it was a plot twist. I didn't know White ever had a father. His dad also stated he knew about the existence of my siblings and me. His mention of experiments stuck with me, especially when he referred to us. So we were nothing more than just guinea pigs for our antennas? That's so damn stupid; we're just as human as them. Villem has the files of my siblings and me, too, so I should ask him to give them to me. I would love to read them out and see if they contain anything useful. I entered the helicopter near to last, sitting beside Villem, who was chatting with his son. Mylo and Villem's conversation left Mylo looking extremely lost in despair.

He probably feels terrible for telling Villem what had happened. It's not his fault that it happened or what had caused it. I wonder if he told Villem about Richard's condition. Maybe not, since the discussion was about Mylo and Viyra, not Richard and Finn. He's not gonna be happy to find out that Richard is one of the victims of the apocalypse. So is Ron... but he's practically old news to the others. I miss him deeply and constantly wonder what his infected self is doing now.

Villem's sudden tap on my shoulder shot me out of thought. "You must be Po. I never thought I'd meet one of the four my son watched, but I thankfully got to meet you! I'm gravely sorry about your siblings, though. I wish I got to meet them as well, but besides that, how are you?" he asked, giving me a small, warm grin. Villem generally looks and acts like a nice guy; he's treated White well so far; he's extroverted and gets along with everyone, even Mylo. He's intelligent, too. I'm glad that he's with us now. "Oh!- well, I'm doing alright. I'm still a little off after what happened in the sewers. I never expected White to have a father; I just thought he was born from a machine just to be a Guardian."

White gave me a weird look, "As rude as your comment sounds, I thought the same since no other theory made sense. Though we all do come from machines." Villem smirked and commented, "The majority of us come from machines, but sometimes when a male tubbie and a female tubbie are feeling a little frisky, they-" White quickly hushed him, his face turning pink. "God, no wonder you and Finn are friends-" he muttered under his breath, attempting to keep his father from saying anything else. I don't understand why that's a bad joke, but it's quite funny. I guess I'm missing or don't understand the point of it. Villem and Finn have some weird jokes, but now I can see White's point about them being friends.

The helicopter had touched the ground, the noise of the propellers shutting down. Villem was staring in awe at the military base as if he'd never seen it before. "Man, they sure have made some changes to the place! I can't wait to see the two." he gushed, peering over every little thing about the base. Everyone besides Villem looked either tired or slightly annoyed, as we did come back with little to no information on the machines. Except for the fact that they require a higher-up card in order to get them to work. That should be some important information the next time we encounter another machine. The six of us made our way off while the helicopter zoomed away to go park somewhere.

Miles bolted in. He's probably still worried about Ninja and that whole radio call. It was menacing, causing a shiver up my spine, and it heavily reminded me of the one that Richard left behind. He'll probably leave the base soon to look for him and his team.

The rest of us chilled for a moment, Villem on his feet, looking at everything around him. Mesmerized by anything that the base had inside of it. White had gone off with Miles, as Miles had asked him to help with something and assist him in gathering things to go look for Ninja. Anne had gone off to do her other duties, which, surprisingly, was not with Miles. Leaving me and Villem at the main hall. He wants to see Finn and I need to see Finn to discuss certain topics with him, I guess I can help him find his way. I pulled at his jacket to get his attention, and he turned around curiously. "Uhm, excuse me, Mr. Villem, sir- you're looking for Finn and Richard, right?" I queried, "Of course! Do you know where they could be at Po?" I ambitiously nodded, motioning him to follow me.

He kept getting distracted by the stuff and people around us. I just told him they're unimportant and that we should continue seeing the two. I wasn't paying any attention trying to get Villem to hurry up when I ran into someone. "Oh my, sorry!-" I quickly blurted, making sure I didn't cause any harm. It was Finn, carrying two plates in his hand. Surprised he didn't drop them. Both had a bit of leftovers on them but were practically empty. He must've just had lunch with Richard and is now going to clean up. He overlooked Villem behind me and promptly smiled.

"Hey, Po! I see that you're back. How did it go, kiddo?" He ruffled my hair with his free hand. "It went alright... a bit of drama happened, but hey, we found someone important!" I moved out of the way so Finn could be face-to-face with Villem. Finn's face dropped to surprising shock, and he nearly dropped the plates but caught them. Villem had almost the same reaction, but he'd been waiting to come back and see Finn.

"Vill!- I can't- I can't believe you came back!" He rushed to sit down the plates and come back to hug Villem. Who hugged him back with a wide grin going across his face. "I see you're still the same Finn! You haven't aged a bit! And is that-" he noticed the ring on Finn's finger after they stopped hugging, "A RING?! You and Richard actually tied the knot! Haha, I'm sorry I couldn't attend the wedding, but damn, this is a surprise for me!" He shared his happiness with Finn about it. "Yeah! We got married three years after you left, so you wouldn't have known. You've aged a lot; the grey hairs suit your white fur. I'm glad you're back now. Did you ever find your son?" Finn questioned, "Well, yeah, and he works here with the rest of you all now. I believe he's the one with the cow-skinned hat."

It took Finn a moment to figure out who it was, but he connected the dots from what Villem said. "Your son is White?! He's your son- that... actually makes a lot of sense. How did I not know?! He looked so much like you, yet I never figured he would be your son!" Villem had a chuckle about Finn's ranting about White.

"Mhm! Nobody expected it except for me. So where's Richard? Since you two are married, Wouldn't he be here with you too? That guy never left your side." Finn's time of being happy turned into him wincing and biting his lip, looking conflicted. "About that, he's well- not dead! He's doing good! Just he's a bit- different..." he mumbled towards the end, looking down at the ground. Villem didn't seem delighted at Finn's change of expression.

"Can I go see him, Finn? Please." he laid his hand on Finn's shoulder, concerned about his mood change. Instead of answering, he returned to the room where Richard lives now. I followed along behind the two, not liking the shift in the mood either. He opened the door, alerting Richard, who was inside petting one of the cats. Villem moved from behind Finn to get a look, gulping nervously. "He's actually doing good despite the change. He can control his emotions and actions unless it's someone new. I'm hoping that he remembers you, Villem." Finn admitted, looking at the older male who was staring at Richard. Villem walked towards Richard, who had a puzzled look on his face. Not having any motives to attack Villem or betray him.

"Hey Richard, I'm not sure if you remember me, but It's Villem. Your old friend and companion, we did a lot when you offered me to stay in the military. I see that you're doing good; even Finn says you are!" he softly giggled, nervously messing with his fingers. Richard's puzzled look slowly disappeared and was replaced with a large smirk. "Vill!... It's you!" he raspily cheered, running up to him and embracing him in a hug. The height difference scared Villem a bit, but he didn't mind at all after a bit. The three were celebrating their reunion while I watched. I'm glad to see that it all worked out. Villem's back with his friends again, and everything seems to be going well right now. I should give them some time to be together and reconnect.

Finn noticed me standing at the door. "Po! I have great news!" he was grinning; it must be the best news. "I got permission; Richard's allowed to go with us on missions! We'll finally be able to go out with you all and get your scooter!" Is he serious?! This is great news! I'm glad they got that all sorted out. We all can finally go on missions together again. I might try to get over what happened and potentially come with Finn and Richard for the search for my scooter. But that's gonna take a while to overcome. However, I wanna help them badly since it feels fair. There was a knock at the door; Miles had peaked his head in. Signaling Finn and the other two.

"We're gonna have to go out again, and I need you and Richard for this, Finn. It's serious business." he coldly stated, tucking his walky-talky in his belt. "What is it, Miles? Did something go wrong during the mission?" he frowned, "I'm afraid Ninja and his men are in trouble, big time. We don't know by what, but we need to go find their location and check out the issue. We need to take a bigger team, and since I heard you got permission, Richard is gonna be important. He's gonna be able to protect us, and so can Conor, but with an infected on our side. It should be easy for us to find out the issue. You up for this, sir?" Finn nodded, fixing the fuzzy beanie. "Of course, signal the rest you're bringing with us. We have to approach this issue immediately." I sighed tiredly. I guess it's time for another outing that's probably gonna be ten times as dangerous as the last. But this time, we get to bring Richard again. Things might go right this time.

Chapter Text

(10 years ago)

Villem's POV

I slicked back my hair with it, poofing back out again. Facing a large secured sealed base. During my travels, I discovered that the military was accepting new recruits. I couldn't miss the opportunity since I had been lacking in my athletic skills. This could be a good chance for me to improve finally! Maybe even help me find my missing son. Thinking of the fact that he's around thirteen now, man... I've missed so much of him growing up. I hope I can find him soon. I miss my little boy. After all, I'm doing all this to find him again. I'm never gonna give up on him or let him down. I'm pumped to begin working here for a bit, at least something that can get me closer to finding my son. I'm so ready! I waved down the guards ahead of me on their hovering podiums, both taking notice of me and opening the gates. I was greeted by more guards who escorted me into the building. 

They all seem like nice people right now, at least. I wonder when I'm gonna meet the man in charge. They were bringing me to this tall-fit figure with crimson middle-length hair and a grey beanie. This guy is pretty muscular compared to me; he could practically crush my windpipe. Though I shouldn't be scared, I'm literally the one who agreed to this! The man turned around to greet me; he had shining purple eyes and only a bit of facial hair. I wouldn't be surprised if this dude grew a beard. 

"You must be one of the new ones, am I right?" he questioned, observing my every moment. "Mhm! My name's Villem. I saw that you were accepting and thought I'd give it a chance. You must be the Captain, right?" the man politely nodded, "You're correct, I'm Captain Richard. I lead this place and conduct missions, meetings, and practices. You'll be seeing me a lot as I help with training. I know you made the right choice coming here to us. Glad to have you, Villem." he said, holding his hand out. I promptly shook his hand, a warm smile coming across my face.

I nervously stood there, "So... What's next? Do I sit here or-" ''Oh, no-no. One of my men will show you around and assign you where you will train for the next couple of months." I didn't notice until one of his soldiers asked me to follow them. The Captain had waved goodbye at me and ran off to deal with other business. I followed the soldier, who always kept a gun with him. It's kind of freaky. I seemed to notice that the Captain appears to be in his 20s, he was younger than me and yet is running an entire building full of people! That's so impressive; I know for a fact that I'm most certainly in good hands. 

For around an hour, this soldier let me around everywhere to get me to have a glimpse at this entire place. They had so many things and rooms. The dorms were even larger! How can anyone run a place this freaking huge! It's massive, larger than anything I've seen! Okay, okay, I'm overreacting, but this base is awesome! We both stopped at this one room full of training supplies. The room was loaded from dumbbells to even axe throwing. There were multiple others in there, a few seemed to be new recruits too while others were just the usual members. "Here's where you'll train; you should get started now. The captain has an order where he's required to step into training immediately. I hope you enjoy your first day." The soldier spoke, pushing me into the room with the rest and leaving to fulfill other duties.

The others were so distracted by their training that they didn't notice me. I was unsure of what I should do. I never really pursued athletic things; I don't know what fits me. I walked around for a bit to get the sights of each activity. Archery, axe throwing, knife throwing, weight lifting, swimming, jumping, climbing, running, yoga, and a few others I couldn't name. Each activity spanned in its own section. From my own experience, I am pretty skilled at running. When I ran from those 'coat men,' I was halfway gone by the time they exited the building. Another key factor I noticed during the climactic chase was my ability to jump high. Not like a normal jump, the ability to jump over tall walls type. But it feels like I'm cheating since those are natural skills that I have manifested into me. I could try something different for a change.

I took notice of the two large stands made for axe and knife throwing. I could try a shot at those two; I might like them! I began walking over to the knife area but first had to pass the axe area. I didn't know where to pass as everyone participating was up on the wall, and the clear path was in the middle where axes were thrown. They weren't throwing anything right now, merely talking to one another about life. I should be able to squeeze through there without getting an axe through the skull. I sprinted halfway across, not wanting to intervene with anything or anyone. I slowly approached the exit when an axe quickly swung by my face, chopping only a small piece of hair off. My eyes widened, surprised by the sudden reveal and almost getting my face torn off. The axe hit the target perfectly in the middle despite almost hitting me.

"Sorry about that! I didn't see you trying to pass by!" A figure almost taller than me ran over. His fur was a dark purplish blue, while his hair was poofy and had a curl on the side. A small cowlick was present at the top of his hair, perfectly curling over. A clear face, no eye bags, or any signs of aging anywhere. He was a bit more muscular than me but was in pretty good shape, his skin was a darker orange color possessing some bits of tan in it. He looked worriedly at me, still wondering if he had hit me since I hadn't moved from being paralyzed. Eventually, I grasped control of myself again.

"I'm okay! I didn't see anyone else throwing them, so I thought it was clear to pass." I explained. His worried look faded a bit, still wondering why I was practically shaking. "My apologies for that. I continue to throw even after those scrawny weaklings are taking their break. I could consider you scrawny, too," he laughed, playfully punching me on the shoulder. I nervously stood there, not knowing what to say or do. That's when a tubbie began yelling and complaining from the other side of the room. 

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT?! MIND YOUR DAMN BUSINESS, WHY DON'T YOU?! DON'T YOU SEE A HANDSOME MAN TRYING TO WORK OUT UGH." The tubbie had a bag for a head; the sketch of the face changed every time he spoke or changed the mood of his wording. Everyone stared at him; the sudden yelling had alerted everyone in the room, even the guards outside. The baghead tubbie had grown too angry, throwing a random dumbbell off to the side and rushing out of the room, swearing. Everyone tried to forget it even happened by returning to work. This place sometimes scares me; it's kinda creepy, and the people are a bit raunchy.

"Who the hell was that?" I asked the tubbie I just met; he looked at where the tubbie was last when doing his workouts and back at me. "That was Ninja, he's one weird son of a bitch. All he does is play video games, and sometimes, like today, he comes out to work out with the rest of us. You'll learn to love him once you get to know him. Though he's quite the snarky asshole." the man laughed again, finding himself hilarious. "Well alrighty- I suppose that we know each other, what's your name and why do you work here?" I asked him, he sat there for a moment giving it some thought. 

"I'm Mylo; I've been working here for around four years. I still do training, and even though I should progress on more things, I enjoy this better. I'm really good friends with the Captain, so he lets it slide. He's a fair dude. I wanted to work here to have the benefits of doing something; daily life was boring. So, who might you be?" Mylo exclaimed, talking more about himself and his experiences so far. He's really nice, he checked in on me when I almost got hit by the axe and speaks in a polite moving tone. Maybe this can be the second friend I can have. My first will always be my son; nothing will ever change that. 

"I'm Villem, and my initials are H.V. I just started here today. I saw that you all were accepting new recruits, so I thought I could try it. I am working here to help with finding my son." I admitted I never told anyone about my son's disappearance or his existence. Since I never thought that anyone would deserve to know or even care. Mylo's face dropped a bit but regained itself instantly. "Damn, sorry to hear about your son. So that makes you a deadbeat?" he jokingly commented, a small giggle had escaped my mouth before I could swallow it. But that giggle set off both of us laughing over a joke that wasn't meant to be super hilarious. The others gave us strange looks for laughing too loudly.

"Okay, I admit it's funny. Certainly, not my fault that I'm deadbeat, I'll find him eventually." I responded; his eyes teared from laughing too hard. "Mhm, you should go back to your training. If you could, you can swing by my place, and we could hang out!" he offered, going over to the target and releasing the axe from the grasp of the wood. "That'd be nice; I haven't taken a break all day, so that'll be very good for me." I chuckled a little, finally making my way over to the knife-throwing area.

The training was a piece of cake, probably the easiest thing I've done in a while. I got used to throwing knives after a few hard tries. Eventually, I hit multiple targets. Damn, I feel like the most powerful man alive! Doing all that felt great, but I'm sweating too much. I need to go take a break. I saw Mylo walking out when I remembered what he offered me before we went back to training. He wanted me to hang out with him after this. Already making new friends, damn I am such an easy-going motherfucker.

I quickly rushed over to him; he had already put his equipment back and was heading for the dorm hallway. I tapped on his shoulder to get his attention. He swiftly turned his head, a smile coming across his face upon seeing me. "Oh hey, Villem! I didn't think you'd actually take up on the offer." I shook my head, reassuring him, "Of course I would! You're awesome and overpoweringly strong, too. I wouldn't miss the opportunity!" he chuckled a bit from my blabbering about how cool he is. "Well, come along then! I can make us something since it is around lunchtime." Mylo suggested, motioning me to follow him. The dorm hallways were huge; some had larger rooms than others. I didn't understand how anyone could not get lost; it was a literal maze. His room appeared at the end of the hallway, probably one of the quieter places in this mansion of a base. As everywhere else, you could always hear a few people talking or hear a full-on explosion of noise. He slid a key from his back pocket into the slot. Clicking open the large wooden door, it creaked upon being opened. The two of us entered inside once it was fully open.

I wasn't exactly sure how big the rooms for everyone were supposed to be, but I assume this is one of the larger rooms. It had a whole kitchen, a small living room, and two doors leading to a bedroom and bathroom. Plus, there is a whole open space for holding a working desk and closet. "What the fuck- this is literally a miniature house?!" I accidentally said out loud; Mylo giggled and slid over to the kitchen. "Yeah, we are far luckier than a lot of the others working around here." "Wait- 'we'?! Someone else lives here?!" Mylo shortly nodded, opening the fridge and gazing at the products inside. 

"My girlfriend, Viyra, works here as a higher-ranked nurse. That's why it was easy convincing Richard to let the two of us have more space. It works better since she always has a lot of paperwork after, and we need the space for that, haha." he explained, pulling out a few items to make a sandwich. He shoved a piece of bread in his mouth before starting on the actual food. 

I shouldn't be surprised that he has a girlfriend; he's a hard worker and pretty handsome. They must be good friends with the Captain if he basically allows them tons of freedom and gives them a dorm, which is basically a weird condo. However, with her being higher ranked and Mylo being a well-skilled soldier, they deserve that even without knowing the Captain. I haven't seen what my room looks like, probably some shitty small room with a singular mattress on the floor. Even then, that's possibly way better than other places where I've slept in the past few years. No wonder I stagger with so much neck pain. 

"Huh, wow- that's impressive to know. You both are intelligent as hell, then. I guess I shouldn't be on your bad side." I jokingly commented, earning a small chuckle from him. "Yeah I guess we are, I'm lucky to have her. I don't know what I would do without her. I'd be practically lost." I took a seat at the bar table in their kitchen; the chair wobbled and suddenly moved. Nearly kicking me off from scaring me. "Woah, calm down- those chairs' seats just move. They're awesome to spin in; you should try it even though Viyra told me that it might break them. But she's not home, so go at it!" He sliced a few tomatoes, sliding them off to the side and repeating the process. 

I carefully sat this time and pushed myself to the side, the chair seat moving with me. After a bit, I was amazed by being able to spin in a chair, not noticing that it was making me extremely dizzy. I came to a complete stop and felt like I was floating. My eyes were moving all over the place, which made everything look wonky. I shook it out and felt better again. Mylo was still working on making lunch and seemed so enthralled with cooking not to pay any attention to anything else.

The front door to his room had clicked, the knob turning as if someone had opened the lock. A woman had tiredly stumbled in and neatly put her bag on a hook. She was not much shorter than me, with long messy curly hair in a ponytail, her sherbet fur complexion matching her pinkish freckled tan skin, both of her eyes were different colors with the left being a sunny bright yellow and the right side a bright clover green. She appeared to be wearing a flimsy nurse outfit, the dress and the slippers giving away the appearance. The woman gave a confused look, noticing me in the wobbly chair and Mylo chopping vegetables on the counters. "I see you made it back and immediately started cooking. Who's the white stick?" She referred to me as 'white stick', an odd name to call me but better than being called deadbeat I suppose. Mylo quit cooking for a moment to run up and greet her. 

"This is Villem! I met him during training and almost gave him an axe through the skull. It was an accident, and he easily forgave me, so I invited him for lunch. I knew you'd be back around this time, so I'm making you something, too." He affectionately pecked her on the cheek, returning to his cooking duties. I waved at her, nervous about what she'd think of me since she didn't know who I was and I was just sitting in her kitchen. This must be Viyra; she's pretty, and I can see why the two are together. Despite barely knowing anything about their relationship, I can see they're great together. She works a pretty difficult job, having to take care of others while also having to deal with this goofy dumbass at the same time. 

Viyra had taken down the ponytail to reveal a long length of bouncy sherbet hair. She grabbed a wad of what seemed to be paperwork and threw it onto an already existing pile by her desk. I wanted to try and make small talk since the silence was getting a little too comfortable for my own liking. "So—I heard you're a higher-ranked nurse. How's that working out?" I kindly asked. She already appeared too tired from yawning and slumping.

"It's an alright gig- really tiring after a while from seeing so many idiots break a bone here and there. I mean, c'mon, how fucking terrible at climbing do you have to be?! But I enjoy helping others, so that's the whole thrill. What about you? What do you do?" she explained, scanning the fridge for any source of drink. "Oh! Well, I do photography- not as exciting as the jobs you two do, but it's personal enjoyment to me. You both seem to be doing extremely great for yourselves." I nervously scratched my shirt, assuming they thought my hobby was stupid. Viyra's eyes lightened up when I mentioned photography. 

"You do photography?! I've been looking for someone professional to take photos of Mylo and me. I've never met anyone who's pursued that or enjoyed it. We would've taken our own, but this idiot probably would've somehow broken the camera," She laughed at the last part, Mylo saying 'hey!' from the small comment about him. He laughed after a minute, trying to hide it. "I didn't think you did photography; you seemed like the type not to take any of that seriously. We've wanted professional photos for a while but never found anyone to do them. She's right, though, about me being very clumsy with objects," he exclaimed, finishing up the last of the sandwiches. There were over a dozen of them, some he packed in plastic baggies. 

Those look fucking delicious. I haven't had a sandwich in so long; surviving off Wheaties isn't always so easy. 

My mouth was watering from staring at the food; he picked up two and handed them to me. "Here, I know you're hungry since your mouth is watering." he bit into one of the others he made. Packing the extras away in his bag. I took a small bite, indulging in every single flavor. Soon enough, I finished both in under two minutes. Taking huge bites and acting like a feral animal who hasn't been fed in months. Mylo gave me a weird look but didn't question any of it. The three of us chatted for a bit, finishing up after five minutes. Viyra had said something to Mylo, giving him a small kiss and tiredly walking to their room. I was still munching on what was left of the sandwiches, crumbs sitting in my lap. 

"Alright, now I've got to deliver these." he patted the packed sandwiches. "To who?" I asked, wiping off the extra crumbs. "Usually, Viyra does it since she leaves fifteen minutes after coming home. But she's extremely tired, and I don't think she'll be going back to work today. I have to give them to Richard, he never has time to make himself something so Viyra or myself make him something to eat before our break ends." he explained, exiting the kitchen and already making his way outside the door. So they are good friends with the Captain. He gives them all this, and they return the favor by making him something every day. That's a fair friendship, I guess.

I shot up from the chair and followed him to another area of the base. Other soldiers had waved at us or said hi to Mylo. He seemed like a decently popular guy. When others saw him, they immediately greeted him or at least acknowledged his presence. Meanwhile, I was invisible to them since nobody knew me. We had crossed multiple hallways, seeming to get more into a private area with the lack of soldiers around. There were two large doors, with a small sign above it saying 'CAPTAIN.' 

Damn his room is far away from the rest, I'm guessing he needs his space. 

Mylo gently knocked on the door. I heard a bit of scattering from the inside and a few clicks from unlocking the door. The door creaked open, and a male with fluffy black hair and freckled brown skin appeared. His eyes were a soft caramel color, consistently bright. He was dressed in casual wear with a sort of bomber jacket. Giving the two of us a confused look, fading after focusing on Mylo. "Oh hey, Mylo! I didn't think you'd be delivering lunch today. Is Vi alright?" the man asked, fully opening the door. Revealing the room behind him to be a large office space. There were tons of filing cabinets and shelves with a different assortment of things. 

I noticed a man, the Captain, digging through one of the cabinets in the back. Paying no attention to the rest of us at the door. "Yeah, she's just really tired from work today. She might not be able to come in later to work. Hopefully, Richard is alright with that." the man nodded, moving out of the way to let the two of us in. I nervously walked in as I was in the room where the man who runs this place works. I twirled with my fingers while the other two continued their conversation.

"Thanks for the lunch anyway; he'll definitely be okay with it! He constantly lets you guys get away with this." the man laughed, grabbing the bags of sandwiches and sitting them down on the large desk. The Captain had given up looking for a certain file, noticing the three of us. "Oh finally you brought lunch, I see Vi let you do it instead." Richard grabbed one of the bags and munched away at it. Sitting back at his desk while staring at us. "Viyra isn't fit to work for the rest of the day, so Mylo took over to deliver something to us. He brought a friend too; I don't know who he is." The man snagged a sandwich, sitting in the extra chair near Richard's desk. "It has been a little busy in the medical field lately, and I can see why she's tired. Oh- that's one of the new recruits. Villem, isn't it?" I nodded, "Right, right; I see you quickly made friends with Mylo. One of the world's goofiest assholes in the world. His girlfriend is a lot more tamer than him." Mylo rolled his eyes at Richard. 

"Oh, sure, I'm not. Don't start talking about me now when you exist. If everyone else in this building knew you got extremely drunk and ran around nude, I think everyone would lose their shit about it." The crimson-furred man was flustered in embarrassment. Throwing a piece of the sandwich at Mylo. "Aye, c'mon! I don't see Finn wasting the perfect food I made." he pointed at the black-haired male. Who was zoning out and taking small bites. 

So that's Finn, he and Richard must be best friends or work together. It seems that he has his own area in this large office. Richard laughed and finished the free food that was given to him. "You brought up that in front of someone completely new; I have every right," he smirked, resting back in his chair while Mylo groaned. "Yeah but Villem is cool, he does photography and has awesome scars. If he was able to avoid being nearly killed by my axe, then he's allowed to hang out with us."

"Jesus Christ, you nearly hit him with an axe? I shouldn't be surprised. You've nearly gotten us injured, too, when we go out sometimes to explore." Finn commented, wincing a bit from the thought. "Are you still mad about the whole getting lost thing? I apologized multiple times already!" Mylo whined, blabbering about how it's not his fault. I was awkwardly standing there the entire time while the three continuously talked to each other. Richard saw me awkwardly standing there with nothing to say and gave a smile. "Normally, I don't think anyone can sit through our conversations, but damn, you just listen to all of our bullshit. How would you say you would like to come to hang out with us next weekend? I know Mylo would like that." 

They want to invite me to hang out with them? Oh wow, I am just stunned. I've made so much more progress than I thought. It wouldn't hurt to hang with these guys; they generally seem like nice people. One of them is the Captain of this whole shebang. I feel proud of myself. Even my own son would be proud since I normally can never make friends. 

"Oh well, I'd love to! I didn't expect you all to let me since I'm new." I nervously replied, twirling with my fingers again. "Of course, you can be a part of the group now. I mean, there's nothing rarer than a photographer nowadays." Finn mentioned, throwing away the extra bags and crumbs. I slightly giggled, a little flustered, too, from the sudden compliment. After a while of talking, Mylo and I had left to go back to our dorms. He helped me find my room since I was so confused with all the turning hallways. The rooms weren't that bad either, with a comfy bed and my own bathroom and sitting area. No kitchen means I'll have to eat cafeteria food unless I cook at Mylo and Viyra's place. He'd soon left after jokingly giving me a fist bump. Sometimes, he acts childish. I plopped onto my warm, comfy bed. Indulging myself into the sheets as my eyes fluttered. 

I feel happier here than I ever did while I was on the road. I think... I'll stay a little longer than I wanted to. I gleefully drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

Villem's POV

It has been a little over six months since I've stayed at the Military base. So far, I'm happier with my life and have been getting into shape. I eventually hung out with the four after not passing the offer. It was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had. We've probably become the best of friends by now. I occasionally hang out with Mylo more since he's the one who got me warmed up to the group anyway. At this point, I practically live in his dorm since I'm always over there. I also took their photos like they wanted, along with some of Richard and Finn. Who I discovered after we hung out have been dating for a while.

I practically pick on Richard to go and ask Finn to marry him, but he says, 'it's too early' despite being with each other for a little over six years. I personally don't see the factor of loving anyone when you can just have a child to fulfill your happiness. It's a lot easier and can be extremely fun at certain times and points. Though I've had my fair share of hookups over the time, I've been exploring. I could care less about whatever gender they were. I cared a lot for my own happiness and can't change that.

I eagerly jumped out of my bed and slid over to the dresser. I dressed into a comfortable basic white suit with a brown cardigan over it and grabbed the small satchel bag that I carried around with me everywhere. Richard had planned for all of us to go out and hang out somewhere today. They haven't quite mentioned where it'll be, but I assume it's somewhere in the middle of nowhere. After hearing all the horror stories of Mylo accidentally getting them lost, I somehow doubt they'd let him lead again.

I opened the door widely, freeing myself from the clutches of my room and going on my way. Once I closed it behind me, I noticed some others hanging around. It must not be time yet for training, so I'm pretty early. I'll go get Mylo and Viyra first. During the months I spent here, I quickly memorized each of the locations. Mainly the hallways and quicker routes to each of my friend's dorms. I bounced over to their side of the base, excited to talk to them again as If I hadn't chilled with both of them yesterday. Their door was in my line of sight; I rushed over and began knocking.

I heard a soft voice from inside and a few scattering noises. I was greeted by Viyra, who looked like she'd just woken up. Her hair was in a messy bun, and she was still dressed in a sleek red robe. "Oh, it's you, Villem- isn't it a little early? I thought you'd be around here later." she yawned, rubbing her eyes. "It's never too early, and Richard wanted us to go out early, so we come back before it's dark. You don't wanna get lost in the dark again, do you?" I raised a brow; she tiredly sighed and shook her head. "Of course not- even though it was my own boyfriend who made us go in circles. What a goofball." she giggled, opening the door to invite me inside. 

I promptly walked in and sat my butt on the couch. Mylo was nowhere to be seen, probably still sleeping. "He's still asleep, hmph- hold on, watch this." She picked up a slipper. I moved closer to get a closer look at what she was gonna do. She began concentrating with the slipper in hand, aiming directly at Mylo, who was snuggled in the blanket. A sudden whoosh went by, the slipper becoming unrecognizable until it eventually hit Mylo head-on. Who was startled awake, he began cursing in what seemed to be Spanish. I am not good with languages, but he seems pretty pissed. "Ouch! What did you do that for, babe?!" he asked, rubbing his head and wincing.

"I didn't think it'd hit you that hard!- Anyways, Villem's here, and you were still snoozing. So I had to find some way to wake you up." she hustled over, picking up the slipper and ruffling Mylo's hair. "Next time just like- I don't know, scream to wake me up" he quietly stated, Viyra laughed and kissed him. "Yeah I'll put that idea in the shredder and find another extreme way to wake you up." she giggled, Mylo whined and sat his head on her. "Oh- Villem, you can go get something to eat and wait for us. We'll just be in here in the meantime." she directed at me, I didn't wanna know what they'll do so I closed the door. I sneaked over to the kitchen and invaded whatever I could find in their cabinets. They let me do this for free, and I got no repercussions. I guess I should enjoy myself while they... uh, hopefully, are getting dressed. I shouldn't jinx myself.

I sat there in their kitchen, gorging myself for around twenty minutes. That's when the two finally exited their room, fully dressed and ready to go. In the middle of their conversation, I was in the middle of eating an entire container of cottage cheese. Mylo gave me a gross look, "It stuns me to a great extent that you enjoy eating that without anything to put it on. Gross." I slammed another spoonful in my mouth, swallowing it with a smirk. "It's actually pretty good. You're calling me gross when you two took twenty minutes to get dressed. No sane person takes that long. You sure it was only getting dressed?" I raised a brow, purposefully messing with them. The two looked flustered but shook it off. "Yes, it does take us that long. Along with the minor inconvenience of accidentally losing my jacket, it took us five minutes to find it. We're not on Richard and Finn's level; I thought you knew us better." Mylo jokingly acted dramatically.

 Viyra laughed, "Yeah, he's not lying either. If we did, that bastard right there would still look like a ripe tomato with lipstick smeared all over him. Of course, nothing like that happened. We have morals, too." I guess I can believe them, they're too respectful to not do that when they have a guest. Unlike the other two, they're seriously on something sometimes. But I guess that's the difference between the two couples for which I'm a technical fifth wheel. "Alright, that makes sense. Now let's go before we're later than the time we were supposed to meet." I jotted up and already was out the door, with the two trailing behind me holding hands. It's currently 7:15, Richard said somewhere around 8:15 that we have to all meetup. I'm sure he wouldn't mind us coming an hour early.

The three of us walked along the way. Running into others a few times to greet them or wave. I was surprisingly popular with almost everyone; they just seemed to like me. I'm not a very extroverted person, but I manage and can speak to almost anyone with no struggle. The two behind me were starting to reach that point of being lovey-dovey and all that shit. I always take this time to mess with them. "I don't think anyone at seven in the morning wants to see either of you grinding on each other in the hallways." they blushed and gave me a weird look. "Grinding?! You're obviously bluffing, why do you think we're that much of weirdos?!" Mylo hissed, not picking up on my joking voice. "You two are literally young twenty-year-olds; by your age, people like you are at an all-time with public PDA. I wouldn't be surprised if you two were the same." Viyra rolled her eyes, "I don't think I wanna be sucking on his face while others can see us, that's just disgusting. You're like thirty; shouldn't you be married by now or something?" I shook my head, not really on the whole idea of marriage. 

"And what? Settle down with who? I don't need a wife or husband if I have a kid who I cherish and show all my love to. Of course, my son hasn't been with me since the day he was born, but once I find him, I'll give him all that. Just so he knows his old man loves him and could never replace him with anyone." I sighed with a hint of sadness in my voice. After thinking they'd upset me, the two didn't want to pester me anymore. 

"Let's get to Richard and Finn's room now and finally get out of this small fitted base," Mylo responded, still clutching Viyra's hand after my whole joke. The three of us stood in front of the bigger door, its menacing embrace coming over us. We couldn't hear anything inside but knew the two would still be inside. I swiftly knocked, but no response was given. Still not hearing anything inside. "Maybe they had already left without us, but they'd warn us if they did." Viyra confusingly mentioned, knocking on the door herself. No response ever left the room, even after our multiple attempts. Thankfully I had a key to get in, we were allowed it in case we needed something or wanted to crash at their place. 

The key clicked as I unlocked the door with no issue. There wasn't anyone in the living room or kitchen, which was practically unerringly empty. "Must be still sleeping. I guess I'll try the shoe mechanic again," Viyra suggested, but Mylo playfully slapped her on the arm and shook his head. "I don't think either of them would appreciate that, honey." She sighed, "Yeah, but it would be funny to see their reaction." He rolled his eyes as a response.

We hadn't checked their room, which was the only place we expected them to be. I silently approached the door, clutching the knob. I opened it with ease; my ease soon ended upon noticing the sight inside. The two hadn't noticed the knocking on the door because they had been here making out! Viyra and Mylo peeked in and gradually lost their funny mood from earlier. Richard and Finn were not indulged in our presence as the noises of them furiously inserting their lips together were louder. It was an uncomfortable sight since they seemed like they would progress onto other businesses if nobody stopped them. 

They did have an hour, not expecting us to be early. It's still such a sudden sight to come across.

I loudly coughed, enough to scare them off of each other. The two men's faces turned bright red, giving each other and the three of us a weird look. None of them could blurt out a word since they were stunned to have us arrive early and find them like this. Richard was the first to come to his eventual senses, loudly coughing as he fixed his hair and popping out of bed. "I-I- we didn't expect you three to come this early. Please excuse witnessing- that... Can you all wait outside?" he blurted, shooing the three of us. I backed out as the door slammed on our faces. The two inside were mumbling something, probably extremely embarrassed by what had just happened. 

The other two went to sit down on the couch and talk, but I had other ideas. I snuck around to the fridge, having a small grin across my guilty face. I opened the fridge and spotted what I was looking for. Cottage cheese. It was no problem if their entire gallon of cottage cheese was suddenly gone. I'm literally the only one who eats any of it. I forcefully grabbed the gallon, removing the lid and taking a small whiff. Still fresh. I grabbed a spoon and began gorging myself with the multiple intakes of cottage cheese. I was making so much noise that the other two turned to see me practically slamming my mouth full of the white sustenance.

"What the fuck Villem, do you have to eat everyone's food?" Mylo giggled a bit, finding it a little funny that this is literally all I eat sometimes. I snarkily nodded, slamming another spoonful into my mouth. "It's like he's an alcoholic, except he constantly feeds himself cottage cheese." Viyra compared; Mylo raised a brow. "Weirdest comparison ever; alcohol is awful compared to cottage cheese. I'd never drink that stuff; it tastes foul." he grew a disgusted look on his face. "It's not that bad, though you don't like smoking either. I can't blame you for that; you like staying healthy." Mylo happily nodded. "Of course, there's no reason for any of that as if I'd ever touch any of that stuff! I only would if something beyond impossible terrible happened," he responded, ranting about how he didn't like either thing. "What would the impossible terrible thing be?" he sat there for a moment. A small frown sat across his face, but it disappeared once he changed moods. 

"Oh not really anything, as I said it's impossible for it to happen!" The two shared a small laugh while I watched, eating away at the sustenance held in my hands. It only took ten minutes for me to finish the gallon, surprisingly it wasn't that much. Though now I feel a bit sick, my favorite food yet again makes me feel violently ill. By then, the two men were finished with their business of getting over embarrassment and dressiness. Ready to leave the base and chill out for a couple of hours. "Ignoring what happened a bit ago, I think we're all ready to leave-" Richard spotted me gorging on their cottage cheese, "Fucking hell, Villem, you're such a loathsome person sometimes." I closed the lid on the gallon, putting it away behind other condiments so they wouldn't see it whenever finding something to eat.

The five of us were thrilled to be going out somewhere again. We haven't in a few weeks due to the constant pains of work. Or the fact that some of us are always tired and never have the time. I had all the time in the world; I never had too much work, not like the others. The five of us walked around the other working soldiers, who didn't seem to care about us running by. Richard unlocked a door to one of the larger rooms in the base, the garage. In front of my eyes were multiple clean, brand-new vehicles and an entire tool station. Richard and Finn had the best possible ones, sitting far from the others. "I think we'll just take this one; it can fit all five of us." Richard pointed to a larger fit vehicle that looked like a different type of jeep. Cars have too many names, and they're all mostly confusing. We were all packed inside, and I had to sit in the backseat with Mylo and Viyra. 

It was kind of a tight squeeze, but the two beside me were practically fine cuddling together. Unlike me, the other two got to sit in the driver and passenger seats, having room to squirm around. They seemed to enjoy the whole room as Finn sat back in his seat and put his feet up. The key clicked as the car turned on, revving the engine and giving life to the car. After a few turns and bumps, we were finally out on the road. My face was smushed into the window, observing my surroundings as the car drove by fast. "So what are we doing today?" I asked, looking at the two in the front. Richard was focused on driving but stared back at me through the mini mirror. "Well, first we're gonna try to fish-" Viyra groaned, hearing that made her unhappy, "but we also have this one spot where we fish that has stuff like corn hole, ring toss, and even darts. It's basically just a miniature fun-zone for us. I think you'll enjoy it," he explained, fixating back onto driving.

I've never played either of those in my life, and I've never been too big on either game. Nor have I tried fishing in my entire life. I barely do anything except travel and take photos. Maybe I can take some here. I did bring my equipment, thankfully. I bet the scenery is beautiful there, though. Forests tend to have the prettiest sights. 

I was deeply thinking that I hadn't noticed we were arriving soon. We passed by a bunch of fruit trees and probably one of the largest fields I've seen in a while. I opened my satchel and began putting together my camera. The others were loudly chatting about something I didn't care about. Their voices got more excited as time went on. I suspected we were arriving now as the jeep slowed and eventually stopped. My camera was put together with not a single mishap or problem. I put it around me so I could just have it on me instead of carrying it. Everyone exited the vehicle and took in the natural air while grabbing any other supplies. I didn't notice that Finn had snuck in alcohol on our way out as he carried two full stacks of it. Sitting it down by some lousy-looking lawn chairs and fishing poles. I didn't feel like fishing, and I don't think Viyra did either. We both sat on the free lawn chairs and watched the other three chaotically try getting out on a miniature boat.

"I thought you'd be at least a little interested in going out there with them?" Viyra peered at me, fixing up her appearance with some kind of lip balm. "I've well, uhm- never really gone fishing. It's not my thing personally." I relaxed back, admiring the hot sun from above that pierced my white fur and skin. "So you too? I always found fishing gross, I mean touching a slimy creature?! That's not my type; I prefer to stay clean." she gagged, grabbing one of the bottles of pure alcohol, popping off the cap, and drinking away. 

Maybe I should get a drink, too, but then I'd get too drunk to take photos. I have to put my interests first before having a little bit of fun. I got up from the chair and fixed around my equipment, readying it all up. It should be easy to find things interesting to take photos of. I mean it's literally nature, anything can be beautiful with a little bit of creativity! I certainly hope there is some scenery around here that's so astonishing that even I am amazed. The camera was packed and ready to go, practically begging to take a photo already. I heard the three out on the pond barking about one of their lines getting stuck, over all of them I heard mostly Mylo complaining. He's got such a nice voice; maybe I should join the three of them after this. I'll keep the idea in mind until I'm done with my photoshoots.

Searching for a place to set up was kind of an issue. Oftentimes, I'd find a spot only for it to be muddy or off-center. Maybe this wasn't as good of an idea as I thought. Nevertheless, giving up is pathetic. I continued searching for a perfect spot, checking every crevasse or even space that had some sort of flat land. Eventually, I found the spot, located offside of the pond, facing the four who were having their own fun. I don't think they'd mind if I took a photo of them. I held the camera tight in my hands, getting the correct angle with no shaky hands. My finger hovering over the button that'll make this photo a real thing. 

Click! 

The photo had been taken, it slowly left the polaroid to be fetched by my hand. I shook the photo to make the process faster. I aim it above me towards the sun as the photo forms in front of me. It looked just like a scene from any movie: a warm sunny day with friends having fun. Nothing can get better than that! I took a few more random photos of things I saw around me. It's stuff I deemed worthy of hanging on my wall, which is full of hundreds of Polaroid photos already. I headed back over with the group that had given up on fishing; they seemed more interested in playing cornhole.

"Richard, you're fucking cheating! Stay behind the platform, you idiot!" Mylo yelled, waving around the small beanbag in his fist. Richard teasingly took a step in front of it to piss off Mylo, who gave the reaction that Richard wanted. "I think I give up playing; I need a break anyway." he caved, going to rest on the chairs. He noticed me join back with the group, setting my equipment back in my bag. "Villem! You wanna play cornhole with them? I got tired; Richard kept purposefully throwing the bag at me instead of the platform." Mylo offered, throwing his bags at me. I caught them all in an instant, "Oh sure- I've never played before." he shrugged, "Just try to throw those beanbags into the hole on the platform. You get a point, and the more points your team has, you win. Easy game, Vill." the nickname 'Vill' scared me for a moment but I nodded, quickly understanding the basis of the game. I joined Viyra's side since Richard and Finn teamed with each other. I'm not surprised that homosexuals wanted to be together. 

"It's your side's turn, Villem. Why don't you try first!" Finn smiled, seemingly less competitive, unlike Richard. I crushed the beanbag in my hand, lining up my shot with the hole. I've trained a lot with lining up shots for my photography; I'm a natural at this point. I threw the bag with a swift arm, watching it soar in the air as it perfectly flew into the hole. The others were stunned as it appeared none of them had made a shot yet, not even a perfect shot like that. Richard was certainly impressed by my skill, his hands forming into a clapping position. "For someone who's never played corn hole, you made a perfect shot that I don't think any of us could recreate." he awed, the moment replaying in his head as he spoke. "Well, learning to line up shots comes naturally; I am a photographer, after all!" I said with confidence, throwing a bean bag in my hands back and forth. "It feels like cheating, but you're more impressively skilled than the rest of us." Finn laughed, taking his shot at the next throw. His aim was off by a little; the bean bag managed to edge the crevasses of the hole.

We played a few more rounds until the four of us had gotten tired. With my skill, Viyra and I won with ten more points than Richard and Finn. The two were a bit hurt by losing but accepted their loss. In the next moment, we all sat around in a circle, drinking and loudly talking about whatever was interesting. I only picked up a drink halfway in; I wasn't much of a drinker like Richard. Alcohol has such a tainted taste attached to it that I might get addicted if I'm desperate enough. Mylo hadn't touched any of it; he pushed away any pressure to take a sip of any of it. Glad to know not everyone is an alcoholic here. "I wonder how everyone is doing back home-" Finn took another large sip, "probably blowing up shit or getting extremely drunk like us." Richard drunkenly giggled, downing his third bottle. "I'm pretty sure YOU guys are the only ones getting extremely drunk; I haven't had any, and Villem is only taking baby sips," Mylo mentioned, looking at his girlfriend, who was starting to get tipsy. 

Finn blankly stared, "Yeah, yeah, we get it. You both are pussies and can't handle something strong. Mylo, you're literally all muscle! Just have a drink, idiot!" Mylo shook his head, trying to ignore the drunks who were blabbering loudly. I scooted closer to him since I had been more on Richard's side, and I was aware of how Richard gets while drunk. "I didn't actually think the three were crazed over a bottle of tar-tasting liquid." I joked, picking up the photos from today's exploration. "You don't say almost everyone in the military drinks. It's such a bad mechanism for them; I don't get it. I prefer to work out, I assume if you're having a bad day or bored you do photography?" Mylo asked; I flipped through each other. Eventually, I came across the one I took of the four having fun. 

"Photography isn't my only personality trait; if I ever have a bad day, I think about the possibility of being with my son again. I know I'm getting closer to finding him; it's just taking forever." My sorting of photos slowed down at the thought of never finding him. I have to look for him again, but that means... I have to leave my friends. I wonder if they'll ever take that easily. I have to begin soon, or I'll never find him. "You seem to be teary-eyed- I guess you thought of it in a sadder light right now, huh? You know you always have me, my girlfriend, and those two extremely gay drunk motherfuckers. We won't leave you." But I have to leave you all. "You're right but I- I have to start looking for my son again, I can't just give up and stay here. I know it'll be rough for me to leave, but-" he held his hand up, "Villem, we all understand it's for family. Family is more important than friends sometimes, and one day, I'd love to meet your son. He's probably just like his old man."

 We both had a laugh over the last statement. "I'm not that old; I don't look bad for my thirties! I look very handsome and young!" he scoffed, agreeing with me. "You have to tell those three tomorrow whenever they're sober. I think they'd say the same as I do, but I don't know. Richard seems attached to you, so he might take it to heart." "And you don't?" "Of course I do! You're my best friend; I'm gonna miss you a lot. I will probably think of you every day until you come back. You will come back, right?" He asked, his emotions looking for something to guide them, a promise. "I- maybe, I can come back in a year tops if that's fine! Visiting doesn't sound bad or get in the way of my schedule." he smiled with hope, giving me a hug.

"You promise?" I froze for a moment.

"... I promise"

Yesterday was a great day. We all eventually got home with Finn driving. He was less drunk than the crimson mess that was in the passenger seat. Everyone by then was already in bed, so we said our goodnights. I want to take one last photo with the four before I depart. I found someone who offered to take the photo, so I didn't have to time it myself. But the empty gut feeling, I still had to tell the three I was gonna leave. They've all shown me so much kindness and friendship. It's rough just thinking about leaving. But I have to do this; there is no way around it. I was dressed nicely, with a black turtleneck, a large brown coat, and the same old jeans. I told them all yesterday to meet in Richard's office, with his consent. I have fifteen minutes to get there. I waited until the afternoon since Richard is definitely dealing with a hangover. 

I took my satchel and began my last journey to Richard's office. I watched everyone around me converse and be entwined with growing onto this place as a home. It hits me differently when I think about it. I eventually stood in front of the large doors. I remember meeting Finn here with Mylo whenever we were delivering food. It feels like only yesterday to think it was nearly six months ago. I pushed open the door, being greeted by the others inside. Mylo was aware of my announcement but was extremely interested either way as if he was hearing it for the first time again. 

"Thank you all for coming here; I couldn't think of any other place more private than this office. How ironic. But I have something I wanna make you all aware of." I began; they all closely watched me as I stuttered a bit. "You've all shown me great kindness; I couldn't thank you enough. My son is still of great importance to me, and I need to get back to looking for him. That means I'll have to leave," Mylo was right about Richard; he didn't look like he wanted to let go. His lips quivered, his emotions shifting. The rest did as well; all of them reacted differently. 

Mylo was the only one who kept his cool, accepting and understanding of what was happening. "But I promise, I will return. It would be such a fool of me not to come to see you four again. You're the best of friends I've ever had; no one can replace any of you. I just need to do this for myself and my son." I finished my speech, letting them all take in every piece of information I spat at them. It was as expected; they were stunned and disheartened, but their moods changed soon afterward. "We understand, Villem; we appreciate you being here with us and spending all this time with us. We've never met someone as kind and courageous as you. I think you deserve to go look for your boy." Richard stood, wishing me well but still taking it hard. "We can walk you out if you'd like! Just as the real final goodbyes." Finn offered, trying to lighten the mood.

"That would be wonderful, thank you all. But first, I wanna take one final photo. Of the five of us, for me to keep on my journey. Just as a way to remember all your faces." I grinned; the others thought it was a good idea as I summoned the soldier who offered and found us a place to take the photo. We decided the entrance was a fine place. The place I walked in and sadly had to leave out of. I posed in the middle, letting the couples be in their respective positions. "Alright, on the count of three, say 'cheese!' 1... 2... 3!" the flash of the camera painted this moment, forever stuck on a flimsy photo. I thanked the soldier and viewed the photo.

 It was just as amazing as I imagined, the five of us happily posing without a care, as nothing could ever ruin that moment. It had begun the time when I now had to pack; I was leaving tonight. Mylo had helped me with packing and even jokingly begged me to take him with me. Though at some points, his pleas seemed vividly real. Everything was packed neatly and tight in my bags. My room looked as it was when I first entered it. Closing the door as I said goodbye to the comforting space. It was heavily snowing, but that wasn't going to stop me. The front gate was wide opening, greeting me with a cold embrace. I stood a foot away from it. The four behind me as they were about to watch me leave. 

"I didn't think a blizzard would hit the day I was leaving. Isn't that funny?" I laughed, trying to get them to cheer up. It did the trick, but they were still all thinking the same thing. "Thank you again for everything; I'll miss you all. Until I return safely, keep my room as it is. I don't want anything to change, especially about you four." Richard and Viyra had teared up a bit but gradually happily with my jokes and requests. Mylo ran up to me, giving me one last final hug. "I especially don't want anything to change about you; you're my best friend. I'm thankful to have met you." Tears rolled down my face, and I tightly embraced him, wanting never to let go.

"I will be the same old Mylo you know and love, nothing will change about this goofiness. I wish you well, Villem." he cried, the snow sticking to his clothes and wet face. I stood face to face with him, the others in the back already waving their goodbyes.

"I promise I'll be back in a year tops, or at least try to be here near that time." Mylo nodded, "Don't bail on us, old man, be safe out there!" I laughed and backed away, looking at the beyond, which was a blizzard, and back at my friends. "Goodbye! I hope to see you all again! Maybe I'll bring my son back if I find him!" I announced as the others screamed 'Goodbye!' or 'We'll miss you!' in the freezing cold. I began walking away, as the blizzard soon covered my view of my friends and the entire military base.

Chapter Text

Finn's POV

Miles was far gone by the time I gave him the order. The others are still in a bit of shock. "Ninja? Isn't that the weird dude who was kind of a prick?" Villem asked, thinking about it for a moment. I nodded, gathering up my remaining items left around the room. We had to go get him; he might be seriously injured or even caught by one of those monsters. "C'mon Richard, you get to come with us this time, dear." he happily smiled by my side, waiting for me to command us to go. I noticed Villem awkwardly standing there as if he didn't fit in anymore. 

He's been gone for ten years, yet still feels out of place near us. I wonder why he never came back when he was supposed to. I should ask him after we get going. "Villem, are you coming with us?" I asked; he flinched for a moment, and I suddenly started talking to him. "Oh- of course, Finn! Is Mylo coming along?" I bit my lip. Villem isn't aware of Mylo's... new personality. He's met him for sure but hasn't sat alone in a room with the person he is now. Richard has, and it has messed with him for months. But if he went on the last one with Miles being there, I see that as an improvement. I haven't talked to Mylo in a year. I feel bad for doing so, but he was too unstable for me to be around. He must feel like everyone abandoned him after his wife's unfortunate accident. But now that Villem is here, I wonder if that'll change. 

