"You ready for this, Freak?" Josh saunters over to me, his gun swinging on his back, momentarily leaving his squad to speak with me. We're out of our tanks and just waiting on Hawkins to show up and give the go. I glance back at my squad and shrug at Josh in answer.

    "I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

    "That's a horrible answer and isn't reassuring in the slightest. Your squad is back there biting their nails and you're up here shrugging." He frowns at me. "No matter how difficult it gets, Freak, you've gotta be tough of shit. It'll make you feel better, even if it's just a facade."

    "We're gonna win this, right?" I ask him in a hushed tone so none of my men will hear me. He glances at his own squad and I watch his eyes turn in emotion. We stand behind a bundle of trees that surround the Flesh Feeder camp. Once we breech the trees, their camp and the ocean will be all there is to see.

    "I hope so."

    That's encouraging.

    "Okay, let's go kick some Flesh Feeders ass." I say loud enough for my squad to hear. Josh laughs at my use of a profanity and someone behind me clears their throat.

    "Be cautious with your language, love." Parker tries to hide his smile with a stern frown, but I see right through it. I smile at him. He comes close to me so that he can whisper in my ear. "That suit needs to never be worn again after this. I can see everyone's eyes all over you." I roll my eyes and fix the collar of his uniform. He's absurd sometimes.

    "Well I only have eyes for you so you can rest assured, General. Your men are harmless in this case." I whisper softly in his ear and he swallows hard. My eyes flicker up to his and I smile warmly at him before I turn around to address my squad.

    "Remember, men, we're a group. We're on the same team here. Help each other out but not at the expense of your own life. We can win this if we just focus on who the real enemy is." They nod in agreement to my words and I turn my back to them, facing the trees. The beach is so close that I can taste the salt in the air. Parker nods to me as he passes my squad to check on the others. My eyes follow him as he talks to each squad leader.

We love each other. My lips turn up in the corners just thinking about it. This is...unbelievable. There was a while there that I couldn't stand him and I remember that time like it was mere days ago, yet after this dreaded battle, we're home free. Parker and I will create a life together and there's nothing more that I want than exactly that.

    "Division 64!" Hawkins's voice suddenly interjects loud enough for us to hear but not loud enough to cause suspicion in the camp. We all stand at attention as Parker walks behind us to where Hawkins is. I so badly want to turn around and glare at Hawkins but I remain staring at the line of trees stretched out before me.

    "We're ready for battle, Sir." Parker's voice carries through the squads and I hear a shuffle of anxious bodies. This is it. It's happening. I keep repeating those words to myself maybe in an attempt to make it real because at this point, it feels surreal that in less than thirty minutes I'm going to be using my power to kill Flesh Feeders.

    "I absolutely love the suit." Hawkins's voice slithers through my ears and I can't help but shiver. Parker comes into my view first and his face remains impassive. As soon as Hawkins appears, I clench my jaw.

He repulses me to an extent that seems almost intolerable.

"It really sets you apart from everyone else. I think it's quite symbolic." He smirks at me and I smile sweetly. He's the one going to hell here, not me.

"I'm so glad you like it, General." I grind out and he nods at me in dismissal. The second his back is to me, my innocent eyes turn into daggers at his back. Parker gives me a look of warning and I shake it off. Parker can't control everything I do.

"My soldiers of the Prominence, it is time. We are going to go into that camp and destroy every living thing in sight. I personally thank you all for your assistance in our cause, and your service will not go unrecognized. Let's go win a battle."

And with that, the first squad charges into the trees.

Within minutes, the squads start disappearing in the foliage one by one. After the Division One squads are gone, it's time for our squads to go. I feel a sense of sudden loss as I watch Parker go with our first squad. Soon enough, it's our squads turn to go. I glance back at my men before rushing forward.

This is it.

As soon as I break through the trees, chaos slams into me. There's screams of pain and guns being shot and snarls of the Flesh Feeders and orders being shouted and the first thing I see is the backdrop of the ocean. It amazes me at first, the endlessness of it, but I have little time to be in awe as a set of pointy teeth come at me.

"They knew we were coming." A soldier screams loud enough for everyone to hear. I look around for a camp of some sorts but all I see is a battle. Nothing more, nothing less. The Flesh Feeder's anticipated our attack? But...how?

With the terror quickly freezing my bones, I have no choice but to focus on the beast coming at me and let the currents of electricity flow from my body to the Flesh Feeder. The nasty thing explodes in front of me and I shriek in shock. I was expecting the monster to turn into a pile of ash, not for the thing to explode form the inside out.

Ty and Levi run to stand next to me but I wave them off. I can do this. I can handle this because I have conditioned to be strong enough to cope with this horrible scene laid out in front of me. My heart hammers as I get another Flesh Feeder to explode. This is easy. I don't even have to get my hands dirty. All I have to do is focus and then zap them.

"How you doing, Riles?" Ty yells over the roar of the battle and I quickly glance his way as he reloads his gun. This must be even more terrifying for him than it is for me. 

All of them must be pissing their pants right about now.

"I've been better actually." I yell back and the Flesh Feeder going after Ty explodes, the guts coating both of us. Ty brushes a chunk of the monster out of his hair before he shoots at the group of Flesh Feeders coming after our squad. The few that manage to come closer than a few feet from me explode almost instantaneously. My eyes widen in shock as one of the beasts get close to biting Levi. Those bites are practically terminal for humans without a power. I focus and the Flesh Feeder erupts all over Levi, covering him in a gross slime. 

I hear someone behind me scream in agony and it takes absolutely everything in me not to turn around and see who it is. The second I turn my back to the killer, I'm dead. My focus has to be on one thing and one thing only, and in this case that's the Flesh Feeders. After this battle, I don't intend to fight ever again. This is just way too brutal, too gory. People are dying all around me. These are the people that I've spent months with during training.

"Riley!" Ty yells my name and I focus on him as four Flesh Feeders advance on him. In mere seconds, they're all in chunks on the sand. I blink at Ty in fear. That was close. He smiles at me with his big smile and I nod at him before turning back to check the rest of the squad. But I must have looked away too soon because I hear Ty scream loud enough to burst my eardrum. I whirl around to find him clutching his neck as a Flesh Feeders is bending down toward him. I quickly explode the thing before rushing over to Ty.

"Ty?" I ask as I peel his hand from his neck. I gasp at the giant bite in his neck before I jump into action, applying pressure to the wound with my hand. "No. No, no, no, no." My hands shake as they are quickly covered in blood.

I did this. If I had just watched him for a second longer, I could have saved him. I could have prevented this. I try to get him to focus his eyes on me but when I touch his face, my fingers slip from the blood, and my handprint is stained in red on his face.

"