"Go ask him; that's really up to him-" Villem had already taken off out the door to look for Mylo. That left me, Richard, and Po.

"You already know I wanna go; I like helping you all! Even though I am not in the right condition for it." Po nervously laughed. "That would be nice, kiddo; you're a big help for us." she had a grin on her pale face. Miles had come back, "my men have targeted a location; it's in the area near the Mountains, Mainlands." he confirmed, putting away his spare walky-talky. Po's face immediately switched up; she looked ill now. She quickly took a seat to catch some air; her breathing became hitch and fast. This is horrible; maybe bringing her is a terrible idea. "It's okay, kiddo! Take deep breaths! Listen, you better sit this one out; I think that's better for you. Richard and I can get the scooter and return with it. Okay?" she was almost unresponsive from starting to twitch but nodded. 

"Now, c'mon, you can go hang out with Lenny. If he's not sleeping. We'll be safe out there, kiddo. I promise you that." I began guiding everyone out of the room, calling over Lenny to watch Po. I informed her that she's welcome anytime to see the cats if they'll help her calm down. She was calmer but not fully. I could tell the thought of us going to Mainlands, where the incident originally happened, was taunting her. Richard and I had left her alone to go bother Lenny in the meantime. Miles had called more people over to get in their positions to take off immediately. I had called Conor and Dutch as well; they were both really helpful for events like this. Villem had run back with Mylo, who was being dragged by him. "He said sure! C'mon, let's go!" he impatiently already ran off. 

Villem never changed, unlike the rest of us. I wonder how that's hitting him; he told us never to change. Yet he was the only one never to change. With everyone gathered, jets already taking off, I gathered the four of us into one jet. I never thought I'd be sitting in the same area as Mylo and Villem again. Conor and Dutch took another jet with some of the other recruits. We needed our own for Richard's safety and to avoid him attacking new recruiters.

Villem was kicking his feet back and forth in excitement. He was grateful to be back with us again. "I can't believe all of us are together again! Did you all get into any mischief together while I was gone?!" he stared at us, and Richard and Mylo sat silently. Not murmuring a word. I focused my eyes on the ground, ignoring the question. Villem's smile had faded, getting quiet like the rest of us. "I guess not? But that's okay! We can now-" "Villem, can you wait until after we finish this trip? I'd appreciate it." I cut him off, trying not to seem like an asshole. He shook his head and slumped in his seat, waiting for us to land. Richard picked up on my sudden irritation, grabbing my hand with his claw-infested hand. He squeezed my hand, attempting to calm me down. 

It's our little thing we do whenever one of us is angry in public; it means 'It's okay!' and 'I love you.' I find it adorable. 

The rest of the ride was silent, the way I liked it. Upon arriving at a grassy area surrounded by trees. The other jets had landed before us, taken in by the long, thick grass. We had landed last, all of us stepping off and admiring the forest atmosphere. "Alright, Miles, take the first group with you. We can't have the new recruits meeting face-to-face with Richard. Explore over beside that rocky cave area. Conor will meet up with you soon." I commanded; Miles saluted and took off with his team. I'm so rusty at this. How did Richard ever manage to do this for so many years?! "C'mon, we're gonna go off on our own. Richard will protect us if anything happens." I told Villem and Mylo. Richard had nodded and was already in his mode to sense anything out. 

It's recently been discovered that the infected have different 'modes.' They indulge in these depending on the situation. Richard's in a sort of ultra-awareness mode; from what I can tell, he can sniff out anything for miles. It helps him blend in with normal infected since we don't know if they could sense a semi-infected. We had walked the opposite way of Miles' group, trying to get a distance between us. Let's just find Ninja and get this over with.

Villem's POV

Being with these guys felt like old times, even though now we're hunting for a missing guy. I walked by Mylo the entire time as Finn and Richard felt too distant to talk to. "Hey! How are you holding up?" I asked him; his scruffy face had let off a disgruntled look. "I'm fine, Vill; never been better," he said sarcastically, grabbing a cigarette from his pockets. Lighting it up and sticking it in his mouth. 

He's never smoked and was always against it. I heard that he's an alcoholic, too. This isn't my best friend, who I left behind ten years ago. He's just Mylo. Some parts of learning this make me regret not coming back sooner. I technically abandoned him and everyone else. I don't mean to abandon people; I never want to make them sad. I couldn't have known my son would've been working with the military now. 

I shooed the smoke away from my face; it was starting to choke me up. "Well, you never did drugs before! So I would think something happened." I commented; he snarled a bit and snubbed out his cigar. "Times have changed, Villem; I'm not gonna be that same stupid little baby guy you once knew. He was weak." The process repeated, and another cigar appeared from his pocket. Little by little, smoking away his lungs and time. "R-right, I'm sorry. It'll take me some time to get used to this, but you're still my best friend!" I smiled, and he gave me a look, but I could see some hope of a smirk cross his face. "It's fine; let's just hurry this mission up so I can go home to Ophelia." he caught his breath for a moment from releasing too much information from his mouth. "Who's Ophelia?" I asked. I had never known he was with another woman. Mylo really did turn into a player, didn't he? 

He threw the other cigar to the ground, "My daughter, adopted daughter specifically. I haven't been able to spend as much time with her as I want to." HE HAS A KID? My god, I really have been gone for so long. Mylo is a father now! The last time I remember him not being able to take care of himself, let alone a child. But he really has matured since then. If you call this maturing. 

"You have a daughter? Wow, it really has been that long... Can I meet her?!" I excitedly asked, not being able to contain excitement from hearing good news. "Yeah, sure- I don't know if she'd be a fan of you since she bites everyone except me. I tried to tell her biting is rude, but I guess it's just a habit." he scratched his chin, looking around to avoid eye contact. I tried to continue pestering him, but he didn't want to talk any further than that. I stepped down, knowing I probably couldn't convince him.

A sudden shaking noise filled the air from the trees. Finn spotted it first and aimed at the one frantically moving tree. A blue tubby had slid down the tree, falling onto the ground. "Ninja, what the hell were you doing in a tree?!" Finn rushed over to aid him. Ninja brushed through his dreadlocks, rubbing a bump on his noggin. "Hiding from that damn monster that attacked my team! I knew this was a bad idea from the start, but nooo- Miles just has to make me do it." he hissed, wiping himself off of leaves and dirt. "You... okay?" Richard croaked, reaching out to comfort Ninja, who just backed away. Realizing it was only Richard, "Yeah, I'm fine, captain; I just got scared that you were the monster that nearly ripped me up."

Something seems new about him, maybe the fact his bag is missing from his head. I've never seen Ninja's face, ever. He's good-looking for how much of an asshole he is. I wonder if he's realized the bag is missing. "What monster? Also, where's your bag?" Finn asked. Ninja froze for a moment and started hitting his head in an attempt to find it. "Godamnit! Must have lost it when I got chased. The monster is a big, hairy purple gorilla! He quite literally tore one of my men in half!" he panicked, fixing his headphones for any signal. All of us were confused by what Ninja was ranting about. No one had seen a 'big hairy purple gorilla' before. The rest of us thought Ninja was just being paranoid, but a loud noise from the distance had risen. It sounded like an animal roaring. 

"Oh god- that's the monster! It knows we're here!" Ninja begins to panic, running around frantically until Finn stops him. "Calm down! That monster won't get us as long as we stay away from it. Richard can protect us if it does find us." he smiled, motioning all of us to follow him deeper into the forest. "Hey, why aren't we turning back?!" Ninja cried, tapping Finn on the shoulder, who swiftly turned while still aware of his surroundings.

"I promised to find Po her scooter; she used to live here, so it's gotta be close by! We won't be leaving until it's found. Though I have no sense of direction where it could possibly be." he wandered around, confused by every winding path we came across. Stopping at a splitting point. I haven't been near the Mainlands in forever; I used to explore near here looking for White. Though I suppose I wasn't far off since this is where they kept him for all those twenty-three years of his life. He was right under my nose this entire time; I'm not surprised that I didn't find him until now. While the others argued about where to go next, I suddenly remembered the map I had found a while back. 

I found a map while breaking and entering the coat men's base. Not just any ordinary map, it was a layout of the mainlands. It labeled all the paths, the 'Teletubby Dome', the cave, and the lake. Along with a starting point that we weren't far from at all. The mainlands are an extremely large thing of land; it's no wonder the four never really thought there was something beyond that. Well, besides the mountains, where did the cave go? I searched my bag, loudly ruffling everything inside. Mylo gave me a weird look as I pulled out this almost ancient-looking map. "I found this map during my exploration a while back. It has the entire layout of the Mainlands! It'll be pretty useful since you look a little lost, Finn." I smiled and handed it to the black-furred tubby. He opened it and skimmed his finger over the trails. Stopping at a certain point with the same two splitting trails we were stuck on. "Here's where we are; we just need to take a left. Just keep going forward, and we'll end up where we need to be!" He handed back the map and continued on his way. Following him along the twisting and winding paths that this place possessed. 

The sounds of the trees flowing in the wind made me forget I was walking with the other four, distracted by my own thoughts. No matter how much I try to put the pieces together, none of this seems right. They never fit. I can't even get the urge to speak to Finn in a full conversation. Mylo doesn't seem interested in speaking to anyone anymore. Only focused on smoking until his lungs can't probably handle it anymore. I shouldn't be mad, but I can feel that I am. Richard's the only one who seems able to comply with wanting to speak, but he psychically can't anymore. Finding out he was infected just hurt. He doesn't deserve to be stuck like this. No one really does.

Mylo nudged my shoulder to get my attention, "We're here." he quietly reminded me. A large hill stood in front of us, the Teletubby Dome. It looked a lot larger in person compared to photographs. Finn and the others were already inside, raiding the place. Mylo had been standing with me the entire time; at least, he still cared. "Oh, thank you. I must've gotten carried away in thought again." I gave a small smile, catching up with the others. To my surprise, Mylo followed me but stuck with me instead of going off on his own. The place was huge! Lots of open space but so much to do. I noticed the custard machine was completely broken; it must have happened after the events emerged. The four beds were a mess, and a puddle of blood was scattered across the floor near the slide. The end of the slide was a mess of dried blood and bits of tubby flesh. It was kinda gross to look at. I noticed an entire wall of drawings and notes across from the beds.

  Seems like the four were a little bit of an artist! I mean, when you're stuck in a secluded land with only one another, writing and drawing are your friends. I would do the same if I was unsuspectingly being watched by others and living somewhere where I was told not to go far beyond. Some of the drawings were adorable, very childlike, and colorful. A lot of them were made by either Tinky or Po; I guess those two enjoyed drawing a lot. The notes I found were short poems or sweet notes to one of the other siblings about how much they were their best friends or enjoyed being with them. Written by Laa Laa and Dipsy, the two who enjoyed writing instead of drawing. 

I took some of the notes down, setting them aside on a small table where the four sat and most likely ate. Scattering around the colorful things of paper that were pinned to the wall. The more I moved notes or removed them, the older the pages got. I was reaching times when the Teletubbies were only five or even toddlers. The age I wished I got to live out with my son. The drawings were so old that most of them were just scribbles on paper. But I could tell by the colors they chose who was on the paper. Drawings of Tinky and Dipsy, the two older ones. I guess I'm reaching times when Po was only a baby; I can't believe they saved all these! But why are they covered up?

I removed more of the drawings and notes, noticing a ripped paper stuck behind two old ones. The skin of the paper was a yellow color from aging, looking as if it was the oldest thing stuck there. I ripped down the two, blocking it, and flattened the yellow paper to see it better. Blowing away any remaining dust left on it. It was partially ripped and had scribbles tossed around it, but I could see the figures on it. On it was the main four, Tinky looking around five in the drawing from how small he was. Dipsy, Laa Laa, and Po also had their appearance on them. Po is what looks like she is wrapped in a blanket since she would be around one at that point. But there was another figure in the drawing; they were hard to see from the black crayon overlaying them, but I could make out their shape. It was White; he was taller than the four, obviously older. 

From what I can tell by the drawings, White would be eight years old if Po were one at this time. Eight! But this doesn't make sense! I thought he was kept constantly with the coat men until he was old enough to be the new 'Guardian'! This isn't what was on the files! They were only bluffing about where they put him. He was placed with the four until he was a ripe enough age to watch over them! They just used him! This is unbelievable! He was only a child; he wasn't aware of any of this! Oh god- that also means- I became visibly ill, about to nearly throw up. "Are you okay?" Mylo asked, looking at my queasy face. Attempting to comfort me from not throwing up. They psychically shocked him so he wouldn't remember any of this. The main four forgot on their own with age... but he had to forget it, forcefully. This is horrible! 

 I stuffed the note in my bag, making sure not to damage it. I took a deep breath and stood straight again. "Yeah, I'm fine; I just got a little dizzy for a moment." I lied, attempting to brush it off. Mylo knew I was lying but didn't bombard me with questions and just let it go.

"I found it!" Finn announced, pulling out the scooter, its colors still vibrant as ever, that was somehow still in good condition. He hopped on top of it and attempted to ride it but nearly threw himself off. The scooter had hit his ankle at full force, too, which caused him to screech and throw down the scooter. Richard ran over to check on him as Ninja, and I nearly let out a laugh. Holding it in to prevent Finn from getting mad at us for getting scooter ankle'd. I could see him trying to hold in tears from the amount of force that collided with his ankle. Po's scooter was more dangerous than he thought it would be. 

Richard helped Finn regain his feet since he had fallen from the pain. The five of us were finished with our business, ready to go back to the plane. I tried to offer the map again to Finn, but he rejected it, saying he knew where he was going. We had made it halfway until Ninja had screamed something. "MY BAG!" he happily yelled, rushing over to a tree where a paper bag was stuck on a branch. It must've blown in the wind and gotten stuck there. He jumped up and grabbed it off the branch, throwing the brown bag back over his head. He is extremely happy to have something covering his identity again. On our way back, I felt the ground rumble a bit. It seemed like the others had picked it up, too. 

Is there an earthquake? I didn't know Mainlands even had earthquakes!

"TANK!" Ninja screamed, pointing in the direction opposite us. "Ninja, now's not the time to mention that stupid game-" Finn flinched. "NO LOOK, TANK!" the rest of us followed where his finger pointed. An extremely large infected, almost built like a gorilla that had been modified, was heading towards us. It was covered in scars with purple fur that was spiked up from rage. It picked up our scent and was coming right for us. Rushing at full speed, using its enormously large arms to pull it along. "Oh fuck! Split up!" I yelled, ducking for a large tree to hide. The others did the same except Richard, he silently stood there not moving an inch. As the giant infected approached him.

Richard's POV

I felt my body was frozen more than It already was from being half-dead. This is a really stupid idea. Thinking another infected won't kill its own kind. But it's worth a shot if I can protect the others and they can get home safely. However, I don't think Finn enjoys my sacrifices too much. Especially after what happened at the Custard Facility. The large infected approached me, its animalistic instincts kicking in as it searched around us. I tried not to show my fear, as I could tell he smelled it off me. He growled at the sight of the other's disappearing.

"You. Where did those tubbies go?" he spoke in a rough scratchy voice. Did he just speak to me? Does this mean the Infected can speak to other infected? But my throat is practically ruined from the custard. I'm not sure if I can. I gulped and hoped for the best. "I'm not sure; they must've ran. Last I saw is one heading for the mountains." I was surprised to hear my voice again but wasn't talking as usual. It was scratcher and sounded more like a wild animal. Though I had lied to the Infected, the others were hiding in either bushes or behind trees. He tried sniffing out their location again but was already fuming with anger from losing his meals. I was still stunned by hearing myself talk again, but I wasn't speaking normally anymore. I can understand both Infected and Non-infected! 

"Once I find them, I'm gonna crush each and every one of their heads into a bloody mess. Especially that blue one; he raided my territory, and so did those flesh bags. God, they're gonna taste so good when I get my hands on them." He licked his lips, running past me towards where the mountains supposedly were. I was anxiously standing in the same spot, hoping he didn't find the others. But soon, he was gone, and there was no sign of earthquakes from his footsteps anywhere. The four came out of hiding, Finn running up and hugging me. 

"Oh, thank goodness you're okay, sweetheart! He didn't hurt you, didn't he?" he asked, observing my blushing face. I shook my head, showing that I wasn't injured anywhere and that he didn't harm me. "That's good, I'm glad he didn't. Let's get back to the helicopters before something else emerges to get us." Villem had a weird look on his face, badly wanting to mention something. "Did anyone else see that Tinky talked to Richard?! Infected can talk to each other!" he shouted, looking conflicted by that logic even being possible. 

The name 'Tinky' sounded familiar. If I remember correctly, it was Po's older brother. I just talked to him; he seems very... violent. But he was probably a really nice kid before he became infected. I feel bad that he's now stuck like this as well, feeding off of other tubbies' flesh to survive. I shivered at the thought of cannibalism. I'm glad I got Finn, who feeds me the best he can. "If Infected can talk to each other, we can possibly find out more about the infected! If Richard is fine with that, of course." I nodded, knowing it would help us get closer to finding a cure or at least something to stop the spread of the infected.

"Let's not waste any more time, we found Ninja so now we can go home and relax!" Finn announced, the others glad to hear that as we all needed a break from this chaos. But something was off; a chill ran down my spine. I could feel someone watching us, seeking murderous intent. I shouldn't worry; they won't follow us since the ride back will be long. It's probably just nothing, Tinky is at the mountains wondering where his food went. My breathing hitched, but I continued forward with the others. The bad feeling sinking in deeper, knowing this is far from being the end.

Chapter Text

Villem's POV

After the horrifying experience with one of the mutated four who had a craving for tubby flesh, it was time to leave. I never left Mylo's side after what happened since he was the only person I'd grab into if shit hit the fan. Finn was still shaken up by Richard's attempt to communicate with Tinky, though I'm just glad he's alive. Maybe alive isn't the word I'd say for Richard, though, maybe more like half-dead. "That was quite the experience; you don't seem to be affected by it." I stared at Mylo, who shrugged his masculine shoulders. "I've been in a fight with one of those beasts; it was like a yeti. Gave me the scars on my face." Pointing to the one in his eye, almost like the one in Po's eye. "Must've been a tough battle, but how did you even survive?" he scratched his chin and tapped the axe that was strapped to his belt. 

Oh, of course, the axe. The thing he almost killed me with when we first met. It was an accident but quite a scare. "Ah- guess you got a little desperate. Remember the first time we met, you almost sliced my face off with an axe?" I asked, the sudden memory flooding back into Mylo as his face turned a bright red. "I said I was sorry! I used to be so naive and stupid that I almost got people I care about killed. Guess I did eventually." his face had switched quicker than a light switch flick. He really can go from calm to depressed quickly; this is never something he has done before. It's another new thing I'm finding out; it's definitely not the only thing.

"It wasn't your fault, you know that, right?" I tried to comfort him, "How would you know?! You weren't even there! You never came back even after promising me that you would!" He screamed, gathering the attention of the three ahead. "M-Mylo, calm down. I'm only trying to comfort you; I'm really sorry I brought it up" "No fuck you! I don't need your comfort from someone who left me!" he rushed off without the four of us. I stood in awe; my own best friend had shouted at me. I didn't mean to piss him off or try to be mean! Why'd he get so mad at me asking? I feel horrible about myself; I'm not a good friend. He's right that my own promise to him was thrown off to the side. I shouldn't have opened my big fat mouth. I stared at the ground as Finn ran over to check on me. 

"Villem, leave him alone for now. The topic of his wife is really sensitive. It's not your fault since you didn't know that! It's just best to let him blow off some steam right now," he explained, patting my back. Richard and Ninja also looked concerned toward me. Neither Richard nor Finn had seen me this way; I wish they hadn't either. I wasn't the best emotionally and tried to be the happiest when I could. 

But this, It hurts. He's pushing me away now for something I've felt guilty for. I should apologize later, but we need to get out of here right now. "Let's just go." I sadly stumbled forward, the others following and going ahead of me. It was so easy for everything to act normal again for them, so I guess Mylo's outbursts are common. Eventually, the view of the helicopters appeared, along with the other group. I saw Mylo chilling on the side of our helicopter, glaring at something with disgust. I tried to look in his direction, attempting to find the issue.

I eventually saw the issue he was glaring at. My son and Miles were holding hands; White appeared shaken up from something. Maybe seeing Tinky or another thing happening? I felt confused but disgusted, too; that guy was holding my son's hand. He looked happy about it, too. 

I shouldn't intervene; I don't want my son to get mad or confused. I just despise the fact that they're doing that. I don't mind if White is gay; I just wouldn't want to see him with Miles! There are plenty of better men in the world; I would know since I get to be with him again. Besides, despite how introverted he is, I'm sure he can settle with a nice lady, guy, or person. Thinking of it now, I wanna be with someone, too. I changed my mind about the whole marriage thing a long time ago. I wanted to settle and have a family after mine was taken. I just hope it doesn't take too long... considering I'm in my late forties. 

White noticed me looking and waved; I snapped out of that gritty state and waved back with a weak smile. They were heading into their helicopters as we were about to. I nuzzled into a seat beside the open part of the helicopter. Wanting to enjoy the view from below once we started flying off. I heard someone sit down beside me; it was Mylo. Despite yelling at me earlier, he didn't seem to mind sitting near me. I didn't see the other two, so they must've been helping Ninja to a copter.

"Hey, listen- I'm sorry for snapping at you a bit ago. The subject of... her... is a rough one. I'm sorry for brushing you off, too; I'm sure you were busy and never had the time to visit. " He removed a box of cigars from his pocket, removing one and lighting it up. A small puff of smoke hit me on the side of the head. "It's really okay- I get that can be a lot to deal with. I'm sure you never meant to hurt me." I patted him on the shoulder. Gaining a tiny smile from the darker man. The two eventually made it to the helicopter, holding each other in cuddles the entire trip back. After a landing point, I realized I didn't know what to do next. Before Mylo could venture into the unknown, I grabbed his arm. "Hey- uhm, I was wondering- is my room still here? I do know the way I'm just asking." I nervously gulped. 

If I'm honest, I didn't want to speak to anyone else except him. I don't want to talk to my son right now; he's probably helping others! Though that girl Po—I might go see her after this. I'm curious about how she's made it so far and whether she has any memory of White.

He shook his head, "Richard renovated it into a workspace a few years ago; they thought you were never coming back, so they turned it into something important." "Oh, that's uh-" "If you need a place to stay, my couch is open. My daughter, and I have our own rooms. But I don't have a guest room, so it'll have to do." he offered, waiting for me to respond to his deal. "Of course! I don't mind sleeping on the couch at all! I've slept on worse after all." I laughed, following Mylo back to his place. Does he not live in the same home anymore? His original home had only one bedroom for him and Viyra. It must be something new. 

I was right as we turned a corner from where his home used to be. Appearing at a door in its own little area. He opened it, and the slight smell of alcohol rose from inside. "Make yourself at home; I haven't cleaned today as I should've," he muttered, going to his small kitchen space. It was still a wide home but differently spaced. He had a whole work and desk area set up near the front, with his living room across from it. The couch at least looked comfortable, though. An alcohol cabinet loomed in front of me; I didn't like the sight of it in Mylo's home. I turned a corner to a small kitchen and table to fit three people. It wasn't as fancy as the older one he had. Three doors were placed almost side by side near the kitchen. Bathroom, Mylo's room, and his daughter's room.

"Are you hungry, Villem? I have your favorite here." He pulled out a container of untouched cottage cheese. "I never knew you still kept this stuff; thanks either way because I haven't eaten in days!" I grabbed a spoon and gulped down every last drop of it. Mylo had a small chuckle and went around the corner, assuming to his desk. While I ate every last thing of cottage cheese, his door creaked open. I peered around the corner as a smaller girl was greeting him. She had brown fur and her hair up in small pigtails. A tiny antenna curled with a heart tip bounced around as she ran around her father for a moment. Complete with overalls and tennis shoes. I decided to sit and listen for a moment. 

"I'm surprised Gary didn't come screaming about you, sweetpea." he giggled, messing with her hair. "He was with that girl!" she boomed, excited about anything she spoke about. "Oh, Mars? So he gave up watching you to spend time with his girlfriend- of course." He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but she gave me a snack!" pulling out a small bag of chips. "How nice of her. Did you make sure to say thank you?" he questioned, "Mhm! She was nice to me!" his daughter opened the pack of chips and stuffed her face full of them. The dut of them sticking to her small hands. "I'm glad, Ophelia. We have someone staying with us for a while; he's an old friend of mine. Don't be so rough on him; he's too old for that." I quietly laughed at the mention of me being old. 

Continuing my feast of cottage cheese, I heard small feet come this way. In front of me was Ophelia, staring at me weirdly. "Hi, mister!" she greeted me, waving with her cheese dust hands. She quickly threw away her empty bag and went back to staring at me. I never got to see White at this little of an age; I bet he was also as energetic as her. "Hello- you must be Ophelia; I've heard a lot of good things about you." she seemed excited over my response. "Can I wear your hat?!" she asked, clapping her hands and trying to reach for it. "Clean your hands first, sweetie; I'm sure Villem wouldn't appreciate a cheesy hat." She pulled out a stool and climbed up to wash her hands. For an energetic child, she's well-mannered and knows what she's doing. Mylo really is a great father without smoking and drinking alcohol.

She ran back with clean hands, and I allowed her to pull the hat off my head. My messy locks of white and grey hair appeared. She put it on, but it was too big for her small head. She laughed with it on while spinning around. Mylo had to catch her before she flung herself into a wall. Giving me back my hat. "It's so cool!" she complimented, pretending to have a hat of her own. "I'm glad you like it; maybe you can get your own one day." I patted her head, switching back to my gorging of cottage cheese. She soon ran off into what seemed to be her room, closing the door behind her. Mylo sat down in the chair next to me. Nervously picking at his nails, not wielding his attention towards me. 

"She's a sweet kid; you're a great father, dude," I said, shoving another spoonful in my mouth as he somewhat shrugged. Not in too much denial that he wasn't. "I try. It's a lot harder to do it alone. I really wish she was here though to see all I've done for Ophelia." he depressingly slopped, having a concentrated look towards the floor. "She would be proud of you, Mylo. Even if you both didn't have your own, I'm sure she'd be happy you're giving a kid a loving father." I comfortingly patted him on the back, attempting to make him feel better. He wanted to say something in his mind but was fighting the feeling. 

"Hey, Villem- I-I need to show you something." he stuttered, urging me to follow him. His room was quite different but still the same, with a double-sized bed and drawers. The photos on his wall were gone and placed in a box near the wall. It was titled 'PICTURES'. It probably brings him horrible memories to look at those things. No wonder they're all facing down, too. He kneeled to the floor and rummaged for something under the bed. Pulling out a little opened gift box. It had dust and webs on it, confirming it was at least older than a year.

Mylo placed the box lightly on his bed as I walked over to get a peek at what was inside. Inside were small clothes and some pink object in the middle, a note taped to the back. He backed away and covered his eyes; whatever this was, it made him extremely upset. I took out the clothes and realized they were baby clothes. I can recognize these from anywhere, even if I only had one time ever to dress White. But why does he have these in a box? I put down the clothes and picked up the note. Carefully reading it, word for word, the realization suddenly hit. I turned it over, and as expected, I was right. 

She was pregnant- oh God, I think I'm gonna be sick. 

I held in the sick feeling and dropped it all back into the box, slamming the lid back on. "So she died... while she was..." I connected the dots, stammering over my own words. "Yeah... I never told anyone after finding out. I couldn't put everyone else in more misery, especially that kid. He may be an asshole, but even that would probably kill him. You're the first person I trusted to tell and trust not to tell anyone else." he grabbed the box and slid it back under the bed, where it belonged. "That's horrible- I'm so sorry, Mylo." I rushed in to hug him, but it startled him. I could tell he needed the hug. "It was too much to bear with, losing my wife and a child I wish I could've raised. I felt like alcohol and smoking were my only escape from dealing with it. Richard tried to help me- even being the one to find me sometimes, almost dead from drinking too much... but he gave up. He and Finn both left me in a crucial state. I miss having the two around; I feel like it's my fault I scared them off." I could feel him sobbing into my shoulder, his tears wetting my clothes. 

I've never heard or seen him cry; he was never emotional in the times I knew him before. He's been through so much with little to no help for his issues. Richard tried, but I'm sure Finn had him stop since it probably got too much to handle. I can't feel bad for myself right now. I owned up for not returning, and now I'm gonna make it up to him. I'm gonna be the one to help him.

"It's not your fault. You didn't deserve to be outcasted, but I'm sure those two feel just as bad for leaving. I know Richard does since he always seems like he wants to talk to you. I hate seeing you suffer like this; you don't deserve it at all. I want to help you; I don't plan on leaving midway through either. I'm here to stay and will help you get better." I hugged him tighter as the younger man sobbed more. I let him sit there and get it all out, as it seemed like he hadn't cried in forever. It took him around ten minutes to contain himself. 

"I'm sorry for that, Villem... I haven't cried since Viyra died." He wiped his tears with his hands. His face was a dark crimson, bits of tears still running down his cheeks. "It's okay; it's better to get it all out! But I promise you this time, and I promise I will always stay by your side and help you get through this." He nodded, giving me another hug. I felt warm upon being in his arms. Nothing felt better than this.

"I never got the chance to tell you what I was so upset about at the Dome." I sniffled, having to remember such a traumatizing event. "I feel it's fair since I told you what's wrong with me; go ahead, we have all day." he allowed me to get a seat so I wouldn't suddenly pass out from overwhelming shock. I felt my face scrunch up, almost in a teary-eyed motion. Mylo patted my shoulder as comfort. I felt appreciated and supported, finally feeling able to break the news. "I know you're aware that I lost my son over twenty-three years ago. He's back now, but I never told you why he was gone." I scratched my face, trying to gather a spot where I could explain it.

"He was taken from me after he was born, but I'm sure you know that part already. The reason was that he possessed an antenna. I'm sure the heterochromia was another factor, too. It's unspoken to the other Teletubbies, but having an antenna to a certain group makes you viable as a test subject. Like Po and my son,  if you hadn't heard that, they both lived under the same conditions for years until this infection. I was able to get up close and personal with them after attacking the two that took my son. But they're not your average group of scientists or weirdos. They were actual living humans; all that time, I believed we were, and what was left was shattered. They were gonna use my son as an experiment for being different." I couldn't continue knowing what had to be said next, gritting my teeth and breathing heavily. 

"Oh my god, Villem- I'm so sorry. No one should ever do that to a newborn baby. But I guess this is how I get introduced to the humans they made us all believe were deceased." he shrugged, giving me another small pat on the back. "It doesn't stop there since they assumed they'd kill or erase my memory. They told me about what they do to tubbies. Awful, horrible, and cruel experiences. Electric shock therapy and... lobotomies just never end there, either. There was a part where they told me that any liable baby with an antenna didn't meet the standards. They'd throw them out to die." I covered my eyes to cry, knowing White could've faced that if I hadn't tried saving him. 

I noticed Mylo getting extremely uneasy, his arm movements becoming excessively shaky. He rushed over to the sink for a bit of fresh water. He stared at me with wide eyes and an uncertain frown. "Villem... did they say anything else about how they left infants behind?" he anxiously questioned. "No, that's all they said; I assumed they let them starve or freeze to death." I shook my head. Small tears crashed down his face. "Oh god- Ophelia-" his voice cracked, holding his hand over his mouth. "Mylo? What's wrong?" he bit down on his nails, quivering as he attempted to get out what was bothering him. "Ophelia- I found her when she was just a small baby; she was left in the snow about to freeze to death. Not to even mention that it appeared that someone had thrown her without any care into the snow." he cried, the anxiety in the room rising every second. 

"She- she has an antenna- and after you explained that- I- What kind of sick fucks do that?!" he yelled, pacing around his kitchen in an almost raged attitude. 

So, was Ophelia one of the unluckier ones the coatmen discussed? Luckily, Mylo found her before she died. I don't know how he'd be able to handle losing two kids. "It's horrifying to think about, and I'm glad you did find her. My only way of getting them to ever keep my son was because I had a gift. An ability to be faster and jump higher than others." I admitted. He looked a little lost, especially after grieving an almost loss. "I'm naturally speedier than others, and it passed on to my son, who has that jumping ability too. It's what helped me escape and kept him alive. I thank having it every day, knowing I would forget all about him if I didn't. They would've erased my memory of ever having White." I tapped the table's flat surface, trying to hurry my short story up. Mylo, every moment, looked more horrified and disgruntled as the story went on. 

"No notes ever stated where he was beyond that, and I never knew what I could steal when I broke in. They said he was with the coat men from the ages of a baby to an eight-year-old. But it was a lie. He was with the four before they ever transferred him to that stupid Guardian role." I explained, "I assume none of them have any recollection of each other. Especially how White got into the Guardian role was, supposedly, having to undergo electric shock therapy. Just so he wouldn't try to escape being trapped in a claustrophobic area. The four, being so young, forgot over time. There's no other explanation for it. I feel they put Wilbur through years of torture to just fry his brain for their benefits..." I whimpered, running my hand through my hair to calm down.

 "Wilbur? Is that White's real name?" Mylo asked; I concededly nodded while staring at the table. "That's actually a nice name; it suits him well." he complimented the name. "And that's all of it. I feel better getting that off my chest, finally. I don't know what I would do if I had to hold that in any longer. We're both equal on something here; I just felt better being honest." I sighed, the story running through my head like a taunting chime. "I'm glad you told me, Villem; I never thought it was that bad and that those sick fucks could've done the same to my daughter. I'm so thankful I found her; she means so much to me. Without her- I would probably be dead from too much grievance." he admitted, grabbing a chair to sit with me. 

"I feel like this was a good start for me in helping you; we both got something out of it." I tried to lighten the mood. "I'm still angry about those human motherfuckers, but knowing they're probably suffering because of this infection. I'm happier." the two of us had a moment of silence, not knowing what to say or do. "I feel like cleaning up since you wanted to. Care to join me?" I asked, holding out my hand.  "Of course, Vil." he took my hand, rekindling what we left behind. 

We both took some time to clean up his house and lock his wine cabinet. In conclusion, it's only used for special occasions and nothing else. He threw his boxes of cigarettes away, but I knew he probably had a secret stache somewhere. In a matter of three weeks, he'd shown improvement. However, I'd have to sit and comfort him in times of withdrawal he'd have. Some are more painful and longer than others. After a long few hours of hanging out all day, it was nighttime, and everything in the base was quiet. The two of us were having a loud conversation in the living room. "I truly wonder what they did about not having a nurse anymore. Did Richard hire anyone new?" I asked, chugging my prune juice. 

"Yeah, but he said himself that they weren't as efficient as my wife. Nobody can top her skills except my sister, of course." I nearly spit out my drink. "You have a sister?! Why have you never mentioned this to anyone?!" I curiously awaited a response. "We haven't seen each other in years, and I mean like before I met you years ago. We do talk over the phone, but I haven't heard much from her recently. I hope she's doing okay from all this weird apocalyptic shit." he stretched on the couch, giving me a weird look from my sudden excitement. "Is she like an older or younger sister?" I crushed the juice box I finished, throwing it into the bin.

"Well she's actually my twin sister, however by the time of birth, she's five minutes older than me. Her name's Maria." Mylo is really secretive; he kept a twin sister from everyone. Even if the two haven't seen each other in years. My face is so warm for no reason- It's just a woman version of Mylo. I shouldn't get so excited. We could probably be friends if she decides to work here! "So why hasn't she decided to be the replacement nurse?" he shrugged, "She's very interested in it but hasn't had the time to make the trip here. I've tried to offer her a ride, but she refuses. However, the mention of Ophelia almost got her here one time. She always asked me how her niece was doing." She's so busy with other stuff that she can't even drive here to visit. I wonder how far she even lives from the base. I know the closest city to here is about 167 miles away, so she must be far. 

"That sucks; she might come here soon, considering the recent infection going around," I replied, giving him a little bit of hope. "That's true; I just wanna believe right now that she's on her way here now. I don't want her to be caught up in any of that mess outside. But in this case, she can and is able to defend herself. I've seen her when we were younger absolutely kick a guy's ass in a short amount of time. I think you'll like her!" I like anyone who's related to Mylo since I look up to him so much as a friend! Somewhat possibly more than that. "I'm certain I already do," I replied, squeezing the empty prune juice bottle. A small yawn came out of the younger man, appearing to already be dozing off. "I'm heading off to bed. We should get you a room or an air mattress for you." He laughed at the setup on his couch that I made. I've had sore necks and poor nights of rest on this couch for three fucking weeks. It never gets better. 

"Your deadline is tomorrow; this couch is giving my neck a different form of scoliosis." I jokingly commanded, tucking myself in. "Gotcha, maybe I'll give you another week to suffer on my non–sleepable couch. How's that sound?" he joined in, having not heard him make a joke in so long. The support is helping; he's slowly getting better. It's been almost two weeks since I've caught him with any substance or drug. I didn't think I'd actually pull him through ever having some sort of recovery step. "Sounds great! Goodnight, Mylo." I turned to face the couch cushions. "Goodnight, Villem- and uh, thanks for believing in me. I feel a lot better with you being here." I couldn't help but blush, he thankfully couldn't see it. The compliment hit harder than others. "You're welcome," I muttered; however, I could see that he picked up on it.

I heard the door quietly close; now, the only sound was my thoughts and the wind. I turned over again to look out the open kitchen window. The summer breeze rushed through the window. I could feel the warm air; it brushed through my fur. I laid back to stare at the ceiling and contemplated. 

Besides this couch giving me a rough time, I love being back. Even if everyone wasn't so welcoming at first. Mylo is getting better and is even open about stuff! I'm glad he opened up about what's been tearing him up inside. I can't get over the sudden surprise of him having a sister; I never thought he'd have any relatives. I mean, I certainly don't- they kicked me out and shunned me for trying to support myself in any way I could. By now, they've probably been victims of the infection that's running about. 

Though it's been forever, I can't remember any of their faces. It shouldn't matter anyway; I have my son. Wilbur, I never got around to telling him his name. It's important I do; I wonder if he thinks I don't care enough to be with him right now. He's grown, and I haven't been there for him all his life. Not like I chose to be! My goal is to speak to him tomorrow and have some father-and-son bonding time! I'm sure that'll get us a stable relationship. After all, nothing bad has happened in almost a month! I'm sure we'll be okay, and considering enough, that monster was probably too dumb to follow us! 

A cold breeze came over me and scared me out of my mind. It was just the wind being a prick. I need some sleep. I haven't slept well, but I need it. I closed my eyes and dozed off before a loud noise had nearly thrown me off the couch. I forgot, Mylo snores, and it's absolutely horrid. The snores were loud and sounded like he was screaming in his sleep. I've never heard someone make an "AUGH" noise while snoring, but Mylo is different. Surprisingly enough, it never wakes Ophelia up, and she manages to sleep through it. As if she's always in a constant deep sleep. I wonder how Viyra dealt with this, or maybe he never snored back then. She really was a strong lady. 

The snoring progressed, and I knew it was never going to end; I was going to have to sleep through it. With full concentration on something else, I managed to block it out a bit. It wasn't as loud anymore, even getting quieter the less I focused on it. Closing my eyes, I waited to drift off. I sensed that tomorrow would be a good day. 

Chapter Text

Po's POV

The wheels on my scooter screeched upon turning a sharp corner in the base hallway. Almost smacking into more soldiers on their break. "Sorry!" I yelled, zooming down the halls. I haven't had this much fun in forever! Sure, it'd be safer to go out, but Finn advised that isn't the safest option. I've managed my eyesight as well; it won't ever get better, but I've learned when a corner is coming up or an object is in the way. My senses are still flawless! Practice does make perfect. I did a few zig-zags and noticed someone recognizable was ahead. I could make out long white hair and fur. 

It's White, of course! No one has that messy of long white hair. Even Conor keeps his dreads looking stylish and neat. I stopped before I could ram the scooter into his back legs. He was looking around the corner at something or someone. His hands flapping in an energetic movement. Might as well intervene! 

"Hey White!" I shouted to get his attention, obviously startling the paranoid tubby. "Oh Po- it's only you-" he sighed in relief, his eyes directing their attention again to whatever was around the corner. "Whatcha staring at?" I asked, pushing him aside to get a peek. There was a group of soldiers and a janitor. The janitor was making loud conversation with the unmotivated soldiers. They all appeared to want out of this situation, eventually leaving one by one. As their annoyance towards him grew larger. 

The janitor, with his plum-colored fur, scratched his head. His demeanor slowly fell, and he looked almost upset about everyone leaving. I hid behind the wall with White, whose face matched the janitor's. "Sorry if I seem like a total stalker; I saw him while I was trying to find my way outdoors. I just think he's..." He blanked out for a moment, his face a bright maroon for a second until he snapped out of staring. 

"I think he looks cool! Yeah, haha..." White nervously laughed to himself. Looks like someone has a little crush! Or maybe he's too nervous to be his friend! I should help White out! "Are you scared to go up and talk to him?" I whispered; he shrugged and looked back. "Po, I'm not as social as you can believe I am. I'm nervous about going up and even asking how his day is! He looks like the loneliest person ever to walk, and I wanna make a difference-" 

White chucked out an explanation, stumbling over words at times. He wasn't only nervous but also overthinking how to introduce himself. "Just go say hi; I'm sure he'd be okay with you not being able to come up with a conversation starter. He doesn't look mean; he's probably just as nervous as you." I compared, gaining his attention and his confidence. He stood up, no longer slumping over, and fixed his attire. "Okay! Just a simple hi-" White took a breather and walked towards the janitor.

White's POV

I'm gonna mess this up, and he's gonna hate me! Okay, besides saying hi, what else could I talk about? I like his hair; I could compliment it! That fuzzy, soft complexion- hey, at least he's got great hair! I was a little too quick and nearly ran into him. He was just as surprised as me with our few inches apart from each other. "I'm sorry for almost bumping into you! I- uhm just wanted to say hi!" I nervously blurted out, giving him the space he needed. The plum-furred tubbie gave me a weird look, seconds later softly giggling at my sudden introduction. 

"It's okay! That frightened me quite a bit, but I'm glad someone came to talk to me! I could tell I was getting on those guys' nerves." he sighed, clenching his broom while distractingly moving it around. "I saw; I couldn't help but just sit there and let you think it's your fault-" The tubbie shook his head. "I know it's not; everyone's been less chatty since what happened with the Captain. It feels like a ghost town around here; I'm surprised you even came up to me with the silence surrounding the base." He was quiet for a moment, but his mood brightened. 

"Anyhoo- what's your name? My name's Tom, some people call me Tommy, occasionally. It's pretty basic, and sometimes I wish I could have a cooler name, something like, uh- I dunno, Ace! Doesn't that sound pretty badass?!" He ranted with excitement. "It does! Well, my name is White, or as I used to be called, The Guardian. I don't necessarily have an actual person's name. But I've learned not to complain." I couldn't read his emotions; he seemed shocked but also eager to hear my response. "Really?! White is such a cool name!! I mean, it's funny because your fur is also white. Maybe that's where it comes from!! The Guardian sounds like such a kickass name, too!! You're so lucky! I would KILL to have those names!" Tom shouted with positive intensity, overly talking non-stop. I was overly happy that he was talkative and full of personality. 

I like Tom, I just met him, but he's already grabbed my attention. I could imagine him as my best friend! I could feel Po's presence still in the area. She must be delighted with the results. I don't regret coming up to him at all! Thank you, Po; I'm glad I took up this opportunity.

"Since lunch is soon, would you like to go with me? I don't suppose I have to mop yet until after the cafeteria is cleared out." Tom asked, nervously fumbling with his hands. I nodded, "Oh, sure! I was going to go there eventually since I haven't eaten today." I turned around to see Po still watching. Motioning her to come introduce herself too. "Before I decided to come to talk to you, my friend here had to convince me to gain the confidence to say hi to you." I pointed my hand at Po, who skipped her way to us. Giving a small wave to Tom. "This is Po; we have a long history together. Though it's not important or even something we'd want to go over." He looked like he had realized something after I told him her name. "Oh, right! The Captain and Lieutenant's daughter!" Both Po and I were confused to hear that. 

Captain and Liutentant's daughter? They only take care of Po after what happened with her and Noo-noo. Though I can see where they get that from. Finn practically treats her like the daughter he's never had. Even infected, Richard still cares for her just as much as he did when he was alive. "Huh?- daughter? I'm not their daughter; they just take care of me!" She denied it, confused by alleged allegations we had never heard. "Really? Everyone says they practically adopted you. So you're like their daughter- I've heard of how they treat you, and you're their everything! I think it's sweet, but I didn't know it wasn't real. I apologize; it's just rumors I heard floating around!" Tom explained, appearing not to want to mess anything up. 

He sounds a bit like me; I find that sweet. I can't wait to eat lunch with him and Po! Though, I haven't seen my dad around lately. Talked with him for a few minutes three weeks ago, but he got caught up after he wanted to go over something important. He's been with Mylo, that stupid drunk Spaniard, of course. They're always together! It's like my dad has some gay crush on Mylo! I hope not; the guy pisses me off with how inconsiderate he is. What happened with Miles that one time shouldn't have happened. I should still really try to talk to my father soon. I need to get caught up on what's going on with him.

To our surprise, the cafeteria wasn't packed. Usually, you can find hundreds of people crowded in a line trying to get their hands on heated-up package food. Luckily, with Po's pass, we quickly got our hands on lunch. The perks of being extremely close to the Captain make life so much easier. It didn't look too bad, and thankfully, it wasn't grains. Anything with grains sucks; they taste awful. The three of us sat down at those circular tables meant for four people. Po immediately began digging into her food. While Tom and I continued our conversation. 

The topics change from interests, hobbies, past, and our reasons for being here. "I wasn't too big on the janitor opportunity, but it's a job! And I'm certainly not fit to be a soldier like everyone else." He poked at his food with a fork. "Really? I mean, I've noticed you are efficient when it comes to cleaning! I've seen you quite a few times before cleaning the halls." I mentioned taking a bite of the type of meat they were serving. "I never knew you saw me a few times! Really should've said hi. It gets quite lonely being a janitor, and no one thinks highly of you." 

Tom held his face, resting his elbow on the table. The conversation dying out but soon relighting after some silence. I was so distracted I didn't notice whoever snuck up on me. I felt a tap on my shoulder, scaring the soul right out of my body. I turned to face a familiar old smile; It was Villem. "I finally found you! I was looking all over the base for you." He mentioned, letting out a soft laugh. "Oh hey, Dad- did you need something?" I asked. I'm curious about why he came to talk to me. I thought he'd be eating just like the rest of us. 

"I wanted to talk to you about something, it's important." He urged but wasn't appearing panicked over it. Is it some good news? He's not worried and seems rather content. Might as well find out why. "Go ahead; I don't think these two would mind hearing either." I nudged my head towards Po and Tom. The two were listening in silence while eating the rest of their lunch.

"Right, so anyway, I never got to mention this before. I got caught up last time." I nodded, wondering what this could even be if it were that important, "You remember how- you have no recollection of your childhood, right?" Again, I nodded, now confused by what was happening. "Well sure I do, I can barely remember anything from when I was under eight." his lip twitched, and his eyes sided to the right. "From what I can assume, as a child, the coat men put you under electric shock therapy. That's why you have no recollection of your real name or even anything before you were eight. They took that away from you." I felt my mouth unhinge. A cold rush tip-toed down my spine, making me shiver in my place. 

I was... put under electric shock therapy. It makes sense! The constant negative moods, lack of emotional responses, and difficulty with new things. I thought it could've just been a joke, but it wasn't. My name, I have a name?? It's not White... It's an actual name! 

"I- I uhm..." I stuttered, "Your real name is Wilbur. Wilbur H. I don't mind if you refuse to go by it; go with what makes you happy. But I thought you needed to know the truth." I bit my lip, taken back by all this new information. "One more thing..." Villem reached into his back pocket to reveal a small plushie. It was a cat plushie, kept in good condition but with minor slits. The moment my eyes fell upon it, I felt a connection I'd never felt before. It wasn't strong but distant enough to feel it. 

"I had an extra, but this is a duplicate of a plushie I gave you as a baby. You loved this thing so much, practically wouldn't ever let it go. I bought another, and every day, it reminded me of you. It kept me going until the day I found you. I'm sure you don't remember it, and I don't even want to ask about the original. They probably took it from you." He handed it to me. The texture of the plushie set something off inside of me; immediate tears flowed out of my eyes.

Why am I crying?! I've never seen this thing in my life, yet the touch of it brings something back. A foggy memory I once forgot. I can't decipher what it is, but I swear there are connections with this plushie. It's not the same, but the appearance drives a hole in my brain. A hole of memories I will never get back but will only ever see as a foggy memory. Godamnit! Let me remember everything from every small, gritty, dark detail! I need to know what happened; I can't stand knowing my memories were purposefully fried! 

My hands shook with no fear but from the neverending thought of having irreplaceable memories. My father picked up on this and gently wrapped his arms around me, embracing me into a hug I never thought I needed. The cat plushie dropped to the floor as I wrapped my arms around my dad. I sobbed ever so loudly in front of Po, Tom, and a few other soldiers present in the room. 

I couldn't help it. It all erupted in me. I never thought being able to remember my childhood would be such a big thing. But I don't recall a thing at all. He doesn't either; he only knows from documents and from the day I was taken from him. 

The other two concernedly stared at me, crying, unsure of what to do. It took me a minute to control my sobbing, wiping away any extra tears. My puffy red cheeks and swollen eyes were extremely noticeable. Villem gave me a small grin, "You cry just like I do. I find that quite funny, y'know? We're so similar, and it feels like I finally have a twin. But no matter what, I'm always gonna be here for you, Wilbur. Okay? It's the least I can do for you, kiddo." he jokingly pinched my cheeks and wiped away newer tears. I nodded and threw him into another hug. I don't like psychical touch too much, it's not my thing. But I barely got to hug my father. I've never felt something more comforting like this until now. 

"I'm glad you're safe now from those who hurt you. No one will ever let them take you away from me again." I could feel his hand brush my messy locks of hair, brushing some out of my face. I released him from the overbearing hug I trapped him in, taking a deep breath and standing up straight.

"Thanks, Dad... and thanks for telling me the truth... So, my name is Wilbur. My real name?" Villem gently nodded in response, "I didn't exactly have any ideas and came up with it right on the spot! It's still my favorite name, though." he scratched his head, seeming overly happy from getting to open up. "I wanted to tell you the truth because I believe it'll help us get along better! Especially since I haven't been around too much recently." Villem sighed, his finger scratching his chin. Still ashamed he's not spent every moment with me. "No I get it, it's okay, dad! We can spend time together whenever you want!" the muscles in my face formed a small smile, something I usually never do. 

I turned towards the two at the table, and both were conflicted about how to feel about this. Villem, on the other hand, was overzealous, but the excitement soon died off. "Anyway, I'm glad we got to speak about it," his eyes wandered toward the cat plushie still in my hands. "Keep that with you because now it'll remind you of me just as it reminded me of you!" I clutched the plush in my hand, then stuffed it into my handy bag. "Of course, I'll make sure to take care of it." It's in my possession now; my dad expects me to take care of it. Just as he used to. He gave me a thumbs up as he walked out of the cafeteria, probably to head back to Mylo.

"That was... quite emotional and moving," Po commented, stuffing her face with the last piece of food. Tom nodded in agreement, throwing away any access trash. "I found it beautiful; your father is very cool, White!" he patted me on the back. "Call me Wilbur; I think the name is warming up to me." I stood, feeling like I was a new but familiar person. 

This is what it feels like to discover who you are finally. It's brand new and comfortable, and I can't help but feel extremely thankful. 

"I'm gonna head off back to riding my scooter; I'll catch you both later!" Po grabbed the motionless scooter, stepped onto it, and rode off. Almost crashing into an oncoming soldier with stacks of paperwork. Tom and I couldn't help but laugh at the situation. "Do you wanna hang out the rest of the day? I'm sure I don't have to clean up another mess for a while," he asked, the two of us beginning to walk towards the base's main building. "Yeah, of course, I can probably get you caught up too on everything that's happened recently," I added, pondering everything that has happened. 

Nothing much has happened, sure a month ago, we had a shit ton of issues. But we haven't had a single call or break-in. It's worrying, though maybe the apocalypse is healing on its own. No need to exactly be paranoid anymore! The future is promising for sure.

Chapter Text

Po's POV

The past few three weeks have gone smoothly, with no disasters or freakouts. Finn's even allowed me to go out for a bit, but it's so empty and eerie outside. I don't like the silence that controls anything outside of the base. The tires of my scooter shrieked, nearly ramming into the entrance gate. I waved up at the soldiers to let me inside and was immediately granted access. Tiredly, I walked to the main room, where I saw groups of soldiers. Huh? Did something happen? Confused, I walked up to catch a glimpse of the current situation. Finn was in the middle, chanting about something with a smile wiped over his face. 

"Okay! Okay! Listen, as much as I'm overjoyous! We still need to lay out some ground rules. Number one; please do not trash the place, I do not want our kind janitor to be cleaning up heaps of garbage! Number two, for all our safety, do not enter Richard's room unless you're close friends or family! If you need something, rely on Dutch. Number three; Get absolutely fucking wasted and have fun!" He shouted in excitement, earning the shouts and cheering of the watching soldiers. The crowd combined into a large formation that sprinted off to the party hall. Why do we have a party hall? I guess even the soldiers need to have some time to dance and have fun.

I caught up to Finn, who was trying to move away from the crowd. Our eyes locked as he formed a grin. "Po! I'm glad you're here!" his voice quick and accelerant. "Are you hosting a party, from what I heard?" I asked, confused about the occasion. "Mhm! We decided to celebrate since, from our military and research, the infection has slowed down! We've barely seen any newborns and, for that matter, any brute-muscular infected. Haha, anyway, you're free to come! I'm sure Richard will be happy to hang out with you if the party outside is too much. He feels awful that he can't hang out with everyone else, but we're trying to make the best of it!" He explained, motioning me to follow him. The two of us entered the party hall, sliding off to the side towards the closed side room. 

Everybody else was already inside. However, it seemed they were setting up everything first. Finn opened the side door, inside was Richard, petting one of the cats who have grown bigger. Mark pushed his furry face on Richard's claws, rubbing against them. It's been a few months; they already look so grown up! He takes great care of the cats despite his existing struggles. "Richard! Po has come to hang out with you while I go and help start the party! Also, kiddo, make sure nobody except anyone close to Richard enters this room, got it? We don't need a disaster or making anyone upset." Finn explained, rambling about what to do and what not to do. 

His words slipped from my head as I blanked out, but I was confident in what I already knew. "I got it! Just take care of the party and ensure no one has too much fun!" I joked, assisting him out the door. "Alright, alright! I'll be back in a bit!" He slipped out of the room. The two cats immediately ran to rub at my legs, twisting their long tails around as they smoothly walked back to lie down again.

"That party sure seems like a lot, but I'm sure Finn can handle it, right?" I eyed Richard, who nodded in agreement. His claws clack against the table. "Hey, if you want, we can cut your nails, and I can paint them!" A large smirk appeared as he motioned a nod again. I opened the bag on the table Finn had left in there. A pair of scissors was sitting motionless inside. 

Since his claws are so long and wide, scissors are practically the only resourceful way of cutting them with success. 

I picked up two small bottles of nail polish. A bright red and caramel color. "Hmm- would you like red again or the caramel-looking color?" I held both up, and even with blacked-out eyes, I could tell where he was looking. One of his long claws pointed at the red. "Of course, it's one of my favorites, too! Okay- sit still because I know how much you despise getting your nails trimmed." I set down the polish and grabbed the scissors. With a free hand, I grabbed his left hand first. Richard started blankly, a bit nervous since he had an issue with cutting his nails.

  From what Finn told me, Richard has always felt bugged by trimming his nails. He feared unevenness or even trimming too much off that he would bleed. Not to mention, nail clippers are harder to use with big claws. 

I trimmed the first hand, perfectly aligned and even. Then started with the next hand, another success too. "See! You did so well this time, with no struggle or anything! You know, this reminds me of my sister. She'd always paint my nails some pretty color. Even when I'd put up a fight. She was super good at it! So I at least have some form of skill in it!" I commented, plucking the brush and painting his nails. I could tell he was listening to my stories while also staring intently at the paint on his nails. I finished up after cleaning off any access polish. Putting away everything and cleaning up.

"Doesn't that look pretty? Richard, you look amazing with nail polish; it suits you well!" I happily said he made a small joyful noise in response. I spoke with him through communication by paper until there was a knock at the door. It was Finn returning with confetti in his hair. "Were you having too much fun or...?" I asked. He brushed it off and huffed. "Well, someone brought confetti, and I happened to be in the crossfire. Anyway, Po, you can go to a party if you want. I'm gonna hang out with Richard." He noticed Richard's now painted trimmed nails, "Oh! I see you painted his nails again! They look absolutely gorgeous, Po; you're seriously so talented!" He complimented, observing Richard's hands. 

"Haha- thank you, I think I'm a little too tired, today was a long day and I really need a nap. I hope the party goes well!" Finn understood and went to sit by Richard, who wrapped an arm around him and kissed him. I waved goodbye as I exited the room, closing the door behind me. The sound of loud music and people talking immediately filled my ears. So that room is sort of soundproof? Maybe to keep Richard calm and not uneasy. I noticed many people I know attending, having their own fun in their cliches. I rubbed my eyes and exited the party space as the crowd erupted into celebration.

Villem's POV

"Come on! I'm sure it'll be fun! Everyone's gonna be there!" I pulled Mylo through the halls. So far, his sobriety has been amazing! He's avoided alcohol like the plague and is constantly improving. He's lost a bit of weight but continues to maintain the stubble. "You're lucky someone else wanted to babysit Ophelia; I haven't seen Gary around. Why should we even go to some party?" He questioned, starting to hear the crowd within. I shrugged, "You need to get out more, and so do I. If anything goes wrong, remember, I am here for you!" I patted him on the back, greeting the entrance door. With a swift pull, the two of us were greeted by a loud crowd. Groups of people surrounded every corner; no matter where you looked, someone would be there. I pulled Mylo through the crowd as we approached a familiar sight. A table was full of alcohol. 

I could possibly test his tolerance here! I'm not surprised it's a drinking party either, Finn is running the show after all. 

I picked up those small red plastic cups and filled them halfway with some whiskey. Offering it to Mylo, who scrunched his face at the sight. Aggravatingly pushing it away, "That smells like ass! I'm not drinking that; I'm becoming sober. You can have it, Vill." I smirked, taking a large sip from the cup. "I know, I was just seeing what'd happen. I'm proud of how far you've come." Drunken effects began to take over, and I wrapped an arm around him. "You were purposefully setting me up? You goofball, I wouldn't drink it even if you convinced me that it would bring my wife back." I froze in place. My expectations of a joke about Viyra weren't high. Nearly spitting out the whiskey I was drinking at the time. 

He laughed, "What? Didn't expect that response? Vill, I think I'm finally accepting that she's gone, and I can still enjoy life knowing she's definitely looking out for me. I bet she'd find it funny, too." Ruffling my hair, dragging us both away from the alcohol table. The two of us stood near the wall; the crowd lessened here. I noticed Finn was in the chaos and caught sight of the two of us. I drank the last bit of the whiskey as he began to walk over. Mylo hadn't seen him yet, tugging on his sleeve to catch his attention. "Shit," he muttered, peering around the place in a panic. "Heyy! I didn't expect you two to show up." He drunkenly greeted, aware of Mylo trying to avoid any glances at him.

"Oh yeah, we just thought we'd come and enjoy ourselves! Just the two of us, how've you been?" I nervously giggled, nudging Mylo to at least wave at Finn. "Right... haha, anyhoo... I wanted to talk to Mylo." He glanced at the tall, dark male, who was trying his hardest not to look at Finn. I inched out of his way so the two could stand face-to-face with each other. "What do you want?" he squinted, crossing his hairy, burly arms. "I just wanted to say... I'm sorry. Y'know, the way I've treated you for the past few years. I might be drunk but I'm speaking the truth, Mylo." he babbled, his slurred speech was recognizable but he sounded honest. Obviously, the other male didn't buy his speech. 

"Uh-huh... thanks." he stepped back, obviously not wanting to speak to Finn anymore. The curly-haired male took another swig of his drink, understanding it was his queue to leave. "I've bothered you two enough; enjoy the party!" he disappeared back into the roaring crowd. "What a prick," Mylo grunted, fixing his hair. "I'm sure he tried to mean it. Don't be too harsh on Finn." "Yeah, well... he shouldn't have been so fucking harsh with me." His tone hardened, one that sent a shiver down my spine. "Well I'm gonna go find my son, you can stay here or come with me!" he shook his head, leaning against the wall. "It's fine, I'll stay behind, go find Wilbur." he crossed his arms.

I pushed through the crowd, most people spouting their drunken thoughts. I noticed Ninja talking allowed to Lenny. "Where's Gary? I haven't seen him once." Lenny questioned, while the other male shrugged. "Who knows! I haven't seen his girlfriend either; maybe he's getting laid." Lenny gagged, "As if... he's probably doing something extremely stupid. Nobody would touch him; I know Mars has standards even if they're dating." Ninja raised a brow, "Uh-huh... yeah, well, he's missing out, as he always is." The two rolled their eyes and frowned. I inched past their conversation, having no sign of Wilbur. 

Strangely, I usually find him hanging around in the quieter parts. Maybe he's outside the room? 

I excused myself and exited, wandering the halls for any sign of my son. I swore I checked everywhere, but a noise from the janitor's closet caught my attention. Sounds like something fell over, not to mention the door is cracked open. I snuck up to the door, hearing a few voices and shakes from inside. Someone is in there, or maybe two? A small giggle and a rustling sound got louder as I approached the door. Trying to sneak a peak inside, but it was too dark to see. Within seconds, I opened the door and switched on a light. Inside was Wilbur and Tom, the guy he's been growing close to, making out. 

My son jumped out of the male's arms, backing into a corner with a red face. "O-oh... hi, Dad!" He nervously laughed, wiping his mouth. Tom was even more embarrassed, not being able to glance at me without cringing. I interrupted them at a very crucial time. Well fuck, how do I get myself out of this mess? Wilbur's definitely not gonna let this down. The two were smacking lips like Richard and Finn that one time. No way this isn't gonna be forgotten. "I apologize; I was just curious about where Wilbur was. I, uh... didn't expect this... not at all. The door was cracked open, and I thought someone broke in..." I backed away, "I'm sorry, Mr. Villem, this is my fault." Tom covered his face.

"It's not, Tom. You two have fun and are safe, okay? I don't want my boy recreating my early twenties." I eyed Wilbur, who looked pissed off now. "Dad! Not the time for that story! We'll come back to the party soon... just give us a bit." I nodded. 

But before I left, I pointed at Tom, "And you, don't hurt my son, or I'll crush your windpipe. Just kidding, please treat him right though. I'm glad he's happy with someone like you." "Thanks, Mr. Villem." I shut the door behind me, taking a deep breath. Okay, it's time to forget that ever happened. One large exhale, and I felt better. Walking back to the party that was still thriving inside. Hope to see the two there in a few, maybe they could join Mylo and me.

Finn's POV

I gurgled the remaining alcohol in my cup, spitting it out after. Man, I am battered! I need to sober up quickly. I'm used to doing this; Richard taught me how. Using the method my husband always recommends, I felt a little better. Still a bit dizzy and drunken but sober. The effects will pass in a few minutes, and I'll be perfectly fine again. I threw away my trash, noticing Miles standing beside himself near the stage. 

He could use some company. I tried accompanying Mylo and Villem, but it was obvious that Mylo wanted nothing to do with me. I deserve it for what I've done anyway. Plus, I'm still weary about him; he could crack any second now. He's definitely not mentally okay, though Villem somehow is compliant with that. 

I stood aside from the buff Russian, who took a small swig from his cup. "Hey Finn, what's up?" he asked, patting my back. "Not much, I am just observing. What's going on with you?" he shrugged, "About the same as you, with the lack of action, I've been taking things smoothly. I decided to focus more on my personal life." he responded, sitting his cup down. "Oh really? I'm glad for you, Miles. How's Anne? I haven't seen her recently, and I've been wanting to know if she's okay." I curiously asked, his mood changing upon hearing Anne's name. 

"She's doing good. I recently confessed some things to her." "You two are dating?!" "Mhm, It's only been around two weeks, but It has been amazing. She's a wonderful woman, Finn. Truly one of a kind. She's beautiful and intelligent." he rambled about his pink-furred partner. Sometimes blushing at the things he was explaining. The two had a healthy and enjoyable relationship, both obviously doing their best for one another.

"Miles! Lenny is about to announce something," Ironically, Anne strolled over, finding herself in his arms. He wrapped an arm around her as the two chit-chatted. Looking at these two from another point of view, it's whimsical. Almost put me in a view of Richard and I's relationship before the whole accident. Sometimes, I wish I could experience that again or hear his charming voice. I ponder at times what it'd be like if he never fell into that custard supply.

A loud mic boom echoed through the room, and Lenny hissed at the noise. "Sorry! Sorry! I just forgot how to work this thing." He grabbed the microphone and cleared his voice. "Tonight's party sure has been a hell of a blast! However, I have something that will make you all EXPLODE with joy! As you know, I'm an engineer, however, I am familiar with the science team and sometimes partake in the duties." he walked across the stage, calling up a few of the workers that worked under the science category. 

"We have something to announce," he cleared his throat and read from the paper in his hands.

 "With all due respect and grievances of the recent infection, our team has been working hard at defining the infection and maneuvering ways around a cure. But tonight, I'd love to declare that a cure is currently in the works! As of now, it is experimental, but we learn new information about it every day! We will keep everyone updated as we continue the journey and hopefully ensure a safe future for tubby kind!" Loud cheers and roars echoed throughout the building. This news was a shock and surprise to everyone. However, everyone was overzealous and couldn't hold back their smiles. Not even I could, as I teared up a little from the possibility of getting Richard back.

The celebration silenced the incoming soldiers, who scurried their way toward me in a panic. Most are in a rush or sweating profusely. "Sir! Sir! There's been a breach; there is an attack outside the gates! What the hell do we do?!" One of them screamed, running his fingers through his hair scaredly. That managed to quiet everyone down, most beginning to panic as well or confused from being plastered. "THE TANK, IT'S BACK," Ninja shouted, running out of the room. Causing a chain reaction of other soldiers to evade the room. In a second, everything was chaos, not to mention the sounds outside of an invasion. You're joking... they're back. It can't be that bad, can it?

Chapter Text

Mylo's POV

Within a second, the entire room burst into shouts and screams. There's seriously a breach?! I thought all of this mess was over! Obviously, someone was slacking. Without notice, I grabbed Villem by the arm and rushed outside the room for an uncrowded space. The base was full of people shouting and panicking, some preparing over others sobbing. "Vill, we need to head back to my room immediately!" I exclaimed; the older man being dragged by his arm was silent.

 "But we need to help! This seems extremely important, Mylo!" He pulled his arm out of my grip. "What do you think we're doing?! We need to go back and get my axe and pistol! Hurry up!" I barked, picking up the pace towards my room. With a rough arm, the door to my room slammed open instantly. I started searching in every nook and cranny while Villem sat off to the side, a nauseous, panicked look on his face. He must be worried about Wilbur; I'm sure the kid will be fine. He knows how to defend himself if he's Villem's son. It's not a problem! 

I snatched up the two objects and threw Villem my axe. "I feel you'd be safer with that; I'm doing better with pistols and wanna give them a shot again! Especially against unruly newborns." He hesitated with it in his hands, nearly dropping it when I tossed it to him. "It's quite funny seeing you hold that axe; it's the same one that nearly hit you when we first met! Remember?" I laughed, and the gun clicked as I adjusted it in a sleeve. 

"Yeah, I can remember it clearly, obviously because I could've died!" the two of us snickered, and the event turned into some small inside joke. "Alright, let's go! We need to help out!" I commanded, our loud footsteps echoing throughout the halls. Shots fired around every corner, helpless screams of terror and newborns evaded the base. "Fuck, do you think we're too late?!" Villem shrieked, clutching the axe closely. "No, I assume Finn and the rest are just now getting started on the newborns. No more chit-chat; we need to handle this!" I ordered, the two of us scurrying to the main floor.

The place was covered with corpses on both sides; however, nobody we knew. Shit, this is bad; whatever came at us is enormous. It brought a lot more than we expected. Where's Finn and everyone else?! An instant loud shot flew past Villem and me, hitting a bulkier newborn that was entering the base. I turned to where the noise came from to see Conor. He was wielding what appeared to be an upgraded rifle, rushing into the room and blasting down any incoming newborns. "You both seriously need to watch out; shit's going down." his heavy accent made his wording a little more complicated but direct and emotional. 

"We are pretty aware of that, Conor; where's Finn?" I asked, removing the pistol from my pocket. Keeping careful close watch of my own surroundings. "Arriving soon, rushing to gather their guns and any other important necessity." The Blasian man ran off towards an incoming horde, leaving the two of us to fend for ourselves. "We should split up, but be sure to take the higher ground. It'll benefit us over the newborns." Villem spoke, swinging the axe at an oncoming newborn. Its head slid right off its neck, plopping down to the floor. "I may be old but I can handle myself, we got this!" he hurried outside where the wall caved in from the incoming attack. 

Might as well go out the other seemingly broken-down wall. It'll do us good to get double the amount of newborns down. I swear if this whole thing takes longer than it needs to, someone's gonna feel my wraith.

Lenny's POV

One second I was on stage and the next I was running for my life. I managed to evade newborns trying to gnaw on me while pushing some to the side. Whose fucking idea was for a raid right now?! Especially when I could finally be on stage for something good!! I can't believe this. I froze noticing newborns approaching me, I quickly reacted and picked up some pipe from one of the unfixed leakages. "If you don't stay back, I will use this pipe! Against your forehead, your bald, smelly forehead!" Using a weak threat, I swung the pipe heavier than it looked. Godamn this thing is huge! I might fall over, but I need to protect myself! It's what Finn would want! 

The hairless Teletubbies growled at me, their teeth clacking against each other. I visibly cringed at it, slapping one against the head with the pipe. It slammed onto the ground as it bled out from visible head trauma. Despite the heaviness, this shit can do some real damage. "Batter up!" I commented as I crushed the skulls of multiple newborns. Running through them while smacking some that attempted to get close. Seemingly, the pipe got less heavy the more I carried it around and used it to defend myself. I cleared out a hallway, but that didn't stop the party from slowly taking over the next hallway. 

"Shit! There are too many!" I panicked, Slipping as I ran towards some sort of exit. The building had multiple holes; the newborns pushed their way through. But some cracks and crevasses were too big for small newborns. They must've brought larger ones; that will be a hassle if we don't do something quickly about them. I hissed as I heard noises rattling around me. The fall breeze whistled in my ears as leaves brushed against the ground. My hair swayed among my goggles while I, in a panic, darted around for where the noise came from.

A large stick cracked as I turned my attention toward it. In the distance, an infected stood, its awkward pose giving away its position. I squinted and held the pipe close in case it wanted to run at me. 

"If you're going to attack me, come get me! Or I'll come to get you myself." The infected backed away a little. It ducked under a tree, seemingly wanting to avoid any conflict with me. What the hell is this? It doesn't want to attack? This can't be Richard; he would come right up to me. Who is this? I stepped closer, trying not to scare it. The creature stood adrift; I could make out more of its features. 

It was obviously furry, but It was torn up badly. Some of its organs and inner flesh were sticking out as if it were cut open. Its hair was messy and fluffy; some stuck together from blood. The more I got closer and stared, the more the creature became more recognizable. The infected had blue fur, cracked glasses, and a tainted cut-up engineer suit. Its sharp teeth frowned, avoiding any sort of eye contact. Wait... is that who I think it is? I thought- I thought everyone there was dead for real.

"... Tobby? Is that you?"

I lowered my weapon, awaiting any sort of noise or reaction from the infected. He shunned himself into the shadows of the tree. Obviously, he didn't want to interact with me or be in my space. "Tobby... I can't believe you're..." I was at a loss for words. I wasn't sure how to feel; my brain was mushy and creating a mess. "You are actually infected... but you're not harmful..." I muttered, his attention drawn to my curiousness. Peaking out from the shadows while squinting. I can't think of any possible reason he's infected! He was obviously murdered by an infected from the looks of it! But how?! How is he here?! Infected and anxious?! 

A small noise escaped his mouth. He was hidden behind the tree, backing himself into a comfortable space. "Listen, dude, I don't wanna hurt you, which is why you should come back with me. We can take care of you! Just how we're taking care of Richard, too! I'm sure it won't be an issue. After we finish this whole raid, you can live here! You'll just be locked up for safety reasons. Please, It is the least I can do for you!" I explained, stepping closer to Tobby. Who reacted poorly, flinching a bit. 

"N-no!" He spoke; it was raspy and barely acknowledgeable from how horrible he sounded. Immediately, Tobby began to speak in sign language. We took lessons learning it together before I was moved into the base. I'm surprised that even as an infected, he remembers sign language. I read his hands; they were shaky, but I managed to make out a sentence. 'I can't go back, I'm sorry. I'm not even supposed to be here right now.' I was confused, rereading it in my head. "What is keeping you from staying?" I asked.

'Can't speak. Can't tell. I will get in trouble.' He anxiously signed, shaking as he ran off. "Wait! Tobby!" I ran after him, using all my force to catch up. Tobby was too fast; I quickly lost sight of him. Panicking as I looked all around for the infected tubby. Instead, I caught something else in the distance. However, it was gone before I knew it. It wasn't infected, though. 

Whatever I saw for a second seemed normal, but it wasn't. I swore I saw blue hair and a top hat. But whatever, it is probably my brain messing with me. Especially after seeing Tobby, I still can't believe he is infected. How could this happen?! But it was good to see him. I really do miss him being around. 

I sighed, walking away from where I saw him last. Heading back to murdering newborns. The thought of Tobby stuck with me, though. Who knows who else could be out there infected, too? If Tobby somehow is, somebody caused this. It's just weird and making my brain mush! I shouldn't be thinking too hard anyway. I gotta focus on getting rid of these newborns first.

Finn's POV
"They've entered the inner halls! We need someone down there, pronto! Over!" I shouted into the walkie-talkie. The response was loud static that attracted oncoming newborns. Their screams and cries almost busted my eardrums. I shot at a few of them, but it wasn't enough. More and more were coming through each second. "Shit. Fall back immediately! We can't push through this." I hissed, the group of soldiers I brought instantly following my orders. Richard actively followed behind me, watchful of our surroundings. The air filled with small screams and the sounds of bullets flying across the room. 

We rushed into a dire scene. The base was scattered with corpses and one huge creature feasting upon them. A shiver arose in my spine as I realized the situation. The group and I were face to face with Tinky Winky again. Eating away at one of the corpses it slaughtered. Somehow, the huge mutant had found its way here. It couldn't have followed our helicopters, could it? I mean, how LONG has this thing walked?? It can't be possible. I raised my gun, locking it on his head. Tinky, covered in blood, flesh, and fur, stood tall in front of us. His heavy breathing echoed in the room.

Behind the beast was an opening, this opening bringing in the oncoming army of newborns. "Fire!" I shouted, immediately spraying bullets into the purple monster. It reacted with a loud, heavy scream, launching itself at us in an ape-like motion. Reflexively, I was able to avoid its attack. Some are not so lucky, being immediately crushed and profusely bleeding out.

Goddamn, that thing sure does have rebellious strength! It's tearing our men in halves! We need to do something about it quickly. I fired shots directly toward the chest and head area. Nothing doing any significant damage, other than Tinky turning into a blind rage. Smacking and squishing anything in his path that provides an obstacle for him. I wasn't aware of anything attacking us from the sidelines. Hearing Richard slice and tear into newborns from our side spooked me quite a bit. They're getting clever. This isn't good; nothing this destructive should ever get smarter. Richard, with his recently painted claws, dragged and tore through any of the newborns attempting to reach us. 

It's provoking how sharp and dangerous his claws are. They're practical swords that can slice through any enemy with a bit of effort. Richard cleared us out a little path to get some distance between us and Tinky. Signaling the group to back up and evade the current situation. There is no way in hell we can confront that beast indoors. We need to head outside! "Follow my orders; bring the infected outdoors! We will have more room to spread out! Now go!" I commanded, shooting a few more bullets at Tinky while exiting the perimeter. The beast screamed, echoing across the building. The earthquake from his yell nearly sent me to the floor. Rushing into a safer space that wasn't as condemned and tight as the base.

As it turned out, we weren't the only ones to use the outside to our advantage. A lot of soldiers and recognizable friends were fighting alongside each other against the hordes of newborns that repeatedly kept coming. Richard immediately took action against any nearby newborns. Slicing them to ribbons or absolutely demolishing their bodies in fits of rage. He's doing his best quite violently, too. The tank followed us, promptly erasing anything in his path. Focused on killing the rest of us brutally. 

He's dedicated; I'll give him that. He's covered in bullet holes and limping towards us. It's sad to see, and quite frankly, I'm glad Po isn't here to witness it. Her brother looks like moldy old sliced cheese. 

I noticed Conor handling things from afar, his sniper promptly headshotted a bunch of infected. With a free hand, I whistled to him and waved my arm. He saw my desperate attempts, confused but intrigued. I need to signal him somehow to aim at Tinky. One headshot from his sniper rifle can probably eliminate our main issue. Quickly, I made arranged hand movements, most of which were appointed to Tinky and concerned his weapon. Without a doubt, Conor quickly understood and changed aim. A red beam came over Tinky Winky's forehead. Not even a second later, a bullet flies straight through Tinky's skull. Sending the ginormous beast to his wit's ends. 

Straight on. We might actually pull through. 

Chapter Text

Mylo's POV

This is such bullshit. I can't believe the horde is STILL coming! I've practically taken out armies of newborns. Some of them are unbelievably  smart, though . I've had a few sneaks up on me here and  there, but  they're messing with me! I survived that damned yeti; I can survive way worse! 

Worryingly, I was starting to get low on ammo. Not to mention, I haven't seen Villem in quite a while. I hope he's alright. But I've seen him; he can handle himself fine. I'm a little queasy about how long it has been since I last saw him. I reloaded my gun to spew out bullets into the skulls of more newborns. The horde is slowing down, thankfully. I'm seeing less by the second. This could be a good sign. 

One more shot and the last newborn I saw was down. Left to bleed out on the ground. Proud of myself, I put my gun back in its sling. I tried to turn back to go find Villem, but only for an icicle to almost pierce my shoulder. Hitting the ground and shattering into cold pieces. The wind picked up, and cold air surrounded and fogged up my area. "Shit! What the hell is this?!" I hissed, covering my face from smaller hail pieces. 

The wind was strong; I couldn't see anything coming at me. Rather protecting myself from the onslaught equivalence of a snowstorm hitting. The same icicles came full-force at me again, barely avoiding any of them as they crashed and broke into pieces on the ground. The wind was cooling the temperature; I was shaking and couldn't get myself to reach for my gun. The eventual windstorm and blizzard were fading away. I was able to see again, but I couldn't see ahead of me. The wind blew my hair in my face, and ice particles were everywhere. 

It must be that damn yeti! How did it get down here?! I thought I did a mighty fine job keeping it contained in the mountains. Nonetheless, I need to get rid of it before this gets worse! I can't have the Yeti down here too! "You goddamn snow monster! Show your hideous self! I'm not playing around this time." I coldly reached for my gun, noticing a figure starting to form in the distance. I aimed my gun directly at it, trying to get a closer look.

The figure was smaller than the yeti but not as thin as it was. What the hell? This must be the yeti, nothing else contains powers like these! Especially something ICE related! The wind screamed in my ears, holding my posture towards this oncoming person or thing. "I'm not scared of you! Not this time! We can end it here, ice beast!" I shouted, gritting my teeth ever so anxiously. It slowly approached, but the winds kept its identity safe and the distance between us. 

"You shortened my time... you were in the way of me ever finding Viyra. But now I can finally lodge a bullet through your thick, icy skull." I confronted, feeling tall within my own shadow. Face to face with something I've been wanting to put to rest for a while. "You'll finally be out of my way." my fingers edged the trigger. The figure was becoming clearer through the icy, chilled winds. My instant thoughts of courage and braveness froze in place. My own skin sent its own cold chill down my spine. The thing came out of hiding, promptly growling and shaking. Leaving me at yet another cold dead end.

Her lavish orange hair shined through the winter chills and sun. Waving over her pale, starved shoulders. The same familiar eerily grin over her cold, infected, freckled face. Her hand rested over her stomach as if she had a conscious remaining. No one matched that description better than Viyra. It felt like a dream, and I slowly realized it was a nightmare. My entire body was crushing itself, everything around me muffled and dim. My heartbeat aching and loud in my ears. She's... She's actually... I immediately gripped my chest, my legs aching as my heart was pounding out of my chest. Sweat and tears drain my energy. She looks the same as I saw her... But she's... Everything around me is an echo. 

My vision alternated between reality and make-believe. Swearing I saw Viyra standing there non-infected and happy to see me. I watched as an infected version of my wife immediately leaped at me. Slamming me into the ground with an utter force she never had. I can't stop staring at her. I still see her inside. I lost utter control of my body, my heart heavily pulsating outside of my chest. I think... am I? I...I.. I couldn't tell if I was scratched up as it was numb. I was frozen, whether it be fear or my own panicked state. 

My entire surroundings weren't my main priority, nor was the fact that someone was trying to get my attention. Whoever it is... Is it worth it? I stared up, helpless and defenseless, against my own wife, who was standing on top of me. Ready to rip me into pieces, unaware of who I am. I can't think of her like Richard... But it's so hard not to. Laying there, I was ready to die. I guess my time is up, but I was having fun and improved greatly. So I did something good, right? She hissed, her eyes drooping with the same fluids Richard had. Pouncing down claws first, ready to chew into me.

BONK! I heard the sound of a pipe slamming against something. My eyes, fuzzy, made out the figure of Lenny. He was anxiously holding a pipe, just having knocked out my infected wife. His eyes were wide open and carved with tears. Viyra was beside me, knocked out with a hefty bruise on her noggin. My vision shitter than ever. I crawled up to stand. Staggering to walk or even stand still. Everything was ringing or an overload of noises. My heart is at a constant fast beat. What's happening anymore? This isn't real... I swear I heard someone calling for me. I jumped as Villem grabbed my arm. 

Immediately, he threw me into a hug, holding me close. Enough to release the tension within while another cold chill traveled down my spine. It was enough to calm me down but not enough to stop the tears. "Vill.. I.." I croaked, my voice dryly cracking as tears streamed down my cheeks. The muffled voices became clear, and everything around me was louder than usual. "Hey, hey, it's gonna be okay! You're okay, Mylo!" He patted my back in a soothing motion. I latched onto him and broke into sobs, enough to push us both to the ground. Lenny watched in shock, unsure of what to do next.

"Mylo.. I- I am so sorry... I really am. I didn't want her to kill you, though. You don't deserve that." He clenched his teeth, grasping the pipe with a firm grip. I deserved it as much as she didn't deserve to end up like this. Her body was out there... but the infection found it before me... I failed her again. I couldn't speak aloud, rather raising a lazy arm to assure that he was okay. My head fell onto Villem's shoulder in a desperate attempt to just melt and not exist in this situation. 

"Lenny is there anything you can do to.. You know, get her somewhere safe? She's not dead. I can see small visible movement." Villem asked, holding onto me comfortably. Taking every opportunity to make sure I wouldn't have to see her again. Too bad it's already engraved in my mind. Every part of this is. Why couldn't it have been me? "Of course- but- there is still a raid..." he sighed, "Give me a bit. I'll make sure she's somewhere safe." he bit his lip, eyeing her beside me. Villem attempted to get me to stand up. The first time I failed, I had to get up anyway eventually. Unlike before, I feel like a total coward now. A defenseless, sore loser of a coward who has nothing left for him. 

"Mylo- are you okay?" Villem asked, holding my shoulders worryingly. I stared at him dead in the eyes, fighting back more tears as my lips quivered. He could immediately tell I wasn't okay. Giving me another hug immediately. "Thanks, Vill.. I-I... I needed this." I toughened up, gripping my gun with a mixture of emotions. Newborns were still attacking, and we needed to end this raid. There was no stopping now. Maybe murdering these things now will give me a sense of relief. Something to take my mind off this aching pain in my heart and mind.

Finn's POV

The number of newborns was starting to become overwhelming. So many around us were dying or caught off-guard. I started worrying about Richard and me. He was tearing into as many as he could, but something was wrong. His behavior was becoming more animalistic. Richard is doing a great job, but his feral behavior is concerning. I ignored it the best I could despite how stressful this situation was. Conor, Dutch, Miles, and Anne were helping out. Clearing the sidelines while keeping a close eye on me. I noticed White and that janitor guy were helping out, too. Not as much, but doing as much as they could. I appreciate how we can all come together in situations such as this. It's relaxing to know that I can count on a bunch of people. I was so caught up that I didn't notice Richard was beginning to struggle. 

The newborns were catching on; they knew one of their kind was working against them. Smart bastards, I knew it would come to this. "Don't worry, Richard! I've got you!" I shouted, shooting in his direction. Strangely, Richard was panicking and unnervingly getting extremely violent. Shredding into any and everything near his surroundings. Growling and hissing at the newborns that were crowding around and biting at him. He's getting overwhelmed! Fuck- I seriously need to get him out of that situation! I moved in closer to take more shots. Shooting away at the newborns around him. Unaware, my hand slipped on the trigger while massively shooting tons of ammo. 

One of the hits shot Richard in the shoulder. Who promptly screamed, his face becoming stained with that goopy liquid streaming down his face again. His fangs and claws tearing and digging into newborns. Watching him go into a completely insane frenzy. Shit! SHIT! I didn't mean to hit him! Every newborn in the area was ripped up to shreds. Whether by claws or fangs, Richard was soaked in blood and fur. "Richie!- calm down! Y-you're going too far!" I yelled, distraught over accidentally shooting him and his sudden lustful craving for genocide.

The head of the last dismembered newborn slapped onto the ground, bleeding profusely around its already discombobulated limbs. The wet noises of its corpse had me gagging. Richard was practically beating a dead horse by continuously stabbing the body. He was full of a rage I had never seen before. All he could see was red, but I could see nothing. His eyes were pitch black, almost as if he was now fully infected. 

He's living out the full infected instincts; what if he's... I bit my lip as he locked eyes with mine. He clutched his teeth, bending back in a pouncing cat-like manner. Is he okay?! I awkwardly backed up, terrified about his behavior. The rest is watching, too, the uneasiness settling in. I wasn't worried about the newborns. I was worried about Richard; something was wrong. In a second without thinking, he lunged at me, at full-force he swang his claws at me.

Late by a second, I was hit as a large gash on my stomach ran down the side of my body. I fell back on the ground, coughing up remnants of blood, clutching my stomach in pain. I looked up at Richard; none of him was left except an empty husk. He's fully infected. He was stressed out too much and snapped... Oh God, this really does hurt. I-... Why? I clenched my breath, holding my bleeding stomach, attempting to sit up. Everyone around me was shocked or screaming. "Finn! I'm coming!" Miles shouted, abandoning his place with Anne and heading in my direction.

 Whatever it was, Richard had backed off, the screams confusing him. His claws struck with my fur and blood, slowly dripping off of him into a puddle. Heavily breathing with void-stricken eyes. Miles noticed him and, at his own unease, was carefully approaching me. Connecting the dots immediately of what happened. "What the fuck..." he muttered, quickly coming to my aid. "Hold on, I've got you! You're gonna be," a shot rang out, striking Miles in the head. Knocking him to the floor as he bled out. Mortified, I looked around in a panic for the culprit. Nothing, everyone else was screaming and just as terrified as me. But I swear, I saw bits of blue in the distance; something was definitely watching us.

"OH GOD MILES!" White screamed, rushing over with Dutch to assist the out-cold man. I felt better they were assisting him and not me. I glanced at Richard, worried about the same results. But the scream and gunshot changed his entire persona. His small pupils were back, but he saw what he had done. Staring at me with horror in an almost guilty, shameful way. 

He watched the rest give him petrified or glaring stares, afraid of what he did or could do next. "R-Richie..." I tried to call out for him. The goopy liquid poured down his cheeks; he was crying. I watched as he ran off, back inside the base to his presumed home. He wasn't in control when he snapped. The loud noises managed to snap him out of it. Richard... it's not your fault. 

I sat there as I began receiving care, paying attention to none of it. "Finn, are you okay?!" Conor asked, his voice raised higher than usual. "I-I'm okay, I swear. It's not Richard's fault..." I sighed, flinching at the sudden pain. "He attacked you, Finn! Everybody saw it!" He replied, carefully raising me to my feet. "That wasn't him. He snapped, and the pressure and stress of the newborns got to him. 

He was in a temporary frenzy; it wasn't his fault." I explained, holding onto Conor while ignoring my painful open wound. I knew Conor wouldn't fight with me; he simply stayed quiet while taking me inside. I was transferred to the hospital unit with Miles. Everyone was worried, depressed, and upset. Unsure of what to do now except fix the base and argue. The raid's over, but at what cost?

Chapter Text

Finn's POV

Beep... beep.... beep. I groaned at the noise of the heart monitor. For the last week and a half, I've been hearing it in my ears. The doctors told me if my wound were any deeper, I would've died of blood loss. I'm lucky to be alive but not fortunate to be stuck in this bed! I've had people come in and out to visit me. But Richard couldn't; I hadn't seen him since I saw him crying and running off last time.

Poor Richard must be scared and alone. I can't believe no one will check on him either! He's not dangerous, it was just an accident! There was nothing he could do to control that. I tried sitting up but was greeted with stomach pain from my stitches. I was desperate to leave this bed and walk around a bit or two. I can't lie here all day; I need to get out of here for some fresh air. I heard a knock at the door; outside the door was Dutch. If there's one person I can probably convince, it's my own cousin.

"Hey, Finn! I see you're getting better!" He warmly greeted me, plopping beside the medical bed in a chair. "Yeah... how's everyone doing?" I asked. Miles would've been in charge, but he's also bedridden. I haven't heard what's wrong with him. But he didn't die, he's got a fractured skull though. Due to this, Dutch has been taking care of things, not as I want, but It works. "Well-... Miles is in a coma, for starters. They're unsure how long it'll last, but he won't wake up anytime soon. Everyone's a mess; no one has been working or keeping up with their jobs. No one has the energy to do so. I've been- well, I've been attempting to help everyone, but it's difficult! I'm not a leader!" He vented, grabbing onto the chair. All the work he had to carry on his back exhausted him.

"You know you can take breaks, right? You don't have to comply and attempt to make everyone feel better. You're doing your best enough. I wish I was the one doing it instead of being stuck in this goddamn hospital bed." I huffed, a little annoyed overall from my injury. Dutch bit at his nails, tapping his foot anxiously. "You're right. I'm just trying too hard; people need time to think about everything that has happened. Who do you think shot Miles?" He asked, slumping into the chair.

It happened so fast. I couldn't even tell where the bullet came from. But if I'm honest, It looked like it was supposed to hit me instead. Miles was just in the way. Either way, that raid was planned out, no doubt. But by who? "I'm not sure, and I'm worried we're being targeted. That raid was a little too successful; we lost a lot of men, and so many of us nearly died." I sighed, feeling balls of guilt weighing me down. I moved myself to the edge of the bed. Besides Miles... I heard Viyra was found. But not in the way Mylo intended it to be. She's supposedly in the same area as Richard. Hopefully, they're both doing okay. Mylo, especially, the entire thing must be detrimental to his mental health. He has suffered enough already in the past.

"I'm afraid, Finn... Everyone's lives have been such a miserable hell! the raid, the events, and other outrageous things! If we're consistently being targeted, how can we endure this?" Dutch was anticipating the worst when he stiffened up and got out of his seat. "Calm down! Could you fetch me a wheelchair, please?" I inquired whilst resting against the sides of the bed. He stopped focusing on his freak-out while he proceeded to gaze at me in disbelief. "You need to get some rest! I'm sorry that I contributed to your anxiety. But please, you have to stay and get better!" Dutch lowered his head as he turned to leave.

"I've been taking it easy for a WEEK! Dutch, I can handle myself. Get me a wheelchair, please." He subsequently gave in to my request and ran off to get me a wheelchair. Returning with a wheelchair into which he had to assist me in getting onto. "Thanks. I became extremely drained from laying in this bed. I'm getting the best treatment, but I'm doing this for Richard. I cannot simply stay in bed all day." As I wheeled myself out of the medical ward, I huffed.

We don't have enough doctors and nurses to provide high-quality care. As the situation escalates, the number of employees we are without as a result of attacks is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. There needs to be an immediate stop to all of this.

"Do you really need to be wheeling yourself around in this condition though?" He asked, nervously punting in his own worries. It was nonsense; I'm a strong guy and certainly someone with big confidence in myself. I can handle this and the whole situation altogether. "Yeah, it's a lot better than being on my feet. I need time to heal and then I'll be right back to normal." I responded, non-confronting he didn't respond. Walking off to remain at his other duties. "Oh, and Dutch?" I shouted, earning his attentive gaze. "You did amazing work in my position; I'm proud of you." I lent him a thumbs up as Conor does. He was amused and happy about my compliment.

"Another thing! Could you and the rest of the guys keep the whole Richard situation down? I don't want Po to find out about it. She's already improving from her latest trauma, and I don't want anything else to further harm that." He nodded, running straight off afterward. I sighed, unsure of what I could do now. Besides everything, I can't visit Richard. No one is going to allow that as much as I want to. I could go pay someone else a visit.

I wheeled into an area that had balloons hanging from the door. 'Get better soon!' 'You can do this!' All the motivational balloons you could ever find. I struggled to open the door with only one hand but managed either way. In the room were Anne and Wilbur, both hovering over Miles, who was in a severe coma. In the midst of the two, I saw the janitor guy we hired a while ago. From what I've heard he and Wilbur are very close. Assuming enough and him being Villem's kid, they're dating. They noticed me wheel in, surprised at my arrival to see Miles.

"Oh, Finn! I thought you were supposed to be resting!" Anne worryingly asked, helping me out and closing the door behind us. "I'm allowed to move around as long as I don't hurt myself, right? This isn't much of a difference. I just asked Dutch to lend me a wheelchair and here we are. How's he doing?" I exclaimed, sitting up a little straighter to view Miles resting. Anne nervously bit down on her fingers. White was comforted by the janitor as he softly cried.

"He's not dead, thankfully. His helmet took most of the damage. But he did inflict some damage himself. There's a crack in his skull and they assume that put him into a coma. Other than that, they think he won't wake up for at least a few months. A year at worse." She explained, her voice quivering in the last sentence. I stared at the comatose man, questioning the probability that it should've been me instead of him in this position. "I'm sorry, Anne. Can I speak to you privately for a second though please?" I inquired, pointing us outside the room. The two of us left the room for some privacy, where I was going to explain my theory of the situation.

"Listen, I think this entire ordeal was an attempted assassination. Not against Miles, but me." Anne's shocked face ran a chill down my spine. "Are you sure?! No one could tell what even happened!" "I'm sure of it! If Richard hadn't stressed out and attacked me, I would've been shot blank right in the skull! Miles was in the way; that's why the shot is rigidity! Whoever it was had a clear idea of where to shoot me, but because of what happened they shot Miles instead." I claimed, her facial expressions folding into confusion and an eventual agreement.

"But who would even do that?! If I find them I'm gonna rip them limb to limb for what happened with Miles!" She gritted her teeth angrily, her entire tone changing within a second. "I don't know either, but please keep it down! You and Dutch are the only ones aware of this. I'm gonna make sure Conor and the rest know too eventually." I whispered in a heavy voice. Silently the two of us reentered the room. White was still upset and trying to calm down at the same time. "I'm gonna go resume business. You three take care, okay? Especially you, Anne." I said, opening the heavy door and waving goodbye to the three. I received a wave back and began exiting the medical ward for real this time. Deciding to check in on the rest.

"Jesus Christ, Gary! You're so incompetent! How could you two do that during a fucking APOCALYPSE?! Are you crazy?!" The familiar voice of Lenny's filled my ears, as he was regularly screaming at Gary. This time pulling someone else into the conversation. I need to speak with Lenny anyway, I might as well snoop around to see what is happening.

"Okay, okay!- Listen, man, we both wanted it and It happened fast. Don't yell at me because I get more than you!" Pissed off, Gary laughed at Lenny. Lenny becoming tiredly annoyed at him "I don't want any! I'm not into ANY of that. You're treating this like a joke!" "Because it's not a big deal! She's happy about it so am I!" "GARY YOU FOOL HOW DO YOU EXPECT YOURSELF TO BECOME A FATHER WHEN YOU STINK LIKE A PIG?!" Lenny huffed, crossing his arms. Am I not computing this right, or did I hear it correctly?!

"I don't stink and I'm very competent in almost anything. Tell all of that to Ninja except for the whole father thing because he's practically a smelly virgin loser, Lenny!" He argued back, about to throw hands with the blue-furred engineer. Gary rolled his eyes. "Whatever man, I'm the one who did the deed, not you. I don't understand why you're so pissed off!" "Because you're the one person I wanted to HEAVILY avoid becoming a parent. But no, all while everyone else was dying to a raid. You got your five minutes of fun and now the aftermath consequences for being a MORON for not using protection." Lenny shouted, backing off of the ginger. He was enraged by their current conversation.

"You never have any hope in me! Why don't you yell at Mars about this too and not me?! Also, it wasn't five minutes jerkwad, it was definitely more than that!" "Unlike you, she can take care of herself. Now she's gonna have to care for a baby and a manchild." He sighed, exhaustedly covering his face.

"I CAN CARE ABOUT MYSELF TOO!" Gary yelled, running off, fuming steam from his head. "Finally, fuck off," Lenny whispered under his breath. This is good timing I suppose.

"Hey, Len." I greeted him as I strolled up to him, acting as if I hadn't heard or seen a thing. Lenny jumped in surprise, fixing his goggles immediately after. "Finn you startled me, I'm a little upset at the moment. Did you need anything?" He asked, obviously twitching and about to lose it any second now. "What's wrong? I heard some yelling coming from this way. I was gonna ask about renovations, but you're extremely pissed off." I lied; I know what exactly just happened. But I want to hear all the details from Lenny, of course. "Just Gary's problems. Turns out the idiot got his girlfriend pregnant, and now he's running around talking about it. Meanwhile, everyone else is depressed and doesn't want to hear it! Including me!" He vented, crossing his arms and scoffing. I bit my lip, thinking about the entire thing.

So that is where Gary was the entire time during that party. Yeesh, out of all the people I expect to settle down first, it wasn't Gary.

"Yikes. Are both at least fine with it?" I asked, Lenny nodding in response. "I spoke to Mars about it; she's pleased about it. She loves Gary so much it's scary. But they are a great match, so I cannot stop her." The only problem is that we're in the middle of an apocalypse. We have enough to take care of. Let alone the lack of professional medical assistance. It's truly a desperate situation. "Understandable. Anyway, I came to speak about renovations. How is that going for the team?" Lenny squinted, "So far, okay! We've managed, but supplies are running short. We need to head into town or at least send a group. Enough for a while." Handing me a list of things we've lacked. Things such as equipment or materials.

Food is not an issue, and I'm so thankful for that. People would go absolutely insane.

"I see; when do you assume is the best time to go out?" I flipped through the pages, and newer things surprised me each time. "Soon. Since the attacks are months apart, I assume we have enough time right now to go out. You going to call for it?" "Yeah. But I have other issues to attend to as well." I bit my lip, thinking about Richard and the possibility of redeeming his reputation. I have to see him. I need to prove he's not actually a danger. It was an accident, and he only attacked me! I forgive him! "I see. What else is on the menu, Finn?" Lenny responded, taking back the notepad. "It's about Richard. What happened wasn't his fault. He's not a bad person; he was stressed out." Lenny held up a hand, annoyed by my explanation.

"Listen, Finn, we've had this conversation before, but this time, you seriously cannot believe that. He attacked you, I mean look! You're wheelchair-bound! How is that healthy for anyone, especially you? Richard is an actual wild animal. He's not your Richard if he could nearly kill you and run off sobbing about it!" He argued while I stared at him, almost defeated by his words.

"Lenny, you can't be serious! I've proven he's a good person, and he is still Richard! But fine, I won't visit him for now! I'll give it time, but I swear, he is not a bad person." He rolled his eyes and took off before I could blurt out another word. Annoyingly grabbing at the chair's wheels and watching him disappear. Everyone is so stressed out. Lenny doesn't believe me, but that's fine. I'm sure with time, I'll prove him wrong again. I'll visit Richard eventually. We can overcome this stupid depression.

Chapter Text

Villem's POV

"Wakey, wakey!" I heard something pounce on top of me. I awoke on my couch to Ophelia jumping on me. The time was around 9 am, and the sun had perfectly risen. She's been staying with me most of the time. Mylo needed time alone after the whole incident. I don't blame him; he needs it. But I'm extremely worried he's gonna break again. I've visited him every day, and he seems very on edge. Almost to the point of relapsing again. Either way, the alcohol cabinet hasn't been opened. The lock is perfectly shut and secure. There's still this deep gut feeling that something is wrong. It's been a week; there is definitely something up.

"Okay! Calm down! I'm awake," I shrieked as the small child jumped around excitedly. Heading straight for the kitchen. She has been a handful; I've always wondered if Wilbur was this way. There is nothing I can't handle, though! I got up to follow her, her attention fully focused on me making breakfast. "What would you like today? Pancakes or waffles?" I asked, bringing out both of the mixtures to prepare. She stared at the counter intensely, giving it more thought than anything else. "Hm- could we just have both?" I shrugged it off and prepared both almost immediately. 

There's nothing wrong with both, especially since she's a growing child and needs it. I need something to eat, too. It's been a stressful week, and I've lacked my own needs to help myself—probably like a lot of others as well. I hope I still have some syrup left in my cabinets. She's been eating me out of house and home for the past week.

The sizzling of the stove was hit with the flap of the pancakes. I brought out an old waffle maker I was gifted to use. It's a little rigid and smells weird, but it's nothing too harmful. She patiently waited at the table for me to finish up. All while I was busy double-handing both pancakes and waffles. I opened one of the cabinets to meet with an almost empty space. All except for things such as flour, sugar, and maple syrup. I would've been eaten alive if I had no syrup left. I thankfully sighed, grabbing the sweet syrup for the now-finished pancakes. I cut them into pieces along with her waffle, served up and covered in syrup. 

"Here you go, Ophelia! I hope this can hold you over until we take you back to your father." I proudly commented, impressed with my mediocre cooking skills. She happily clapped and immediately dug in with a fork. I prepared my own, nearly burning myself and the pancake. Carefully plopping both of the breakfast delicacies on a plate. I sliced off a piece of butter, proud of my own artistic abilities with food. That is quite the prettiest pancake I've ever seen. It looks so good it can be put into a museum. 

After enough playing around, I sat down on my plate and grabbed a drink. Prune juice. I heard a gag from behind me as I searched the fridge. "Is something wrong?" I asked, worried she had choked or eaten something bad. "You drink that stuff! Yuck!" She pointed at the prune juice in my hand. I stared at it and back at her. Squinting at her judgment of my favorite drink. 

"It's good; sorry, I am not drinking apple juice like you. I'm super offended." I dramatically joked around. Pouring myself an individual glass. Finally, I had a chance to sit down at the table. By the time I picked up a piece, she was already done and zooming off to go play with the toys she brought. She's a quick eater, for sure; at least I'll have a silent breakfast again.

Done with my meal and a rush of a clean up in my kitchen, I was prepared to take her home. "Did you make sure to clean up your things?" I asked, grabbing my satchel and hat. She excitedly nodded, showing me her full bag of toys. "Alright, let's go! I'm sure your father will be happy to see you." I peaked her mood, her emotions all giggly and off the walls. 

She loves him so much. I envy Mylo so much for this; I wish I had a chance at this. But I'm lucky to have had a chance to witness my son grow into his young adult years. Hell, I get to see him fall in love, and I'm so damn proud of that boy. I couldn't be happier that he's got such a perfect life and has amazing friends. He deserves it so much; I'm glad I found him when I could. The two of us walked to the side where the two lived. Holding her hand while trying to keep up with her pace. 

Unlike everyone else, she had attitude, and a cheerful mood sprouted across her face and personality. It could brighten anyone's day if they saw it. When others walked past us, I knew her glee made a difference in their day. I'm sure it is what keeps Mylo going every day. He cares about Ophelia more than anything. Even if he's a little overprotective, I understand the fear and his past loss. He just wants her to be okay and out of harm's reach. 

Both of us approached his door, I softly knocked expecting an immediate response. But nothing came from inside. I knocked again with a little more force in my knock. Nothing. Is he sleeping? I swear he knew I was coming over today. "Mylo? Are you in there?" I asked, knocking harder this time. I grew worried and so did Ophelia, she was starting to quiver. "Hey, hey, it's okay! I'm sure he's sleeping or completely forgot we were coming over!" I assured her, calming down her stricken nerves. She believed me and calmed down. Unlike myself, where I was panicking so much under my skin. 

If he's not answering, I'm just gonna walk in. I slid my hand on the knob. An immediate rush of worry filled my body. Something was wrong, and it was inside this room. I easily opened the door, slowly looking inside as Ophelia peaked, too.

The sight was hard to watch. His entire room smelt like booze, strong booze. I tried to get Ophelia to stay outside, but she pushed past me. Whining about what was in front of us. Mylo was on the floor, obviously drunk, with his knuckles bleeding. The alcohol cabinet was broken into with bits of glass covered in blood. Some bottles on the floor were broken and dripping out the sweet, succulent substance that was wine. He was face-first on the floor, groaning slightly. Ophelia ran over to her father, upset in a way I'd never seen before. "Ophelia, no-" I tried to stop her as she attempted to get him up. 

"Papa! Are you okay?" She cried out, shaking his intoxicated body. He only huffed, waving his hand around before it fell on the ground again. She was confused by the sight; she had never seen her father in this state before. Shaken up and terrified by all of it. I rushed over to pick her up and cover her from the view."Hey, hey, it's okay. Don't worry, your papa is okay. He's okay, don't worry," I attempted to comfort her as she cried. Obviously struck by her father's relapse. I was shocked as well. I didn't expect him to break into the cabinet to drink his worries away completely. But he did, and now he's back to his old habits. 

"Come on, we're gonna leave the room. Okay?" "B-but my papa!" "He's gonna be okay, here let's go elsewhere." I took her outside the room, she was gripping my shoulders sobbing. I panicked as I looked around everywhere for someone to watch her. In luck, Po was passing by. 

She's not aware of what has been going on. No one has informed her of anything recently. She knows about the attack but thinks Finn was attacked by a newborn. Or the fact Miles is comatose is simply just a newborn attack. Finn has been trying to shield her from all of the bad things. So we've all kept it down low. Even those soldiers that constantly gossip about anything they see or hear about.

"Hey, Po!" I greeted her in a rush, practically running over to her. She was confused by the two of us. Worried about Ophelia's crying and my panicked look. "Hey, Vill. Is uh- something wrong?" She hissed through her teeth, watching the sight. "Well, er- something happened, and I need you to watch Ophelia real quick! Just real quick, okay? I'll pay you back!" I handed her the four-year-old as I ran back into the room. Mylo is still in the same position as we last saw him. I hovered over him, attempting to turn on his side. 

If he's intoxicated, I need to make sure he's not dying. 

I turned him to his side, noticing he was, in fact, okay but crying his eyes out. "Mylo, what the fuck man! I thought you'd be okay!" I tried to help him up or at least on the couch. His voice was unintelligible, gurgling his words while tears dripped down. I moved his drunken body to his couch, where he flopped down. I observed his body, checking for any injuries besides his knuckles. None of his scars had been reopened; he's only gotten himself drunk. "You need to sober up; let me get you some water." I headed towards his kitchen while he stayed behind, blubbering about something. I walked back with a glass in hand, attempting to get him to drink it. It kept spilling out of his mouth. 

I've had enough of this already. I couldn't handle it anymore and just ended up slapping him. A red mark formed on his cheek as he came to his senses. "V-vill..." he gurgled, about to break down in sobs again. "I thought you were gonna stop. I didn't think you'd break into the cabinet and drink yourself half to death!" I yelled, worried about ever leaving him alone again. He stared at the floor, unamused and terrified. "I'm... s-sorry." He stuttered as he whispered. Hiding his face with his blood-covered hands with shame. I rested my hand on his shoulder, expecting him to pull away from me, but he allowed me to do so without struggle. 

"Mylo you need help, this is just spiraling out of control. Please, you don't wanna overdose again and potentially die this time-" "I would much rather be dead than sitting here drinking my life away!" He screamed, the echo of his voice mocking him for yelling at me. He seemed to cover his ears and cower, wanting to cry again, but nothing came out. I was shocked at the sudden yell from the younger male. I dropped the glass of water from the scream; it promptly shattered into pieces. Mylo had begun muttering under his breath while now covering his eyes; I could slightly pick up on it. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... please don't leave me again..." his voice cracked at the end; the fear in his voice was stronger than anything else in this room. I couldn't sit and watch him silently cry all day long. I raised my arms and pushed him into a hug. Tears formed at the rims of my eyes. I wrapped my arms around him in a tight squeeze, getting him to react slowly again.

"I'm not gonna leave you for relapsing... none of this is your fault, okay? You need help, therapeutic help. I can't stand here to watch this again. I helped you once, and I can't watch it all wash down the drain again." He shook in my grasp, understanding every word I said. Despite his intoxicated state, he was able to hug me back while slobbering all over my coat. "I-I'm sor-" "No more sorries, you're okay. Last week was a lot to handle, and even now. But you're okay, your wife is safe too. She won't be moved or messed with. She would want you to get better. I do, too." I rubbed his head in a comforting manner. He turned his hands into fists but soon let loose. "M-mhm.." he nodded on my shoulder, pushing me away for space. I gave him his space, realizing I had zero water in my hands. "Shit- I forgot I dropped it. Don't worry about the mess, okay? You rest; I'll clean it up." 

I headed for the kitchen to grab another glass of water. I handed it to Mylo, and he took minimum sips, resting back on the couch. I grabbed a broom and some form of a trashcan. Sweeping up the mess before I got the mop. I threw the glass away before Mylo opened his mouth again. "Vill... does Ophelia hate me now..?" His voice croaked, taking a larger swig. "No, she was worried about you. She thought you died." I responded, grabbing the mop and mopping up the mess of blood, booze, and tears. 

"I hurt her, I hurt you... I never wanted her to experience any of this... I fucked up..." He silently sobbed, the glass grasped in his hands tightly. I sighed, continuing to mop the mess as he cried out. "Mylo, If you're honest with your daughter, I'm sure she'll understand. You broke down; nothing could stop that. What happened with Viyra was traumatizing, I'm sure. When you get better, we could visit her if you'd like." He shook his head, staring away from me. Drinking the rest of his water ever so depressingly. 

"The only person I wanna visit is Miles... I need to see the damage. I still feel bad for that Russian bastard. I was harsh on him before you arrived, you know that." He chattered, setting the glass bottle down on the living room table. "We can go do that after this! I'm sure he'll appreciate it, even though he's not awake. If that makes you feel better." I smiled, cleaning up the last of the mess. A small smirk appeared on his face. He shakingly got up, his body adjusting to sobriety.

 "Let me clean up first..." He walked to the bathroom, nearly running into the walls. "Here, let me help you. I don't want you falling over and cracking your skull!" I rushed in to help him stand up straight and clean off his knuckles. He quietly washed his face and brushed his hair. Despite his exhaustion, he looked great for a bad day.

I had told Po she'd be babysitting a bit longer, but she hadn't minded at all. Mylo and I were going to visit Miles to check in on how he was doing. It took some time for him to go through this idea fully. He wanted to but felt skittish and clogged with intrusive thoughts. It was sweet of him to even suggest it in the first place. I haven't gotten to see Miles yet, unlike Wilbur. He's been visiting the guy every day with Tom. I haven't checked on those two in a bit, either. However, despite the rough times, I'm sure they're doing great together. 

The place Miles was staying was covered in balloons and neatly written cards. People loved and appreciated him more than anything. It made Mylo smile a bit, sometimes you'd usually never see. I cracked open the door to Miles' room. No one was currently visiting, so it would just be the two of us. The side of his head was bandaged perfectly, with no slither of a mistake. He has been peacefully resting in a comatose state. Unaware that everyone is worried he could possibly lose his fight with this. But I believe he can pull through; almost everyone does. "It's hard to see him like this. Whoever did this to him is a piece of shit." Mylo grumbled, resting up against the hospital walls. 

"I hope he wakes up soon; he can't possibly be stuck like this forever.." I responded, hovering over Miles while looking back at Mylo. He shrugged, sighing as he stared at the floor. Neither of us had any more comments, all we could do is reminisce about things. I heard the doorknob turn, quickly turning my attention toward that. Wilbur and Tom are coming on another one of their visits. The two looked at us, Wilbur giving a death glare at Mylo. He suspiciously sat down in one of the chairs, crossing his legs. "I didn't expect you two, especially Mylo. I thought you hated Miles." he scoffed, blatantly targeting Mylo. 

Is he still angry about that one time? Mylo doesn't hate Miles. We don't need any of these useless shenanigans while Miles is unresponsive. Mylo sighed, standing up straight and heading for the door. "I'll just leave; thanks for taking me to visit, Vill." He attempted to open the door for himself, but Wilbur slammed it shut. Scaring both Tom and I. 

"Now you're just gonna walk away?! Seriously did you just forget about how much of an asshole you are?!" He yelled, pointing at Mylo with intensity. The purple-blueish tubby was confused by the accusations. "I'm aware that Miles and I used to have some serious issues, but now is not the time for that. If you want me to leave, I can leave." He tried again to leave, only to be rejected.

"In all honesty, it should've been you getting shot for this situation! All you've ever done is cause problems and make Miles feel shitty! You beat him up that one time! You're a fucking dick!" Mylo was astonished as much as I was to hear that come out of Wilbur's mouth. "Wilbur! What is with this attitude?!" I inserted myself into the conversation, stunned and disappointed by my son's usage of words. "And you! Stop acting like my father right now when you were never there for me! All you ever do is defend Mylo and say you wanna do so much for me! Well, how about you side with me for once?!" He screamed in my face. I watched the other two shiver in fear and back away. 

There's no way he's saying all of this with a straight mind. He's obviously upset and pulling shit out of his ass to say. He wouldn't mean all of this, right? 

"What was gotten into you?! I've tried my hardest to be here for you! As much as I've wanted to!" I argued back, angering him even further. His fists shook with rage, and an obvious meltdown came over him. "All you ever do is be a fucking martyr for other people! But it is never me! You do so much for Mylo despite how much of a depressing fucking asshole he is! You care so much about him over me!" He spat, irking my mood. I felt a large lump form in my throat; confrontation wasn't my best aspect. "I care about you more than anything, Wilbur. Don't say I didn't do anything for you! I looked for you for TWENTY-THREE years! All while I got out of it was a shot in the leg and years' worth of pent-up anxieties! Mylo is going through a lot, and I want to be there for him. I try to do the same for you, but you always tell me how okay you are!" I was exasperated, losing my entire shit in the process. He squinted with rage, gritting his teeth. 

"Seriously, Wilbur lay off your father. He's done so much for you, and you're just gonna sit here and yell at him? I'm sorry if he has focused more on me; I'll back off if that is what you want-" Mylo offered, wanting to escape this internal conflict. Wilbur swiftly combatted this by punching Mylo, a hard enough punch that knocked him on his ass. Appearing to have also dislocated his jaw. 

"I DIDN'T ASK FOR ANY RESOLUTION FROM YOU! YOU MADE MILES' LIFE HELL, AND NOW ALL YOU DO IS TAKE MY OWN FATHER AWAY FROM ME! I BARELY SPEND TIME WITH HIM BECAUSE HE IS ALWAYS BABYSITTING YOU. IF YOU'RE SO LOW IN LIFE, WHY DON'T YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?! INSTEAD OF SITTING AROUND ON YOUR ASS!" He screamed, bursting out of the room after fuming with rage that no one had ever seen. 

Tom stared at the both of us, startled. "L-listen, I am so sorry! He has just been very moody recently! Miles really has him messed up. I-I'm sorry!" He ran off after Wilbur, both gone and unheard of.

I stood there without a word in my mouth. Dumbfounded by what just happened. My entire hearing went silent; cold liquid ran down my face. I'm crying. I never cry, and I'm too happy for this! I gulped the large lump in my throat, realizing I was too deep into sobbing silently. "Vill..?" I heard Mylo call out to me; his voice was a little wonky because of the punch and deafening sound. I took a deep breath and walked outside of the room, sitting in one of the waiting chairs. Sobbing profusely about White's outburst. Mylo followed behind, but he realized how fucked up his jaw was. Sitting beside me, waiting for a nurse to walk by. 

"He sure did a number on me. I need a doctor to snap this shit back into place. He's got a hefty punch." Mylo commented, holding his jaw with one hand uncomfortably. I continued softly crying while Mylo comforted me with a free hand on the back. "Listen, maybe he's right. We spend a lot of time together. He probably needs it a lot more than I do." I gawked at what he said, shaking my head 'No.' "But I'm supposed to help you! I want to see you get better! I can't just stop that now! I try my best to spend time with Wilbur, but he's always with Tom and others. How can I?!" I cried, my face red and dripping tears. 

"Vill, he's emotional and needs your support too right now. I need some time alone and a doctor. My jaw is on fire." He stood up, calling over a nurse to see about his dislocated jaw. I sat in the chair, my head on my knees. Contemplating everything that just happened. 

Maybe he's right; Wilbur needs me at this time. I've been a little too selfish. Even if the kid is having a meltdown and isn't thinking straight. I need to find him and apologize for all of this. Mylo was gone by the time I looked back up; he must've gotten help for his jaw. I took a deep breath, my lungs shaky and anxious about everything. All my everlasting charm and good vibes leaving my body. I felt like a husk of a person after my son's burst of rage.

I silently walked through the halls of the base, searching for Wilbur. My last place to check was his room. Everywhere else had zero sign of him. I knocked on the door, expecting no answer. To my surprise, Tom answered; he awkwardly stared at me but let me in right after. "I'm very sorry about earlier, Mr. Villem. He's in his room right now, and I haven't had the courage to talk to him." He shivered. "It's fine. I need to speak with him anyway. He needs me." I softly knocked on his bedroom door and opened it slowly with ease. Wilbur was sitting up on his bed, curled into a ball. An emotionless look stuck over his face. 

"Hey bud, how are you doing now?" I walked over to pat him on the shoulder. He turned away from me, sniffling faintly. "I know if you don't wanna speak to me. That's okay. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for not being here as much as I should have been. I really wanted to repair things with my old friends, but I neglected to form a strong bond with my son. I want to do more for you and help you out. I wanna understand you and what you're going through." I exclaimed, sighing and biting my lip. He turned to stare at me with a few sniffles. 

"I forgive you. Don't worry. I was acting out back there; I didn't even know what I was saying half the time. I didn't mean to make you or Mylo upset. Is his jaw at least okay?" He asked, rubbing away at his eyes. "Last I saw, he asked for a nurse. I know you were upset and spatting whatever; that hurt a lot. I'm glad I could clear it up with you, Wil." He sat up to give me a hug. It was something unexpected since he wasn't a fan of touch.

"Thanks, Dad. It means a lot. Also, you do your best to be here for me; I was just being a shitty son. You spent so long looking for me and deserve a little more respect for it." He sniffled, letting go of the hug soon after. "It's no problem. Don't overthink the whole thing. I'm gonna try to spend as much time as I spend with Mylo with you. I've just been very focused on helping him recently. He's had a rough time with Viyra being found." Wilbur sighed, "Yeah, I'll apologize to him another time. I'm sure he doesn't want to speak with me at the moment." "He's a little busy, but I'm sure he'll forgive you." I suddenly remembered something from earlier. 

"Ah- shit! I forgot about Po! I left her to watch Ophelia; it's been too long!" I panicked; I couldn't keep a calm attitude anymore. Wilbur blankly stared at me, "You can go deal with that! Feel free to come back if you'd like. I'm gonna be fixing dinner soon with Tom. Would you care to join?" He asked, arising from the bed and fixing himself up. "Of course. Now, I'll be on my way. I have to apologize to Po for the overtime I've given her." I sprinted out the door back where I left Po, assuming she'd still be watching Ophelia. 

I'm glad I could sort things out and get to spend a little more time with Wilbur. Everything's been such a mess recently that I'm just not sure who I've pissed off anymore. My own mood and energy had deflected quite a lot. Let's just hope dinner isn't a mess, either.

Chapter Text

Mylo's POV

The pain in my jaw worsened. He really fucked me up. Snapping it back into place wasn't easy for the doctor. That shit really hurts. I touched my jaw, reminiscing about the time I punched Miles the same way. Reminding myself that Wilbur was right about the whole Miles thing. I did treat him like a lesser tubby, all for something that wasn't even mainly his fault. 

Not to mention, she's infected now, and how could I ever look at her the same way? It's Viyra, but not actually Viyra; she's not there anymore. Of course, I could be overthinking it, and it could be another Richard situation, but there's no possible outcome. I sighed, realizing I could go home, but I was not sure if I wanted to face Ophelia again after what happened. 

Villem told me how worried to death she was. I was completely intoxicated to understand what was going on. Will she see me the same way ever again? Or am I forever doomed to be seen as a stupid alcoholic father to her? I made her cry; that's something I never wanted to do. I stopped on my walk to my room to glance at the doors leading to the space where they were keeping the two. No one has dared to enter that room, fearing they'd be torn apart. Recently, it has been such a letdown. Sometimes, I just wanna enter that room and be purposefully shredded into pieces. I've done more harm than good to others. I still can't get the thoughts out of my head of what Wilbur said. It's constantly repeating in my dim-witted skull. Maybe he was right that I should've been shot instead.

I trudged through the halls to my room. Promptly avoiding anyone I came in contact with. I haven't seen Villem, Ophelia, or Po, who supposedly cares for her. I slid into my room, eyeing the broken-into alcohol cabinet. The glass was forever shattered and ruined, something that had been around since Viyra was alive. Yet another thing I ruined that has good memories of her. I stood for a moment, contemplating if what I was about to do was a good idea. 

It's been such a shit hole, I feel right back in the dumps. I want nothing more than to feel better, right? I just... I wanna see my wife again. I wanna take the risk. I could prove something to Wilbur, prove something to everyone. But I can't do all of that sober.

Besides the broken bottles in the way, a few wine bottles were untouched. One is mainly the bottle Viyra and I got for our wedding. Somehow it survived the shitshow of my breakdowns. It would be quite humbling to choose that one out of the pick. I grabbed the bottle, observing the labels and the texture. My hand caressed every corner of it as I reminded myself of the event itself. 

Somewhere in my box of things, I have the photographs. All of the photographs were nearly destroyed that one time. I only broke the frames, thankfully. But I can't bear to look back at any of the photos. It was never a good coping mechanism for me. I gripped the bottle, taking second thoughts about my plan. Villem said he didn't want to see me drinking again. But It's hard to stop when you get yourself addicted to it. I crave to feel the sour undertones of my own mistakes down my esophagus. Villem isn't here, though, is he? 

I grabbed my bag and shoved the glass bottle inside to hide it. Otherwise, someone would question me, or I'd be caught again. I can't possibly drink in my own room again. He'd fine me. But isn't he busy with Wilbur now? So why does it matter?

My brain turned into a broken record, filled with reasons why or why not I should do this. My ears muted anyone around me, the sounds of the creaks or the noises of passersby. I could only hear myself fighting my thoughts. This is stupid; it's suicide. But isn't that what I want? It's not suicide if I don't think of it that way. I'm only doing this for a drink, alone. I approached the door, soldiers and other working tubbies giving me small looks. Most afraid of stopping me and others from minding their business.

 I huffed, turning the knob to open it. Some questioned whether to stop me or not. Even if they do, so what? Death doesn't want me! I'll be completely okay. I just wanna drink in a place no one will enter. I can be alone with my terrible thoughts and the most likely dangerous infected. I closed the doors behind me, staring back at the enclosures in front of me. I noticed Richard was in a corner with the cats he and Finn adopted. 

Does no one remember there are cats in here? I hope the little guys have food, at least. 

On the other was her, directly staring at me. In some way, she was staring at me for not finding her body. Staring into my soul, sending shame into my body. I waltzed over to Richard's area, he flinched at me opening the door. "No worries, Richard. I'm only here to drink.." I closed the door and plopped onto the floor. Opening up the wine bottle and immediately chugging away. For a second, he wasn't sure what to do. Attempting to open his mouth and speak, knowing he couldn't. 

He wasn't aggressive but terrified and disappointed. He grabbed a notepad and carefully wrote something on it, sliding the notepad my way as it hit my leg. I sat down the bottle, picking up the note. 

'Why?'

It was almost like chicken scratch. He sat down on my other side, waiting for a response. "I really thought well-... I could get drunk and die in here. No one would find out since they're all terrified to even check in. I mean, are those cats at least well-fed?" I pointed to the kitties resting up against Richard. He nodded, touching the bag of half-empty cat food. "I see. You're not actually vicious like everyone else is saying; you're afraid. Finn was right; I knew he was, but I could not prove it. I mean- fuck, look at my wife! She tried to tear me to pieces!" I laughed, tears immediately running down my cheeks from the thought of Viyra. I slid the notepad back, all while rubbing away the tears. He wrote another thing on it, moving it back while I took another sip.

'You wanted to kill yourself again?' 

I bit my lip, and my chest slowly exerted oxygen. "... yeah, I fucked up big time, Richard. The whole raid fucked me up, man. I went right back to drinking and-... and Ophelia saw me. I scared her. I can't even think of her without thinking that she sees me as some monster now. White or, well, Wilbur, straight up told me I should've been shot instead of Miles. He brought up our conflicts; I think of it now and believe he was right. But every time I've tried, you either found me or some miracle found me!" I took another sip, resting back on the wall. "Even in your state, do you remember those two times? The times I was nearly dead, and you found me. Hell, I got close the second time when I started foaming from what you said." Richard's head tilted towards the floor, clearly remembering both events. 

"Sorry... I'm sure you wouldn't want to remember. It's funny to know those two things clearly annoyed Finn by me. I had you super worried, and he wanted absolutely nothing to do with me." I pathetically laughed, my voice cracking as tears continued to fall. Passing back his notepad to say something else. "I'm still sorry about that... Sitting here now, admitting I wanna die again with you, is stupid. You did everything to prevent that, and I'm just repeating terrible actions. I mostly came here to drink in peace anyway." He wrote silently, the cats climbing all over him to snuggle close. Once again, the notepad was in my grasp.

'It's not your fault for any of that. I've spoken with Viyra, too, by the way.' 

I had to reread his note again to make sure I wasn't seeing things. "Wait- you can talk to other infected?!" I set down the bottle as he nodded in response. I covered my mouth with my hand, shocked by this information. I quickly passed his notepad back. "Please, tell me everything. Anything. The fact you've been speaking to her makes me so happy! You don't even know. I've wanted to hear anything from her again for so long..." I muttered the last bit, gulping back more tears. My head lay on top of my knees with my hand on the bottle. I was anticipating whatever I was about to read as he wrote. He slowly grew impatient as he was writing a lot more than usual. The notepad was once again in my possession. I picked it up and read each word carefully. 

'She has no recognition of anyone. She's confused about where she is. It's been so long that her memories are either blurred or gone. Viyra only has some recognizable memories of seeing someone with green fur last. The only person she can slightly remember is Miles. Other than that, her current memories are the present. She doesn't know who you are, Mylo. She only sees you as her enemy now.' 

I tucked my head and threw the notepad over to him with ignorance. Attempting to stop myself from crying, but nothing worked otherwise. I couldn't avoid doing so, knowing my wife doesn't even remember who I am. She's not even my wife in her point of view... she's just out to kill me; I'm just one of her prey. I looked back at the concerned crimson tubby, who tried to comfort me but avoided trying to stab me with his nails. 

"She has no memory of me? Nothing?! No memory of the ba-... I expected at least one thing! Maybe something stupid or something I forgot! But no, I'm nothing to her in her life now." I reminded myself of how I saw her holding her stomach as if she'd even have some significance in knowing. She doesn't remember ever carrying a child! But her body was so adjusted that she remembered the hand movement?! I guess it is something.

He began writing another thing on the notepad. Checking his spelling and grammatical issues. Watching me slowly fall into a deep-ridden depression right in front of him. I took more sips of the bottle, slowly emptying it out into my mouth. Once more, the notepad was in my hands. Finishing off the alcohol and throwing it to the side. It thankfully didn't burst into thousands of different shards. I read the note that was handed to me. 

'I wish I could do more, but that's all. Maybe she'll remember more with time, but that is all we have. Again, I'm sorry for everything. I'm glad you did visit me, though. It has been a lonely week without the company of tubbies. Especially Finn, how is he?' 

"Finn? From what I've heard, he's okay. Back and at them, too, he's running the place again after leaving it to Dutch. I originally came here to drink and hope that one of you would put me out of my misery, but I'm glad that didn't happen. Being able to talk to you again, Richard, was great. I miss the old times when we could." A small smile perked on my face. The goofy grin he carried with him appeared thrilled to have bettered my mood. 

I moved over to his side to have an easier time carrying out a conversation with him. He kept me company and would let me know about how he was. Commuting about the time with the cats, his overall experience alone in here, and how much he appreciates that I haven't seen him differently.

To our surprise, someone had planned to visit this area. The two of us heard the door open and saw Finn struggling to keep it open as someone behind him helped open the door. It was Villem; I immediately felt a wave of shock come over me. Fuck, he's gonna scream at me. I'm gonna get slapped again for drinking. I'm sure he won't; I bet they're here for Richard. Finn and Villem noticed us both talking through notes, conflicted that they'd be the only ones to enter. Richard took notice of Finn in a wheelchair and almost whined a little. As if he was ashamed that it was related to what happened. 

"Mylo, when did you get here?! I thought you were still getting your jaw relocated?!" Villem asked, eyeing the empty bottle on the floor, knowing I was a bit buzzed. "It didn't take long. I was thinking of earlier and this week; it promptly made me feel horrible, so I took a bottle of wine, came here, and drank. Richard has been keeping me company." I lied a little and wouldn't want him to know what Richard and I talked about. Especially with Finn here, it'd be another reason he'll hate me for sure. Richard nodded to back up my story. "And as for you two?" I asked, curiously awaiting their answer. "I wanted to see Richard. I asked Villem if it was a good idea since Lenny obviously didn't think so. He didn't think it'd be right. But told me as long as he could come and protect me if anything happens, we can go! I've missed being in here so much. I knew he wasn't aggressive!" He sighed in relief, wheeling over to hug Richard, who wasn't hesitant to hug him back. 

Villem stared at me; I shamefully looked away. "I'm not mad you drank again. Don't worry, I'm just glad you're okay. I thought you'd be home with Ophelia right now." He bent down to my level. I shrugged, fixing the messy hair that was getting on my face. "Po is babysitting her still. I needed time alone. But I couldn't avoid this place. I'm glad I didn't; speaking with Richard again is great." I replied, watching the older man take a seat right next to me. Finn paused the hugging with Richard to turn to me. Oh no. Did I do something again?  He wheeled close because of the proximity. 

"Listen, Mylo-... I've misjudged you a lot, I'm sure. This probably won't mean anything since the last time I tried, I was really fucking drunk. But I'm sorry for everything remotely I've done. From the past til now. I should've been a better friend, If I'm honest. A lot better friend to you after Viyra's death. You were all alone, and I took it as you acting out against us. I was stubborn and an asshole to you. So I hope you can forgive me for all that happened. I've been wanting to try and do this for a while, but as things get better, time becomes low for me. But I'm delighted I could make time now for this." He explained, rubbing his arm anxiously. The other two waited in silence, surprised by an apology. 

I stood up to stretch my body; a reassuring sigh escaped my mouth. "Of course I forgive you; I've missed talking with you two. Quite a lot, actually. I can set aside the past for now. Especially for a lot of things right now." He felt consoled by my forgiveness. The four of us are together again after a hell of a long time and unwitted issues. "This is the first we've all been together without a problem. Isn't that something?" Villem commented, standing back onto his feet and jokingly putting an arm around me. "I couldn't be more grateful for it really. We've needed to get back together for the longest time." I replied, forgetting all about earlier's little overthinking moment.

"There was another reason I actually wanted to visit today," Finn admitted, twiddling his fingers. The three of us were curious about what his other plans were. Rather than just being with Richard again. "What?" Richard surprisingly spoke, his voice in a short croak. "Did you forget? I came here because your birthday is tomorrow, Richie. I wanted to remind you, but I guess I just reminded all of us." No one had been paying attention to the calendars anymore, especially me. The other two suddenly remembered Finn reminding us. 

"It's his birthday tomorrow? How old are you gonna be, Richard? 70?" Villem joked, knowing he was the oldest one here. "Forty." He proudly said, shocking the rest of us. "You're gonna be forty?! You're getting old!" I cracked up, making the rest join in. He had a small grin and an embarrassed, flustered look on his face. "If It's that important, we can come here and celebrate tomorrow! All of us, a first-time reunion in a long time!" Villem announced the suggestion, in agreement with everyone. I couldn't help, through all the laughter and excitement, to feel better about the past. The apology had given me a resolution for the pent-up rages and blissful ignorance I had experienced. Somehow, an even better outlook on the future.

Chapter Text

[BONUS CHAPTER NAME: Richard's 40th Birthday]

Richard's POV

I fidgeted and picked at my claws, a little annoyed with their recent regrowth. The day had passed, and now it was my sudden birthday. Something I hadn't expected to celebrate as an infected monster. The only beneficial bonus factor is I'm able to celebrate with my closest friends and husband! I couldn't be more grateful for having the whole situation cleared up. Nonetheless, I am trying to forget about the incident that occurred a week ago. Today was all about me and my existential crisis: I'm getting older. 

Tubbies' lifespans are long, but yet I feel like I belong in a retirement home already. I fear the day white hairs begin growing. Yet Villem has them, so I'm not too far off that lineage. Finn sat beside me cross-legged, playing with the cats. For one instance, letting himself be free of the wheelchair for a bit. The two growing increasingly bigger each month. I swear, by now, they're almost full-grown. Mischa is the biggest out of the two. Somehow, Mark is compelling the kitten's body more than anything. 

"I can't believe you're already forty! It seems like yesterday we met when we were both in our late teens. That really makes me think." He sighed, the over-existential dread falling over him about our ages. I think the same way sometimes. I have to subconsciously remind myself that I am not in my twenties anymore. I'm getting old, and that's how it's gonna be.

"And to think I was right again that you aren't a vicious killing machine! I was doubted, but I knew my gut feeling was right. You were overwhelmed, weren't you?" He glanced back, softly petting the Siamese cat. I nodded; nothing else could be said or would be said. That entire moment feels like a blur in my eyes. I don't recognize it. Only the external aftermath scarred everyone, including me. 

"I sometimes wish people wouldn't assume things without knowing. But I guess it's a natural habit for us. The fact that Mylo could see past it as I could makes me feel less alone. Well, the factor of being able to use common sense." He jokingly laughed. The door opened to appear Mylo holding three perfectly wrapped gifts in his arms. Not including the bag of scotch and whiskey. 

"You wrapped them?!" Finn asked, needing assistance back into his wheelchair. "Why wouldn't I? They're gifts. Gifts from me, you, and Villem. Of course, they're wrapped." He set down the presents carefully. I immediately grabbed my notepad and urgently wrote something. I held it up where both of them could read it. 

'You all didn't have to get me anything. This is only a small party.' 

The two only giggled, Mylo giving me a small pat on the back. "It's a special day! You deserve it. I'm sure you'll love what I got you." He insisted, unpacking the bag of alcohol. "I feel you forgot Richard can barely have any; this is just insulting." Finn rolled his eyes while Mylo popped off the cap of the whiskey. "It'd be extra insulting if I brought beer. This is something the rest of us can enjoy. I'm allowed to drink here because It is a special event! I brought shot glasses just so Richard could try to join us." He snickered, drinking straight from the bottle. Grabbing a chair from the side to sit in. 

"Is Vill still working on that cake?" He asked, holding the whiskey in his grasp. Finn nodded, checking the time and seeing if anyone was coming to the door. "He should almost be done. Richard, it's one of your favorite flavors! We had to look everywhere in the pantry for it." A smile grew on my face, knowing what exact flavor it could be. I could settle for a small piece of Red Velvet right about now. If only I was allowed to eat more without throwing it up. I could eat the whole cake.

"I remember a whole time where it was just the three of us. Cruising in that older jeep that we got rid of a few years back. Remember how we almost got ourselves into an accident because we let Richard drive home?" Mylo mentioned, my face immediately turning a dark red. 

Right, the time they thought it would be so keen and cool to let a drunk tubby drive. Not only that, I nearly drove us into a ditch! Then again, Finn was completely out of it, and Mylo did not have his driver's license at the time. It would be a lot worse to let him drive.

"It was better than letting you drive. You had no license, and If Viyra had found out, you would've gotten a talk. That woman would've targeted us next for allowing you if we did." Mylo took another swig and rolled his eyes, resting back in the chair. "Okay, listen, I was nineteen! I hadn't felt like getting my license yet! If I did drive, Viyra would've been extremely scared for my safety. That's the only reason I'd get the talk! She cared a lot about me." His voice cracked towards the end, his tone taking a depressing turn. He took one last sip, a little hesitant. 

"In mention of her, I do wonder after what you said, Richard. If she could get her memories back, what would her impression be of me now? Would she be disappointed or angry? Maybe she wouldn't see me any differently, and I'm just overreacting." Mylo vented, a little intoxicated by this point. "I'm sure she wouldn't change her opinion of you. Even if you are a little different now. She'd be a little concerned with your drinking habits, though." Finn commented, making a shorthand gesture. Mylo handed him the whiskey, a little annoyed by the American. 

"I drink as much as she would. She had a strong gut, If I wasn't an alcoholic I would not be able to handle what she could drink." His head rested back on the chair where only his chin and neck were present. Finn was beginning to drink after him, a little hypocritical in his actions. "You wouldn't be able to handle anything back then! Beer used to have you screaming like a little girl." Finn joked, taking the largest swig I'd seen. It's a little disappointing that I can't drink with them. I would love to join in on this almost drunken talk. 

"It's a shame Richard can't join in or speak. Would you like to try a little anyway?" Finn offered, grabbing one of the small shot glasses. Pouring me a bit of cold-hard whiskey. I immediately swiped it from his hands and engulfed the alcohol. The two stared blankly at me in shock. I shrugged my shoulders, feeling the slightest bit okay.

"That's quite the shocker! I thought you'd immediately throw it back up. You go, sweetheart!" Finn rubbed my hair, his contagious laughs contracting to Mylo. The door swung open to reveal Villem holding a slightly fucked-up cake. It was, as I guessed, Red Velvet. "What the hell did you do to it?! It looks like shit." Finn joked, the two still giggling their hearts out. "Are you guys already drinking?! Also, the cake doesn't look THAT bad! There was a minor incident, okay! The icing is a little slick." He defended himself; the two drinkers didn't care anyway. 

"Well, it looks like you played with it instead. Does it taste okay, at least?" Mylo asked. Villem stuck a finger in the cake and ate a small piece. "What the fuck, man! Don't just do that! We don't know if you've been playing with yourself!" "Hey! My hands are clean! You wanted me to try it! It tastes perfectly fine, assholes!" He set down the cake while the two continued laughing. I tried forcing out a laugh but was greeted with coughing. Sucks to suck that I can't join in the fits of laughter. 

"Oh calm down, you know we're only messing with you, man. Here." Finn handed the whiskey to Villem, who defensively took a small sip. "You two are such dicks. I'm sure Richard loves it!" He glanced at me, I nodded slightly knowing even if it was shitty that I'll eat it. "See! It's fine!" Villem proudly stated the other two in the belief of their own statements.

Finn wheeled over to cut me a slice of cake, handing me the plate of Red Velvet. Despite the messy atmosphere, it smelt delicious. I was almost drooling at the smell of the cake. I picked up a fork I was given, about to slice a small piece off. I was close to dividing a piece before something arose in my mouth. It appeared as a weirdly colored worm. It crushed the entire cake in its slimy grasp and hid back in my mouth, where I swallowed it. I held out my plate for more as the three looked horrified. 

"Richard.. WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Villem shrieked, Finn a little scared to give me another piece. I sighed, knowing that another long explanation needed to be done. I treat this as if they haven't seen this before. None of them are infected, so I guess they don't know. With notepad in hand, I wrote fast before they could break out into theorizing or panics. In a quick time event, I handed over the note to Finn. Who read it out loud to the rest. 

'It's a parasite. Something I've kept contained. It is the reason I can barely swallow or drink food sources. Somehow, the thing loves cake, though. I'm not the only one with it. I thought I picked it up from the raid, but It's been here. Viyra has it, too. It's located in her upper back area. It manages her ice control and the placement of icicles. It's entirely possible that other infected have it. It's not old, though; it's recent. It's an evolution of the infection. Some fungal parasite, I believe.'

"But it's not harmful, right?" Mylo asked, a little shocked by this information like the other two. I shrugged my shoulders, unconvinced of what the whole thing could be. It's not done much harm to me. Except for the whole starvation factor. It doesn't harm my body other than that. "I think it's only contained to its user, but Richard isn't the only one with it. The rest of the infected have their own. Viyra and Ron. So if Viyra's controls her icicle levels, what is Ron's?" Finn asked, handing back the notepad. 

I quickly sketched and wrote something underneath my drawing. Showing it to the rest of the group. 

'His arm, due to his injury, grew its own blades as a defense. From what I saw, it was very protective of its host. A little too protective.' 

The three were a little taken aback by this, but they tried to ignore it as long as it wasn't an issue.

"Besides the whole fungal parasite, would you like to open your presents?" Finn asked, wheeling to the gifts and picking them up for me. I nodded, taking the three large presents out of his grasp. I sat the two I wanted to wait to open down. The tag on it said it was from Mylo. It was a little longer than the other two gifts, something that felt not so heavy. I unwrapped it with ease to uncover a cane. Mylo started snorting in laughter. Almost in an insulting manner. "Since you're getting so old, I thought you could use that. Happy birthday you old fuck." He popped open another thing of scotch. That's actually hilarious; I love this. I had a big grin on my face, amongst wanting to laugh and say thank you. 

"..Thanks." I managed to mutter out, almost seeming ungrateful, but I loved the gift. "I could definitely use this more than you; this wheelchair is starting to become uncomfortable. It's so dense but not as dense as hospital beds." Finn commented. I picked up another gift, this time from Finn. I bet this is gonna be something sweet or maybe even a little foul. Who knows, he swings either way. I unwrapped it to see nail clippers and beneath it a brand-new beanie. Almost like my old one that Finn wears now. It was greyer and in better shape. The grin on my face grew.

"I know you're struggling to pick up things and do basic activities, so I got you your own nail clipper set and a beanie—the beanie to replace your old one that I know you don't want back. Happy birthday, Richie." He leaned over to give me a hug and a small peck on the cheek. "Thanks." I tried to force more emotion, but it was futile. I appreciated the gifts either way. 

Now I can do my nails and stay stylish, as Po would say. I miss seeing that kid; I hope things can change again. I wanna do silly little drawings with her again. The last gift was, of course, from Villem. This could be a big joke or something he worked his hardest for.

I carefully unwrapped it in case of some prank. To my surprise, it was a photograph—the photograph we all took ten years ago. It was perfectly framed and glassed, almost so angelic to look at. I've yearned to see everyone from when we were younger for ages, and I almost cried at the sight of the photo. 

"I put together the frame myself. A little bit of hard work and staying up all night got me it. I hope you enjoy that; it's all yours. Happy birthday, man." The three drank while I continued to stare at the photograph. 

All five of us, together. It was a special moment and time. Something I couldn't trade out. In some sick sense, we're all together right now. All of us, here in the same room. Viyra isn't involved, but she's on the other side of the wall. We're all technically together for my birthday. That's the only gift I've ever wanted for the longest time.

Gifts aside, I tried drinking alongside the three. Small sips here and there while the rest got completely intoxicated or somewhat drunk. Mylo managed to keep his chill with the alcohol, in some way, not to keep me outcasted in being somewhat sober. "Oh yeah, I completely forgot to mention. I got a call last night; it was from my sister." He broached, setting aside his alcohol. "You- you have a sister?" Finn questioned. Villem was not affected by any of this conversation. However, I could tell he was listening in too. I didn't know he had a sister, either. How did he somehow keep this information from us?! 

"Yeah, a twin sister. I completely forgot to tell everyone for decades now; my bad. Only Villem ever knew. Anyway, she called me up, saying how she was okay and all of that shit. The good news is she is on her way; I might've told her about the struggle for medical supplies and our lack of doctors and nurses. She's so certified and full of herself that she's coming to stay here. So there, Finn, I fixed your nurse problem." He blurted, Finn's drunken self beginning to thank Mylo for this while trying to contain his appreciation. Villem was excited as well. I couldn't help but feel happy that we had more help around here. The bonus is that it's someone one of us knows, too. 

"When is she supposed to be here?!" He asked, something off his list of problems finally fading. "Few hours or tomorrow. Told me that she's bringing help if she can. They've been looking for work since the whole apocalypse. Turns out even towns are in shambles." "This is great news; now all I have to worry about is materials and sending out troops for a bit of labor." He drank in excitement. Finn is dealing with so much, and it's sad to see that he must do it alone. But I'm so proud of him, and I'm proud of everyone here for just being here. This was one of the best birthdays I've ever had.

Chapter Text

Mylo's POV

After yesterday, I am certain I am never picking up hard whiskey again. The massive headache I've been dealing with this morning is painful. I already had to get up early because Ophelia somehow woke up earlier than usual. I'm glad to see her doing well after the whole thing before. She cannot get enough of me after that; she is practically crawling all over me. In other news, Maria will be here soon. It's gonna be a pain in my ass to explain why I'm so hungover to her. I never told her about my drinking problem or any of the others. Despite being a hard drinker herself on special occasions, she is definitely not gonna like that. I fell down this path after literally promising I'd be the star twin that's so athletic and healthy. 

T ruly a path that fell apart with time. There is nothing athletic or healthy about me anymore. Maybe she fell apart with the whole genius and fit twin ideals. Or not considering her doctorate degree. 

"Papa?" I caught myself lacking in reality, noticing that Ophelia was pulling on my sleeve in concern. I fixed my stature, acting surprisingly normal for someone who feels like hell itself. "Hm?" I replied, tensing up from the fact I get to see my twin after a decade. "Are you okay?" She asked, her mouth in a small frown. Patiently awaiting my answer. "I'm okay, don't worry, sweetheart. A little nervous, per se, your aunt is coming to stay for probably a very long time." I confronted, uneased, and overthinking the whole thing. Her smile grew on her face, excitement plastered all over. 

"Really?! Auntie?!" She got up from her seat to run around, having more energy than I ever could in a day. "I know you've been patiently wanting to meet her. Now she's... Finally coming actually to see us." I anxiously explained, more nervous than anything to see her. I was unaware if I was going to get a stern talking-to in Spanish or a decent greeting. Who knows what I'll get?

"When is she coming?!" Ophelia asked, joyfully prancing around the room. I slumped in my chair, huffing in response. "I'm not sure, an hour or two." I guessed, the approximate time was probably longer. She's not exactly a time-oriented person. I heard a knock at my door, not the fainted, which meant it was somewhat important. I got up to answer the door with Ophelia behind me awkwardly at my heels. I opened it to be greeted by Finn, Villem right behind him, patiently standing. "What do you two want?" I asked, Ophelia, coming around also to greet the two. "It's a little early, I know, but uh- she's here and looking for you," Finn responded, blurting out the last bit of words. An immediate rush of panic flew over my body. I tensed up for a minute, holding onto the door. 

"I'll be right there then," I replied with a small stutter. "Then come on, we told her we'd come back with you. Ophelia can come if she wants to." Finn bent down in his wheelchair to her level. "Let's go! Let's go!" She pulled at my pants, impatiently ready to go. There's no backing out of this. Whatever happens, happens. I can deal with the consequences. "Alright, calm down. I'm going." I held out my hand for Ophelia to grab it. Walking down the hall with her and the other two. "So, did she bring people and supplies, as she said?" I curiously asked Finn, who gave a large nod, wheeling himself. "It was a lot more than we needed! But I'm so thankful either way. All this help means so much, and your sister really pulled through." She is already impressing everyone here. Not a singular surprise to me.

I noticed newcomers walking amongst the halls and main area. Noticeably, people who worked in healthcare and related to it. In the middle of it all was Maria. It had been so long since I'd seen her, but she was easily pickable from the crowd. Her hair was exactly like my own except long and wavy. Her cowlicks are a little more exotic than my own. Her perplexed structure and poses made her a little more packed than the average woman. Not to mention she was a little chubbier than usual, nothing wrong with that, of course. She was almost my height, except an inch off. She was carrying this large traveling crate while talking to her fellow co-workers. Her makeup is always so perky and perfect. Not to mention her outfit, a tight-fitted grey turtleneck dress. 

One of her favorites, she truly did come to show off. 

It wasn't long enough before she noticed our small group. Her eyes were directly on me. "Mi hermano!" She ran over, crate in hand, slowly setting it down and pulling me into a hug. Surprised by this sudden embrace, I awkwardly hugged her back with hesitation. "It's been so long! You're a little fatter than the last time I saw you." She directly commented, nothing out of the usual for her bluntness. 

"You're a little bigger yourself, too," I whispered, hoping my mutter wasn't too loud. She caught on fast, though, and rolled her eyes. "Anyway! It's great to see you, and I'm honored to be at the base finally. It's a really nice place!" She noticed Ophelia hiding behind my legs, "Oo! Hola! You must be Ophelia!" She bent down to greet her niece. She nodded and came out of hiding to interact with her again. I looked back at the two, the discomfort obvious on my face. 

I'm sure she can see the obvious within me. She got a little snarky already. I just need to keep it chill, normal, at least. She is my sister, after all. I don't need this to turn out bad. 

"By the way, what's in the crate?" I asked, pointing at the crate that was moving a little. Something alive was inside of it and aching to get out of that box. "Oh, right! It's my pets, my three little amigos!" She turned to open up the crate and pull out the pets inside. She stood up to reveal three ferrets, each of their own fur coats. "The white one is Mozzarella, the spotted one is Poker, and my little grey fuzzy one here is William! Son mis pequeños encantadores." She commented, holding each out if we wanted to pet any. 

I'm a little frightened by their claws. They look like tiny devils. Villem was the only one to reach out and pet them. The three ferrets took a liking to his attention. Maria put them back, reminding herself of something else she forgot to do.

"Right! I didn't introduce myself. My name's Maria, es agradable conocerte a todos! You all know me as Mylo's twin sister, if he hasn't made it obvious I am the older one." "By five minutes." "Five is enough, Silencio! Anyhoo, I'm so grateful to be working here and offering you many great treats and supplies. I hope we can get along well! As much as everyone gets along with this tarado." She glanced at me, mocking me with her insults. I better start keeping count of the number of times I get called stupid or an idiot. Finn wheeled himself up to give her a handshake and show his appreciation for everything. As were Villem and Ophelia too. I wanted to sneak back into my room but knew that was stupid. I should stop being scared; I expected this when I told her she should come to visit! 

"I don't have your room prepared yet, so If you'd like, you can stay at Mylo's for now. We'll make sure your room is decently sized for you and your small roommates." Finn smiled, wheeling himself away to talk with other soldiers and people of importance. I sighed, waving her to follow with the ferrets. The walk back was awkward for me but not for Villem. He was chattering away with my sister. That kept her occupied, at least so that she would not bother me. Except for the fact that both were loud and conveniently making conversation about topics both knew. He is truly extroverted and has already put himself on my sister's good side. I opened my room, standing out of the way for her to bring her bags and crate of ferrets with her. Setting them aside while she looked around my house. 

"Your place is a little... dense. ¿Incluso limpias tu habitación más, hermano?" She spitefully picked at a small piece of dust. Her electoral dictionary is mostly Spanish. I hope she knows these two have no clue what she is spouting. "No, I haven't cleaned in a while, no tienes que hablar español." My Spanish was rusty; I hadn't had to speak it in forever. I'm influent more than anything. Maria's smile turned into a frown. "I see you haven't cleaned up on your Spanish-speaking skills. I'm sure mamá y papá would appreciate that." She sarcastically said, the other two confused about what was going on. 

"Maria, my daughter or my best friend don't speak Spanish. Why would I need to use Spanish?" I replied, a little annoyed by her resistance to speaking English only. "¡Creciste en un hogar español! No dejas de hablar español, ¡eso es una pena para nuestra familia!" She argued, her accent growing thicker, doubling down on her scary nature. A little confused, Villem scooted over to me, "What is she saying?" He whispered in my ear, his curiosity spiked. "She said I'm a disgrace to our family for not speaking Spanish." My voice was monotone and clear; I was substantially disappointed she was mad about this.

"¡Eres idiota! ¡No puedo creer que no le hayas enseñado español a tu hija! ¡¿Cómo puede continuar la tradición familiar?!" She continued on; I grew tired of this and blocked Ophelia's ears for a moment. "Maria, por un momento, cállate. Usaré español a tu alrededor. está bien?" She huffed and gave up, shutting up for a moment of silence. I unblocked Ophelia's ears. The Latina woman was a little more aggressive than before about the whole language ordeal. "Alright, no Spanish unless it's only me and you. My apologies to your daughter and best friend here." She stared at the two, her lackluster apology being forgiven either way. "Since I'm staying here and I'm the guest, I'm taking your room until I receive my own." She took her bags and marched to my room. Stressed out, I covered my face and fixed my hair. 

"She's a little moody but she's a magnificent person, sorry this is your introduction to her." I turned to Villem, a little embarrassed by the whole thing. He didn't seem phased, this whole time he had his eyes on her and the argument didn't affect him at all. "It's fine; it's just sibling things. I get it. I mean, I don't have siblings myself, but I understand the pain. She's a really sweet person. Especially when I spoke to her in the hallway, she said she'd teach me Spanish if I wanted to learn sometime!" He jabbered in delight, babbling about my sister. Despite the argument, Ophelia wants to spend so much time with her aunt now. I won't be shocked if she learns fluent Spanish by tomorrow.

"Oh, and Mylo? If you don't want her staying for tonight, I do have an extra room in my house. It was for Wilbur if he ever wanted to stay, but he's living great on his own. I don't mean this in a weird way, but just to get her off your shoulders for a night. Considering her room is probably far from done." 

His thoughts are so obvious, and with how the two are so interlinked so far, I see what he's doing. I want my bed tonight so I have the energy to deal with her tomorrow. I'm sure it's not malicious either; he just wants to give me a break after witnessing this. He's my best friend; I expect nothing less from him. 

"Ask her; I don't know if she'd agree. But I swear if you're thinking of doing something stupid-" "I'm not! I swear, it's just a kind gesture. I just met her; I'm not that vile." He rolled his eyes. Maria walked back out, taking notice of my obviously broken alcohol cabinet. "I was gonna keep silent about this, but did you seriously turn into an alcoholic or something?!" She shouted, staring at all the bottles of booze. I awkwardly stood still but gave a small nod in response. I could feel the fumes coming out of her head; she was infuriated. Villem quickly covered Ophelia's ears for me, blocking her of the sight. 

"You are such an inconsiderate mierda! How could you just turn to alcohol, not to mention I saw cigarettes on your nightstand! ¡Eres tan tonto! You need to shape up immediately! This is why you've gained all this unattractive weight, you ¡Hijo de puta!" She screamed, stomping off to open the window and rushing back to grab multiple bottles of the alcohol. 

"Hey! You can't just do that!" I shouted, attempting to grab one and stop her. "No! Necesitas aprender! Learn to be a better person, hermano! I'm getting you started by throwing these away!" With force, she threw each and every single bottle out the window. All of them crashed on the ground and broke into thousands of pieces. I stared in shock, my alcohol cabinet empty and what remains of it outside on the ground soaking into the dirt. 

"¡Qué mierda! What was that for, Maria?!" I argued; she stammered off to my room and grabbed my cigarettes as well. Throwing them to the ground and stomping on the box. Crushing everything within it. Picking it up and throwing it in the trash. "What kind of man are you?! You will not be an alcoholic or smoker as long as I'm here! I don't want to see you throw away your life! You have great friends and a beautiful daughter! Work on yourself, dick head!" She slapped me, leaving behind a small red mark. Her footsteps were covered in anger as she slammed my bedroom door behind her.

I turned back to Villem, who uncovered Ophelia's eyes and ears. "You know what, please convince her to stay with you. I've already had enough, and it's only been an hour." I pushed my hair back in a stressed-out rage. Taking a seat on the couch to chill out for a few moments.

Chapter Text

Villem's POV

That was honestly entertaining and the scariest thing I've ever seen. She tore into Mylo; I could never do that. Well, he for sure wants her to stay somewhere else for tonight. I might as well ask her if she'd like to. Hell, I could introduce her to Wilbur, too! He might be over if he has the time. I softly knocked on the bedroom door, opening it slowly in case she was gonna yell at me, too. She was angrily walking in circles around his room, her stuff untouched. 

"Hi- I just wanted to ask, since Mylo is a little tense right now if you'd want to stay at my place instead. I have an extra room, just like his. It was meant for my son, but he stays in his own place." I nervously asked as she glanced at me. Sighing and picking up her bags and crate. "He's irritated me enough today, showing me he's now an irresponsible coward. I need my own room anyway. I wouldn't be getting in your way, would I?" I shook my head, allowing her to pass me with her things. Mylo was still seated on the couch stressed out, the whole thing with his alcohol overwhelmed him. I waved goodbye and followed Maria, who was already out the door. 

"Sorry if this was sudden; I didn't expect you to yell at Mylo either." I attempted to make a pitiful conversation. "I'm worried for his health. I'm a bit direct with my brother. All these years, I really thought he had kept himself in shape. I know about his wife but never expected him to lose it completely. He doesn't need to surround himself with alcohol and cigarettes. He's a mess." She vented, a little unimpressed with Mylo and his whole jig. "I've been helping him and actually got him sober for almost a month. Something happened recently, and he relapsed. It's been hard trying to get him off alcohol; I hope that did something." 

"He's lucky to have such a good best friend, a handsome one at that. You tried your best, but leave the force to me. I can get him to stop doing those things." Her compliment made my cheeks warm and pink. The blood flowed rush, sticking to my cheeks.

"O-oh, well, thank you! I tried. I've known him for a long time, so I wanted to help him recover." "I've heard; he told me a lot about you, Villem. Your son, right? Is that the one you were missing?" She asked, my mind a little flustered that she knew me a lot. "Yeah! I'm so lucky to have found him. I'm sure you'll like him, he's a good kid. Or, well, adult, he's grown up quite a lot since I saw him as an infant last." Both of us walked in silence for a bit. My room was far from Mylo's and was quite a walk away. I noticed she was getting tired, carrying her luggage and ferrets.

"Would you like me to carry your things? I see that you're a little tired. I can carry your luggage!" I offered, goofily smiling to make sure I wasn't being awkward. "Oh- sure! Thank you so much. Mylo was right that you're extremely nice and considerate." She handed me her bags. Despite the weight, it wasn't so bad. She definitely held valuable things in here. Some things that weighed quite a lot. "You brought quite a lot; you're not planning on returning home, are you?" I asked, attempting to start up the conversation again. 

"Nope! Having heard this place needed doctors and nurses, I contacted the local hospital I worked at to see if anyone would wanna work in a safer environment, Considering outside right now is a hellhole and a half. I mean, I feel a lot safer here than out there in my house. I'm lucky to have brought everything and people deserving of doing business here." "I see, that's great. Everyone is glad to have you here; I know Finn was. It's been hard on him recently with everything." I replied, reaching my home's door. I set down her stuff for a moment to unlock it.

 "Here we are. The room is to the left. You can just set your stuff down anywhere." I let her inside first. Her stuff was set outside of her room, the ferrets' cage was open, and they were free to roam.

"Did you notice they're very fond of you, Villem?" She said, picking up the white-furred ferret. Petting him carefully in her grasp. "I did; I haven't seen a ferret in person. I'm thankful they like me." I reached over to pet the small rodent. They were long noodles with fur, cat-like almost. They scurried around, playing with each other or exploring the atmosphere. "Would you like to help me set up their toys and playpen?" She asked, opening one of the suitcases. I walked over to help her. Despite her whole outburst earlier, she was a very easygoing woman. She is very passionate about her job and her ferrets. She wasn't too spiteful and untrustful either; she was happy to have someone to talk to. I set up the ferrets' small playpen; these little guys were spoiled more than anything. Having packs and bags full of toys and other equipment.

 "One of them has a name similar to my son's. William, right? My son's name is Wilbur; I thought it was quite a funny similarity." In all honesty, the name is rhythmic to my own. Villem, William. It's a little funny, in all seriousness. "Really? That's quite cute, honestly. William here is rambunctious; he craves attention constantly. The other two can be tame if they want to be." She commented, fetching the other ferrets who were in the middle of play-fighting. I was handed all three of them suddenly. 

"Don't panic! Just hold them like they're babies. They love that." She smiled, backing away a bit to give me space. I did as she said, the ferrets comfortable within my grasp. I was surprised by my skills despite never having been around ferrets in my lifetime. "This is actually so amazing. I can't believe I'm holding ferrets. I thought I'd be getting bit over right about now." She laughed at my small comment. Taking them back and set them in their pen. 

A small knock appeared at my door. I quickly swooped to answer it while Maria played with her pets. It was Wilbur; he was alone this time and seemed to have brought something in a large bag. "Hey, Wil! I didn't expect you to be here; what's up?" I leaned on the door, unsure of what he'd think about my expected guest. "I brought lunch; I thought we could spend time together." He peeked inside the room to catch a glimpse of Maria. Giving me a weird look before looking back a second time. 

"When did Mylo duplicate himself? Who is that?" He asked. I pulled him to the side to give us a little more privacy. "It's his sister; before you say anything, no, I'm not trying to do anything. I thought it'd be a nice gesture since the two were arguing beforehand. Also, she's extremely sweet and a compassionate person. She won't be staying long with me, so I just wanted to offer her the free space that was originally supposed to be yours. Capiche?" I explained, and he simply blanked at me and shrugged his shoulders. Entering the room with the brown bag of food. Setting up the bag on the counter before grabbing his own minimal dish. 

He casually waved at Maria before sitting at the table to eat. "Are you Wilbur?" She asked, grabbing a chair and taking a seat right next to him. He nodded before taking another bite of his food, his casualness a little overwhelming. "It's nice to meet you; I've heard good things about you from your father. My name's Maria." She greeted, holding out her hand. "I'm not too into psychical touch, it messes up my sensitivity. But it's nice to meet you." He monotonously said, glancing back at me. 

"Don't take it to heart. He's got autism and is very serious about his physical touch thing. He's still a great son either way." I jokingly messed up his hair before grabbing whatever he got me from the cafeteria. "You're neurodivergent? I actually used to work with people like that! I apologize; I should've asked about your boundaries first. If there's anything else you need me to know, please tell me!" She said, offering Wilbur a reassuring smile. Who was a little stunned to learn about that information.

"Really? Have you actually worked with people like me? Both autism and ADHD?" He asked, intrigued and focused on this conversation now. "Yeah, I took classes about it as well. I've learned a lot about both, and I wanna make sure I use the information I learned to a respectable degree. It's a surprise; I haven't been around someone with either of those two in a while. But as I said, if you ever have any problem, I can adjust to any of your boundaries. I'm a great listener, too." Wilbur gave me a look, something that appeared as if he was extremely happy. "I see. I'll be sure to let you know about anything else. Has he told you yet that he's ADHD, or is the old man hiding that again?" I froze, forced directly on the spot. It's no biggie; why is he telling her that? None of my friends knew; it even took me a little to figure myself out. But seriously, it's no big deal. I'm just a little more hyper and focused than others. 

"Nope, though, considering he is also ADHD, it means it was a passed down genetic. Is there anything else you know was passed down?" Both of us, in sync, shook our heads. I don't even know where the autism came from; ADHD, I am sure that's my genetics. It might be a direct recessive gene from my family. I wouldn't know if anyone else had it because they kicked me out decades ago. "Hm- I see; sorry, I barged into your personal spaces. I was just curious; you two are very alike in terms of looks and personality. He's almost your twin, Villem." She mentioned comparing the two of us. For a second, Wilbur grabbed his hat, removing it from his head. Revealing to her the antenna. 

"Not exactly twins; my father doesn't have this." I removed my hat as well to prove it. She studied each of us carefully, nodding in response. "I have never seen a tubby with an antenna before besides the other girl that resides here. Po, right? She's a real sweetheart. You both are super unique; I love that!" She giggled, covering her mouth to block out her grin.
I could tell Wilbur already had an immediate connection with her. Someone who understands him and his struggles is all he needs. Not to mention, the boy spilled my details as well. I had finally sat down to eat with him. Surprisingly, there was an extra Wilbur was saving for Tom, but he gave it to Maria to join in. The two wouldn't shut up after he finished his own meal, talking about his fixations and things that gave him an ick. 

The fact Maria was listening and not talking over him made him happier, I could swear I saw him stim at times. He decided to hang out a little later than usual. Getting himself well acquainted with the ferrets and helping her out. His overall mood shifted swiftly as time went on. "I need to head home now; Tom is taking me somewhere later. So I need to brush my hair out and get ready. I'll see you both later!" He waved, heading out the door with whatever was left he brought with him. "He's a great kid. It almost reminded me of work; that's such a great feeling. I'm too much of a workaholic sometimes. I can't live without it." She laughed, cleaning up after herself and the ferrets. 

"I don't work often, not anymore. I'm a photographer; It's my specialty." I grabbed one of my cameras from the shelves to show off. Impressing her with my old antique cameras, some being significantly older than my son. "These are amazing; you must've spent a lot on them." She commented, soon sighing, "I'm super glad you offered me a place to stay temporarily. This has calmed my nerves from earlier, not to mention I enjoy the kindness you've shown me. If you'd like, you can accompany me on my first day tomorrow. I need someone to photograph the equipment and things to keep track of. I want you to be that guy for me." She requested, awaiting my answer. 

Oh man, really?! Photography and with her?! Of course, this is a one-time opportunity I am not passing up! "Yeah, of course! I'm free to tag along!" I replied with a slight grin, fixing up my camera collection to prepare myself for tomorrow. "Lovely! You can also help me move when Finn is finished with my room." She clasped her hands together, unloading her miscellaneous items.

Maybe I should ask her to hang out outside of our rooms sometime? Maybe to get coffee or something? If anything, it'll get her well acquainted around here. "Of course. After all that, would you like to, y'know, grab some coffee sometime? Anything caffeine specific?" I asked, nervously twiddling my own fingers. "I'd love to. If you don't mind, I'm gonna go work on setting up my medicine and needles for tomorrow. I need to be sure I have the correct amount set." She disappeared into the guest room, shutting the door behind her for extra privacy. I stood tall for about a minute, unsure of what to do now. 

At least tomorrow's planned out, and I helped her settle in well. I'm proud of myself! I did some good again. I hope that the two eventually get used to each other's company again. For now, if they need separation, I guess that's how it is. Luckily, now there's help. I'm sure everything and everyone will be back in session in no time!

Chapter Text

Po's POV

The cats surrounded me as I tended to their food bowls. I bent down to caress their backs as they ate. I can't believe I'm allowed to take care of Mischa and Mark! Finn said it would be a big responsibility but I'm responsible! Who says I can't be anyway? I'm almost seventeen, one year closer to being a full-fledged adult! 

The duties that I had conceded on my shoulders weren't a problem. Finn nor Richard could be as active as they wanted to anymore. With one being infected and the other wheelchair-bound, I was about their best replacement to fulfill duties. Their furry felines brushed against my pants as they fled to their cat tree. It's almost hard to believe those two are big cats now, it was virtually yesterday they could barely walk. The hefty bag of cat food slumped against the wall as I left the room. Their cats were well-fed and cared for, it was time to explore the base once more.

In recent times, the cramped halls lessened their tense muscles. With the updates about the cure the science department has spoken about; everyone's elated. Almost entirely dependent on the field's savoring grace. Despite those claims, most are uncomfortable and on edge half the time. Blissfully unaware as people believe me to be, I've noticed the change. I'm not entirely sure what happened but something altered every living soul in these walls. Finn's disability, Miles' condition, and the fact areas in the base are in complete shambles. It's hard to not notice when it's all around you. On a usual day, the base would be bustling with energy. But today wasn't likely, it was quiet, meek, with a few whispers here and there as people worked.

It changed my direction towards one of the base's heftier doors. The area where they kept Richard and Mylo's wife under containment. I've heard that they lock up newborns downstairs in those glass cubbies. But rumors are rumors, maybe I'll see the real thing eventually. My paw pushed open the heavy door as my eyes spotted the two. Normally they're active too, but today this is the most I've seen them lounge. Richard was occupied by his nails and some paper he accidentally shredded. Viyra, on the other hand, cornered herself off in the opposite direction. Her silver-lining eyes pierced through me with an uncomfortable low growl. That brought attention to my entrance, which excited Richard who waved me down with his large hands.

"Hey! Just wanted to let you know I fed the feisty felines," I said, approaching his door and inviting myself inside. He smiled, turning to pick up something. My attention sought to see what he grabbed, my eyes peeking around. It was a larger note paper with messily written handwriting. I graciously grabbed it and tried my best to decipher the writing. 

Awh how sweet, it's a note about how much he appreciates me! Oh— and how much he wants to get outside. "You're improving with your writing. I think you've exceeded beyond chicken scratch. I appreciate it, Richard." I teased, pulling him into a half-assed hug to prevent any injuries on both sides. He smiled and nodded with a short but genuine response. I watched him try to grab another stack to move before he sliced his finger on the sharp angles. "Ah!" He winced, shaking and blowing at his hand.

"Minor papercut, hold on, I'll get you a bandage from the medical department!" I comfortably tapped his paw, running back out into the halls. It wasn't an issue to run when people weren't scowling the halls up and down. Besides, the medical department wasn't far and surely will be busy. Maybe after I can pay a visit to Lenny since the engineering department is right next door. It wasn't long before I snuck into the hall labeled 'MEDICAL DEPARTMENT', with various doctors and nurses roaming around. I avoided all of them and softly jogged into their main supply area.

 The door squeaked open at my attempt to enter. Inside were a few practicing nurses with dummies and their kits. But two stuck out, it was Villem and that new woman. The two were hanging out on her work shift. She was busy attending to a dummy while he jotted notes. Sometimes she'd tap him to get a photo of supplies in all sorts of arrangements. Maybe they'll have a bandaid on hand.

"Hi, Villem!" I whispered to not garner a crowd of working tubbies. My hand waving the two down caught wind of their eyes. The lady waved with a warm smile and a fixed shifty coat. All the while Villem put down his things to formally greet me. "Oh, Po, it's good to see you! How are you doing?" He asked, shifting back to his discarded camera with its attachments. Professional photographer attachments, these photos mean business! "You know, the usual. I've not got much on my plate compared to Finn and the others. What's up with you?" I shrugged, taking in the bleachy smell of the ward. The woman near Villem packed away equipment while the older man laughed. 

"Same Old, but I'm helping Maria today. You remember Maria, right? Mylo's sister." He formally introduced her again. She gave a small wave before attending back to packing. Right! Maria is her name. She seems more than comfortable already being in the base. She must feel right at home. "Oh hey— before I forget, do you guys have any bandaids? Richard sliced his finger." I asked, stepping on my tippy toes to view the room from a different angle. If by any chance I'd spot a bandaid sitting lonesome.

"I've got some, sweetheart. Here." Maria spoke, her accent heavy with a soft tone. She shuffled her hand in the bag before she pulled out a pink bandaid.

She handed the relic into my palms with a smile. "Will that be big enough for his cut?" Maria asked once more, pulling out two other-sized bandaids. Her whole bag was packed with miscellaneous sizes of bandages or clothes. She's prepared, possibly too prepared? "This'll do, don't worry! Thank you!" I clutched the bandaid in my paw and headed back towards the direction of the infected's room. 

The two wished me well, but their conversation became mute to my ears as the distance grew. I nearly bolted back, with adrenaline pumping through my veins. However, as soon as I hit the door and the room, I left all that energy behind. It upset Viyra, her infected state isn't a fan of the hustle and bustle. But according to Mylo, she used to be a hefty party animal with too much energy to contain her. Her infected state reversed that severely, it feels pitiful. I wish she could join in on all the excitement, though she's just as moody as the rest of the base.

"I've got your bandaid!" I informed him, stepping into his area and undoing the bandage. He held out his extended fingers, their black charred tips growing slowly every second. But the cut was visible, rather it wasn't bleeding, it was halfway healed. "Richard— your cut is almost healed?!" I shouted in confusion, the sliced skin rekindling life in front of my eyes. That's amazing! Infected can heal themselves. A slow process but might be of use to the science team. Unless they know; but it doesn't hurt to tell them again. Besides I'll probably find Lenny there, he helps them occasionally. He chirped quietly, eyeing the bandaid and his healed finger. 

"You still want the bandaid?" He nodded, a smile curved on his dark pale cheeks. His finger, animated, twitching with intentions to be bandaged. I curled the bandage around his finger and tapped it. "There you go! I'm sure you feel much better now. I'm sure if you didn't have these claws, you'd do it yourself." I sighed, brushing myself off to ready myself for the walk to the engineer's department. He nodded, followed by a rough and dry sigh. Richard's face crevassed into a beat-up frown. His eyes lingered away from contact as if that comment stuck to him. 

I'm sure he misses doing things on his own. He hasn't been out much at all. They should let him go out once in a while! He's the Captain yet is treated so delicately like a child. I just wish I could make a difference for him myself.

"I'm gonna go see Lenny, alright? I'll be back later, we can cut your nails and paint them again when I'm back! How's that sound?" I asked, my hand curved on the door that separated the outside of the area and the inside. Richard wasn't so responsive anymore but he understood. Simply he returned to his comfortable corner to return to his writing business. Papers among stacks of others slid in his direction as he plopped down in the corner. It was my sign to leave, my paw closing the door behind me and exiting the room fully. This left my agenda to visit Lenny. Who either would be in the engineering department or the science department. Who knows; Lenny runs off wherever the wind takes him.

By my good guessing skill, I found him in the engineering department first. He was fumbling around with big machinery, the tools creaked amongst the havoc of noise. "Lenny?" I said, but not loud enough to overpower the machines. He was well-focused on the playful metal, ticking it from time to time. "Lenny!" My yelling perked his ears but nothing of advantage. He shook it off and continued his work. Gonna do something that's totally not safe at all.

I approached the man and hit him in the back. Startling him out of his phased demeanor. "Jeez Po! You could've gotten us both hurt!" He whined, sitting down the tools and stretching his crooked back. "You didn't hear me the first two times–" He shut me down immediately with a teasing eye roll. "The noise of silver can do something to one's hearing. But what's up?" He stumbled over his gear to safely block off his unfinished project. Furthering enough distance to avoid absolute disaster.

"I know you're a huge deal to the science nerds— and I think I witnessed evolution!" I said, using vibrant hand motions to pump up my discovery. "Go on..." He squinted, the dark blue-furred tubby adjusting his goggles. "When I was with Richard, right? He got a paper cut— hear me out, there's more— I went to get him a bandaid and get this! His injury healed itself!" At first, he hadn't moved a muscle but seconds after he quietly giggled. Almost amused at my phenomenal discovery that could alter the rest of the apocalypse. He silenced his chuckles with a humorous sigh.

"Oh, I can't laugh kid— I know you didn't know but the science team figured that out ages ago. It was one of the first tests they ran on newborns." He cracked up again, throwing himself into a fit of laughter.

"How come no one told me this?!" I furrowed a brow; my self-esteem was discouraged. Of course, the good ol' "you're still a child, it shouldn't be your problem." But it is! My siblings are dead because of it. It is my problem and HAS been my problem! I wanna know every nitty-gritty detail. Every minute sector and group they've figured out! It's not fair that I'm outcasted for my age. "Relax— honestly, it's good you're open to seeing differences in the infected. Recently— ah, the team hasn't had a good... look... from the update I've heard."

 The air was inhaled through his sharp teeth. His awkward posture is not helping the case of bad news. "What's wrong? Did the newborns evolve again—" He squinted with an amused laugh. "Wish it were the newborns— but, no, they've discovered parasites in the infected only under the umbrella of custard consumers. That includes Viyra, Richard, and many others; especially your siblings." Lenny confronted, his tone switched from the underbelly laugh to a cold silver touch.

"P-parasites? You're kidding right, I was expecting the newborns to turn mecha— but parasites?! Only custard consumed infected?! How does that happen?" The question left plot holes, and unopened answers without answers. An underlying sense of confusion. "They don't know either! They've even tried to experiment on Richard and Viyra but it led to severe injuries and no results. The team feels their parasites are already accustomed to their prisons, therefore, it's useless to try and experiment. We can't use your brothers, they're both bits and pieces they've been Frankensteining." His eyes shifted, the approach off-putting and at an awkward point. "Then who else?" "That's their question. Personally, I know there are other infected out there that consumed custard but finding them is a problem. Your sister is one of them, the team's last update was her being spotted in the Satellite Station. She could've scouted to another location by now!"

A stupid but daring idea came to my head. One that involved scavenging and survival. "Maybe you all could send me out to look for her. She is my sister, after all, I could track her down easily." The reaction from the dark blue tubby stood out as my answer. He was astounded and shook his head with a weird look. "I get you wanna help but it's a big job, you're at constant risk of attacks and the science teams need DNA. Some type of sample of her parasite. She'll tear you to shreds before you even spot her yourself." The idea of my sister ripping me apart was chilling. After all, I was the one to witness her initial death. Something that stands out in my brain half the time. I wake up and can still hear her sobs of pain.

"Fortunately, I won't be alone. I'll bring Richard—" "Woah! Hey! Po, you know the rules; he can't leave that area. Even if he's our last resort." Lenny argued, shaking his head with an exhausted huff. The idea to him and probably multiple others was stupid but in my head it made sense. Richard's the best optional choice. From wanting to get him out of the area to having his defense in the Outskirts. People underestimate that he's the same muscular tubby they looked up to! He can be that man again if they just let him leave with me. 

"No one else is willing to go out and find my sister! Besides, all Richard does all day is stay squeezed inside that small container. He needs to know what freedom feels like again. Not caged up like an animal!" Lenny alone would argue further. He opened his mouth for a split second but closed it with a hushed groan. It was a losing battle against me, I wasn't gonna take no for an answer. Even if Finn got involved, Richard's more than deserving to be treated as equal again.

"Listen, Po— I get it, I don't agree with the way we've handled our own boss. But likewise, it's the rule. The soldiers agree and we don't need anyone questioning the leadership around here. It's hard enough as it is." He rolled the wrench in his hand with a scuffed face. I furrowed my brows in retaliation. But why should I get mad at Lenny? He doesn't control the system! "I'm gonna speak to Finn then. I'm sure he'll listen to me." I said, turning my attention to the exit door. Steps in and I almost ran into another tubby. It was the yellow-furred girl who worked with Lenny's department. "Oh I'm so sorry, excuse me." She smiled. 

Oh right, she's the one with Gary. It caught Lenny's attention with a long sigh. "Mars, I thought today was your off day?" He said, screwing in something that was far out of my reach. "Who said? I can get my hands dirty whenever I want. This isn't stopping that." She pointed to her stomach, a slight bump visible, and laughed. I was particularly filled in on the drama and antics that happen outside of everyone's jobs. In her case, everyone's worried a new mouth to feed in the future could cause issues. "Well, I'm sure it's not healthy either. Where's Gary?" She moved past me, elegant enough to equip her toolbox and various items.

"You know, running around. I'm not his babysitter." She teasingly scoffed, nudging the working man. He rolled his eyes, resuming his work. "I'm just saying, with that whole thing he should be providing for you. But it's Gary I'm talking about, a clueless idiot." It enabled a one-on-one quiet argument about the enabling traits of Gary. Decidedly, I left without a word to add to the commotion. 

My legs ran down the hall guided to Finn's office. It was a lengthy jog across the base. Exhaustion followed as soon as I turned the doorknob. To my surprise, he was inside, tidying up the place in his wheelchair. Finn can walk, it just hurts too. It should be enough of a reason for me to go outside with Richard as a guide/guardian. I'm gonna hope he's not in another sour mood today. It might dwindle my chances if so.

"Hey Finn, are you busy?" I asked, letting my presence be known. It almost startled the black-furred tubby as he shook his head. His head focused on the at-hand task of cleaning. "Not at the moment, or any moment nowadays. What's up, kid?" He shuffled his attention to me, a tired smile glistened on his face. 

"To my 'knowledge' from an anonymous source, the science team needs parasites and infected DNA. Y'know, to conduct experiments and figure out the closest thing to a cure. I was thinking... Just an idea... If Richard and I could—" "You want to leave the base and find it yourself?" I bit my lip and nodded, avoiding eye contact for the expected bad news. He's gonna say no too. Goddamn, why does no one believe I am strong enough to go out?!

"Are you sure, Po? It's risky and you can't see too well. What if something jumps out at you?" He raised a brow, crossed his arms snuggled against his coat. "Richard can see, I can be his ears and he can be my sight! We work perfectly and if anything does occur, you know Richard will take care of it." Finn looked away, followed by a heavy sigh and his nose scrunched. 

"I know but it's dangerous and— I just don't want Richard to get overwhelmed, alright? He's not exactly fit for that scenario." He exclaimed, wheeling himself to his desk with a perplexed thought. "But he's the captain! Why won't any of you treat him like it?! He can handle himself and I know damn well he would rather be outside than in that cell! Finn, please! Do this for Richard, he should have a choice in the matter." I argued, relaxing my muscles from the sudden rage that overcame me.

Finn sat silent, his eyes boarded to the floor. The quiet that filled the room almost made the fur on my back stand up. It was clear that he was arguing back and forth to himself about this. Lately, things haven't been so violent. I've picked up on that. You don't see people carrying a weapon anymore. It's about time I should experience the world again.

"I can't stop you, nor do I plan to. You're right, I've been keeping him caged like an animal. All he wants is to get out again. I'm sorry, I grant you the access to leave." He turned back around, wheeling himself closer to put his hands on my shoulders. "Be safe, okay? You two have hundreds counting on your trip, even if they don't know it. I would come with but, I'm not exactly in stable shape. I'll inform the rest." Finn said, moving back to his desk where the microphone lay. 

"You sure no one's gonna stop us? Lenny tried to." I added, tugging at my coat nervously. "They'll try, but understandably no one else wants to seek out the infected. You and Richard have more confidence than most soldiers." He laughed, turning on his microphone to alert different sectors. Finn wished me off to get ready. By that time I was so full of adrenaline, pumped to leave the crowded halls of the base. Excited to experience the world again, despite its gloomy demeanor. Make a change for everyone, or hope I do.

The run back to Richard felt like mere seconds with how infused with adrenaline I was. He sat there quietly, focused on the two pets he kept as a company. The volume of my excitement lessened to avoid an angered sherbet infected. I softly jogged up to his area and opened it, moving myself away from the opened door. "Guess who's going on a mission?" I smiled, watching his face glow for the first time in months. His lengthy build stood up straight, and his transparent pupils stared out in my direction. 

He found himself outside of his cage again, something that sounded so aloof to him at any other time. He stepped around a few times, breathing in the outside of his cell. He smiled down at me with a look of 'thank you'. "Now that you're out and about. We need to prepare, I'm sure you've got a few ideas?" I asked, looking up at the semi-infected. Richard nodded and heaved off to gather supplies. I followed shortly behind, slapped with a smile across my scar-induced face.

The fear of other soldiers didn't stop us both from gathering needed supplies. In the end, we had two full bags of various items. Survival, weapons, notable items, and a camera given by Villem. He said just for capturing photos of the infected. Most of the people I didn't expect to agree with this were all alright with it. Mainly because then they wouldn't have to go out and do it. 

All that awaited us was the opening of the gate. Waiting for us were Finn and Dutch. Finn had something in his arms, a coat of some kind. While Dutch hid something behind his back. "You two overprepared, expecting a long journey?" Dutch teased, tapping the thing behind his back. "Outskirts are far away... and none of the helicopter-certified people want to take us. Besides, Richard said it wasn't a bad idea to over-prepare. We're ready for anything." I said, nudging the tall man who carried both the bags.

"Sounds like him, in that case, I have something for you Richard," Finn said, showing off the thing in his arms. It was a coat, similar to Richard's old one. But it had stripes stitched into the sleeves. Resembling Finn's old coat. Richard eyed it up to down and gleefully smiled, carefully accepting the gift. "I know your old coat was destroyed. Custard isn't exactly a removable stain.

 So I made you a new one and even implemented features off of mine. Still just as warm and cozy as your original coat." I had to help Richard get it on, avoiding holes made from his claws. He was obsessed with it, turning a few times to show it off. It felt like I witnessed him feel alive for the first time in ages. Almost like the same man I first met after witnessing tragic events beforehand. "Th..anks!" He coughed, showing his appreciation. "I'm glad you like it, I wanted a piece of me to join your travels." Finn hugged the taller man, embracing his stiff body.

"Right, well, since Richard has his gift. Po, Finn wanted me to present this to you. He would do it himself right now but obviously, he's wetting Richard's new coat with his tears." Dutch laughed, pulling the thing out from his back. I was surprised to see something I wasn't expecting. It was a baseball bat. Shined and shaved with a hinted glisten added to it. 

"Finn didn't want to give you a gun. But he had me craft something up for you. It is a modifiable baseball bat. You can add anything to it. Believe me, this bad boy can crack a newborn's skull right open." He grinned, handing the bat to me. I held it with antsy anticipation, grasping it in my palms. I test-swung it and found it a perfect fit for me. It wasn't too heavy but not too light either. It fits into my bag too. "Thank you so much, I'm sure this'll help. That's if I can see the newborns coming." I teased, focusing back on my blindness. A baseball bat could help with mindless swinging. I could hit something and never have seen it coming!

The two beside us finished their goodbyes. I got to hug Finn for the gift and my departure. He patted my back and wished me well. "Remember, we left a walkie-talkie on you, Po. Any signal will come back to me. Make sure to tell me your status and if medical attention is needed." Finn said, holding his walkie-talkie. The gates opened behind the two, greeting us to the outside of civilization. 

"Will do, we'll come back safe and sound!" I said, Richard and I moving past them. The two of us stood across from Finn and Dutch. Our new gifts in possession and bags on our shoulders. "Stay safe! Get us that DNA!" Finn yelled, waving at us from his wheelchair. The gate doors creaked upon their slow descent to shutting. We waved until our view was blocked from theirs. Richard and I took in the view and the distances of woods and grass. Stumbled off by a few newborns lingering in the far distance.

"It feels so... different, but nice," I said, holding my bag and eyeing the perimeter. It wasn't the same as Mainlands. Nothing would measure up to Mainlands. But it was beautiful, nonetheless. Richard, in his way, was impressed to be outside. He stepped around and marched off to a nearby trail. The supposed trail that'll get us on our way. I followed with a pep in my step, joining him side-by-side. 

It's so good to be outside again. Maybe now, the two of us can make a difference. It's off to the Outskirts! 

Chapter Text

Po's POV

Hours passed us unsuspectingly, the two of us strung out in the woods—a few newborns here and there but nothing extreme. Richard supposedly had a map that was in a place called his head. He's the captain, he knows these trails like the back of his hand. However, I'm a bit worried about something catching us off-guard. My eyes lingered on the trees and green grass. The rattle of bushes from passing animals. I've probably counted all the squirrels we've come across. A few I've snapped photos of. Richard did scold me since we had limited film and that shit is not easy to come by. I realize a lot isn't, most businesses are dead. The military somehow still has a working reign of suppliers. But not much. 

"Hey, Richard, where are we now?" I asked, seeing no exit to the greenery and its ever-growing vines. He silently walked, reaching in his pocket for a notebook and pen. It's a good thing I cut his nails along the way. Another task I'll have to keep up on. Richard wrote short but handed off the notebook to me. 'Forest. Town not so far from here. 3.2 miles.' I groaned in retaliation for the long walk we'd been taking. 3.2 miles better go by fast. Besides that, a town? I've never been to a tubby town. I've only heard from Maria and supposedly those things have been abandoned. Most have run out of their homes or succumbed to death. She didn't speak highly about the other option. It was too much for her to talk about.

Entertainment came in the form of me playing Ispy or Simon Says. Richard is either half-there or unable to play. Regardless it was good for keeping my brain grooving. Dipsy once said mind games were the best substitute for music. Makes me kind of miss hearing him sing alongside our boombox. But at least I can keep his spirit alive with the fun of games! My distraction from games made me forget my surroundings. 

At some point, Richard had to catch me from tripping. At that moment I noticed the change in our environment. We left the forest behind and engraved ourselves in the outskirts of a town. It was empty, abandoned, and in pieces. Richard stared at it, a saddened look melted onto his face. He silently walked on the road with me trailing behind. I couldn't help but stare at the mess. Blood, fur, limbs, anything the wildest imagination can think of. My fingers entwined with the back of Richard's coat. Keeping myself from separating from him in this gruesome state of events.

Richard froze, stopping us both in our tracks. He held an arm out to keep me behind him. Whatever set him off wasn't any of my business. My mind wandered about possibilities til I heard a low growl. It was another infected, nearby in the wreck of the town. Richard's mouth frowned in a low groan. His eyebrows furrowed. The noise got closer, mixed in with the noise of shuffling and fallen planks. It didn't catch my eyes until I saw the thing appear. 

It was another tubby, severely infected and mutilated. Its neck was elongated and dragging against the ground. It's head and face half-blown off, it's open mouth and tongue dragging the dirt. Its empty eyes stared into my soul as the thing struggled to walk. Its back crooked and its legs walking ahead of its arms. It groaned a heavy croak escaped its unhinged jaw. I kept myself behind Richard to avoid finding my way into its scent. It felt pitiful to watch it attempt to walk. Its limbs were in no shape to keep up with its body and head. I watched it look directly at Richard. In a second, its neck twisted over itself. Its lopsided head stood in a shaken and bouncy effect. Its mouth leaked a sort of substance I couldn't make out. Its neck in a twisted squeeze oozed blood and custard. 

The way it stood reminded me of a jack-in-the-box. Its arms and legs kept its body from falling over. The infected was startled, standing its ground against Richard. Who wasn't impressed with the twitchy creature.

It hissed, stumbling off to the other side of the road. Its legs contorted, pulling up planks and trash to hide itself under. The monster disappeared under a collapsed house. Leaving the two of us alone with the fact that it's wandering around. "What the hell happened to that thing?" I whispered, walking beside Richard who trudged forward. From my decisive guess, it was attacked but fended off its attackers. 

I mean what else could've left all those limbs?! Richard just shook his head and kept it low. He wasn't in the mood to get involved with other infected. He preferred to keep it as close to newborns as possible rather than his own type.

The crunch of dirt beneath my boots echoed amongst the gritty scene. The more we progressed, the duller it got. "I can't believe this is my first introduction to a town... and it's abandoned." I huffed, holding my bag close. The smell wasn't any better either. Burnt rubber to blood splatters. Richard shrugged, walking patiently with his notebook in hand. He handed the whole book to me as I read out his writing.

'Towns outside of the military happened to be our main line of support. This one especially. The tubbies that lived here were nice people, kind and gentle souls. It's a shame that most are corrupted as I am or dead. I can only hope most went out mercifully. I'm so sorry you never got to witness a thriving society. Maybe one day.'

"Yeah... one day I will. I can imagine my siblings will get to do the same. To live normally... outside of a forest..." I muttered, thinking about how isolated we were. It hit me most nights, the four of us locked out of a true heaven. A true way to live. We couldn't wander around buildings, or houses, not even a park. 

Sometimes, it aches to think about the fact that we simultaneously agreed there was nothing out there. Only mountains and weird spooky caves. It pains me to see how much of a life we were screwed out of. Not to mention, White, the whole system barred him from ever knowing his dad. His whole life was centered around ours. He had nothing to live for outside of our own. I... I wish I could've seen the signs sooner. Tears slipped down my cheeks but rubbed off instantly. It caught the attention of Richard who carefully patted my back. Reassuring me that it'll all be okay.

The town carved itself into a neighborhood. Its bleak appearance reveals its broad rotten smell. Just enough mold and fluids to make me gag. Surprisingly, the springy infected is the only one we've crossed. It begged the question in my mind that possibly infected outside of newborns isn't that common. I've only ever seen well... six or so. My siblings make up half of that margin. "How much farther?" I asked, nudging the taller man. A feeble groan popped from his lips. The notebook made its desired appearance again. This time he showed me the page without the need to throw it into my hands. 

'Not much farther. We'll be crossing by a lake soon enough.' 

A lake? Ooh, maybe it's like mine back at the tubby dome! Y'know it took me forever of contemplation to realize it wasn't an ocean. It expanded for MILES yet there was an end in the distance. Sometimes I wish I could go back, build a boat, and explore it. Wouldn't that be nice?

I nearly tripped when I noticed something caught my footing. The rattle that echoed off my caught leg turned my face pale. My eyes saw the thing from earlier using its twisted fingers to tear its claws into my pant leg. I yelped as I lost my footing, falling to the ground. "Richard! Richard!" I shouted, feeling the thing grasp my leg. It didn't waste a second to try and drag me away. By that point, Richard noticed and tried to pull me back. His arms wrapped under and over my shoulders. 

The result was a rough tug-of-war. My leg felt as if it was about to rip off if they kept this fight up. I tried to kick it off using my other leg. Its tight grip clawed its way into my leg. Tiny holes being punctured into my leg as I squirmed. I'm gonna lose my leg, are you joking?! It's not gonna give up on dragging me away. Besides, I can't even see where it is! It's hiding after pouncing for its prey. My eyes looked back and scanned the wreckage. But a second idea came to light. I should've just done this to begin with.

My arms reached back into my bag. Their tiny stature struggled to grab the bat from my bag. I grunted, reaching all that I could to grab it. Richard saw what I was doing. He loosened his grip with one arm to help hand me the bat. The thing tugged at the perfect moment as he lost his grip on me. My body slid back against the dirt towards the direction of the beast. But with my bat in hand, I swung down at its arm pumping adrenaline in my veins. I heard the shattering of its bones, its fingers opening its grip. Enough for me to back away and swing again. The thing's fingers clawed at the ground. This time, it fled from its mountain of broken planks.

It screamed with its unhinged dragging jaw as it approached. Crawling towards me with the momentum of a spider. Sweat poured down my head as I readied the bat again. My bloody leg was pulled back to avoid another injury. Its neck was twisted, its body gouged and its head full of visible animalistic rage. Their head sprung forward, pouncing towards me. I swung in a panic. Hitting it dead-on in the head but not enough to kill it. My eyes widened as they rose back up. A large dent struck its skull. 

Exposing bits of brain and blood. It screamed once more, almost mockingly. My eyes were unfocused, my vision worse than it already was. To see the thing pounce at the perfect time would be a one-in-a-million chance. I did what I said to myself before. Aimlessly, I swung around, seeing as if it'd distract it. If I make myself look foolish, I can have enough time to regain a bit of sight. It was a futile idea, it wasn't phased at all. Its claws dug into the ground as it rushed at me again. I anticipated the oncoming attack, swinging with a blurred shine in my eyes.

I froze up hearing the infected screech. I blinked wildly to regain most of my vision. I witnessed Richard jump onto the creature and dig his own claws into it. It was different, seeing him get physical, instead of silent with a gun. The thing tried to throw the weight of him off, with a desire to escape and murder us both. I stumbled back up onto my feet. Richard had enough of this playing around. 

The claws on his blackened soaked fingers expanded defensively. My mouth sulked into a frown as I watched those pointed killers gouge themselves into the thing's head. Its eyeballs, or what's left of them, splitting apart. His hand pulled back, the head of the infected splitting five different ways. Brain matter scattered or stuck in the crevasse of Richard's claws. The infected stiffened, the life left in it gone.

I stood there watching him get back on his feet. His eyes pierced the dead infected and back at me. He stared at his claws for a moment before throwing them back down to his sides. The injury on my leg stung, my leg shaking in dire need of assistance. I tiredly put the bat back, breathing in relief of our survival. Richard rushed back, checking out my injury. He couldn't use his notepad, but I could tell he wanted to ask if I was alright. "I think I need to sit down for a couple of minutes. I need to bandage my leg. Oh and, cut those claws for you, big guy." I painfully teased, trying to shake off the irritated pain in my leg. He nodded leading us both to a log.

Pulling my jeans back wasn't an easy matter. The blood had dried, making it painful to pull back my jeans. The dried blood ripped off the wound. Exposing the punctured holes in my red fur. Richard helped by getting another log to stand my leg on. I rummaged through our backpacks, finding the supplies I needed. Rubbing alcohol and wrappable bandages. 

I gritted my teeth, my eyebrows furrowed as I poured the alcohol on. Holding back tears in my eyes as it cleared out any infection. Richard carefully patted my back, smiling softly. I set the alcohol aside and began wrapping my injury. It was tight enough not to come loose or keep my leg stiff. Finished with my version of playing doctor on my leg, I pulled the pant leg back down. Rearranging our things and putting them back. It left me cutting down Richard's claws. That alone would take us some time. Especially cleaning off fleshy bits stuck in between places.

I anticipated it taking an hour but it was a mere thirty minutes of cutting them down. He was able to use his hands again but thanked me using his mouth. Both of us were on our feet again, we set off for the lake. I watched as the sun was setting behind us. Daylight was coming to an end soon. We have an hour or so to find somewhere to rest. Hopefully, the lake isn't that far. I tried to set aside what happened to focus on our journey. But Richard had other plans. He wrote quietly on our walk, handing the notepad to me. 

'I'm sorry you got hurt,' he wrote with a big frowny face at the bottom. It's not your fault; it caught us off guard. I didn't expect it to follow us in the first place!' I sighed, weary of how it camouflaged itself in rubble. I handed the notepad back to receive a response. 'I'm gonna hope the lake is empty. We don't need any more trouble.' I nodded at his writing, hoping for the same.

We walked until the trees cleared out. My eyes pinpointed the lake. It was huge, the water was crystal clear. I was amazed to see a lake after a year or so. But my eyes caught something better. Cabins. "Richard, there's cabins! We could camp out there." I said, pointing down at the lonesome cabins near the shoreline. It was beautiful, even during sunset. It has a dock, too! He seemed uncomfortable with the idea, but nighttime approached fast. He shook his head and led us down a safe path toward the cabins. I stumbled alongside the man as we took a path down to the nearest cabin. 

Chapter Text

Po's POV

Fireflies whirled past us as we ventured down the hill. The rocky terrain was replaced with sandy grass. Richard followed behind meekly, his steps stomping against the ground. "It's getting dark fast; I'm glad there's shelter," I said, motioning to start a conversation. But Richard wasn't for any right now; his head turned to watch our surroundings. I hadn't noticed the weird smell until now. Something stinks, but it might be a dead animal. After all, there doesn't seem to be life around here. The cabins were wide open. The wood structure we approached had its door wide open. But no one was inside to accompany it. We're okay if Richard hasn't picked up on suspicious strangers by now. He would've smelt another tubby by now. Dead smells and abandonment aside, it wasn't too bad of a place to settle for the night.

We took refuge inside the cabin, the two of us huddled in the corner. This cabin felt safer; it had two floors instead of one. It felt safer from the fact we had to climb a ladder up. Realistically, us choosing the second floor might screw us. Though, who would even know we're up here? The dimly lit lantern from Richard's bag brightened our faces. The beating of its heat against my cheek as I scanned my bag. Luckily, I had remembered sleeping bags. Sleeping on the ground, in comfort! Setting up and giving me ideas for conversation starters wouldn't take long. Richard, on the other hand, was tense and paranoid. Something was keeping him on his toes, but he tried to hide it. He'd change his attitude if I looked over only for a wee glance. I think we aren't alone. Though I don't wanna think about that before bed. I'm terrible at dealing with insomnia.

"Are you okay? You seem tense, Richard." I asked, nudging the tall male who was startled out of thought. His mind wandered back into place as he nodded. Signaling a short 'yes' for a half-assed response. "Just making sure, we should get some good sleep. We've got a long road ahead of us." I smiled, crawling into my sleeping bag. I opened his up for him beforehand, only for him to sit on top of it. His pure black eyes watching the open room below. It was pitch black down there, merging with the darkness outside. The sound of wind and the minor noise of nature ticked him off. I didn't want to pry too much. After all, he's not talkative, and it's bedtime. Instead of bargaining for a response, I lay down and stared at the ceiling. My eyes fluttered a few times before I rubbed them with a short yawn. "Goodnight, Richard, sleep well," I said, dimming the lantern to an almost complete blackout. He inched over to pat my head before returning to the keeps of his sleeping bag. His stature is sitting silently on the cozy, makeshift bed. Eyes wandering down the void-like stairs. I didn't watch much; rather, I indulged in sleeping. Once my eyes closed, I was out in a flash.

Beams of sun burnt into my eyelids as they fluttered open. I squinted, looking around at our surroundings. It was morning, the crisp air hitting us both. Richard laid against the wall, guarding the upstairs as if his life depended on it. His sleeping bag was wrinkled and tossed over me like an extra cover. Hmm, I forgot he doesn't sleep like he used to. His body has enough energy preserved to skip out on sleep. Wish I could. My arms lifted my upper body, followed by stretches. "Good morning..." I yawned, rubbing the side of my face. He turned his head and waved, signaling a 'good morning' response. He rose off his feet to collect his bag. Richard paced the premises of the room as I woke up.

Mornings weren't my thing at all. I preferred to wake up late and feel like shit. But we're on an important mission; I guess it's the least I can do to save us time. I groggily got to putting my stuff together. Filling my bag with the various things I got out. While doing so, I wanted to talk to Richard. Some friendly conversation to keep the mood light and the spirits high. "Did you sleep at all last night?" I asked, shoving the sleeping bags into the stuffed bag. 'No.' He croaked, a gruffed groan escaping his lips. "Was it paranoia or the fact that you can't sleep at all?" He shifted to the side with a shrug. He mumbled under his breath, stricken with insatiable chatter. 'Both.' Richard's voice cracked, disturbed by his unusual motive to speak. I wouldn't push further; risking his grumpy attitude wasn't a great move.

The climb down the ladder was easier than last night. I hopped down and walked out the closest door. I gasped at the sight around us. The sun shined down on the water as small waves crashed against the shore. My eyes inched over to another cabin beside us with its doors wide open. That could either mean someone else is here or it's abandoned. However, there hasn't been any activity. "The coast is clear; come on, Richard!" I shouted, eyeing the man who stumbled down the ladder. My shoes crunched against the ground as I marched next to the other cabin. It stood eerily, a contrast to the rest. The wood creaked and shuffled with tiny rocks falling off the sides of the logs. This place is old; I'm surprised it's not falling apart.

I stumbled inside the cabin; except for a few dust bunnies, the place cleared out. The stairs were worn and close to falling apart. Something stood out among the rest as I approached the staircase. Dried blood was plastered across a few of the stairs. There must be more dead tubbies somewhere. It's horrible; this world feels as if it's become a ghost town. My mouth curved into a frown as I tried to ignore the obvious splatter. It wasn't worth my time to indulge in. I didn't get a good look upstairs—how different could it even look anyway? I touched the wall, stirring up dust and crud. "Yuck, someone needs to clean this place up." I scoffed, shaking the debris off. Outside was surrounded by the noise of birds and water; the wind had seemed to calm down. I peered over towards the water and spotted makeshift boats. Though they were weirdly shaped in appearance.

"Richard! Why are those boats so skinny?" I shouted back at the approaching tubby. He gave me a confused glance and pulled out his notebook. He then handed it off to me and walked over to the mess. 'Those are canoes; you can row down a river with those. Finn and I canoed once, but it didn't last long. We flipped it' I chuckled at the last part and caught up with him. He maltreated one of the oars, studying it intently. "You think we can canoe?" I asked, grabbing a broken oar off the ground. Someone had broken it a while ago; the other half was nowhere to be found. Some people are so destructive! Learn to care more about things. Richard tried to laugh, throwing himself into a coughing fit. Droplets of blood and mucus scattered across the dock as I came to his aid. "Are you alright?!" I asked, hitting his back with a swift motion. He waved me off and snorted with a goofy grin. He took his notebook back and wrote something again. His face stirred into grins from smiles.

'You didn't even know what a canoe is. I'm not sure we'd both make it five feet from the shore before it flips. Sorry, I laughed; you seemed too eager. Besides, it's missing an oar.' I read and sighed, dropping the lonesome oar from my hand. It slid off the dock into the water with a small 'pop!' "There goes the other half." I frowned, feeling as if I missed out. Richard patted my shoulder and wrote an extra note. He shoved the note into my vision, wanting me to read it right away. 'Maybe when things get better, I can take you canoeing. The two of us can travel down one of my favorite streams near the base. It passes right by the Outpost.'

"That would be nice! I haven't been out much in the water before." I stared at the vast blue void of water. I was watching bugs hop across the top with ease. We left the canoes the way we found them and moved on. Past the larger cabin was a small bridge and rocks. The water underneath led to a smaller pot of water that trailed off behind the big rocks. The thing that caught my eye was the cabin and tower ahead. I walked ahead as Richard cautiously stayed behind. It didn't take me long to notice how off-put he was. Something's off to him, but I don't think either of us can tell what.

Ahead was a small round clearing with the cabin and tower. The pool of water that drained off the river swept by. No waves to accompany the bound water. It would be an excellent place to swim, but now's not the time. Besides, I have to ask Richard where we're heading next. I turned back and realized the other man had disappeared. He wasn't in sight, no matter the angle I looked at. Huh, he must be wandering. He wouldn't have gone far. Besides. I eyed the open cabin beside the tower. The doors were wide open, too, as if someone just left them all this way. It wouldn't hurt to look around, would it?

The cabin wasn't much for sore eyes or necessarily for partially blind people like myself. It was empty like the rest, containing no such thing as inventory. I walked around, peeking under the stairs and pulling at crevasses. A swift crash of dust blew away as my stomach joined in a rhythmic growl. I'm hungry; I should have snacks in my tiny bag. I left our big ones back at the cabin. My bag dropped down, lying on the wall flat. My hands unzipped the bag and scavenged for a source of nutrients. Something to hold me over until Richard and I stop to make a hot meal. He brought these things the military eat when they're away from the base. All we do is heat them up at a fire! Struggle soon became my current mood, as if finding a snack was deemed impossible. It's buried underneath all this other junk we brought! I should've prioritized the food over supplies.

The blood in my body froze once a paw gripped my shoulder. In a moment to react, I grabbed my bat from the side pocket and swung back mindlessly. A chill ran down my body, hearing the bat hit someone's hand and stop. The wooden weapon stuck in their clutches. The pressure of their grip made the bat unable to withdraw. My eyes focused fast once I turned to who caught me off-guard. My eyes widened into confusion and fear as I saw who. That's not Richard.

The tubby was a weird beige color, their eyes dark and soulless. No pupils to stare back into my shivering soul. They were fatter built, wearing a brown apron and gloves—a cleaver hooked in their pocket. The same is seen on butchers. My eyes wandered to their messy hair and crooked smile. Sharp teeth protrude through each crevasse. On top of it all, they had a moon-shaped antenna. Wait— infected don't just grab things... What are they? It appeared that my physical appearance startled them, too. Their holes for eyes gander at my antenna. Ogling at the sight of another one of their kind. "Test subject." Its voice is gruff and low. Their dialect has a similar tone to that of a caveman.

But this makes no sense! They look infected, and they're even pale! But they can talk just fine with me. All except the fact it's broken English.

"Ah— yes, formally. I can assume the... same?" Their body language was all over the place. But I couldn't tell if they wanted to harm me. They held my bat in a tight grip but kept to themselves. Their wider build hovering over me. "We escaped. A long time ago," It said, its voice scratchy with a hint of enthusiasm. We? WE? It dropped my bat to me, their spacey dots directing back towards the exit. "Follow, come along. Don't fall behind now." It spoke, walking scuff towards the door. I put my bag together and uncomfortably followed behind. This gave me time to think about this— person, or well, people.

They don't appear aggressive. They appeared and held off violence. But I'm going to treat them as if they'll put me in danger after all the broken English and sudden fascination. It screams they've been unable to travel beyond the cabins. Their social skills must be plummeting into the ground.

I followed the gruffed tubby out of the cabin. His arm wrapped around my shoulder as if guiding me his own way. It was uncomfortable, but I didn't want to stand against someone with a cleaver alone. Richard was nowhere in sight, and I grew worried. I stayed cautious around this new tubby. Their off-putting appearance didn't help the way they spoke. It was monotone and unintelligible at times. He mumbled in front of me, things that flew off his breath and over my head. That's when I saw another, a tubby of similar appearance. They have the same dead eyes, inverted antenna, and butcher outfits. But this one's hair was messy, mullet-style, paired with a small amount of facial hair. He stood with a crooked smile as if expecting my arrival.

"You've brought the small red one?" It said, a voice similar to the one guiding me. "I have." I was confused by their short sentences and the need for my existence. They know me; were they stalking us? Or do they live in these cabins? My eyes wandered to see Richard scurry out of the tower. He saw me in the middle of the two weirdly phased tubbies. His face grew sour seeing one's hand around me. But something threw him off. By now, he'd attack. They're complete strangers! But what is so confusing for his infected brain? He couldn't move or decide his next move. It was long enough for the two-wielding tubbies to see him. "The infected one." One pointed at Richard whilst the other grinned. It was so damning for his brain to understand. He couldn't decipher if they were infected or not.

He approached but cautiously, the two soulless sockets staring into his. "Um— so, who are you two?" I nervously asked, ducking myself in one's grip. The messier one, presenting himself maturely, spoke. His sharp teeth joined in a goofy smile. "Klave. That is Kleve." He pointed at the one beside me. "And... what's with the uh—" I bit my tongue, glancing at their empty sockets. "Ill, ill since birth." "Born different." "Yes, different. Flawed, unlike the rest." They chattered, their conversation dimming to deaf ears under whispers.

By then, Richard had joined in beside me. He pushed Kleve away from me, freeing me from his grip. He didn't respond; he was merely silent as he regrouped with Klave. Richard furrowed his brows, unsure of an attack. He can't tell, but at least he'll keep me safe. It was too late for my stomach; it growled again. The twins caught sight of this and smiled at one another.

"You're hungry; you must stay."

"Yes, we will feed you."

"Plenty to share."

"Plenty indeed."

"We have more than enough."

"To satisfy."

"And indulge."

"Yes, stay."

Their back-and-forth conversations creeped me out, but I was hungry and would do anything for a warm meal. Richard wasn't so impressed, skeptical and staring at the two.

"Uh— yeah, yeah, sure. We'd do anything for a hot meal, wouldn't we, Richard?" I nervously grinned at the tall male. He stood silently but nodded to their avail. "Good." And just like that, they scattered off towards the main line of cabins. Richard and I were left alone to catch up with our own thoughts. He was upset enough to write an angry letter at my response.

'What were you thinking?! This is dangerous, just look at them!' He frowned at my short read. If I had given it more thought, the conversation would've gone down a different path.

"I don't know, Richard! I mean, the appearance is creepy, but they're tubbies. They were just... born physically like that. I mean, come on, they're providing a hot lunch. They could've killed us by now or been crazy enough to eat us for protein!" I shouted in a hushed whisper. Not wanting to draw attention from the butchers. "They're probably lonely; I don't think they get many visitors anymore. Besides dried blood here and there, I think we'll be alright." I hummed, crossing my arms.

Richard was irritated, rather pissed off by my compliance to trust these two for a meal. But he had no room to argue; rather, he stood with a sour face and frowned. His pencil crushed the page of the notebook.

'We leave STRAIGHT after a meal.' He growled and went his own way towards the blossoming fire. I understand where he comes from, but they seem desperate for outside communication. Besides, a hot meal is a lot to bargain for out here.

I waltzed up to the fire, watching Richard hang by the lake. He stood at shore whilst the two twins focused on the fire. One of them was equipped with slabs of meat, their raw stench caught in my nostrils. I stumbled up to one of the lying logs and sat down. The two attend to the fire and their plate of stacked meat. There wasn't anything else sided with the full-course meal. I looked around for any animals, lessening my suspicion as none appeared. Animal meat. Good. Kleve eyed me once or twice, but nothing extreme. After all, we're strangers in their home.

"You two ever get visitors?" I asked, crossing my legs on the log. "Visitors?" "Rarely." "They don't last." "Not for long." The two answered, the back-and-forth responses scrambling my brain. "What do you mean by they don't last long?" I squinted, watching the two cackle quietly at each other. "They come and go." "Just passing through." "They don't stay." Kleve and Klave mumbled, the sizzle of meat hitting their makeshift pan. One of them licked their lips at the sight, practically waiting to dig in. The other held him off, scolding him in a monotone fashion. I looked back at Richard, who hadn't come to join in. He needed a moment to settle down. I tapped my lap, unsure of the conversation. The two don't necessarily respond without the other.

On the other hand, I was a target for their conversations. The two whispered amongst each other at me. Their words were muffled and unintelligible. But I caught small phrases here and there. Something about my antenna is all I can make out. They speak as if I'm cryptic hieroglyphics. The three of us are literally the same! Post-test subject tubbies!

I didn't take my chances as they seasoned their meat. My eyes focused on the fabric of their aprons. They were leather, durable, and rugged. Their gloves are made of the same fabric. They must be experts in butchery, then. I didn't notice, with all my overlooking, that Richard joined in beside me. This caught the attention of one twin, who stared at Richard. "What's his deal?" Klave asked, pointing at the irritable man. His scratchy voice wandered off to a mumble. He was speaking quietly under his voice.

"He's not so sure about you two. I mean— thank you both for the meal; it'll help us on our trip. Richard isn't so kind to strangers." I said, giving them my best regards for providing for us. But he didn't respond; he stared and cackled. The other twin alerted us of a hot meal. What sat in front of us was piles of cooked steak. I was half-expecting to see some utensils and plates. My appetite croaked as I watched the twins grab the meat with their hands and dig in. The two eat their meal like wild beasts. Their sharp teeth pulled apart the cooked meal. Small chunks flew everywhere as I picked up my own steak.

I carefully bit into the tender meat. I was surprised by its good taste. This isn't any meat I've ever tried before. This is delicious! It's perfectly seasoned and just the right amount of fat. Richard didn't touch it; he couldn't eat. This was for me and the twins. He simply watched us enjoy our steaks. I'm sure he wishes he could have some. This is so good! I should ask how they started cooking and what their hobby is in butchery. This wasn't the work of an amateur.

"You two are amazing cooks. Did you learn to do that by yourselves?" I asked, chewing down another chunk. But the two tubbies blocked out my question, tearing into another wad of steak. Small chunks flew everywhere as Richard watched in disgust. He got up and stomped away towards the other end of the shore. "Richard—" I opened my mouth, but it wasn't good enough. He disappeared on the other side of the bridge. My brain assumes some fresh air. His attitude took a toll on my appetite. I stared at my unfinished lunch and laid it on a rock. My sudden refusal to eat was picked up by the twins. Their faces were bare, an expression desperately craved, yet none caved. Just two empty stares.

"Not hungry?"

"Disappointing."

"We prepared so much."

"All for you."

"A shame."

"A real shame."

Their mockery nearly guilt me back into eating. But I had to talk to Richard, he was most important right now. "I think I'm full—don't worry, I'll be back. I'm checking in on him..." I moved away from the harsh fire and wandered off the way he left. The twins glared, hands at their sides with cleavers glistening from the sun. I ignored their vicious faces and jolted off to where I thought Richard would be. As expected, he was sitting outside, right on the stairs of the tower. I walked right next to him, plopping down on an empty spot on the stairs.

"Are you alright?" I asked, nudging the tall infected. His blackened eyes glanced at the water ahead of us. His face scrunched as he pulled out his notebook. He was heaving a new page in my face. 'No. Those two are up to no good. Po, we need to leave. ' He was insistent, practically begging to be dragged out of here. "I get what you mean; those two are throwing me off. But we don't know where to go from here." I shrugged, my face squished between my fists. Richard rolled his eyes, wrote something down, and then pointed to the scuffed pathway on our left.

'There should be a cave up ahead. Cave will lead us to a path directly from the Outskirts.'

I could see the pathway hidden between the treeline and overgrown grass. "You would've thought all the people they told me passed through here. That path should be clearer than that." My brain began to wander, seeing how bare this place was. It shouldn't be overgrown; too many people come by and make a permanent pathway. But it is... I could barely make out the path! I mean, I guess some went away by kayak, but the broken oars...

'Face it, there's something off about those two. People didn't just pass by.'

His note made me second-guess trusting those two. From their subtle nature to the fact they stared. Both wielding the ability to make me uncomfortable. It makes me think that their staring at me is something deeper than curiosity. "Right... I think it'd be a good idea to leave now then. They think I'm checking in on you. We could bail, and they'll never know," I recommended, brisking on my feet to get moving again. He stopped me in my path, his head turned at the mainline of cabins. His finger pointed at the house we stayed at. 'Bags.' He croaked, insinuating our luggage.

Oh, right, we left them there to wander. God, that was such a bad idea! Now I have to go back and get them. It's no use leaving our only source of survival with these headcases. "I'll get them for us, don't worry. Just keep an eye out, okay?" Richard didn't hesitate to nod and stayed behind to wait. This left me ample time to run back and get our things. We get ready and go! Can't wait for a second; after all, those two are there.

But my eyes deceived me. No one was at the fire anymore. It was bare and smelt of smoke. The roasted meat was gone, every single last chunk. Not to mention, the twins bailed without a word to spare. The eerie silence was joined by the crisp sounds of fire burning. Cabin doors lined open with no sign of interaction. It's as if the two disappeared without a trace.

I didn't let that stop me from going to grab our supplies. We'd die in the wild without our hefty bags. I stumbled inside the cabin we camped in, grabbing the bars of the ladder and climbing up. The creaks and movements of the cabin didn't help my paranoia. It was scary enough being in this area. Their presence alone sent chills down my spine. Our bags toppled on one another, and things were left as they were. Good, they didn't mess with our supplies. Both of us know no pilot will fly out to bring us more.

I rolled my eyes at the thought and gathered our belongings. A scuffle below caught me off guard, the sound of footsteps interrupting my sneaky escape. In a panic, I pushed the stuff back against the wall and laid flat on the floor, hoping it'd be enough not to see me up here. My eyes wandered around the ceiling, darting at every crevasse to avoid spilling my location. I covered my mouth as I heard more footsteps. This time, a gruff voice spoke, their familiar tone shifting.

"Do you think she'll be tender?"

"Quite possibly, she's well-fed."

"Not too lean, not too fat."

"Perfect balance."

"Imagine the flavor."

"A delicate feast."

My eyes widened at the conversation I was overhearing. I laid my hand flat on my face to avoid screaming in fear. The twins laughed in sync, one pacing around the room. Their motion was in circles, slow, delicate steps. Klave chuckled, the dryness in his voice seeping.

"And that fur."

"Klave, it was soft, luscious."

"So I hear she'd make a fine rug."

"Perfect. She would make a great addition to the collection."

The twins scoffed, the sound of their cleavers pulled from their pockets. My eyes peeked over the rail to see the two below. The both of them licked their lips as they caressed their weapons.

"Her kidneys, Klave."

"Oh, the kidneys."

"Rich and full."

"We split the two, equally fair."

"What's mine is yours."

"As it is."

I moved my head back slightly, wanting to avoid their line of sight. It would be a death wish to get caught now. My kidneys and fur... they're gonna eat AND skin me!

"The infected one, he persists a problem."

"A problem can be solved."

"He can be dealt with."

"He's not on the menu."

"Tainted. Tainted meat."

Their talk of Richard startled me. Sweat dripped down my face as I worried for the tubby. What if he comes looking for me right now?! They're going to kill him! I inched to grab the supplies. Slowly but surely, I dragged them over. The slightest noise made my heart drop. But the twins' conversation about us covered it up.

No wonder the oars were broken or kayaks were flipped. They're cannibalistic. Anyone who tried to escape didn't make it far. I don't want to believe we might be doomed. I've never dealt with cannibals!

I felt sick to my stomach as they bragged about prior victims. They were boasting about their sick and barbaric ways of butchering another tubby. It made me ill, seeing as how being caged in made them this way. Could this have happened to me? Gone so insane and hungry that I ate tubby flesh? Sickening.

A flick in conversation brought it back to Richard and I. It wasn't a change of pace from before. Their mouths watering over my flesh and organs. Richard wasn't much more than a blockage in the way of me.

"We separate the prey from the predator."

"Separating might prove tricky, Klave."

"We need a distraction."

"a noise, perhaps."

"Once they're apart."

"We strike."

"I can taste her already."

"So can I."

My mouth curved into a frown, darting attention away to avoid an onslaught of thoughts. I slowly tried to rise up to put the bag on. I was backing myself in the farthest corner to avoid their vision. I put the bags on, weighed down by the luggage inside. This will be a tough trip until I can reach Richard. My foot reached out to better my position. I almost gasped as the wood beneath me creaked. I covered my mouth again and froze up. I'm hoping that didn't catch their attention. Please, please, don't get suspicious now.

They hadn't spoken in seconds, but right after, they continued off where they left. I sighed and looked for any form of exit besides the ladder. My only form of escape was a carved-out window. My body could fit, but I'm not sure about our bags. I can't leave them behind, though. I scurried over carefully to the open hole. The breeze from outside hit me as a sign of freedom. My eyes stopped as a noise blared behind me.

A cleaver dug into oak wood. Everything was shaking as I spun my head around. It was as it sounded: an arm pulling its weight from the trapped cleaver. One of the twins met me eye to eye. My pale face shifted to an agape mouth. As the grin on the twin grew wider and appointed, his breathing heavy.

"There you are, girl." 

Chapter Text

Po's POV

I gasped feeling a large hand swing towards me. I tried to squeeze myself out of the window but to no avail. Our bags weighed me down and couldn't fit. How am I supposed to get these out of here?! I have mere seconds before I'm torn to shreds. The brute climbed up with such velocity I almost got caught under a cleaver swing. My head narrowly avoided it as I dropped most of our bags and squeezed out the window.

The drop-down hit me like a truck. Adrenaline didn't stand to let me sit and cringe, I was up on my feet instantly. Whatever bags I had were tight in my grip. The rest however left with the crazed cannibals. I bolted my attention towards the bridge. My feet stumbled across the dirt as I ran. My lungs burned seeing the bridge get closer. Richard would be on the other side, waiting.

It hadn't been long before I was slammed into the ground. My nose cracked against the hardened ground. I spun my head to the other twin holding the cleaver over my head. I squirmed underneath to push him off my body. A knick of the cleaver sliced down my arm. The blistering burn echoed a scream from my lungs. They were providing enough energy to kick off the twin. He tumbled back into the dirt as I got back up on my feet. My arm and nose bled profusely, droplets ran down my ripped coat.

“You won't see yourself alive very soon. You're gonna make the best stew we've had in ages.”

Hearing the twin trampled my path as I crawled over the bridge. My screams earlier had alerted Richard who saw my battered state. I couldn't feel embarrassed to have left our supplies behind.

The only good thing is that I have the walkie-talkie and bat left. I take contact over nothing.

I turned my head to the terrifying sight of the two twins running towards us. Richard didn't waste a second to get me back on my feet. The bloodied gap in my arm protruded pain throughout my body. I winced sharp breaths as I turned towards the direction of the path. In any scenario, Richard would've murdered them. But he didn't, he caught up to me. He gripped my arm to stop the bleeding for a temporary period. My nose crinkled in pain as I heard the two yell vile and grotesque things about us.

My body splashed back on the ground as one managed to throw a cleaver. It hit Richard directly as he stabilized his footing. His hands shielded my fallen body. Their approach came in a flash. My struggle to get up turned into arms grabbing me. I felt myself being dragged away as one of the twins threatened violence on Richard.

The grip of the twin felt as if my blood pressure would rise and beat like a hummingbird. My fingers grabbed onto anything to hold myself back. If I cross that bridge, it's over for me. Richard couldn't help, the twin was teasing him. Slinging direct shots right at the infected. His wound withstanding the messy blows. “Richard!” I shouted, elbowing the twin to try and escape. It proved futile as I met with a kick to my back. The pain-threatening sensation spread throughout my back. The noise triggered a fury in Richard.

I watched as his claws made a famous appearance, slashing at the aggravated enemy. The twins' eyes widened as their fur and skin were ripped apart. The other holding me watched, in a confused anger.

The claws sawed down one of the twins. His body fell into a mangled mess. He wasn't dead yet but found himself unable to tease the irritated infected. It left the other twin, whose sputtered attention gave me time to escape. My elbows slammed back into him, a crack in his ribcage being heard at full force. He loosened his grip as I scrambled over to Richard.

It was as if muscle memory made me run into his arms. I was frightened and horrified by the situation we found ourselves in. I held onto his jacket as I dug my head into it. My face turned back to the other twin, tears running down my face. My brain was a fuzzy tornado, lost, confused, and terrified. The piercing glare of his claws aimed at the twin. A fair warning to either back down or share the same fate.

In clear light, Klave chose not to get involved. The gruesome act upon his brother proved a solid point. His cleaver fell to his sides.

He stared with an angered grunt. His two fingers pointed eye to eye between him and Richard. In response, Richard kicked the stiff body and ushered him to get out of here. Persistent growls escaped his pursed lips. The twin groaned, swinging his cleaver into his pocket. He turned his back on his brother. Who I saw was barely alive, holding onto whatever chance lies ahead.

Richard groaned, his breathing popped in croaks. His fueled anger was dismantled in seconds to pull me into a hug. His claws separated to avoid any collateral damage. “R-Richard they were going to eat me— they were—” I sobbed, my bloody nose wiping against his jacket. His palm brushed against my head, petting it carefully. “T-they wanted to skin me, and you— they were going to hurt you. Richard—” He cut me off with a raspy shh. His hand caressed my trembling head.

It all spun for minutes. Common sense overcame me as I stared down the dying body of Kleve. His lifeless sockets swore they changed emotions. His pale skin was gray and tinged. Blood seeped down his body, touching the tips of our boots. The sight of him brought a thought.

“Why didn't you kill the other twin?! What's the point of keeping one alive if they'll just kill someone else—” Richard patted my shoulder and backed away. The bags left over had his trusty notebook. He wrote something and handed it to me.

‘He'll die eventually. Those two survived off each other. Without the other, he's a goner.’

It felt inhumane to watch one struggle for air and another worrying about their chance of survival. To Richard, this must've been the best result of the situation.

“I'm sorry I lost our supply bags. I didn't mean to abandon them back there—” He shook his head, unfocused on our lost items. “I didn't wanna disappoint you—” I frowned, holding my injured arm. He wrote and spun it around to show.

‘Bags don't matter, you matter. You being okay makes up for our loss. I couldn't bear to lose you.’

He leaned down to observe my broken nose. His claws brushed against my head to check out the damage. It hadn't distracted him from both of our open wounds. He stood tall and looked out the way we needed to go. A muted sigh crawled out his lips, a hand patting my back. The two of us trudged along the path, limping our way to the nearest stop.

I grew nauseous with the woods again. All in fear that the twin could get either of us. Would he though? Richard said he's gonna starve to death on his own. Maybe our biggest threat is bleeding out. He stopped me with a hand motion, moving towards a small clearing. He dropped his bags, creating a pile for us to stuff our supplies. The leftovers we had would get us a few days. However, it wasn't much.

The medical bag was crammed inside, a sigh of relief washing over both of us. I clicked it open and sat it aside. First thing first, Richard's claws. He was waiting patiently for the trim, ignoring the fact his jacket was soaked in blood. I pulled out the nail clippers and a knife. A moment's peace of cutting my nails took my mind off the pain. The stinging in my nose stirred up sneezes. It was no problem cutting his nails once more.

He grabbed supplies from the medical bag and asked me to sit still. His fingers closed in on the bone. He didn't waste a second to straighten the bone in my nose. He applied pressure, a crinkled crack following. Cartilage aligning back into place. Tears of agony shed through my eyes. Mutters and muffled pain seeped down my cheeks. Richard made sure I calmed down before applying a temporary bandage.

We didn't have all the supplies we could want. But it'll last us until we arrive home. Or at least keep us both alive and safe from fevers.

Richard's agony came at the hands of the open wound on his back. “Here let me look at it.” I offered, getting back up and stepping behind the taller man. He sat quietly as I helped remove his jacket. The wound went deeper than I had anticipated.

The twin hit him well, but he's not experiencing severe pain.

“You think you'll automatically heal over time?” I asked, pulling back his bloodied shirt to get a clear look. He scrunched his mouth and nodded. “Let me bandage it at least.” I grabbed a roll out from the bag and made room for a bandage. He had to remove his shirt or else it'd be uncomfortable with the bandage. It was the first time I've seen his muscles. Richard was chubby, as Teletubbies are, but regained muscle. It almost slimmed him out in a way.

For his age, he looks good. I'm sure he misses working out often.

He stretched his back as I watched his shoulders curl. I wrapped it around his chest and back. My craftsmanship creating a snug bandage. Blood seeped through it in response.

Over time it'll stop. For me, I need this done now or else I could lose an arm.

I helped him get his shirt and jacket back on. The dried blood stood as less of an issue compared to my flabby wound. This time, I sat while he made his temporary bandage. Enough to hold over the bleeding and save me enough time for a doctor. We didn't have stitches, but that thought alone made my stomach hurl. Needles… I really don't like needles.

He grabbed his book, pushing it back with a response. ‘Does your arm feel okay to go on?’ I tested out the movement in my arm, painful but durable. There would be no problem as long as I didn't reopen the wound. “Mhm, let's go.” I tried to smile, but the feel of it fell quickly. I ached all over to even try and smile again.

The walk boiled the bottom of my feet. I was growing exhausted with the loss of blood and our earlier encounter. Richard offered to pick me up and carry me on his shoulders. He has done it before, on our walk before town. We walked for hours, too many miles to count. I couldn't resist a piggyback ride, after all, it'd help.

He marched onward, holding my legs steadily. I kept my grip on his shoulders and around his neck. At his height, I could practically see the whole world. With the limited sight given. Our short-ended luck wasn't getting any better. The caves were nowhere to be found.

“Do you think we missed it, Richard?” I sighed, viewing the environment with no subtle cave entrance. He shook his head and continued, determined to find it.

Hours in, I felt myself growing nauseous. Whether from the height or how torn up I was. Richard let me down and helped me get some fresh air. It was the least he could do considering both our conditions. Dehydration was approaching me fast, from the beating sun to the lack of breaks. I felt like a dog I saw in books ages ago. My head plopped down on Richard's with needy breathing.

If only I hadn't lost our bag with the canteens! I don't have anything to drink. I'm sure Richard's okay, at least. I wish I didn't have to depend on food and water.

He was determined to get us to the caves. Standing a chance against the abhorrent weather and the injuries. It all felt the same, circles and detours. The caves are nowhere in sight.

I felt lightheaded, dizzy, and dry in the mouth. If I even tried to walk on my own, I'd fall over. I wasn't focused on what was around me at all.

But the sound of animals alerted me. Are those… cows? It woke me from my slow descent of dehydration. I tried to look around, to see if I could spot anything. In the far distance, I could make out a pen, a cow pen.

“Richard! There's life up ahead!” My voice scratched as I coughed it back to life. He hears the sounds of the animals and bolts that way. In a rush to get us somewhere to rest before we decide our next move.

It came close to contact. It wasn't what I thought It'd be; a simple farm. It had animals, animals I had never seen in person. Cows, chickens, pigs, and sheep. Even a cat to bundle the whole thing together.

I eyed the main subject of my interest; a house. A well-maintained house at that.

Someone must be living here. Someone's alive!

But it hit me, looking down at Richard. He can't come any closer, if someone's alive, he'll attack. I have to do this alone.

“Richard, can you let me down? I'll go see if the owner is home. Maybe they've got water; They have a well!” I pointed at the stone structure. He didn't resist and helped me down. He brought out his notebook and passed it.

‘I'll wait out here for you. Tell me if the coast is clear or not.’

He smiled, sending me on my way as he hid back in the forest. In case a tubby approached from outside the house. I sighed before making my way up to the porch. 

Chapter Text

Po's POV

The wood creaked beneath me as a door stood tall. I held up my paw and knocked softly, hoping not to disturb anyone inside. To my surprise, a shuffle was heard. The sound of a gruff accent mumbled as it got close.

I was caught off-guard by the door swinging open and a shotgun pointing directly at me. An older male tubby, around the height of Richard, stood there. He cocked his gun and grumbled.

He wore a cowboy hat, attached with a lasso and pistol. His fur wasn't the brightest, resembling dark chocolate. His eyes were laced with eyebags and his rough skin mixed. I guessed he was extremely tan from the sun, considering the sunburns left behind on his cheeks.

He noticed that I wasn't a threat almost immediately, he lowered his gun and sighed. "What do you want, kid?"

He's got an accent like Finn but acts like a grumpy Mylo.

"I'm sorry to barge, this is gonna be crazy to explain but I had a run-in with two cannibals—" "How in the hells are you alive right now?! Those two should be chewing on yer' bones by now!" His eyes widened, observing my already beaten figure.

"I uh, had help from a man I'm traveling with. But that's not important, we lost our luggage due to the encounter. No water, nothing; I was wondering if you could help us. We saw the animals from afar and thought someone was alive." I exclaimed, rubbing my injured arm.

He tipped his hat back and hummed, looking around the premises with squinted eyes. "A man, you say? Where's this man at?" He asked, holding up the gun again.

"A-ah well! Wait let me explain! He's not exactly... alive, anymore." I said, biting my lip at my horrid infected explanation. He raised a brow in confusion, grumbling.

"You're saying he's infected, girl?" The man stared me down; looking for complete honesty. It felt like an automatic response when I nodded.

The older man was confused but lowered the gun again. "I don't care about this sick joke, I wanna know if he'll be a danger." He growled, setting the gun against the porch.

"No, no, I told him to stay behind so I could handle business. We just need water and some food. A few bandages could get us a long way too." I sighed, showing my arm injury.

The heat didn't help the wound or my broken nose. Richard might have put it back in place, but it hurt like hell. My nose is runny and throbbing.

He looked at me and back at the woods. The sound of the farm animals covered the silence. He groaned and motioned me to come in.

"It's the least I can do, it's impressive to see survivors of those cannibal twins. Sometimes those sick fucks leave the bones on my porch." He rolled his eyes. "or eat one of my chickens, the bastards."

I walked inside and was greeted by the faint smell of candles. His house was beautiful. It was as if the cabins from before were turned into a fully functional home. He walked towards his living space and dropped his guns. He removed his hat to let out his poofy hair.

This place feels so homey. I'm so grateful he's friendly. He doesn't sound so enticing but I guess I was wrong.

"I haven't had no visitors in quite a while. Last guy... Well, he was quite the charmer, leave it at that." He snorted, walking over to the kitchen. "He was looking for someone, can't remember who. A relative maybe, and damn he made for some fine company."

I didn't understand his form of humor but laughed along anyway. He scavenged for bottled water and bandages.

I observed him further than before. My mouth suckled on a bottle of water I grabbed. I failed to realize he had a large scar on the right side of his cheek.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your cheek?" I said, fumbling with my fingers.

He felt the spot, chuckled, and handed me a few waters. "Oh, it's just a birthmark. It looks like I was burned like a piggie on a fire. Though, it's nothing more than that."

I packed away the things he gave me, listening to the sounds of animals outside. He didn't seem much for conversation.

He probably hasn't talked this much in a while. I should learn about him. Maybe it might brighten his day.

"I didn't catch your name before, my name is Po. What's yours?" I asked, pointing at myself and then at him. He huffed and chuckled.

"Vince. I'm a rancher, those animals are my everything. But this stupid apocalyptic shit gets in the way of my family." He frowned, "Those freaky hairless babies keep trying to hop the fence. But they have no arms and fall face-first into the mud!"

He's talking about newborns. Good to know they're in this area too. We wouldn't want to get involved with that.

"What about you, girl? What's your deal?" He pulled out a cigar and lit it. A puff escaped his plump lips.

"I'm currently looking for someone, I don't wanna get into the nitty-gritty details. I don't have much going for me, but I love riding my scooter!" I answered, grinning at the thought of going home after finding Laa Laa.

I'll get to scoot around the base again!

"It's good to have a sentimental attachment to something. Hope you find this person you're searching for." He slid me the last batch of bandages. My bag was about to burst with new items. Food and water wouldn't be an issue now.

"Thanks, and thank you for the help. It means a lot." I smiled, rubbing my injured arm. He noticed and took a good look, squinting at the sight.

"You sure you're gonna be alright with an injury like that, darling?" He said, coming over to hold my arm. He looked at Richard's handmade bandage and hummed.

"It should hold until I can get proper help." Sweat built on my cheeks, imagining what this could lead to.

"I insist I could stitch it up for you." Vince viewed my wound from different angles. My pale skin somehow got whiter. The mention of needles made me feel sick.

"Are you afraid of needles? They aren't that bad." He exclaimed, walking away and disappearing into his bathroom. He came back with a needle and thread, alongside a stronger bandage.

He saw my fear and offered me a seat. I sat down at the table, where I laid my arm out. He dropped his stuff and bent down to my level.

"Don't be afraid, it's better than losing an arm. You leave it like that and you won't feel your hand tomorrow." He gently spoke, grabbing rubbing alcohol from the upper shelf.

He talks as if he's an expert at dealing with others. For a loner, he sure can calm someone's nerves.

I took off my jacket as he rolled up my sleeve. From there he carefully removed the bandage. The flabby skin barely hanging on.

He didn't waste a second to spill rubbing alcohol on the infection. I bit down on my teeth, gritting them at the burning sensation. Luckily it didn't last more than a couple minutes.

"Alright, gal, I want you to relax your muscles. Don't look at the wound, focus on something else. Listen to the sounds of the cows moo." He said, preparing the needle and thread.

It was not an easy job to focus on, but I tried my hardest. I felt the impact of the first needle but held myself down. If I panicked or tightened my muscles, it could've been worse.

Just like that, it was over within minutes. He disinfected my wound and stitched it together. He bit off the access thread and wrapped a fresh bandage around it.

"You're all set to go, partner." He laughed, grabbing his hat and tilting it back.

I observed my stitched-up injury with genuine surprise. It was as if he had the hands of a doctor; perfectly stitched and cleaned up. I grabbed my jacket and smiled.

"You're quite the miracle worker, I'll say." I laughed, getting up and gathering my things to leave.

"All in a day's work, darling. You best be on your way, sundown gonna hit you two pretty soon." Vince said, peeking out the window.

He wasn't wrong, the day was halfway over and yet we couldn't find our destination. I had an idea before I stepped out of the house.

"By any chance, Vince, do you know where the nearest cave is? It's gonna help lead us to who we're looking for." I asked, turning back to the rancher. He had a genuine response of shock lingering. His cigar crunched in his teeth, ash following softly onto the ground.

"Now why do y'all wanna get involved with that? Cannibals aren't the only bad omens around these parts. A cave is asking for trouble." He squinted, folding his fingers in his pockets.

"The man I'm with says it's the quickest way to get to the Outskirts. It's important, we really need directions." I begged, having come this far already to not accept defeat.

Laa Laa is gonna be found and that's that! My sister is important and the caves can be a pain in the ass all they want!

"Outskirts... hmm," he hummed, scratching his fuzzy chin, "Caves are gonna be the fastest route, unfortunately. North of my house and to the left side, the cave entrance. I warn you, it ain't empty."

Hearing that alone sent my heart racing. It reminded me of how Laa Laa spoke of her experience.

She saw something or someone in the caves when she was running for dear life. They must be connected, no? It's how she got to Outskirts.

"Thank you for the directions and I'm aware, we'll both be careful." I stepped out onto the porch and hit the first step.

Vince watched, hands in his pocket, and leaned against the hall of the door. "You better be careful—" He chuckled, tipping his hat. "And hey, if you ever need anything, feel free to return. If shit changes for once in this ugly world. Maybe then you'll be able to bring your friend next time."

"Maybe, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Vince! I'm grateful for the help!" I said, waving goodbye as I headed down his pathway. He removed his hat and waved, before dispersing back inside his confines.

I made it back to the woods, where a bush rustled, and out popped Richard. Where he was taking refuge in a small covering. He waved and smiled at my return, appeased with my safety.

"I got us brand new supplies and directions! The man's name was Vince, he was some kind of cowboy rancher. He was very sweet and even patched up my arm, see!" Richard stared in awe at my bandaged arm. Surprised to see that kind of craftsmanship from people outside the military.

I put my ruined jacket back on and led the way out from the clearing. I remembered what Vince said and headed in said direction.

North of his house, located on the left side. I should be able to spot it.

The two of us walked farther, as Vince said, it was growing dark. The sky hued a bright orange and yellow color, the sun resting at the edge. Despite warnings to not waste film, I took a quick photo of the sunset.

Our trail stopped as I spotted a large carved opening in the mountain to our left. A cave greeted us, its chilly air and silent whispers twirled around. We stared at the black hole of an opening, before back at each other.

"Let's hope this gets us to Outskirts," I said, stepping forward into the black abyss. I grabbed a flashlight from my bag and shined it around. It was fogs of darkness ahead, no exit ahead of us anytime soon.

Richard followed and soon offered to lead the way. I'm sure he knows the way. With him leading, we'll be in Outskirts within minutes! We're coming to find you, Laa Laa!

Chapter Text

Po's POV

Droplets of water fell in various echos. The sound of our shoes crunched against the rocks. The surrounding wall of stones is claustrophobic to the average tubby. Who knew how long we'd been in here already? The sun could be set, midnight taking full effect. It hadn't helped at how tired I was, my paw rubbing my eyes any chance it got. But I couldn't give up lighting up our path. Richard was guiding the way; all I hoped for was for him to know the way.

“Are you sure you know where we're at? I feel we've made that same turn five times already…” I yawned, shining the light down two separate paths. He nodded silently and took a right, changing up our route from the left turns. The caves were quiet, nature our only hopeful sound.

I can't help being on guard. I remember what Laa Laa said a long time ago; there's something in here. When she ran from Tinky, she went through the caves. She mentioned a monster; what if the same monster is here?

I grew worried, feeling balls of anxiety in my stomach. I tried to strike it away by shining my flashlight in various spots along our path. A distraction of Ispy with the various amounts of rocks. The system was weird, with crystallized rocks and gems scattered about at rare points.

I shined my light down towards the left, my eye catching something in the distance. There was a rock, sitting on top of a piece of paper. “Richard, wait,” I said, stopping the man and walking ahead towards the paper. The rock wasn't much bigger, it was a stone. Likely used for throwing considering its size.

I grabbed the paper, greeted by gibberish written down by what seemed like a child. It was scribbled in blue crayon. The exact type I used to have at the dome.

‘Day 1.

Today I decided to write a — journal to tell my adventures with my bestest friends ever! These coat men brought us papers and crayons to draw what we want — and we drew the best friend trio! They are my only best friends, and I love them!

I hear the coat men, I must hide the journal, they will punish me with electricity if they... find out.’

The majority was scratched out, some written backward. The handiwork of a child with basic knowledge of writing. It felt so surreal.

The sheer mention of the name ‘coat men’ sent waves of panic through my body. I flipped the page, greeted by a blank side. I reread the note, seeing as no drawing was attached at all.

Best friend trio…. A group of three tubbies… all under the coat men. I-I thought they only had their clutches on White! When were there more test subjects out there?!

My heavy breaths caught Richard's attention, he rubbed my back and tried to usher us forward. I held onto the note, my gut feeling curious about the existence of other notes.

“Somethings wrong here, this note— how is it in here?” I said, looking at the chicken scratch created by a blue crayon. Richard shrugged and frowned, disheartened by the thought of it by a child.

“I don't know much about the coat men but minor details! How many tubbies like me were even out there?!” I shrieked, my voice boomed and echoed throughout the cave system. Richard grew worried, shushing me softly in case of trouble.

He didn't have much to say, rather this wasn't his own issue. For me, it was a big deal. There were other tubbies, documenting and in person with the coat men. It was different from the circumstances my siblings and I experienced.

The note crawled into my mind. The words repeated back to me. The last part stuck with me the most;

‘They will punish me with electricity if they... find out.’

It reminded me of the conversation with Villem and White that happened in the cafeteria. Not only the mention of the coatmen but the usage of electricity.

White underwent electric shock therapy, as far as I know. The note references punishment with electricity. Could it be the same circumstances?

We ventured deep into the system. Our paths lead to dead ends most of the time. The vile sound of rocks clashing against the ground startled me. I was on edge the whole walk, though it became increasingly clear that we found ourselves lost.

Richard was adamant that he knew the way, but we found ourselves at a four-way. With no options or choices to lead us out of the caves. It was worth a shot, but we headed left, hoping for some sign.

Instead, another note was stumbled upon. I instantly picked it up and read the contents left on the crumbled note.

‘Day 22.

They didn't find out about the journal, but I don't know how long I can hide it, they almost found it last time.

Anyway, testing has been painful lately, they made me-’

My eyes couldn't focus, and tears shed out of my sockets. My emotions caved to notes left behind, and a helpless feeling ran through my body. The word ‘testing’ made me feel sick, disgusted, and guilty.

I reread it, again and again; agitating myself with each painful read. I knew how much it affected me, but I couldn't put the note down. It felt like an eye-opener, a witness to the world outside my own.

Richard grew worried, he tapped his foot and walked in endless circles. He eventually used his notebook and poked me. Handing over his note.

‘Are you okay? Are you sure you should be keeping these notes?’ He frowned, offering a sense of comfort to my shaken state.

“You don't understand! These are written by a prior victim of the coat men! The same people that kept me and my siblings in some stupid habitat!” I growled, stuffing them in my bag delicately. If I ripped off a single strip, I swore I would freak out. These meant a lot for what I was as a tubby. What I even mean to the rest of our kind. “Villem would love to see these; it'd help make more sense of White and I,” I explained, marching on forward.

He didn't argue, nor get involved again when I found another note. By the way, I was finding them, their conditions diminished. The next note was ripped, missing parts without a trace.

‘HERE THEY COME, HELP THEY SAW MY JOURNAL.’

I couldn't help being so focused on the note to ignore the noise. Richard caught onto it fast, puffing up his furred chest. The noise sounded dry, sharp, and exhausted. It was something growling and struggling to breathe at the same time.

The monster, it's in here. But wait— what if the notes—

I couldn't focus on the train of thought as the noise exploded towards us. The corners and ahead were dark, fogged by the void. But something stood out amongst the scary rest, a white presence presumed by the infected's eye. It couldn't be more than mere seconds that it charged at us.

The sight was unpleasant. It was a mangled, brown-furred tubby. His body was large and his arm mutilated into a tentacle. His jaw was unhinged and his face practically beat in. The glowing eye drooped, its breathing labored and heavy. It didn't waste any chance to run at us.

We both bolted down the left side, hoping to not meet a dead end. The twists and turns of the claustrophobic halls made me feel ill. The sound of the slurred infected soon turned to echoes and then silence. Ourselves and the flashlight left to reflect on what we were stuck with.

“You think he's blocking the exit?” I whispered, finding ourselves at yet another four-way. Our dimly lit source of light is a small crystal. Neither of us had any idea what path would lead us out of this hellhole. Richard was unusually silent, his focus on escaping. He didn't seem too concerned about the notes; in fact, it made me worry about him.

You would think with my background and the lack of acknowledgment on the coat men. He'd show a bit more emotion, but no. He's silent and avoids all contact with reading them. Maybe he doesn't feel like dealing with that on his shoulders. He's got too much on his plate.

We quietly decided to go forward. This took us up a path and into a newer area of the caves. It wasn't much different but the layout had changed. No more nauseating circles to get lost in. Rather straight or curved halls that could lead up to anything. I tried to wander and searched for anything. My mind was fixated on finding the rest of the notes. To my luck, I discovered a lengthy one, written in the same blue crayon.

‘Day 54.

They found my journal and ripped it apart! 22 days thrown to the trash

In other news, 53 has been feeling sick! He feels awful but the coat men won't help! This is sad, I hope he gets better!

I wonder when they will give us real names…’

It was sickening to read about this; how little their lives meant to the coat men. They didn't have their own Noo Noo, but who would? He treated us horribly when I think back on it. But something caught my attention, gripping my brain with such velocity.

Names… they didn't have names. They called each other by numbers. 53. What made the other two? Would it be 52 and 54, or possibly 54 and 55? How fucking terrible can you be to not give them names?! As if they weren't much of anything.

The thought of my own experience, relations, and discoveries. My siblings. They were the only family I had, my blood and livelihood. We came from the same machine! To think we got names and adjustable living. Compared to the hells of 53 and the other two; their prison and lack of identity. It made me feel selfish, yet ill about our different experiments.

Nearby, a crumpled and ripped note hid itself in the rocks. The more lost we got, the more notes uncovered themselves. This one had me worried, despite the fate I could expect to befall these three.

‘STOP RIPPING MY JOURNALS.’

The lack of privacy for anyone would be a hassle, but even a subject's privacy isn't their own. The note had been torn, whether in the hands of the coat men or the author themselves. It was haunting to know that pieces of this puzzle were missing and that I wouldn't ever find the rest. I turned my attention to Richard who stood a few feet away. His fingers gripped the flashlight as he waited on me. His lack of exchanged looks wanting no involvement in this little scavenger hunt.

The infected must have him riled up. He seems nervous and defensive. Something is bothering him; but what?

“Are you okay, Richard?” I said, my fingers pulling at his jacket. He blinked, his blackened eyes stared, glistened by the crystals around us. He nodded, jotting down something to give me.

‘Something's wrong here; we need to find the exit. If I'm correct, we need to head right and forward. It's the closest exit to the Outskirts.’

It wasn't much of an answer, his avoidance intrigued me. But not enough to pry into. We kept our path steady right, our ears open to any noise. The infected hadn't made a new appearance.

Would it be crazy to assume that it's the one who wrote these notes? How else would they end up here? There's been no other sign of life, except this cave tubby.

Rocks cracked against the ground, our shoes crunched against the gravel. I was lost in a train of thought that I hadn't considered our path. But we made it to a split. The room was bigger than the four-way. Our way across would be hopping over. Though it left a dangerous fall below. I bit my lip as I hovered over the deep abyss below.

I almost shrieked as Richard took his chances to hop over. It startled me for a second, my brain assuming the worst. But he stood unharmed on the other side, he waved me down with a smile. He motioned me to jump over, holding out his arms to catch me.

I cringed, feeling myself afraid to approach the edge. Jumping wasn't the brightest idea in my head. I freaked out at the idea of risking my life. This could be it! What if I jump at the wrong time?! There's so much running through my head that I might just slip!

I stepped forward and heard a crunch beneath my foot. The tornado within my head halted, and my eyes wandered toward my feet. Underneath a shoe, a freshly discovered note. It was dirty, ripped, and smelt awful. I couldn't help picking it up and forgot about my dreadful jump to Richard.

‘Day ??????????????.

What day is it??????????!

They're gone!!!!

— turned into a monster!

— ran away and I might not see him ever again. I miss them.

Oh god, what is happenin-’

Things froze in time as I read on. My heart stopped reading the words written in blood.

‘RUN.’

A growl from behind sent a chill down my spine. I stood, frozen and shaking as Richard panicked. “P-PO!” He shrieked, ushering me to get across. The noise turned into grunts and a scream. I couldn't help turning my head and seeing the large infected standing there in the hall of the cave. His eye shined deep into my soul. The sounds of a struggle escaped his open mouth. It didn't take him a second to sprint at me.

I crunched the note in my hands and took a leap of faith. It was either dying to the monster or an endless fall. I wanted to go out fast. My legs felt like jelly, the second jump a scratch off the edge. I swore I'd fallen down if Richard hadn't caught me. He lifted me up, a handful of blood seeping down his mouth from yelling. We watched the big infected pace back and forth. His mutilated face glared back at ours.

The dimly lit lights in the space allowed me to see him further. He was beaten up, bloody, and in bad shape. I noticed he had an antenna too, shaped in the form of a cross. He tried to run as if his life depended on it. As if we were the only meal he'd ever get his hands on. He wandered on the other side, growling and huffing. His groans echoed through the cave as I stood petrified.

Richard grabbed my arm and led us out, leaving the infected there to wander. I couldn't believe what had happened. But my mind tensed up on the note. What I read before he attacked made me feel frozen.

It sounded so much like my situation. At the beginning…. Laa Laa ran away… and Tinky Winky became a monster. I— what the hell happened?!

The sound of nature greeted us in echoes. We knew the other side had been reached. The two of us walked further, the nightly noises filled the air. We saw it, the exit, accompanied by the dark sky. Richard moved forward as I trailed behind. A soft wind picked up and traveled into the caves. The motion caught something in the corner of my eyes. Yet another note. But a step towards it leads to a different path.

It was a drawing. A drawing of three young tubbies. They're happy, smiling, and almost holding hands. The coloring remained incomplete, the orange tubby fully drawn in. What caught me off guard was their antennas. All three of them have antennas. I didn't take into consideration the fact that something was written at the top.

‘FRIENDS 4 EVER !’

My eyes glanced back at one tubby. My skin ran pale at the sight of it. The little tubby was drawn in an orangey-brown. His antenna resembled a weird cross, his eyes drawn differently from the other two. I couldn't bear to see the drawing anymore, thinking back to the caves. A bump in my throat welting tears in my eyes.

That was the tubby in the cave, the infected. He made these, he left them behind. He… he was…

I caught my chest, my heart thumping at millions of miles an hour. My vision grew weary, my limbs following suit. The saliva from my mouth dripped down my lips as things grew dry. I swore I couldn't swallow or move for the life of me. I collapsed to my knees, the drawing scrunched in my palms.

I tried my hardest to calm down, the mess in my mind spinning. I knew I was freaking out, but I couldn't immediately put it to rest. My body tensed up until a singular gasp for air felt freeing. I hadn't noticed Richard was concerned. He stared at me on the floor as I lay there. His hand reached out to shake my shoulder. I gulped, coughing at the dry feel of my throat. My face was wet with tears, the droplets spilling down my cheeks. I felt embarrassed about my sudden panic attack.

Richard didn't question it, helping me back up on my feet and bringing me into a hug. He patted my back, reassuring my taunted mind. I couldn't let go of what I saw and had in my palms. The notes tore me to pieces; it was as if watching what happened to my family in a new way. Yet, these were tubbies themselves, with their own ambitions and passions. The doomsday of the infection inflicted onto their already imprisoned selves. A multitude of emotions ran through me like a train.

Do I feel guilty? Ashamed? Selfish? All three? Maybe even horrified and disgusted? I might puke, I couldn't have possibly imagined this. Who would go out of their way to harm younger tubbies?

I grumbled, pushing away tears as we made it out. The stars in the sky reflected back at us. We both glanced at the night sky before at the wasteland ahead. It was dark, moving on ahead would be a death wish. The taller man didn't waste a minute to throw down his things to set up camp. I threw my things nearby and wandered to somewhere secluded. The drawing stuck in my hand like glue.

I rested quietly on a rock, staring down at the art piece. My pupils traced over every line, minor mistakes, and coloring. It shook in the grasp of my palms. Tears hit the page as I stared further. I couldn't help to finally let out all the emotions I had been feeling. My head sunk down to my knees, and my arms rested on my head. I sobbed, sobbing as if I hadn't in a lifetime. I choked up on my tears and mumbled.

The well-deserved crying session lasted me half an hour. The time alone to get out my feelings refreshed my numb body. I stuffed the drawing away carefully, wanting to preserve it.

I'll hang it up when we get home, let the three be remembered. No need for them to be forgotten by the world.

I got up from the rock and turned back to Richard. He had somehow started a fire by now. His military training had paid off in situations such as these. My wobbly body sighed, my eyes closed for a second of peace. My feet dragged, making their way to join the fire.

This could be a good time to take my mind off what we witnessed. 

Chapter Text

Po's POV

The tender flames greeted me with warmth. Richard poked the orange mass with a stick; sparks flying past him. I got acquainted with the ground next to our supplies. My stuffy nose was running from the sudden wind. It wasn't enough to blow out the flames.

Richard sat the stick down and relaxed, he looked over at me and smiled. It wasn't bright enough to see my tear-stained face but he could pick up on my mood. The two of us sat there quietly, the cracks of wood and buzzing filled the air. My eyes adjusted to the starry sky above. For a minute, it was peaceful—a long-awaited peace.

I looked over in the dimmed Outskirts, my eyes outlining the trees and fallen structures. My blurred senses are failing to calibrate with my mind. I sighed thinking about what remained out in the dark.

"I'm nervous to find my sister, even though she's not her anymore." I frowned, my knees curling back against my chest. I held myself close, indulging in the comforting fire. Richard didn't waste a moment to try and talk to me. He flipped through his notebook to a clear page. I heard the pencil scratch against the paper. A tap against my shoulder snapped me out of my staring spell.

'It'll be okay. Po, she's still your sister, no matter what.'

I brushed it off, shaking my head at the idea. She doesn't even know that herself and neither would our brothers. If I were infected too, it'd be the same way. A mindless infected with no insight of her own prior family.

"I wish, I miss them so much." I croaked, tears surfacing from my eyes. Snot ran down my nose as I swiped it away. Richard patted my back and huffed, showing me another note.

'I get it. I would've loved to meet them if things didn't turn out this way. Family's important.'

He smiled and soon shifted to a frown. His eyes turned away to the fire, his pupils grew at the sight of the flames. Richard's reaction had me thinking, an initial conversation change.

"I don't know much about you, Richard. We're close and yet, I have no idea of your background." I said, his face shifting to a surprised look. He bit his lip for a second, creating a new page in his notebook. He sat there and handed over his response.

'It's not much, I'm sure you wouldn't be interested.'

He waved me off teasingly. A silent chortle escaped his curved lips. The wind around us died down after a breezy couple of minutes. I rolled my eyes, understandably taking an interest in his life.

"You know so much about me though! I can recap; I had siblings, three to be exact. We were raised by Noo Noo, who we considered our father. Not to mention, Announcer, acted as much as another dad. I love my scooter and now I'm helping in any way shape or form to find a cure. I just want my family back." I exclaimed, running out of breath from my explanation. His interest in my talking didn't cease to exist, he stayed intrigued. But it opened him up to the idea of talking about him. Enough to write me something back.

'I can relate to dad's, I only had a father growing up. My mom didn't stay around after I was born.'

He wrote, eyeing the sandy ground. His hand brushed through the bits of sand. His face plastered to a short groan followed by a semi-forced smile.

"What happened with your mom?" I asked, pondering the possibilities. It was the first I heard about someone's mother, at all. I wouldn't have expected the Captain of all people to have split parents.

'My parents had me around your age, my mom wasn't interested in raising me. So she left me with my dad, to raise me alone.'

I couldn't imagine myself taking care of a baby, let alone imagining it in someone else's shoes. I was surprised to hear how young his parents were, considering my own.

You can't really tell a robot's age at all. I would assume a lot that Noo Noo was some old guy half the time. Announcer well, same story.

"Tell me what your dad's like, you've never mentioned him," I said, resting my hands against my cheeks. My eyes focused on the infected with his paper and pencil.

'He's a great man. He taught me a majority of things I know now. He's the reason I joined the military in the first place, it gave me value. He never once doubted me and supported my every decision.'

Richard smiled, scratching down more notes for me to read.

'He was there when no one else was. He did the job of my mother ten times better than she ever would. I discovered later on in life that she married and had kids. I've never once considered reaching out; it wouldn't reverse the damage of abandonment.'

The mood shifted once he wrote that down. He had to gather his thoughts and contemplate. His eyes were glued to the ground. I couldn't help trying to keep the conversation at a less traumatic experience.

"When's the last time you talked to your dad?" I asked, rubbing my stuffy nose. The wind picked up again to my disbelief. It was more of an annoyance than something to calm my nerves. Richard's eyes squinted as he stared out into the darkness. He wrote slowly but efficiently, handing me his response.

'Months before the apocalypse. I hope he's okay. I'm sure he'd be upset to know my circumstances. But he'd be glad I'm not dead-dead.'

Richard huffed out a chuckle, resting back near the fire. His pure black eyes shone back with the flames. I couldn't help but giggle myself; feeling it turn into a softened frown.

"I miss my dad— Announcer, I mean. He couldn't do much but he loved us unconditionally. Noo Noo acted full of himself half the time. But sometimes he'd treat us right." I sighed, thinking back to the voice trumpet man. Despite his underwhelming appearance, he was the best thing in our lives. He's what I wished Noo Noo would've acted like half the time.

"Sometimes, you feel like a dad to me, Richard. You look out for me as Announcer would." I mentioned, holding myself to consume warmth. He didn't seem shocked but grinned ear to ear. He used his notebook and ripped out a page, handing it over.

'You're the daughter I've always wanted, Po. I couldn't be happier to be your father figure.'

The note swept tears into my eyes. I smiled back with drops trailing down my cheeks. I couldn't help but rush in for a hug, feeling it was the most appropriate response. He didn't hesitate to hug me. His hands patted the flat middle of my back. The two of us in a comforting embrace.

I couldn't pull away from the hug in time, succumbing to tears of happiness. The warmth and longing for a parental figure healed within seconds. My hand curled against my face as I rubbed my teary eyes. The crackle of the fire drove us slowly apart after.

We sat there in silence, our actions feeding most on silent communication. I was so caught up in the overwhelming experience I didn't notice he flicked my nose. He teasingly messed up my hair and dryly chortled. "It didn't take you a second to ruin the mood, did it?" I sarcastically said, laughing back. He rolled his eyes, sticking out his tongue playfully.

"You're so childish. Is this an added feature on all semi-infected?" I snorted, crossing my arms and digging back my legs. He shrugged his shoulders, eyeing the fire. His notebook came out again, the pencil scratched against the page.

'I'm not a serious man all the time. That should be obvious, kiddo. Just look at the company I keep.'

"I guess I'm used to your seriousness when you're able to get away from containment..." I said, eyeing the ash beside the fire. "How do you think everyone back at the base is doing?"

He shrugged and waved his hand with a nonchalant flick. He wrote and slid it over.

'Fine. They can handle themselves, I'm sure nothing too important has happened. It's been nearly two days, they're okay.'

"You're right, but I can't help but worry." I thought to myself of things I learned. Things that occurred outside the base that Finn tried to hide from me. That invasion, would it ever happen again?

"You think Miles will ever wake up soon?" I asked bluntly, surprising the older man. He was a bit taken aback by my knowledge of the situation. He didn't hesitate to respond in his notebook.

'Not soon. Whoever hit him, he's gonna be comatose for a while. My worry is the case of him being brain-dead. We're so medically setback by invasions that pulling the plug would be our best option.'

He fixed his long hair and stared up at the sky. His bitten lips spread into a frown shaken off moments later. Richard squinted, adding to his note with an intense look.

'I don't wanna lose him. No one does.'

"I'm sure he'll turn up okay— Miles is strong!" I smiled, remembering the last time I ever saw Miles. I hadn't visited his comatose state once. My brain couldn't handle viewing someone who could be as good as dead.

Richard scratched his chin and shrugged. Pushing me another note. This time is lengthier and more personal.

'I worry about him waking up. I'm sure you heard his connection with Viyra. He's gonna have to wake up and find out what happened. I saw what it did to Mylo; I don't want to see what it does to Miles. He holds guilt on his shoulders until it weighs him down. He still hasn't forgiven himself for times he could've prevented Anne from getting injured. I couldn't imagine the infliction that'll do.'

He rubbed the crevasse of his eyes and grunted; slicking back his hair. He pointed the pencil at the page before flipping to a new one. He poked at it, dropping the pencil.

"I have hope it won't turn out the same; besides, he can work it out with Mylo." I sighed, shifting the conversation, "But it's sweet to know how much he cares about Anne. He loves her so much." If it was one thing, the base had a positive ratio of relationships. Despite the hellhole going on out here, tubbies had each other within the walls of the base.

Romantic, platonic, whatever; it's the one thing keeping most from going insane. I've certainly had the effect that, without the support of the military, I might've actually joined Noo Noo.

'He would do anything for her. You wouldn't believe how relieved I was to learn he finally gave in to his feelings. The embodiment of a hardass, with the personality of a sweetheart.'

Richard smirked, letting out dry chuckles. Coughing soon followed with spurts of blood conjoined. He wiped it with his jacket and wrote one more thing, soon rising.

'It's about time for bed, I'll set up your tent. We have a busy day tomorrow.'

He wandered over to our supplies where I got up and helped him. The struggle to set up a tent almost made me sleep in the wide open. But with his help and the easy setup, it was done. The tent stood tall, the fabric thick enough to not blow down from the heavy wind.

I threw my stuff inside and set up a pillow and blanket. Our supplies moved from the ground to the corner of the tent. I got myself comfortable, removed my shoes and jacket, and pulled the blankets over me. Richard watched the wide abyss outside, enthralled with the night and its dangers. I patted my pillow, softening the spot on my head.

Richard walked over and tucked me in, smiling and messing up my hair.

"Night, kiddo," He mouthed with a smile. His hand pushed my hair out of my face.

"Goodnight... Dad." I awkwardly said, feeling so foreign to the words 'father' or 'dad'. Richard didn't seem to care too much at all for awkwardness. He grinned, kissing his hand and lightly tapping my forehead.

Soon after, he departed from my side. He remained outside, watching the Outskirts with open eyes. He's gonna be up all night. This will have to tire him out eventually. I giggled to myself before turning over.

I could feel the phantom touch of his hand kiss, over and over. The type of affection I hadn't sought since the death of my siblings. I stared at the slick fabric of the tent and faded out to sleep soon after.

Morning rose within the crevasses of the tent. The sleek fabric reflects heat off the burning sun. My body was covered in sweat, a grimy sticky feeling I couldn't flick off. I grumbled at the feeling and pushed away my blankets. My body soon rose to look around at my surroundings.

The tent opening was wide open, allowing the sun to beat in on me. Outside stepped Richard, who was busy packing up and kicking out the fire. He has changed his outfit, from winter wear to a simple t-shirt and jeans. His boots smashed against the dusty sand, leaving a gray residue behind. He turned with a pep in his step as he packed away valuable items.

I got up onto my feet and joined him outside. My t-shirt was drenched in sweat, followed by the grease in my unwashed hair. A shower would be so good right about now. I smell like ass. I sniffed myself for a foul odor to follow. My nose scrunched as I dug into one of the bags he was packing up. He waved happily, mouthing the words of a good morning. I couldn't help myself to wave back, despite my stench and situation. Richard himself didn't change expressions, going right back to cleaning up.

I grabbed deodorant and slathered my armpits. The blind smell on my furry body soon dispersed from my senses. The heat wasn't a huge helper, I could've sworn it was melting the deodorant.

The beating sun drove me inside the tent where I changed my clothes. No longer would I need the jacket Mylo gave me, for now. I'd have to wear a tank top and shorts. Truly I would go naked, but despite the fur, it feels weird. I'm gonna have to keep myself hydrated.

I switched my outfit for the day and put my hair up. The short messy ponytail swung back and forth as I exited. He was done packing outside the tent, arranging stuff in an organized pile. "Is the tent all that's left?" I said, eyeing the small homey fabric that felt like it was about to burst into flames.

He nodded and got to taking down the stabilizers. The two of us worked on getting it down. Our efforts only held us up for a couple of minutes. The whole morning was ahead of us to search for Laa Laa in this wasteland.

Richard waited on me with most of our bags. I gathered my own and began on our way. The two of us avidly pushed for shader parts of the Outskirts. Any big rocks or ruined structures; are made for the cool. Despite the shady outcomes, we progressed without any interruption.

It all came back to me, the moment I first saw the structures. It wasn't exactly the area I saw her last; but similar in shape. It had arches and sandy columns. The place is a freaky mess of stone. Pieces and chunks of it scattered everywhere. It wasn't subtle either, it was every step we walked.

The Outskirts was huge, a deserted maze willing to be explored. Our main goal was to find the exact area of the Satellite Station. It shouldn't be far, the cave wasn't too distant from the mountain's entrance. They're both surprisingly close in distance; it makes me wonder if there are any other openings around.

We stepped foot into one of the ruins. It blocked our path like a barrier, our only way across was through the maze. The destruction of former mankind stuck out like a thumb. Prior structures and memories that had happened in this exact spot. Though now a distant memory covered in grainy solid sand.

"Can the sun be any hotter?! We're risking both sun cancer and potentially being torn to shreds!" I complained, the heat a sweaty factor I hadn't wanted to mention. It was best to ignore, however it beat down like hell. There was no chance I was going to pretend it wasn't there.

A swift wind passed us momentarily. Bits of sand blew past our faces. Our path wasn't too obstructive, it was a lot of maneuvering. Richard helped me over columns; moving large rocks aside to clear the route.

One of the smaller boulders pushed off easily as we progressed. A step in and I almost caught myself off guard. It sounded like I stepped on something... metal? The glaring shade of the arches around us helped to spot what it was.

Beneath the pricks of sand, laid out a flat steel trapdoor. Huh? Did this by chance fall from one of these ancient structures? I tried to look for the source of the problem with no answers. My sudden stop caught Richard by surprise, who eyed the trapdoor. He had a face of concern, almost rationalized by a sense of distaste for curiosity.

I kneeled and swiped away the sand. Slowly but surely uncovering the whole thing. The handles laid stiff, rust layered the round hooks. I tried a nab at pulling it open, almost falling flat on my ass with how heavy they were. My paws were covered in a rusty substance that I wiped off in the sand.

"Richard, could you open it?" I asked, backing away to give the infected man room. He glared down at the door and back at me with a sigh. The grip of his paws thrust back the trapdoor. Sand flinging as it hit the ground, opening the unknown within.

Below it stood dimly lit, a ladder leading down to tiles. Whatever it was, it was in active use. My opinion changed when the lights below flickered, signifying abandonment. I peered down, trying to get a better view. With no luck, curiosity got the best of me.

Richard grabbed my arm and shook his head. His eyes widened and glanced back at me and the room below. "What? I'm sure it's empty and besides, I can handle myself. Come on, I'm curious! It's like the military's lab but in the desert!" I tugged, ushering him to join in. My body ventured down the ladder as he hesitated. Soon collapsing to pressure as he made his way down with me.

I jumped off onto the tiles below. My feet landed directly on a broken bunch of tiles. The lights flickered above, the dimly lit space introducing us to full-blown darkness. Richard joined beside me as the lights regained their strength.

I was flabbergasted and horrified, and greeted by the long hall of the area. It resembled the Satellite Station mixed with the base back home. However, left in ruins and a gruesome amount of blood. I lingered on my shoes where trails of splatter lay out beneath me.

"What the hell is this? Do you know?" I asked in a whisper, the echo of my voice bounced off the walls. Richard was still, he watched the place up and down. The tremble of his lips mixed with the grit of his teeth. He shook his head and wandered around. The clash of his boots against the hard tiles.

Who would've thought this would've been under the Outskirts? Oh what am I thinking, the Outskirts are PACKED with things! The station, the custard facility, and goddamn ruins! What isn't on the outskirts? No wonder the military flies, this place is endless.

My feet cautiously stepped over debris and overwhelming amounts of growth. Down the hall stood closed and open doors. My eyes deceived me, a blur of mass approaching my sight. Dried blood lingered up and down, bits of fur left stuck in its remains. Tubbies perhaps? But what was this?

Glass windows came into view, some fogged or simply broken. A sight of blood and rotten flesh stapled to the glass and frame. I almost gagged with the abhorrent smell that followed. The farther we went in, the worse it got. I looked into a room, my eyes darted across the various things inside.

Test tubes, alchemical gear, and broken vials. A room of prior science left to the grounds of nothing. Colors of past experiments splat against the walls and floors. But something caught my eye. Empty tubes, big enough to fit an adult tubby. Some are filled with a bubbling substance or a leaky broken mess.

I don't wanna find out what's inside of that. It looks weird.

I progressed with Richard hanging behind. He was almost paranoid, holding himself back from saying something. A flicker greeted us in the main hall. The situation is leading itself down a deeper path.

The room was plastered with corpses. Their remains are torn to shreds or intact. They wore white, similar resemblance to the scientist's coats. Clothes covered them whole, their identities unknown. Blood dried to walls and floors, accompanied by organs and brain matter.

The adrenaline in my body urged me to check the corpses. Something about their dissimilarities irked a part of my brain. My paw pulled at the collar of one, everything about them intact. I turned them over to see their faces. A cold chill slithered down my spine at the sight.

Humans. Dead humans, their bodies recently decomposing. I smacked the collar down as I got back up in a panic. I grabbed my chest and inhaled sharply. My eyes pointed out their flaws in a confused panic.

These aren't skeletons, why aren't they skeletons?! They said humans died a LONG time ago! The books said so, Noo Noo said so! EVERYONE said so!

Richard parted my hand away from my chest. He motioned me to take a deep breath and ignore the bodies. I shook myself out of this realization, watching the sight that befell us. I stared at Richard, my eyes wide and lips quivering.

"What the fuck kind of place are we in?! When did they all die?!" I yelled, kicking the corpse away from me. He didn't answer, shrugging his shoulders with a slight shake. The two of us were confused about the circumstances. The defamation of the coat men's quota. Could this be the thing connected to those three tubbies?

I shrieked when a gun fired from the dark shadows. The hall light from the other side popped with a bright shot of a gun. It barely whizzed past my face. My reaction time froze as something pounced out from the dark. Its voice roared, spitting its words.

"YOU! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" It smacked me right down to the ground. My eyes refocused on the thing above me. My face ran pale at the view above.

A human, barely alive at that. A gun lodged in his hand with bloody knuckles. Blood seeped down his face and arms, the sheer strength of his force slammed me to the ground. The sight alone could give any tubby a heart attack.

The crazy man cocked the weapon in a split second, aiming it at my temple. "YOUR KIND DID THIS! THERE'S NO MORE OF US, YOU HEAR THAT? NO MORE." He spat, his finger shaking around the trigger. "THEY'RE ALL DEAD, ALL —"

A pair of claws pierced through the man. His fingers loosened their grip on the gun, dropping it to the floor. His face widened, his expression desperate of fear and anger. He spat blood as he choked, gasping for air. The drops hit my clothes and face, trickling down my body. The claws threw his body off me and onto the floor. The twitching of his corpse lingered in my mind as I watched him die.

Richard stood above, his claws once more grown and pointed. The broad of his eyes fixed on me, not once looking at the human he murdered. The occasion was different from the other times of self-defense. I couldn't stand for a minute, ingesting all this information I was spewing.

Minutes passed for me to crawl back onto my feet. Richard by then used his free hand, one that didn't persist of claws, to cut down the slicers. His back pocket knife was sturdy enough against the thickness of the nails. Cutting down the nail to nubs for usage.

I stood, petrified and shaken up. The phantom pressure of the gun pressed against my temple. He lowered his knife, suited with cut nails. My pupils cornered in a frenzy, staring down at my paws. I wiped away the blood left behind, sighing heavily. The shake of anxiety pushed from my mind temporarily.

The room stood still, the cracks of the tiles bumped against the flat surface. The uprising smell of corpses loitering around the space. My brain was fuzzy as I pushed past the occurrence. I moved on forward, determined to find out what was going on.

How can he just say they're all dead and for me to not look?! If they're all dead I'm gonna see for myself.

Richard barely caught up down the hall, reaching out to me. Unprovoked, our step away from the main area led us right down to a hall with glass windows. Their frames are big enough to look through and watch. The insides of each left me disgruntled, pounding with confusion.

Test tubes lined the walls. A bubbly substance and creatures located in multiple tubes. Their bodies were welted and starved, the lights inside off from the lack of manual power.

Teletubbies, different kinds lingered inside their deathly tombs. Big and small, adult and child. Their eyes bulged and bodies swelled to an extent, ribcages smacked against the glass. The mouths of most open wide, desperately seeking out sustenance.

Umbilical cords attached to the smaller ones bubbled, and their TV screens cracked open. Their once-growing development left them for dead. A brighter color of liquid caught my eye in the corner.

Custard, containers connected to a working tube. The walls were lined with these custard tubes. Each working to their own demand. Supplying the secret base with its bubbly infected nourishment. The bright color echoed off the Teletubbies tubes. The resemblance was eerily close to the ones found with the machine.

The same Teletubby-producing machine. Could there possibly be another machine located here?

I hadn't yet focused on blood splattered against the wall, reading out the last words of one of the humans.

'CUSTARD = SICKNESS. DO NOT CONSUME!'

The dried warning bounced around in my mind. A warning I wished most had seen on the surface a while ago. Down the halls were more written messages in different substances. Splashed bits of custard and blood mixed into a creamy liquid. Saturated against the tiles and the growth against the walls.

Richard dawdled behind, his hands in an arching grip. Any sort of avoidance of the messages left behind by the dead. Their likeness continued endlessly.

'TEST SUBJECTS FLED THEIR CELLS.'

'NO ONE IS LEFT. HELP YOURSELF.'

'CUSTARD MAKES THEM VIOLENT. IT MAKES US ILL.'

Their overwhelming nature hadn't stopped me yet, I wanted to know more. The stumbling upon infected dead wasn't a surprise. Merely a connection to the situation that unfolded. The active decomposing of their bodies gave reference to their time of death.

It's recent. How else would one live long enough to almost harm us? He was battered, and these infected don't seem like old meat.

A room caught my attention, its door wide open and covered in blood. Inside laid file cabinets in a row, most open and empty. Folders scattered about the room in shreds or unrecoverable.

I rushed in and began opening any untarnished cabinet. Reciting and reading each letter laid out in front of me. Desperate to find anything to answer my questions. A cabinet in the corner stood out to me in bold words.

TEST SUBJECTS

My feet stumbled over themselves as I bolted over and tore open the cabinets. My finger slid across files, pulling most out to view their riveting details. My eyes shifted through each letter. Each file was greeted with a number or name. Sometimes a photo is attached. A similar flaw stood out to me about all of them, one I knew too well.

They all had antennas, different shapes and sizes compared to the last.

FILE 009, FILE 056, FILE 070... They're out of order! Who organized this damn cabinet!

I shook the metal component, unexpectedly knocking a few files out of their holders. I eyed down at the escaped folder. My hands let go of the cabinet as I read out the names attached.

SUBJECT - MAINLAND:  TINKY WINKY, DIPSY, LAA LAA, PO, —

A scribble crossed out another name as I grabbed it and opened the piece. Inside were five files. Five exact copies that Villem supposedly stole.

They... they made copies. THEY MADE COPIES! These are our notes. White has to be the crossed-out name. It can't be anyone else!

I desperately wanted to read them, my teeth dug into my tongue pulling one out. Ours didn't include photos, but visualizations. Desperately, I wanted to read every inch of information. But another folder had fallen out at the same time as ours. It lay there, screaming to be opened. My mind crossed, begging myself to pick it up. My hands inched towards the beat-up folder. The rips expose minor notes written in its place.

SUBJECTS  51, 52, 53

My mind wandered back to the notes I had grabbed back in the cave. The number 53 repeated back to me as I tore through my bag for the notes. As I thought, 53 stood out as important. I opened up the folder and inspected the ripped files, the paper growing thin and discolored.

Files, files labeled of the three Teletubby test subjects. Their vitals, their descriptions, and their statuses. On all three red stamps laid my worries.

[MISSING]

I pulled back the first two, seeing the same MISSING stamped across. The third, however, something else was written in bold words. The red ink splattered across the page and spat back at me.

[MISSING]
[SENT OUT UNIT-437 TO HANDLE SITUATION, MILITARY REGARDS]

Military regards. Military. I stared at the page and squinted, lost with what information was thrown at me. "What the hell does it mean by that?!" I snapped, closing the folder and diving back into the cabinet. I read out the names and numbers, throwing out the ones I deemed useless.

One caught my attention, and the answer I sought sitting right in front of me. A clip wasn't attached to this one but written out in a stamped text. The label was the opposite of an eye-pleasing bright red.

[CLASSIFIED MILITARY ORDINANCES]

"Why would the coat men have your things?! Richard, did you know about this?!" I shouted, looking over at the tall man. He lingered a few feet away, his hands at his sides. I went right back to the folder, giving him no time to talk. My fingers popped out a piece of paper written in blank ink. The text was large and urgent.

THE MILITARY HAS PROVIDED US SUPPLIES, CONTRIBUTIONS TO RESEARCH AND TEST SUBJECT OPERATIONS. WE HAVE PROVIDED ROBOTS IN RETURN. PROJECT 1M-P0-ST3R, UNIT-193, AND PROJECT SP1-DR01D(S) HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED VIA TRUCK.
COMPROMISED DEAL HELD WITH CAPTAIN AND SERGEANT.

SUCCESS .

I could've sworn my eyes were deceiving me, but it read as follows. Word by word, phrase by phrase. My eyes wandered back to the infected man. My mouth was agape and my eyes squinted, clouted by deception. He furrowed his brows, shrouded in silent guilt. An explanation fell on deaf ears, not one note could save himself.

"Richard," I said, standing up straight with the files in hand. My fingers gripped them in anger, fumes building up in my body.

"You knew. You knew about the coat men." 

Chapter Text

Po's POV

"You knew about them this whole time and haven't said a word! You know exactly where we are, don't you?!" I screamed, throwing the files to the floor. The paper smacked against the hard tiles, startling the guilty man. "Richard, just tell me! Tell me the truth! Please!"

Tears fell down my face, sulking down each crevasse of my eyelids. I sniffed tearfully, watching him pull out his notebook to explain. He frowned, writing at a fast, panicked rate. His eyes drooped as he approached to hand me the notebook. His eyes drifted off toward the wall, and his whole demeanor shattered.

'I admit, we had done trade and worked with the coat men. It wasn't my choice, simply a hand-off from a prior Captain. Believe me, it wasn't an option I could abandon. It risked the lives of the military if we hadn't cooperated. It eats me up inside every day, and I couldn't do more to stop it.'

"Bullshit! You could've avoided all this, simply rejected it! How could you do this?! Those three subjects died in your hands, MY family is dead! Who knows how many are dead?!" I snapped, throwing his notebook back. It hit him in the chest, fumes or anger penetrated off him. But he kept his chill, writing a response back. In hopes for him to relax the situation.

'It wasn't simple, kiddo. It was stressful to the point I got Miles and Anne involved. Finn couldn't stand and watch deals be arranged. But I didn't wanna be caught alone with a group of these people.'

'You don't know how sorry and guilty I feel. I could've done more if I hadn't wanted to risk putting people I care about in danger. The coatmen were dangerous, vile people. I'm so sorry, Po, I owe you more than these simple apologies.'

He seemed genuinely heartbroken. His body attempted to cry but nothing rose from it. The husk that he was stood there with a solid expression, dissociated from the moment. The distance between us spoke vividly of our current relationship.

"You're right, an apology won't cover the lives of my family. Or anyone who got hurt for that matter. Do you even THINK for a minute how anyone would feel finding this out?! What about Villem, huh?! What would he think, Richard!" I snarled, pointing fingers yet again in a close rage. My teeth gritted against each other, and all I could see was red.

'How do you think I felt when I had to look at Viyra?! Or even that girl Mars?! What about White, and you?! All I could do was feel the pain of regret clenching my heart. I know it's my fault, what more can I tell you? I barely knew what went on inside these walls! Besides, I'm the only person out of FOUR people who'll tell you this.'

The note was sloppy, his hair covered his face in foreign anger. He was practically shaking, clutching the pencil in his grip. "What do you mean the only person?! I could use the walkie right now and ask Finn!"

'THAT'S THE PROBLEM! Anyone involved refuses to talk about it. Miles is comatose, Anne and Finn won't speak a word of it. They're ASHAMED as I am! I'm the only tubby that'll probably ever open up about it. I can barely get what I want to say out of this stupid notebook. I'm all you got, kiddo. I'm sorry.'

My hand unknowingly had grabbed the walkie, the piece of junk in my grip. I stared down at it and at the notes he had passed. Guilt was eating him alive as we spoke. He felt cornered from this conversation as if a lie had finally caught up to him. All I could read on his face was simple pathetic pity.

I held down the walkie and sighed, closing my eyes for a second of peace. The walkie clicked back into my bag as I eyed the man. His expression was weary and dim.

"When was the last time you interacted with the coat men?" I asked, furrowing my brows and expecting an answer.

'Months before the apocalypse. It was the trade for supplies. They handed off robot's in exchange. One that ended up being possessed by your father, the one that carried custard supply. I thought it was a miracle I hadn't heard from them for a while. But I guess this is what became of them'

The two of us couldn't help but look out at the endless amounts of bodies. The humans had been wiped, gone with an effect on the world. I couldn't help noticing the dead infected corpses too. Their ages ranged between children and adults. Tubbies that lost their lives too soon for this thing my father was destined to use. To take the world by storm with. I squinted with a low groan, rubbing my head anxiously.

"I—... I can't forgive you right now. Give me time to think it over." I muttered, crossing my arms with my head down. Richard didn't push, he stepped outside the room. Where I saw him standing at the entrance, waiting for our departure from the ruins. For me, I wanted more answers, a desperate need to know.

My bag was thrown to the floor where I stuffed all the files inside for safekeeping. Any sort of evidence of the military's insolvency entirely I stared at. The notes lingered on my mind as I gripped its frail paper. No one will speak a word of this. I expose this and then what? Would I feel redemption for my siblings?

I gave it thought, enacting exposure and a downfall of said exposure. The results of each thought ended with separation or a clash. I'd be causing more pain and suffering. Then it would be for nothing at all. I wouldn't feel better, I'd feel ashamed. They wanted to put this behind them. I'm just holding their lives by the edge for the simple feel of warmth.

I crumbled the notes and threw them to the wall. Watching them tap against the tiles and roll away. The way he's treated everyone despite no one knowing should be enough evidence. The man's not full of spite or the willingness to hurt others. But he indirectly caused antenna tubby's death, no? Perhaps, but the coat man probably threatened to kill him. He had no moral choice to leave the situation.

The crumbled notes crinkled against the floor as I ravaged through another filing cabinet. Searching for anything to give me a relative answer to the human's deathly departure. I hadn't yet checked the other half of the room. A table lined against the wall with a chair on its side. Laid in the middle was a cassette player; in a rough, but usable state. No cassettes in sight except for a few unexplored cabinets.

I pulled out more folders, things I hadn't understood. Situations ranging from the human epidemic to the morality of antenna tubby treatment. Responses written in red are labeled on most. Negatively or positively, I was sure most hadn't survived. Whoever made these could be in that pile outside. Creepy.

I couldn't believe most things I was reading. Notes stated with vile words or phrases intending to hurt others like me. Even a lengthy note paged out with torture devices. Who would've thought electric shock therapy wasn't their only form of torture?

It ran me back to the notes belonging to my siblings and I. Something I've wanted to delve into for the longest time. It might give me insight, some sort of insight into my situation. I could finally learn what my purpose was all along to these assholes.

I grabbed the folder from my bag and opened it. The first page was labeled with basic information testifying to the Mainland and its subverbal purpose.

[EXPERIMENT: MAINLAND]

[ONE OF THE FIVE MAIN INSTITUTES. HOLDER OF THE FOUR SUBJECTS (FIVE PRIOR): TINKY WINKY (AGE 20), DIPSY (AGE 19), LAA LAA (AGE 18), AND PO (AGE 16). AUTHORITY HELD BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE(S): NOO-NOO AND VOICE TRUMPET(S). MONITORED BY THE GUARDIAN (AGE 23).]

[REASONING FOR EXPERIMENT: TO STUDY THE BEHAVIORS OF ANTENNAS IN A NATURAL ENVIRONMENT. CONTROL THEIR DAILY LIVES UNDER THE EYES OF THE GUARDIAN.]

[IN WARY OF THE TEST SUBJECTS ESCAPING THE PREMISES— AMNESIA INDUCTION.]

A small post-it note was written beneath it, the recent aging posed rips. The ink from the pen used dripped into their sloppily written "i's".

[Their vital signs have been healthy compared to the recent sickness of 51, 52, and 53. We are afraid someone might have poisoned the food supply. The checks haven't yet cleared the three other institutions. Updates are yet to be received from other bunkers.]

Poisoned the food supply? Noo Noo must've done something. He hurt someone else long before he targeted us. But why? What was the point of doing it? He's the sole reason those three from the photo are dead! What could have provoked him to do so?!

I switched papers from the basic information down to White's note. It's only labeled being THE GUARDIAN in bold ink. The information was minimal but treated rationally as such.

[THE GUARDIAN (AGE 23)]

[WHITE FURRED TUBBY WITH MINOR BRAIN DAMAGE. POSSESSES AN ANTENNA SHAPED OF A LIGHTNING BOLT. CASE OF HETEROCHROMIA.]

[GOAL: WATCH OVER MAIN QUADRANT. CONTAIN THEM FROM LEAVING MAINLAND.]

Another post-it note was underneath, this one ripped. It was as if it wasn't meant to be attached to the page.

[Prior test subject, formally Wilbur. Underwent multiple induces of — to rid himself of his identity. He suffers from long-term amnesia and shows no sign of recovering past life. Perfect fit as The Guardian; he's a moldable subject.]

It felt disgusting to learn the gritty details of White. Most crossed out or ripped away from my sight. It really was the electric shocks, multiple doses of it too. How is he possibly alive right now? They fried him senseless. This note too, is ripped to almost shreds. It's as if they wanted no one to know what happened to him. As if they were covering it up. Sketchy.

I put away the folder and sighed. Moving past to open the file cabinet. I tore out more folders and notes. Labeled with things I either didn't understand or knew too well. Eventually stumbling over a note written about Noo Noo.

[Noo Noo unveiled a compound he provoked as The Second Coming. It was touted as a superior hope for our survival compared to what we had offered. However, the staff chose to decline the substance. Its involvement was deemed more of a threat than a benefit. Simply, it'd be too much.]

[Noo Noo didn't seem too pleased about the rejection.]

It wasn't a shocker to read that father didn't take no for an answer. My guilt ate me inside out reading. My father was dealing with these assholes, purposefully. He tried to sell off the virus beforehand. What a dick, this is worse than finding out about the military's involvement. Maybe I should be glad neither is connected. Both are only working under the same evil.

The notes weren't much for thought. An induced section of reading for Noo Noo almost bore me to death. His involvement was clear, an obvious inclusion to get what he wanted. As it always is.

My attention turned back to the table, left with a cassette player. This time my eyes adjusted to see a lonesome tape sitting on the edge of the table. Maybe it's worth a try. It couldn't hurt to listen.

I grabbed the tape and slid it right onto it. Once a click was in place, I pressed play as static emerged from the object. Silence accompanied by faint footsteps played. A man in the tape coughed, sounding across from the recorder. I almost wanted to skip the pure silence until two voices spoke.

"Is that thing necessary? I don't need the higher-ups hearing any of this. Already in deep shit."

"Quiet, you're overreacting. I'm taking notes in the form of a recording. Does that bother you now?"

Scuffed silence rang out again as I heard the shuffle of a metal chair. It crashed against the ground as the other man grew annoyed.

"This doesn't have anything to do with the subjects. Al—"

"Don't use my real name, are you stupid? If one of the higher-ups got this, I would be fucked."

"Right, apology. How does A sound?"

"Fine by me, T."

The conversation was mildly boring. I had assumed I was listening to humans from the way they referred to subjects. It was no way and form they were other tubbies.

"Do you enjoy your job, T?"

"I suppose, those children aren't a hassle. Though I'm not a fan of the measures we take to punish them."

"You're fine with the adult punishments?"

"God I mean— yeah, I would expect lobotomies, shocks, and even teeth pulling for adults. But a majority of those children are under the age of 10."

My brain grew frustrated listening but somewhat sympathizing with the human who disagreed with torture against tubby children.

"You think that's worse than what they do to babies?"

"Don't get me started on the babies, A. It's royally fucked how they throw them out to starve or freeze to death. They think it's so funny because Teletubbies are so reusable from being machine-made."

"Some of them weren't machine-made."

"They were someone's baby, A."

I almost gagged, pausing the recording. My stomach churned in pain as I stood up for fresh air. They haven't even said anything relatively new and I'm sick! I'm sick of listening to this! It made me ill but I was desperate for any sort of information. I pushed through and unpaused it.

"Why did you bring me here in the first place, A? It obviously wasn't about the brutality of test subjects."

"It could be, T. You hear about the new experiment they're running on us?"

"What experiment? Is it related to a cure against the epidemic?"

"Not quite, in fact, it might give our species another chance. In a form other than our skin suits."

"Tell me you're joking, A. Really?"

A humming peace of quiet slithered to static as one sighed. The sound of his hands entwining clicked. He almost laughed silently, holding back a giggle.

"They've been testing this new virus out. After that robot made a whole deal about his stupid creation, they revised it. I've seen what it does, T. It's wonderful."

"What? Being turned into a Teletubby? The one thing we've been sitting here experimenting on?"

"We  experiment  with the broken ones, the ones purposefully made to run around like guinea pigs. These aren't the same."

"I don't know, A. It doesn't sound right. Would that mean we live amongst the existing ones on the surface?"

"Possibly. The only way they'd tell you and a natural pure-bred Teletubby apart is your paws. Purebreds and Antennas have a gray slick fabric across their palms. Same thing with the bottoms of their feet, the same gray fabric. The turned ones don't have the paws or feet texture. A missable but noticeable feature."

I turned my paws over to see the gray fabric, its smooth and soft coating aligned with the same gray feet. I'm an Antenna tubby, of course, I have it. I tried to think back to Richard who slumped outside the door. I tried to get a peak of his hands, my eyes focused on his palms. Alluded with the same gray palms, I knew it couldn't be bullshit.

Could this mean humans are living as Teletubbies right now?! Nobody would know that they were turned that way. It'd be a white lie in everyone's eyes. Could there possibly be some infiltrating the base?! But why, all they ever did was hurt our species!

"I don't like the sound of that. We almost appear as hypocrites."

"Hypocrite is a strong word, I prefer something more scientific, T."

"Either way it's not right, A. It almost sounds like you're implying they're being used in the same fashion as Antenna tubbies."

"Suppose I am, T. I'm sure you heard of Subject 70."

"... The first one, I have. It's not a stable transformation. A, this is abuse. All of it is, why is our team so dedicated to it?"

The tape shuddered in silence mixed with static. One of the men stood up, the chair scratched against the floor. He almost laughed at the question, merely mocking the other coat man.

"It's revolutionary, and unfortunately you can't see that. Why do you feel that way, Tobias?"

"I thought we weren't going on a namely basis—"

"Oh we aren't, I'm just telling them who's not willing to cooperate."

Shuffling from the tape could be heard, a door slamming open with multiple voices emerging. I heard Tobias panic, almost fighting back in his seat as a struggle ensued.

"What the fuck is this?! I thought this was compromised."

"It was until you slipped up. Your opinion is strong to our cause, unfortunately, too strong."

"Then what the hell did you call backup for?! Hey, don't touch me there!"

"Subject 70 was a failure, a mistake not worth repeating. After all, willing participants stopped showing. Your lack of loyalty has proven you viable."

"No, you can't fucking do this! I'll tell the boss, I'll tell—"

"They already know, Tobias. They know."

Tobias swore as I heard him dragged out of the room. The unnamed man left behind moved the cassette closer to him. A snide chuckle escaped his rough tone.

"Case study closed. Subject 93 compromised."

The tape is cut to static, it ends cold and empty. My hand twitches, grabbing the tape out and flipping it for names. As I thought, in bold words read SUBJECT 93. The last remaining evidence of the humans' prior torment.

No words escaped my lips, I was silent. In a way, defeated by the new information. It was a losing battle on all sides, I guess. Humans aren't as loyal to each other as I thought. I just heard them contemplate that man's transformation and murder. Besides, Subject 70? What came before 70, tubby victims? Can't be, there were too many, including my siblings and me.

I grabbed the tape from the player, staring at it for a minute. It's stained with that man's blood, as any other file is. It's dehumanizing. My fingers wanted to snap it into little pieces but I refused. I sat it back down and left it where it was. Preserving the history that wasn't meant to be dealt with.

My paws rested against my hips as I grabbed my stuff. Soon evading the room and rejoined Richard, who was rather lost in thought. I didn't share a passing glance, and neither did he. Something about it felt terrible, a sense of my guilt crawling inside me.

I can't ignore him forever, we're in this mess together. Reading and listening to things left behind by the Coat Men made me realize. There were no winners in this operation, everyone was an enemy to everyone. He just wanted to protect the people he cared for. I can't excuse him for it though, but I can forgive. He's more redeemable than most.

"I'm sorry for lashing out, my mind was all boggled with this information. Learning more didn't get easier either. You may have interacted closely with the Coat Men, but I can forgive you. You didn't want any part of their experiments." My lips perched in a quiver, resting my shoulders against the cold wall. Richard adrift from my own, glanced over. The frown once possessing his grief-ridden face dispersed.

He pulled me into an immediate hug, his tight grip shaken with emotion. My body caved into the hug, my arms wrapped around him in an embrace. My eyes grew wet, rubbing my face against his shirt. His large hands rubbed the cup of my head, pushing back my hair. He meant well and didn't have the bone in his body to harm me.

The hug ended with a note subtly written to express gratitude. His writing was neat and spaced once more, no longer jittery.

'I would never do anything to hurt you. I'm gonna protect you better than I have myself. I promise you that. You mean the world to me.'

It was bittersweet and emotionally gripping enough to cause me to cry a little. I couldn't sit and be emotional for long, the two of us had to leave. The journey back to the entrance was swift with the ignorance of corpses. The place littered about in blood I noticed my walk back. My eyes got a better look at the unfolding situation. I relished the fact that the ladder was near.

Rubble and rubble covered the entrance. Seemingly our stay had collapsed at the entrance. We both stared, contemplating if this was nature's idea or someone else's. "Did you hear it cave earlier? I didn't." I said, picking up stones and throwing them aside. He shook his head, backing away from the dangerous pile.

"Maybe there's a fire exit. I did see another hallway." I trotted down the hall, being followed by Richard. Our shoes clashed against the tiles as we walked on. The hallway got darker the further we ventured, lights busted out and walls peeled. It was almost a surprise to see a large door, closed with markings. It appeared to resemble claw markings. Something had previously gotten out here. Maybe that's what killed everyone, I hope it's not here.

On the side was a door with stairs leading upstairs. I opened it and was greeted by a small room to either go up or venture into the room behind the big doors. A fire exit could be inside, or maybe it's upstairs? It might be best to check upstairs first. The two of us made our way upstairs, and the metal beneath our shoes barked. We made it upstairs to be greeted with mechanical devices.

They were all relatively similar to the ones located in the military base. Their servos were offline and signs of life dimmed down to blood splatter. On the wall was a window, looking into the room below.

It was dark, nothingness covered its entirety. The room wasn't cluttered, it was empty, with no sign of life except blood. Below the window was a map, a map of a maze within the cube.

My eyes wandered around the endless halls on the map. It was a maze, with an exit right at the end. It was our ticket out unless we wanted to dig ourselves out. None of us are doing that. Sure it's a maze, scary and we have no clue what's in it. But there's an exit and we're getting out. I'm not staying down here with rotting corpses.

"This is risky, but what choice do we have? Do you know another way out?" I turned back to the tall infected. He shook his head, pulling the map away from me. He read it carefully, pacing about, concluding that this is our only means of escape. My stomach clashed anxiously, staring down at the void.

We took the map, a clearer execution of our escape than without it. The two of us stood outside the big doors, pushing them open to reveal the inside. Dark yet, stained in blood. Some of it was relatively newer than the others. A harsh red light dimmed out the space, opening us to the maze ahead.

There was no straight path in, you either took a left or a right. We stood outside for a second, looking down at the map again. I equipped my flashlight for the occasion.

"It says we have to go right and make a turn ahead. Left is a dead end." I pointed at the blocked-out walls. Guiding us down the right side. The maze was darker itself; cold crept down my spine. The halls were claustrophobic in nature, a compact hell to get lost in. We had made sure to mark off places we passed, feeling confident of our progress so far.

I turned a corner and felt a crunch beneath my shoe. My flashlight tilted to what was under my feet. My body almost threw itself back in shock. Face-to-face with the rotting torso of a prior tubby. Its limbs were ripped off and a chunk of its belly was bitten off. My gagging reflexes kicked in as I held back anything trying to come up.

Richard stepped forward and kicked the torso a little. Revealing a blood trail that ventured into the darkness. I shined my flashlight ahead, uncovering limbs. It ranged from hands to thighs. All with bite marks or left skeletal.

"What the hell is this? It doesn't look like they were murdered like the rest." I walked on for the blood splatter to grow bigger. By then a noise had engaged in my ears. The sounds of bones snapping and vicious feasting. My skin grew pale, hearing the eery echo ahead. The light shined forward, something within the distance.

Noises of munching and skin pulling made me nauseous. Whatever was ahead, was feasting on something. My biggest fear of the maze was true. It wasn't empty. I squinted to try and get a better sight of what the monster was.

Its frail, skinny figure slumped over a corpse as it pulled away skin. Copious amounts of blood and flesh chewed in its yellow crooked teeth. It tore the remaining head off, resembling a rabid dog. I tried to get closer, finally seeing its fur color. It was orange, a long orange infected tubby. An arrow-shaped antenna curved on its head. He was eating another dead tubby.

I hadn't caught wind of the open space beside us. Richard tapped my shoulder to point at the stacked limbs of bodies against the walls. Most were human, while others were your average Teletubbies. Their antennas had been bitten off though, leaving behind a ravenous mark.

Whatever this thing is, it's eating things to survive. But it's so skinny... It looks similar to something I saw. But what...?

I wanted to question more but it caught sight of us gawking. It let go of the corpse, a crash dented against the floor. The thing stood up, grunting loudly with a struggle to breathe. It was tall, lengthy; their ribs exposed.

It glared back, ignoring its prior meal for our existence. I told myself it was time to turn back, there was no use being locked in here with this. But this thing was blocking the ONLY exit in this facility that isn't cut off. Its lengthy mutilated figure stared in silence, its foot moving back. I couldn't think fast when it darted towards us. Running in a straight beeline for my direction. 

Chapter Text

Po's POV

If it weren't for Richard's quick thinking, I would've splattered against the wall. He shoved the infected onto the floor. Its skeletal figure slammed against the concrete, the sheer shatter of something made my stomach twinge. Soft but heavy breathing extruded from the creature, the pure black pupils staring back. Our chance to bolt in its prior direction was now. Richard grabbed my hand as he led us out of the hall. The floors are lined with half-eaten corpses, a mixture of tubbies and humans. The infected's hunger wasn't satisfied, no matter the dish. It craved something more.

Sharp rights and lefts became a familiarity. One hall had us squeeze ourselves through a tight corridor. All while the thing breathed behind us. I couldn't tell the distance, but it sounded close every so often. It wasn't letting go of us anytime soon, persistently pacing us like a predator in the wild.

The tight halls didn't get any better, things written in blood were labeled. All panicked, scribbles lined against the walls surrounding us.

‘THE ORANGE TELETUBBY MUST DIE.’

My death grip on Richard was futile when I tripped over myself. It almost made him fall back as well. My foot got caught on the remains of a ribcage. I couldn't help but puke in my mouth as I kicked it away. Its figure shivered in sound against the cold, hard floor. My body was yanked forward, and a sense of whiplash slapped me right back. Richard lifted me on his shoulders, making our escape quicker. I held on and took a few glances back. My eyes caught onto the orange color catching up. The infected was sprinting with intent to kill. Its clawed hands curled.

I shrieked, a churn in my stomach anxiously awaited. It seemed almost any turn turned into circles. I swore to myself that I had seen the same hall five times. With the infected rapidly approaching, I felt my heart ache with panic. Richard hasn't let it bother him, he kept a steady path, changing directions every so often. He tried to cut off the monster on occasion, working for a temporary amount of time. When the confusion tactic stopped working, he quit teasing it.

I kept a lookout, getting excited every so often at a new light. The rays of light above us assured me that we weren't too far off now. Somewhere down the line is a door with freedom waiting ahead. We need to get to that point.

But what if we don't? Who knows how lost we could be! We could be in the middle of the maze, going round and round for the amusement of the infected. For it, it's probably dinner and a show! I can't tell anymore if the thing is getting faster, but its noises aren't getting quieter. It's pissed, big time. I'm sure its prey hasn't made it go on such a childish game of tag before.

The hall got boxy ahead, and a sign of hope beamed in my head. A smile crept on my face as it was in sight. A door closed with an accessible lever. It lay on the wall, waiting for the two of us to pull it. I felt myself winded as my body flew off of Richard's back. My ears heard us both hit the ground hard. My sight was all over the place, seeing that the orange tubby caught up. The infected didn't hesitate to leap and knock us down.

My head was fuzzed, vertigo emerging from any slight movement. I tried to pull myself up before the infected grabbed at my leg. A yelp ran fast as it dragged me, my fur rubbed against the steel floors. Richard grabbed my arm, insinuating another brawl about who gets the non-infected tubby. Unlike with the twisty creature from town, he jumped the orange tubby. He knocked it down to the ground, pinning it there from attacking me. He used his free hand to motivate me into flicking the lever. Unsteady, I got up and wobbled. All the pain and confusion were ignored as my legs ran on their own towards the lever.

I flipped it without a second thought, the door creaked with a slow entrance. I could swear I saw the light outside, my mind glistened with excitement. I turned back to Richard holding the infected down, enough time for us to escape together. It tried to bite and snarl, showing its gums and rotted teeth. It hadn't moved the older man once; Richard was determined to get us out of there.

“Come on! It's almost open, let's go!” I shouted, crawling under and making it out. On the other side was sand, sand that stretched for miles. I grumbled, glancing back to see if Richard made it. I peeked inside and saw him wrestling to get away. He kicked away the skinny creature, knocking it over. For its size, it wasn't giving up. It got right back on its feet and tumbled Richard to the floor. A fight broke out with the sounds of what seemed like wild animals. The noise of metal rumbling caught my attention. It was the door, fully open but moments away from closing permanently.

Shit, if he doesn't get out, he's trapped! Who would've thought this whole place was falling apart!?

“Richard, come on! The door is going to lock you in! Hurry!” I shouted at the brawl. His ears twitched, hearing my cry. His paw scrunched into a fist and punched the orange tubby off. He scurried onto his feet as he bolted out the door. His body fell flat as a scruff sigh of relief escaped his throat. “Are you alright?!” I said, helping the older man up. He rubbed his hand and nodded. Standing back on his feet as if nothing happened.

“Good, we don't need any more injuries—” I lost my footing, feeling the ground meet my face. Richard grabbed me without question. It was the orange tubby again, pursuing to drag me away. The door wobbled, the stability lessening. “IT'S GONNA CLOSE!” I shrieked, struggling to evade the grasp. My shoes kicked at the infected, all in a means to escape. One good kick to the jaw and its grip loosened. Richard and I backed away from the door at the last second. It closed with the infected inside grunting and pounding at the door. Its paws clashed against the metal in angered grunts.

“What a horrible place,” I shuddered, growing emotional at the ruins. Everything in there was now sealed off, a mystery amongst everyone else. Only left for the two of us to remember it by. “I need a minute before we continue.” My hands shivered, reaching into my backpack. I pulled out the walkie-talkie and wandered off to a secluded spot. The place had decent ruins, rocks for shade, and dead bushes for coverage.

I messed with the toggle, knocking some sense into the device. I held down a button and sighed. It shuttered with static on the other end. “Finn? Are you there? Over.” I squinted, tapping the walkie again to maintain life. Static fizzled out to semi-silence and a voice growing excited to hear mine.

“Po! It's so good to hear from you! How are you two doing? Over.”

My finger let go of the button. My eyes traced the midst of the ruins. Hearing Finn felt weird now. Especially after what Richard admitted to earlier. It sounded almost like I was speaking to a stranger. He sounded so happy to hear my voice again. It made my stomach churn anxiously as I pushed the button down.

“We're alright, we lost some supplies but we're okay. What is the base up to? Over.” I scratched my head, sitting down on the warm sand. He shuffled on the other end, grabbing what sounded like paperwork. Voices outside of a room chattered on. He huffed before responding.

“Same-old, same-old. It's only been two days. The science department is completely in ruins though. Mentally, but you get what I'm saying. Over.” He chuckled, messing around with something at his desk. “Well, we're about to go find Laa Laa. See if that can help out their cause to the cure. If it'll actually do anything. Over.” I huffed, finding complete bullshit in this hunt now.

What if it's impossible? What if we're chasing something that'll do nothing for the cause? It evolves and evolves, a cure won't reverse anything! We might be chasing our own tail at this point.

“Well, kiddo, here's how I see it. It could go both ways. Either it helps or it doesn't. Regardless, we'll crack down on something eventually. They're working hard there to change the DNAs of newborns or whatever. It's a whole thing they've started after ending up with no leads. Over.” Finn stated, mumbling about something else I didn't pick up on. “Right. But we're gonna make sure to bring something back. Which, oh, by the way, I have a uh… request. Over.”

“What is it, Po? Over.” I tapped my arm and looked up at the sky. “I know you said calling for aviation was off the list. But we're gonna need it, I don't think we can walk back. Over.” I grew paranoid, remembering the town and the twins. It wasn't something I wanted to pass over.

He sat there in silence, playing around in his chair. A short minute of thinking turned into a small ‘hmm’. The sound of his chair creaked as the man leaned up.

“If it's that much of an emergency, I don't mind having Dutch do it. Sure thing, just tell me when you're gonna need to be picked up. Over.” Relief washed over me as I hadn't wanted to walk back. If I had to see any of those damn creatures again, I would've gone insane. I pushed my hair back and clicked the button once more.

“Thanks, Finn. It means a lot. I'm gonna get back to our mission now. I'll walkie you again once we're done. Over.”

“Be safe now, kiddo. By the way, tell Richard I love him! Anyway, don't let me pester you now on your important mission. Over.” He laughed, cracking up at his own words. “Thanks, and I'll tell him. See you later, Finn. Over.” I switched the knobs, cutting the static to silence once more. The call calmed my nerves, even if it felt unnatural. It did make me chill out about their prior involvement.

It's not worth rethinking that again and again. He's changed too, they're just the same as they were when I met them. This, at least, reconciles my relationship with them.

I met back with Richard, who was in the process of readjusting himself. He was wiping off every crevasse of dust — all layered in his outfit. “I talked with Finn; we're gonna receive transportation back to the base. Also, he said he loves you.” I helped him put his bag back on. He grinned ear to ear; unable to sweep away his strong emotions. He made a heart with his hands in response. I couldn't help but hum, looking back at the wasteland ahead.

“Laa Laa shouldn't be far now, ready to go?” My footing pressed against the sand. Boots caved into the ground, ready to set foot. Richard got a step ahead of me — only as a safety precaution. If Laa Laa spots one of us, it's better off being Richard.

Besides, the two could communicate. It could be helpful for new information!

The dry heat baked onto our furs. The eventual shade was a blessing in disguise from the disgustingly sweaty heat. Large bushes and dead trees lingered near us. Our walk slowed down as the sun beat down on our bodies. It hadn't stopped us once but got quite close. Small talk didn't co-exist, we had eyes on the prize of our destination. I wanted to talk to Richard again but it was a whole other jar of pickles to pick out. It'd be best to save it for the ride home.

“Mmhhmm…” An echoey moan rang out, paired with the sounds of walking. Its noises are a constant moan of displeasure, a never-ending suit of pain. Laa Laa. Our acquaintance ahead was the ruins from before. The same one I had met her in after the whole Tinky Winky thing went down. She had nested in the Satellite Station for a bit but moved back to her prior habitat. Possibly either on her own or with someone else's doing. It's almost shocking to see an infected relocate.

Laa Laa was loud and hard to spot from the shady spots. She could be anywhere in the ruins. Her tormented corpse kept muttering moans. Its general direction changed every so often. Confusion left behind the two of us. “Do you think she's inside the ruins? It's where I saw her last when she died.” I whispered to Richard, who eyed the mess of structures. He kept quiet, moving forward slowly. He stayed charged in front, puffing up to block her from spotting me. It was good coverage despite the whole bareback— she wouldn't see it coming.

The blistering heat returned within humidity. I swore puke was building up in my throat from the devastating beams. Our feet stepped quietly into the ruins, any noise shuddered to silence. She could pick up on the faintest of sounds; it wouldn't be a good idea to be heard. I turned the column ahead to see a large figure dragging itself through the rubble.

Laa Laa moaned, her jaw wide open and dangling. Her body viciously twitched, and sounds of bones cracking popped. She dragged herself through the ruins, her arms out in a frozen position. Her head wobbled with uncertainty; scouting its next location. Something different this time appeared on her face. It was as if her eyes were melting down her face. The jelly-like balls sizzled down her gray cheeks.

Oh gross, what the hell. That wasn't there before! I swore her eyes were blacked out the last time I saw her.

They seeped down her rotting skin, barely attached to the innards. It's when I noticed they seeped in directions. However, with noises from all ends by nature's doing. It was hard to tell if it actually responded to noise. My eyes glanced down at the rocks beneath me. Stones laid about in piles. I picked up the nearest stone and threw it the farthest I could. It cracked against a wall to our far right. I quickly looked back at Laa Laa, who was alerted almost immediately.

Her seeping eyes slithered in the direction of the noise. The sounds of her weeping and moaning drastically got louder. She bolted over with non-stop twitching and yanking of her arms. The two of us watched from afar to see her observe the noise. She walked around aimlessly in the area the rock fell in.

That must be the parasite. Laa Laa on her own could sense noise, but this must be an improvement. It uses echolocation too, it guides her to the proper direction of noise! Though… It's quite gruesome. Her eyes shouldn't be melting, I'd have to hope it's an illusion for prey.

“How are we gonna get DNA? This might be harder than it looks.” I whispered softly in Richard's ear. My eyes darted all over to make sure Laa Laa didn't find us. I stared at her disfigured body, she was wandering to nowhere. She had no destination as the rock made her believe.

I feel terrible, she shouldn't be out here. Would it really be so hard to bring her back? I… I really took my sister for granted that day it all happened.

The thought itself forced me to stare at what was left of my big sister. Just a husk of who she once was. It was hard to not see the infected in front of us as the girl who was bubbly and sassy. She's in constant pain, dragging her feet in the scalding sun. I hadn't heard an infected cry until we found her back in the station. It's haunting and she of all people doesn't deserve this fate.

“Richard, I don't think we can just nab her DNA. We need to get her back to the base, she can't stay here. It's not right.” He stared at me in confusion, grabbing his reliable notebook to speak.

“They aren't gonna bring anyone to pick up her body. Us getting a ride home from Dutch was a lucky draw on our half. I'm sorry, we have to pluck DNA and leave.”

I shook my head and crossed my arms. My eyes watched my sister walk around the columns with no sense of direction. Despite the warnings, I grabbed my walkie and stepped back to somewhere secluded. Richard followed, paranoid about the noise this might cause.

I messed with the buttons until a shudder of static rang out. I had hoped it didn't alert my sister. The worst case scenario would be her jumping out and attacking us. The walkie sizzled before a familiar voice sighed.

“Po? Didn't expect a call back so soon, are you alright? Over.” Finn said, his accent quite heavy this time around. I bit my lip softly, my hands eagerly shaking to spit out what I wanted to say. Despite my mental debates, my morality won. “Finn, listen to me and don't dare argue with me on this. We have to bring Laa Laa back to the base; she can't live out here forever. If you can make accommodations for my brothers, Viyra, and Richard. You can do the same for my sister. Please Finn. Over,” my finger slipped off the button as I awaited a response.

He was silent, withdrawn from our conversation. Static from his side shuddered a long sigh. Something I hadn't wanted to hear. Even after I asked so nicely for no argument between us.

“I hate to decline you, kiddo. But understand this is—” “This isn't any different than you bringing Richard back! Please, she's my family! I don't want to leave my big sister out here. It's not right!” My thoughts caught me fast as I forgot about saying ‘over’. My teeth gritted against one another, waiting for some response. Richard stood behind me, his face dim yet agreeing with my statement.

“Po— I, I really can't. No one is willing to fly out that far for an infected. Besides, you don't have tranquilizers. Over.” He exclaimed, stumbling over his words. He was right, the lack of tranquilizers made this a whole different scenario. Despite that, we'd have to come up with a humane way of sedating her. Nor to mention the whole ordeal with her parasite. That thing could get us killed for the wrong move.

“I can make you a deal. We can knock her out for however long the duration of the fly is. You just need to bring the right plane for this, got it? She can make it to base safely, please. Over.” My finger drifted off the button and back toward the ruins. Her soft groans echoed out the destruction, clawed with her dragging feet.

“Fine. The plane duration will be a solid half an hour. When we get back to the base, I'll safely tranquilize her. Safety precaution. Over.” Finn explained, his accent strained to a serious tone. The walkie struck a loud wave of static. I attempted to hush it with my finger. Muffling the noise to a low echo.

“She's coming home, thank God,” I muttered to myself with a grin. Lowering my walkie-talkie and putting it back. Richard was agitated, turning his head at every noise. It was quiet, her moans deaf to the noise of birds. I glanced over my shoulder back at the ruins. Nothing was in sight, nothing was heard nearby. I swallowed my tongue from pure fear. A chill scratched down my spine.

Why's she so quiet!? Did she leave the area?!

My eyes darted around the area, searching for any sign of my sister. No sound of pitter-patter raised my paranoia. Nature's coursing sounds overlapped with her sudden disappearance. I looked over at Richard, his fur puffed up, as if ready to attack. He wandered close by, trudging his shoes in the sandy dirt. “What's wrong?!” I whispered to the man, growing anxious at his weird reaction and Laa Laa dropping off the face of the earth.

He kept silent, glaring at the ruins with glistened teeth. I held myself close, staying right at his backside. My thoughts caught me off guard when something pushed me to the ground.

I tumbled against the hot sand as I looked back to see Laa Laa. Infuriated and with a tense hunger to kill. Her body viciously vibrated as it lunged at me. My arms covered my face, trying to scoot away. Protecting my face from any initial damming damage. A grunted moan left the tubby, something slamming her to the ground. I moved my arms slightly to see Richard holding her down. His arms had a steady grip on her elbows. She seized, her unhinged jaw trying to bite. Sounds of teeth clashing against each other filled the surrounding area.

I brought myself back to my feet, looking for anything to knock her out. My brain wired itself to familiarity as I remembered something. What I did to her, the rock. I glanced around searching for a large enough rock. Something to knock her out cold until we've reached the base.

A smoothly shaped rock laid adrift from the commotion. Its size was perfect enough to knock her cold. I stumbled over, my hands gripping the edges. Slowly, the rock rose from the sandy ground. Debris falling flat back on the surface. I wobbled over, carrying the rock above my head. The sun reflected off and shone brightly on her head.

My hands nearly slipped when I saw the collateral damage I had done to her prior. Her brain matter was exposed, pulsating with a sick gray fuzz growing around the slick broken edges of her skull. Mold, mold sprouted and grew deep beneath her brain. I nearly gagged as I jolted the rock at her head. It barely scraped Richard's ear when it hit her dead-on. She fell back flat, and her body stiffened. I thought for a minute that I actually killed her.

But that's crazy, infected always come back. She won't be in this state of death for very long. Hopefully, Dutch can get here sooner.

In mere seconds of thought, I heard the cheery whirls of the copter. Sand flew back against rocks, rolling off and around our bodies. I covered my face, feeling the sting of sand hit me all over. The sound of the big machinery calmed itself down. The metal helicopter landed flat on the ground. I uncovered my eyes to see Dutch scurry out of the pilot's cockpit.

“Hey! It's so good to see you two! I saw you knocked her out, let me try and—” His mouth was agape when he saw the mold. The buzzing of flies passed her unhinged jaw and exposed brain matter. If it wasn't for infecteds sudden rejuvenation after death; I would've believed she was dead right here. Dutch turned his head and gagged, loudly. Spit flew from his mouth, his arm covering his lower face.

He took a moment to recover from the sight. His hands are on his knees as he shakes his head and whispers under his breath. He turned back, wiping off saliva as he spoke.

“What a god-awful fucking smell, holy—” He cringed, waving away her cooking flesh stung by the sun and heat. He held his nose as he opened the back of the helicopter for us. Avoiding any and all contact with my sister's state.

“Help me get her on, Richard,” I said, picking her up by her shoulders. He grabbed her long-witted legs as we maneuvered her body. Dutch wasn't kidding, her body smelt horrible. Rotten flesh in the sun wasn't a good combination. It surely didn't make it any better as a fellow passenger.

We tucked her in the back, blocking our sight of her. The two of us sat in a comfy spot while Dutch started up the helicopter again. Occasionally, we'd hear a gag from his mouth. Sometimes attuning to small talk to avoid the matter.

“What do you think they’re gonna find with her?” I said to Richard, holding myself close for comfort. His shoulders shrugged, grabbing his notepad out.

‘I have a feeling it won't be much. But let's hold out hope it can develop a cure later down the line.’

He smiled, adjusting his notebook back into his bag. I couldn't help but feel the same way. This journey might be for nothing, but it'll count for something. “You're right. We helped out in some way and you finally got out of the base! So those are two good things!”

My eyes grew heavy with the sound of the whirling. I laid my head against Richard's shoulder as my eyes blinked slowly. The warmth of a blanket greeted my body; Richard's arm moved to hold me close. I couldn't help but smile, my tired eyes finding peace. The long day was dreaded but finally over. Things grew fuzzy when I gave in to the drifting nature of sleep. 

Chapter Text

Po's POV

I quietly dug into my lunch as soldiers passed by. It had been ten months since Laa Laa was brought back. They hauled her off as soon as we arrived back. Finn only informed me it's to start immediate testing. Only now, almost a year later, do they share the harrowing results about my sister.

Supposedly, her parasite isn't much different from domestic parasites. The one shown in Richard for example. The only and main downer is the refuting fact it led to dead ends. Nothing about parasites or the evolving nature of infection gave insight. However, their experiments on newborns had decent changes. Some have managed to grow fur, at a slow, brutal rate.

The information I recalled from the coat men base felt important. It felt like maybe if I told someone; it could help the cause. However, that information itself warned me about something else.

Finn told me, as of recently, they found tubbies. Two of them being doctors. I stared at them the first chance I got. I wouldn't have guessed that the coat men experiments were real. But there they stood, helping out tubbies that aren't their own.

They didn't possess the texture on their paws. Not at all. Anger couldn't hold back from bubbling in my system. However, they've done us a good cause. Doctors are a rare find, they're both a lucky draw. Despite their... differences. Yet, no one knows but me. Only me.

I chewed on my food slowly, resting my arm against the plate. My foot tapped wildly as I surveyed the room. I was watching soldiers come in and out. Most whispered amongst themselves, things I overheard.

Gossip wasn't uncommon, in fact, it ran the base like clockwork. It was part of the reason I hear most of the news nowadays. Finn is so caught up in work and keeping us safe that he can't always inform me. The recent mutters I've heard relate back to Miles.

Miles. He hasn't woken up and they're worried. Richard has been distraught, it's gone on for almost a year. Nothing big has happened yet we thrive off the old, turning it into the new.

My plate was empty, singular crumbs crushed on the platter. I rose from my seat and put it on the cart. My utensils were stacked with it as I scurried out of the cafeteria. Things have slowed these past few months. You don't hear much big news anymore. Though the calming lifestyle has been a blessing. It's like I can live normally without a worry in the world.

My mind was set on a few things, and visitation was on top of that list. It had been a while since I visited my siblings. Finn put in a file for visitation rights. It was hard to convince the scientists, but eventually, we worked out a deal. Besides, I don't disturb anyone. I'm there to see them, even if they don't know me anymore.

My scooter was left inside my room. It was only a short walk back, it wouldn't take a second to grab. The hallways weren't packed today, it was settled and quiet. A few tubbies passed by as I skipped to my room. My shoes drifted around the hall as I saw a familiar face. It was White, or best known by Wilbur now. He's adapted to the name, yet somehow I haven't. I'm glad he doesn't take any offense.

He was leaving his room, locking it up, and brushing off his outfit. From his outfit, it was obvious it was nowhere important. A lousy T-shirt and jeans aren't very formal. Though, I don't believe I'll ever catch him wearing something decently formal. It wouldn't hurt to say hello, maybe he'd like to join me. I know how much my siblings meant to him.

"Hey Wilbur!" I waved, catching the older tubby's attention. He was startled by the sudden call but eased his nerves when he spotted me. He gently waved as I approached the taller tubby. "I didn't expect to see you, Po, thought you'd be on your scooter halfway across the base." He awkwardly laughed, fixing his hat. The same hat was once owned by Dipsy. It feels good to know someone uses it. I'm sure if Dipsy was alive, he wouldn't mind.

"I was actually going to retrieve my scooter. I'm thinking of visiting my siblings. What are you doing?" I exclaimed, asking to see if his schedule was clear for a few hours. "Nothing, I had spent a few nights at Tom's. So I came back to my room for a shower and clothes. He's busy and my father's running around somewhere. So I'm probably gonna go on a walk." He shrugged, scratching his messy wad of hair.

"I was thinking, maybe, you'd wanna go see my siblings with me? I know there are unspoken connections between all of us. I'm sure their spirits would appreciate it. They've always loved company, even if they never saw the outside world..." I trailed off, eyeing the tiles. White hummed for a minute, biting his lip with a worried look. He eventually nodded with a slight smile. "Of course, I wasn't sure if we were allowed to anyway. It could give us time to catch up."

"Great! I'll be right back, I'm gonna grab my scooter." I smiled, skipping past the white tubby to my room. It was only a few doors down, not far off from White's. I stepped inside and dragged out the hefty hunk of metal. Just as any other day, I hopped onto my scooter and rode down the hall. I honked the horn to alert White that I had returned. The noise dragged on down the halls, echoing slightly. Once I had caught up, we headed on our way.

"How have you been recently?" I turned my head to him. His arm squeezed his wrist, he walked with mild confidence. "Eh, alright. Still can't get any sleep at night. Though now I can't tell if it's because of my nightmares or Tom snoring." He gently laughed, the two of us turning the corner ahead. "What's been up with you, Po?" My mouth fretted a frown, my paw rubbing the bony crevasse of my cheek.

"Same old, same old. I've spent time with Richard, riding my scooter, and wake often up from nightmares. They haven't calmed down, and maybe it's because I think of them a lot. My siblings are always on my mind, something reminds me of them every day." I exclaimed, mumbling off into incoherent words. "If you ever want to again, we can have a sleepover. I know it helped a couple of months ago. You slept like a baby each and every time." White teased, my paw swatting the man jokingly.

Sleepovers do help. I wake up often in a sweat, bawling my eyes out. All it takes is going over to his place. White always comforts me in times of need. His couch is as soft as a cloud in the sky. I could sleep on that thing for hours.

"Would Tom mind if we did another sleepover for a week? I don't want to get in your way." "Oh, Po, he wouldn't mind. He knows that we're practically trauma-bonded. Or whatever the correct term is. Besides, we need to hang out more often." The long halls had come to shorter hallways. Shorter hallways then turned to stairs, stairs led to compact halls with science terms written on the walls. Ahead of us was the entrance to the lab itself. The place they kept my siblings for safekeeping.

I approached the door and knocked, awaiting a response. The head of one of the lead scientists popped out. He waved and ushered us in, leading us to the room where they caged the three.

Despite the unstable conditions, I saw Tinky Winky and Dipsy in forever ago. Their wounds healed, but not in the best way. Gunshot wounds only mutilated their figures; they just so happened to be covered in them. Laa Laa's rotting problem wasn't solved. They said it was something they couldn't clean out. She didn't appear to be in any discomfort they said. I guess so if she's feeling so aggressive as a blind infected. Whatever floats their boats.

The both of us faced the three glass prisons my siblings were kept in. All sturdy and able to withstand the strength of their forms. Their attentiveness to new guests wasn't perky. Dipsy wasn't involved or rather intrigued, despite viewing White for the first time in forever. His fishy form growled, delving deeper into his enclosure.

Each had their own themes based on where they resided. Tinky's was home, Mainland plastered on the walls for the effect. The fake grass and trees kept him busy. His largely buff form was occupied. Low grunts escaped his hinged jaw. He stared at almost any chance he got. His dark beady eyes glared into mine.

Dipsy had a mix of a swampy environment and the station. Though he had a favorable residence in the water. Where he occasionally scopes out the lab and the two around him. He wasn't much of a talker, nor one to state. But he was quite sneaky, taking pride in stalking his prey. Sometimes, the scientists drop him into a live fish. They watch as he stalks his prey before pouncing.

Laa Laa's was Outskirts, minus the brutal heat and beating sun. It was rocky, sandy, and anything related to the hellscape. The noises around her kept her on her feet. She moved around constantly, her body viciously trembling. It ran her in circles, chasing an invisible enemy.

"What are we doing here again?" I heard White ask, his eyes pacing around the room. He glanced over his shoulder and scratched his head in confusion. I couldn't help but feel confused about his personality change. "We came to visit my siblings, remember? You wanted to join." I mentioned, watching the three ahead of me. He let out a small noise and nodded, growing irritated with his head. His hand slapped against his noggin.

"I'm sorry Po, remembering things lately is hard. Sometimes I forget where I'm at or what I'm doing." He groaned, his short-witted face turning into a frown. It all added up to the note I found. The exact one from the coatmen base.

He has brain damage and long-term amnesia. Of course, it's hard for him to remember. He doesn't recall my family from when he was younger either.

"I know," I said, throwing my hands into my pockets. I threw my leg around a little before glancing at him. "You ever wonder how we got along before... The Guardian stuff happened?" I pondered, only reliable with minimal information.

"You were a baby when I was transferred, Po. Or, at least, what my father mentioned." He shrugged, staring at the enclosures. His eyes focused on the three within them. "I hope you didn't find me annoying as a baby." I jogged a laugh, joined by his short giggle. "I'm sure I didn't. At least now, I get to know you at an age where you can speak."

The thought was nice, yet a frown ridiculed my face. The short warmth of the thought died out as I thought otherwise. "Do you think we were close? Like we are now?" I asked, glancing at him from the corner of my eyes. He stood still, silent with his hat bent down. White's face turned to mine with a short smile.

"Of course." He answered. The short, but simple, answer enlightened me. For a question with an unknown answer, it was the most I'd receive. "I believe that, and I believe you were good friends to my siblings too." "I bet we felt like family to each other" Once he spoke, he quieted down after that. His tone was meek and his eyes averted from the infected.

I remembered what I had found in that lab. All the information kept about him. His status, his health, and physical descriptions. I should tell him.

"On my mission with Richard several months ago, I found files. Files are based on the five of us. Yours was different from the rest." I exclaimed, watching his head turn in my direction. "It said you have brain damage, you suffer from long-term amnesia."

White looked at me for a minute and then turned his attention to the three. He inhaled loudly, followed by a long sigh. His fingers curled up together anxiously, gripping the edges of his shirt. "I guess that all makes sense. Explains the shitty memory." He tried to laugh it off, falling back into his frozen frown. Head turning towards the exit.

"Po this has been the best thing I've done all week. But I-I think I'm going to go on my walk now." He said, brushing off his outfit and descending back to the stairs. "Thanks for bringing me, and oh, telling me that. Thank you." White said before traveling up the stairs.

"You're welcome— I'll see you around!" I shouted back. My brain then realized this probably wasn't the best place to yell. My siblings inside their cages took note of that fast. Their blacked-out eyes drowned me out. The reflecting light dimmed, and my stature mirrored in their black hole of eyes.

He seemed out of it after I told him. But I'm sure he knew already. I guess hearing the official diagnosis hit him hard. I shouldn't dwell, he's been dealing with a lot on his back. He said thank you, he appreciated my honesty.

I snuck out of the chamber and up the stairs. My body was back in the base with the rest of the soldiers. It was an opportunity to run around and spend my day wisely. I thought about a couple of options, settling for one.

I'll visit Miles. I don't do that often, but he hasn't woken up in a while. No one visits anymore, except Anne and White. They're trying to pinpoint when exactly would be a deadline to wake him up. If they can't... well.

I winced at the thought, traveling down to the area of the medical wing. It wasn't far off from where I walked. The halls formed into a largely empty maze. The thought of a maze made my heart hurt. That mission left a scar on me permanently. Not a day goes by where I sweat about those twin brothers. Or the notes in the caves.

They're all hung up around my desk but it hurts to look at. I should just take them down if they're negatively affecting me.

I turned the corner to see one of the offside inner walls. In it, I saw a familiar orange tubby working, his gas mask protecting his face. Troubleshooting an opened pipe in the wall near one of the connected rooms. Nearby I saw some sort of stroller with a blanket laid out over it.

It's Gary, I should say stop and say hi. I haven't seen him around that much. I should ask what the thing nearby is too, I've never seen that.

Once his tool buzzed to silence, I jumped at the first opportunity to talk. "Hey, Gary," I said, backed a few feet away as he lifted the mask. His glasses underneath were falling as he fixed them with a cheesy smile. "Hello Po! Haven't seen you around much." He sighed, sitting down with his tools and rubbing his sweaty face.

"Didn't want to pester, since you're hard at work right now." My eyes and hand pointed at the stroller snuggled in the corner. "Do you know what that is? I thought maybe you were using it to hold your tools." He stared at me with a stupid expression before squinting. Gary followed it with a short giggle before he stood up again. He set the mask aside. "I forgot, you haven't met him yet!" He grinned, stepping beside the stroller and pulling up the blanket.

Inside all curled up in a bundle was a baby. It was the first time I had ever seen a baby Teletubby. They were tiny, their paws unable to form big fists. The baby had soft curls with a yellow fur tint. Their face spotted with freckles across their pale, pink cheeks. He squirmed around inside the stroller, cooing in his sleep.

"So that's what baby Teletubbies look like," I said, watching Gary string the blanket down. "I'm sure you heard a while back all those murmurs. Especially if Lenny was opening his mouth." He rolled his eyes, crossing his furred arms.

"I think plenty of people in the base did. What's his name?" I questioned, looking back at the lone stroller. "Thomas! I picked the name out, of course. Mars liked it, though we weren't expecting a boy." Gary motioned his hands whilst telling me. He moved the blanket slightly out of the way, bending down to carry his son. "Would you like to hold him?"

I stared at the ginger man for a minute, blank with a semi-confused expression. "Don't be so fearful, it's normal. Mars always has people holding him. I might as well encourage the same." He cradled the tiny baby in his arms. All the commotion woke up Thomas, his small beady eyes wandered around the room. Their eventual grasp set on me, staring in my direction.

"O-oh sure, I've never held a baby before." I stuttered, copying the mannerisms of Gary. He cautiously set the baby in my arms, his weight catching me off-guard. Thomas was little, but a chunky baby. I felt if I held him long enough, I might accidentally drop him. Remembering what Gary did, I cradled Thomas in an unorganized manner.

Despite my flaws and inexperience, he seemed to enjoy it. The small baby giggled in my arms as I rocked him. "Look at that! You're like a natural, a lot better than I was." Gary laughed, grabbing Thomas from my arms. "Thanks— I almost thought I was gonna drop him." I nervously laughed, viewing Gary put Thomas back in his stroller. The blanket came down once more. "I felt that way too, kid. Mars almost attacked me for my hand slipping." He reminisced, switching back to his tools. "Where is Mars anyway? I used to see you two together all the time."

He chuckled, "She's busy with a department project. I'm on babysitting duty right now. Despite how many gripes Lenny has about my responsibilities, I think I'm doing well as a father. Thomas is only a couple of months old, and no incidents have occurred! I'm confident in how I'm handling parenthood."

"I'm not the best person for this topic, but I think you're doing well too. I heard babies cry all the time, but he's all asleep and quiet." I said, Gary, shrugging back in response with a hand flip. "He has his moments, he's just in a good mood right now. When he wakes up and sees he's not with his mommy, he's gonna throw a fit. So I'm enjoying these times of silence for what they're worth." He picked up his tools, setting most aside in a bag.

"You seem prepared though, I saw all the junk being carried underneath the stroller." I pointed out the endless piles of baby necessities. They range from formula to diapers. "Being the only parents with a baby in the base has great benefits! Since no one else has kids, we get the full ride. The base provides us with everything we need! We don't have to worry about anything." He cheered, pulling out a tool from his bag. He tested out the stability, keeping an ear out for conversation.

"I mean, I don't really think anyone here is having children anytime soon.." I said truthfully, turning my eyes to the empty halls around us. His fingers rubbed against his chin for a minute. Gary thought about it before realizing the luck he struck. "You're right because Miles is comatose and Mylo's wife is infected. The rest are either single or homosexuals! Thanks for the confidence boost, Po." He was quietly overjoyed by his full benefits. He and Mars got to keep it all to themselves.

He wasn't wrong, not in the slightest. The bases decreased incline in children was a large margin. Most are so worked up about the apocalypse or supplies, that a family isn't on anyone's plates. All except Gary and Mars. But their jobs help improve this place, so I guess it doesn't make a difference. Both still work, just take turns with their son.

I balanced my scooter as I laid a foot on the bottom. My hand gripped the farthest side. "I'll be on my way now, I'm going to see Miles," I mentioned, seeing his messy locks face my direction. "Have fun with that." He exclaimed loudly, the buzzing of his tools going off. My foot scraped against the floor as I sped down the hallway on my scooter. 

Chapter Text

Po's POV

I parked my scooter outside the medical department, traversing inside on my feet. Trainees and nurses rarely set foot on the main floor, as most were back in training. For the most part, it was empty, accompanied by healing tubbies or others here to visit loved ones. I eyed the hall where I would usually spot Maria at, but she wasn't there today. Must be because they have two new doctors. However, White said he hasn't seen his dad either. Those two are always running around together.

I skipped around the corner until I came across Miles' room. The door was cracked open with nurse statuses labeled on the door. It wasn't any business I was interested in, more so, I'm here to see his comatose state. I gently opened the door to see Miles lying there, as he'd been for the past several months. To my surprise, it was empty. No Anne, no Wilbur, nothing. I made myself acquainted with one of the comfy chairs. My eyes glanced at Miles every so often.

Should I say something? Would he even hear me? Finn described this whole process as him in a deep sleep. So he probably can't.

It was one of the few times I saw his face. He had scars but time healed those wounds, left behind as blemishes slapped onto his face. I swore in my mind he was dead, his unconsciousness made me uncomfortable. Despite knowing he's alive, my brain was convinced I was staring at Miles' corpse.

Maybe this visit isn't all I set it up to be.

My hand shook the knob as I eased into the turn. A soft click and it broke open, followed by a shuffle behind me. I turned my head fast to see Miles, comatose, but his fingers were twitching. This must be normal, sometimes people twitch in their sleep. My body was halfway out before the heart monitor rose to an antsy amount. My body forced itself back into the room as I rushed to his side. His heart rate was spiking, fingers making slight movements.

What the hell is happening?! Oh, oh god don't let me witness him die. Anything but that.

I nervously stuck my hand out, resting it on his broad shoulders. Wish a light push, no response occurred. I rubbed my eyes tiredly, assuming I had seen nothing. I'm tired, aren't I? I did feel drowsy not so long ago. Yet his heart rate spiked, lifting off into different spirals. My eyes did catch his fingers moving once more, bending with ease.

I gasped when his eyes fluttered open. For the first time in months, I saw his eyes. Miles' head rubbed against the pillow as grumbles mumbled from his lips. His eyes slowly opened to close back with groans. Oh my god, he's waking up. I need to get a doctor!

I bolted out of the room and rushed across the medical hallway. My head is turning every corner, trying to spot a doctor. Maria, where's Maria?! She'll know what to do!

My eyes caught a doctor down the hallway, reading the vitals of current patients. His eyes were dead set on the clipboard of notes. It was one of the two taken in, one of the fake teletubbies that fabricated themselves into fitting in. Oh who cares for biases right now, Miles needs a doctor! I sprinted up to the tubby and grabbed at his long coat. He was previously unflattering to look at, now clean-shaven on the face.

"Huh? Did you need something?" He asked, his textureless paws gripped the board. The pen hit off the piece of paper. "I need your help! My friend was in a coma and now he's waking up!" I grabbed his sleeve and tugged in the direction of Miles' room. The fake tubby seemed out of place, spacing out at my garbled, rushed words.

"I-I... okay!" He stumbled, clumsily trailing behind me back to Miles' room. I yanked the doctor into the room, standing a foot away from the bed. Only mere seconds had passed, yet, there he sat up. Miles was awake, rubbing his head, tiredly glancing around the place. Confusion struck his face once he saw the two of us. His eyebrows furrowed in delusion.

"Po?..." It's all he could mumble, the rest incoherent and garbled. His paws gripped the sheets, nails ripping into the cloth. The viridian furred tubby looked back at the doctor, who shared his own shocking expression.

"You're awake! Are you feeling okay?" I rushed up to his side, watching his blank stares. "My head... how long was I out?" He asked, watching the doctor scramble out the door. His voice echoed down the hall as he called for assistance.

"About... about a year. You were comatose for a year, Miles." I exclaimed, rubbing my arm nervously. His blank expression raised an eyebrow. Miles' scruffy face twitched into a slight frown. His head fell as he sighed for the first time in a year. Paws scratching at the stubble that went unshaved.

"Huh, it certainly didn't feel like a year. Is everyone okay? Anne? Richard?" He moved toward me, leaning to see out the door. No sign of that fake tubby returning anytime soon. Isn't he such a professional? I hope he's calling for Maria, I have no clue how the other doctor acts. "They're fine, all fine. I'm sure they'll be excited to see you."

He laid back, his tense muscles relaxed from the news. "Oh, thank God... what about Finn? Tell me another stray bullet didn't hit him." Miles asked, rubbing his temple with a short-lived sigh. "No, and he's recovered fully from his prior injuries. You missed out on quite a bit." I exclaimed, hearing a disappointed sigh coax his mouth. His hair drooped down into his face. "Who would've guessed? I'm sure I'll get caught up when the others visit." His scratchy voice echoed. Footsteps from down the hallway stumbled towards the room. The door swung open with Maria on the other end. The other doctor trailing behind, whispers commissioned amongst the two.

Soon, the other doctor vanished down the hallway, supposedly to attend to other duties. It left Maria to stare at the both of us, her eyes on Miles' conscious state.

Miles stared back in confusion, his head tilted with a raised brow. Though, a slightly startled and terrified look glistened."When did Mylo turn into a girl? Po, am I seeing this properly?" He tugged my arm, ushering back at Maria. She thought it was amusing, tabbed with a smile on her lips. Yet, she remained professional and approached him. "We didn't get to formally meet due to your circumstances. I'm Maria, your doctor, and Mylo's twin sister." She calmly held out a hand to the dazed man. His hand twitched as he reached out to shake hers.

"So... you're not Mylo?" He awkwardly drifted his words. Eyeing her complexion and differing attitude towards him. "Nope. He's not a medical professional, now is he? I've been caring for you since I arrived several months ago." She grinned, holding her clipboard close to her body. Miles bent his lips, gears clicking in place in his head as he made sense of the situation. "... it's nice to meet you then." He mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

While Miles greeted life at a new pace, Maria turned toward me. "Thanks for grabbing one of the new doctors, Po. They need this experience." She said, speaking of the fake tubby. Imagine being turned into one of us and taking on a normal life. I'm sure he thinks it's hell, especially since I know what they are. "No problem. I couldn't find you the first time; you've been missing the majority of the time."

"Ah well, what can I say? I'm all over the place. I've been juggling my job and hanging around Villem. He's been a big help." She grew excited, pacing back and forth in her stance. Good to know someone made her feel right at home. She looked at the viridian man, before back at the door. Her hand gently pushed my back.

"Listen, I'm gonna speak to Miles. You wouldn't mind visiting later? It could be a good time to tell the base that he's awake if Siren hasn't done so already." Maria said, referencing the new doctor. I looked at Miles, his thoughts proceeding to catch up slowly but surely. She's right, I could tell Wilbur and Anne. They'd be elated to know. "Of course! I'll see you later then!" My paw gently opened the large door as I snuck right out. The sensation of adrenaline flooded my body. I didn't waste any time to run off and find the two.

Wilbur's POV

My feet nearly tripped over themselves as I bolted down the hallway. Po had found me again and told me that Miles had awoken from his coma. I was planning to tell Anne, but Po had that covered. Regardless, I wasn't wasting a second to not see him. He's a great friend and it's been quite the long-haul without him around. It's a blessing to run down the medical ward knowing he's conscious.

The familiarity hit me when I twisted the knob for his room and opened it. Inside, Miles sat up looking at me with wide eyes. His prior psyche of muscles had reduced to your average body weight. I'm sure once he's eating properly and working out again he'll gain it back. "Miles! You're actually awake...!" I gasped, rushing into the room to greet him. My body grabbed the edges of the bed's railing. But soon fell onto Miles' shoulders as he pulled me into a hug.

The warmth of his body caught me off-guard; I eased my lack of physical touch to enjoy this moment. He teary laughed as I pulled away from the shared hug. His body trembling from the sheer happiness he felt seeing me. "I wouldn't normally be so excited to see you but it's been a year. You look great, better than I saw you a while ago." He crashed into short nostalgia.

"It appears the comatose softened you up. You're not being a hardass." I joked, reminiscing on our first meetings. He butted it off with a hand flap and sighed. His paws gripped the edges of his sheets. "Oh, don't make me get all Sergeant on you. How have you been, Will?" Miles asked, looking me in the eyes. Something he had always done; only out of a sign of respect.

"It's been alright, I took your advice on my nightmares and it's been working out well. A clear mind has done so much good for me, I can't thank you enough for that process." I exclaimed, piecing together the times of unexplainable horrors I've witnessed. Though each time before he went comatose, they've not expanded on. Miles himself had trouble sleeping after what happened with Mylos' wife. He shared with me some tactics to prevent nightmares and get a full night's rest. For the first time in years; I've slept better. It wasn't a noticeable change until I felt better mentally and physically.

"See? A good warmup and a walk before bed can ease a troubled mind. Oh, anyway, that aside— I want to know what's been happening in your life. Yours is one I want to know most, well, besides Anne's. I'm excited to see her beautiful face again." He tilted his head with a rosy blush and grin. His fingers gliding carefully off his fur, gripping onto the bare muscles of his arms.

"It's alright, I'm not as interesting as you think I am. You remember, Tom, right?" Miles nodded with a rare noticeable frown, covered by his relaxed expression. "He's been— oh how do I even explain? Quite honestly, the best person I've met. He's helpful, kind, and cheesy with a romantic side. I've been staying with him as of recently. We might move in together soon if things keep up." I explained, watching the expressions on his face change. Miles' raw emotion of a short smile meant a lot.

He genuinely seemed glad to learn more about Tom. After he's healed, we should all hang out; he would love Tom. He almost acts like Miles when met in certain circumstances. If Tom didn't pursue janitorial duties, he could do well as a soldier. Though he's told me himself he rather stick with something he's passionate about; cleaning.

"We should hang out when you're out of the hospital. Newborns actually slowed down as of recently; so we could go outdoors." I mentioned, leaning against his bed as he fell on board with the idea. He nodded, excitement that quietly rang out off his face. "A year away from enjoying life... I'm gonna need it. Only after I get through physical therapy, that's gonna be quite a treat." He laughed, muttering down to silence. His facial expression stiffened to a serious onlook, glancing back at my own.

"I... I never got to ask yet. What happened after I got knocked out? I know Finn's alright, but I didn't get closure on Richard or anything else." He sighed, following a short question, "Could I get a recap?"

My heart trembled to hear those words, knowing this might leave him questioning life. Oh, the whole deal with Mylo's wife. Why do I have to break the news, he's not going to take this well. Mylo didn't either after the event happened.

"Richard only attacked from overstimulation. All the noise and newborns caused his frenzy. Though, now he's alright; joining some missions from time to time. No one important died, though we lost multiple soldiers and health professionals. It's why we have Maria and two doctors now. And..." I nervously gulped, my head flicked down like a switch. My hand bent in spurred fear as I rubbed my neck. Miles himself was eagerly listening, ready to hear what was next.

"... We have quite a few new infected caged up. All of Po's siblings have been transferred to the labs; where they're frequently experimented on. Then... there's one more, they're um, in Richard's area." The frog in my throat croaked, begging to spring its way out. Miles glanced in confusion at my brief pauses, raising a thick brow. "Is something wrong, Wilbur? I'm sure whatever this is, it's not as bad as you're making it out to be." Miles reached over and patted my hands, engulfing my aura with a smile.

I knew the truth would croak eventually, and I had to take that leap. "It's... it's Mylo's wife, Viyra. She's infected. She had stumbled into the invasion and almost killed Mylo. They had to restrain her and transport her next to Richard. That's... about all I know. It's the most anyone knows." My gaze wandered off to the other side of the room. Glances back at his face soured; his eyes widened and his mouth hung open. It almost felt as if he heard the end of the world. A cold sweat traversed down his cheek as tears were welted in place. Their sudden downpour followed by the surprising cracks in his voice

"I... Jesus, are you serious?!" His head twisted in my direction. Miles' face writhed in anguish, one that I had never seen. The wrinkles on his cheeks clashed with the furrow of his brows. Tears clumped into balls that rolled down his bony cheeks. "Wilbur— are you serious!?" He asked again, desperation bled against his tongue. His eyes were struck with a consistent fear.

"I'm sorry, it is. Listen, Miles—" He held out a hand with a long face. His eyes were stuffy with a red hue underlining his eyebags. "No, I don't want to hear more. I think that's enough to retain..." He gritted his teeth, mumbling the last bit of his words. His hands fell to his lap, defeated without a proper direction. He trembled, similarly to a lost puppy; arms shaking reluctantly. Miles broke down into a state of guilt, writhing in mental pain.

My hands couldn't hold themselves back, pulling him into a hug. His fingers dug into the back of my shirt, clinging in desperation. He didn't cry, he didn't whistle a noise. It was silent, his head buried into my shoulder. Miles let loose loud sighs, followed by long exhales. A familiar breathing treatment he had once taught me.

I rubbed in a circular motion on his back, easing up his struck nerves. The hospital room is quiet all except for his murmurs. All things related to the prior event, things he himself couldn't control. He's holding this on himself as if he could prevent it. Oh, Miles, you're as guilt-ridden as the rest of us.

His fingers pulled away from the fabric of my shirt. His face was a solidarity reminder of emptiness. Miles' ducts cleared of any excess tears; his cheeks dried once more. His hand grazed the side of my cheek; resting itself near his body. The two of us were staring at each other in a regretful somber. A short but alive smile appeared for a second on his face.

"Thank you, for telling me. I'm consoling myself temporarily, for now. I don't want our first encounter together again to be this." He sniffled, rubbing away the small tear stains. Miles glanced my way affectionately, glad to have me around. "Of course, that's what friends are for. But don't be afraid to open up, you're living life again." I patted his shoulder, getting a small breather and a look from his direction.

"You're not just a friend to me, you're more than that." He said, his eyes paced across the room. Miles' eyes softened as he opened his mouth, "My best friend, that is." He followed up, giving me an amused smile. The room creaked as he moved on the bed, adjusting his position. His words stuck down to me, grasping the edges of my brain. The feelings are mutual. I couldn't be happier to be his best friend.

I was startled half to death when the door slammed open, followed by a gasp. "Oh my goodness, you are awake!" Anne exclaimed, running up to Miles and pulling him into a hug. I watched him glance at me mid-hug, his eyes pulled away soon after onto Anne. "Yeah... yeah, it feels good to be awake." He chuckled, landing a kiss on her cheek. "I spoke with the doctors, they said you could be out of here within a week. You just need to start physical therapy soon." She ushered an explanation, pushing away loose hairs from his face.

"Hmm, I never got to ask, where's my helmet at?" He looked around the room, the metal protector nowhere to be seen. "Oh! I've had it, I cleaned it up for you and even asked for small repairs. The dent is still slightly there. But it's wearable!" Anne smiled, ruffling the hair on his head. He teasingly pushed away and sighed of relief, happy to hear his helmet's whereabouts. "That damn thing saved my life," He commented, reminiscing over his now-awoken state. The once sour mood lightened up, though remained haunted.

I figured it was about time I left, giving the two their respective space. My hands left the barriers of his hospital bed, clinging to my sides. "It's been great talking to you again, but I think it's time for me to leave. You two deserve your alone time, I don't want to be a bother." I explained, backing away towards the door. My hand caressed the open frame as Miles looked my way. "No you're alright, I think it's for the best. But hey, don't forget, I do want to hang out." He mentioned, his hand moving to hold Anne's.

"I won't forget, maybe I'll attend your physical therapy meetings." I hummed, leaning against the frame. My body was only halfway out the door while looking back at the two. "I wouldn't be opposed to that; don't be afraid to. See you around, Wilbur." He subsequently waved alongside Anne. "See you later, W!" She hollered, moving her attention back to Miles. Soon their conversation muted to hushed whispers. Their private connection was not a worthy conversation for the doctors, or me.

I made my way out of the ward, greeted by small groups of tubbies. People around to eventually see Miles, or others waiting for their own diagnosis. Overall, a diverse group is rarely seen in the ward. All the doctors now make a big difference. Reminds me I should pay Maria a visit again. She loved it the first time I brought food along. Just my way of showing my appreciation for her. It's good to have people understand me; something I can barely do myself. 

Chapter Text

Wilbur's POV

Noticeably, with age, time has passed by fast. Most days I couldn't keep track of the days, sometimes the months. It might be my horrible memory, but I'm already experiencing back problems in my twenties. The short mental note made me crack my back and neck in real-time. The popping sensation crinkled, brushing the pressure off my shoulders. That's much better. Can't imagine how it is for my dad. Speaking of—should visit the old man. We have to bond, I've been eagerly wanting to!

My shoes clashed against the tiles as I strolled down a familiar hallway. A couple of steps ahead, I stood outside his dorm. I quietly knocked, hoping he'd at least be home. He could be taking photos, hanging out with Maria, etc... My father is a busy man. To my shock, I heard the sound of rustling. Someone was marching up to the door inside.

When the knob turned and opened, I was greeted by my father. His hat off; releasing his friz of hair. He had his dress attire on, the usual for photography. What a memorizing word, photography. I love the sound of it. He leaned on the arch and waved, a toothy grin showing.

"Wilbur! It's been a minute. How are you, my boy?" He held out his arm, patting my shoulder. Then ushering me inside invitingly with a hand motion. I stepped inside, seating myself at his kitchen table. "I'm alright, letting life do its course... What about you?" I answered quietly, scratching my head impatiently.

"Busy! Oh, but I tell you, the best kind of busy! My photography has blown up, soldiers are actually buying my work! They love it!" He cheered, heading off to his cabinet. His fingers pulled inward and opened the doors. Inside were his walls of equipment, all things he could ever need. Father is quite... peculiar. He only uses probably five of those things. The rest are bragging rights or collective purposes.

"That's great, father, you're on the road to success–" "Oh success hit me years ago, nowadays this is the fun of retirement. Or whatever fits that description." Villem rubbed the back of his neck, prepping a camera in hand. One of the older models; an analog camera. Father's favorite. He told me it was the same one he used when I was born. It's been his go-to lucky camera. He's kept it in pristine shape, I couldn't imagine it breaking.

"Say, how about you and me go out and take photos? Learn my hobby and spend some time with your old man! We... we lack a strong bond." He dryly laughed, the grim reality of his realization. He shook it off with a rather quick smile, covering up his prior mood change. "Oh I would love to, I was actually about to ask..."

"That's great! Here, I'll pack a quick bag and we can go! Right out the door and into nature!" Villem flaunted, grabbing a spare bag and stuffing his camera equipment into it. The analog camera was perfectly placed on top, all to avoid ruining the vintage piece.

I learned rather quickly that if my father had a set plan; he would enact it immediately. As in practically dragging me out of his dorm toward the exit. He waved down quite a couple of soldiers, passing by with a few smiles and waves. Went on as far as to excitedly wave at one of the newer doctors, who in his own defense, tried to ignore Villem. My father knows a lot of people, he sure does get around with everyone; but me.

I brushed off the thought, reflecting on the current moment. The fact my father and I were going to hang out, enjoying father and son bonding. He was going to indulge me in his hobbies and have some fun. He's doing more than I would normally expect. Oh, Wilbur, don't be so harsh; you don't quite make an effort either. It took me this long to ask him to hang out.

The front gate was open, a rather intriguing sight. Attacks slowed to a bare minimum; the gate being open was a mere miracle. Soldiers didn't have to survey the area all up and around anymore. It should stay that way, it feels nice to leave the base for once.

Trees and the overwhelming capture of nature swarmed us. Father thought walking would be a better alternative than being stuck in a military vehicle. Don't think I've ever properly been in one. Or have driven at all, is that normal for tubbies my age?

"Been meaning to ask, how's your little boy toy?" Villem nudged me, his teasing demeanor chalking my face in a bright hue. "H-he's fine— busy with his own job. The base would be in smithereens without his janitorial service." I spoke, reminiscing fondly of Tom. My brain forgot that I was just with him not so long ago.

"Oh, those guys would be dirty slobs without your boyfriend's natural talent for cleanliness!" He laughed, equipping his camera for a couple of photos. The scenery dispensed into trees, trees that flooded for miles. Our source of direction was the very path we were taking. It's got tire marks, it must be used often.

"Say, why don't you bring him over for dinner sometime? I'll make my signature dish—" "I, er, don't know— the last time you burnt it." His masterful skills in cooking weren't much of anything. In fact, Villem sucked, quite a lot. A skillet could flare up into flames while the stove is off. "Oh come on, I've been getting lessons! Maria's helped me learn since last time." He scratched the back of his head, fixing his crooked hat.

"Wow, the rumors are true then." I watched his face fall, his eyebrows a confused furrow. "Huh?! What rumors?!" He spat, questioning my statement. "That you two spend time together outside of work! Duh, what else would it be?" Villem shrugged, turning away to photograph a bird.

"I don't know what gossip happens around the base. I'm not caught up right now." Villem said, sticking out his tongue, straightening up his shot. He clicked, capturing a clean photo. The man grinned, joining me back on our walk.

"Shockingly not a lot is going around. Things have been surprisingly bland the past week." I complained, and my intake of drama told by Anne diminished severely. What else are we supposed to talk about when we go out for coffee?! Miles' condition is a hot topic, but she's been more reserved to give him space. Therefore it's been back to square one.

"Hmph, bland at the base? We must be in a different timeline then." Villem jokes, snapping more small photos. Bright flashes seep into the corners of my eyes. The enchanting noise of nature fluttered around us. His work disturbed the peace of the birds. Though they made for majestic shots. Even if he startles them a little, they don't seem to be affected too much.

We stopped abruptly in a clearing. Father running off toward a pond. He eased his posture into a frozen position, clicking the camera once more. His mouth curved up with his tongue sticking out. "Anddd... there we go!" He cheered, the camera flashing a couple of times. "That'll make for a great photo time-lapse." The camera fell down to his sides again. His eyes admired the view of the pond. "... I haven't been here in years. Just as beautiful as the first time."

"When did you come here?" I asked, viewing the place up and down. It was an open, spacious piece of land. The pond made for an excellent spot to swim or fish, whatever floats your boat. The cattails swung in the wind rhythmically with father's fur. "Oh, a decade ago... It's Richard and Finn's favorite fishing spot. They took me here with Mylo and Viyra... good times." He sighed, looking off into the motionless water. Our reflections bounced back on the wet surface. "I'm sure you would've loved it," Villem spoke softly.

He says it as if I can't love it now. I guess the specialty of this place lost its touch when things went to shit. If it's one thing, the downfall of my father's friend group is something I can't get out of him. He's secretive— hiding it away. This was the most information I've heard about those five in months.

"I love it now. I haven't appreciated the sight of water in forever. I mean it, cooped up in the base all the time made me miss this." I bent down to splash my hand in the water. To my disdain for dirt, the water felt clear. It was cold, a shivering, shiny type of cold. I flicked my paw off as I stood straight. My father's eyes hadn't plucked themselves away from the water. His pupils dilated at an inhumane pace. "It's good to know I'm not alone then," Villem responded, glancing back with a wide grin.

The breeze blew past our bodies, caressing our furred bodies and chilled pale faces. Father stepped back and messed with his camera. His hand dug through his pocket. He pulled out a small wipe and cleaned up the camera. Its presence was all ready to snap another live moment.

His fingers edged the corners of the camera, flicking it up before lowering it down. White slick spikes of hair faced my direction as he held out his prized possession. "I think it's about time you learn how to shoot like your old man. Hunting terms disregarded of course." He chuckled, waiting for my input. The analog camera was old, delicate, and able to shatter under sheer pressure. The fact he could trust me, an unsettling twitchy person with it, meant a lot.

It wouldn't hurt to indulge myself. After all, hobbies are what keep us connected as tubbies. Without them, what's there to bond over?

I carefully grabbed the camera out of his hand, my fingers gripping the edges protectively. "So... what do you want me to shoot?" It sounded less acute to photography than it did to hunting. Though, it wasn't helped by the overbearing amounts of luscious green surrounding us. Father shook his head and raised a hand to motion his words. "Wilbur, you don't just ask what to shoot. You do it. Whatever catches your eyes first should be your target." He exclaimed, his hand patting my shoulder.

"... Alright." I strained, my body turning toward my right to start off. Eyesight aside, I wasn't much for catching breathtaking moments. Not like my father, whose ability came almost naturally. My fingers noticeably slid across the crease of the camera. The eye's direction curses through multiple scenes, unable to settle on the perfect match. This is harder than he made it seem. I could just snap a photo and maybe he'd find it good enough. But I don't wanna seem disengaged. I'm sure Villem is excited to see me even holding his camera.

My shoes crunched against the ground while I made a short walk near the pond. I positioned myself in obscure poses, even going as far as ground-level views. But no matter the shot, none were worth that click of a button. Agitation was beginning to build up in my brain. None at my father or his hobby, but at my disadvantage. It's all about perception, isn't it? Never really knew a damn thing about it. I always watched through cameras, even moving them to my liking. This should be practically the same thing.

"Personally, I'm not all that photogenic but you could get a shot of me," Villem said, pushing back toward an opening in the forest. I aimed up toward his direction and studied the shot given. To my surprise, it wasn't half bad. The blurred focus of the background mixed with my father made for an appealing photo. His clothes and appearance mixed in with the subtle colors and their drastic shadows. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something about it felt right.

I aimed the camera upward, my tongue sticking out as I focused in. Click! The camera snapped, pulling me out of my thoughts. I slowly stood straight as my father pranced over. He grabbed the camera from my hands, smiling back at me. "You may not have an eye for scenery, but you do for portrait photography." He laughed, putting away his camera. He proudly wrapped an arm around my shoulder, cheering about my sudden talent.

A swirled grin latched to my face, an overwhelming amount of positive emotions coursing through. "Seeing you in the shot made it feel complete," I said, nervously rubbing my arm from the excitement. Villem let go of my shoulder, clapping happily for the discovery. "Spoken just like an amateur! I'm proud of you, Wilbur." He faced away from the pond and turned back toward the opening.

"Say, I feel it's getting late. You wanna head back and have dinner with me?" Villem asked, closing his bag with a loud snap. An answer didn't have to be vocal, the two of us already walking back toward the trail. "Are you gonna burn it this time?" I teased, earning a sharp groan from the older man. "I told you Maria has been teaching me. Have some hope in your old man!" He rolled his eyes and stammered with a beating red face, flustered and steaming.

Despite its short encounter, hanging around my father meant a lot. It was a change of pace from my concurrent days around the base. It felt like a workload of stress was ripped away for a seemingly decent while. The way back was just as chatty as I expected. Father had a lot to gripe or gossip about. Whether it be his own life or someone else's. He somehow knew how to make a conversation unable to end. That must be why he's so popular with everyone. He's quite the charmer. It shocks me sometimes that he's my biological father; yet we're both cordially different.

Villem eventually processed the photo I had shot, showing me the final product. Just as I saw through those lenses, it was my form of perfection. He was so proud of my first photo that he made copies. One to hang in his room and another for me to keep. Though his focus to chatter about my photo almost burnt tonight's dinner. If it wasn't for the occasional checking, we might've been eating charred meat.

My fork tapped the side of the plate, eyes glancing around tiredly. For once, a meal my father made was decently delicious. It didn't taste like soot, Maria must've shown him spices that aren't pepper or salt. On the other side of the table, he was too caught up in taking gentle bites. All to savor the taste he made by hand. His eyes wandered up at me, his fork dropping onto the plate. "I can cook a real mean steak dinner now, can I?" He smirked, resting an elbow on the table. "Mm... you could say that, father. It wasn't bad at all."

"You know, you should stay the night. I stole a box of Finn and Richard's old DVDs. You know, raunchy cow folk and horror films." He waved an arm, pointing at the half-opened box sitting on the coffee table. Wouldn't hurt to crash on his couch tonight. Besides, if he can cook now, then I'll expect breakfast at 7 am sharp. (If he can even remember to eat breakfast)

"Yeah, that would be fun. I'm sure they have a good selection." I rested an arm against the chair. "Great! Let me clean up and we can shuffle through that mess of flicks." Villem rose up, grabbing our plates and turning his full attention to the sink. It gave me a couple of minutes to relax, easing up on the cushioned wooden chair.

Maybe there is a turnaround in this apocalypse. Miles awake, newborns fading out to non-existence (besides the few that reside), and my father stepping up. I finally have hope this whole fiasco will soon be over.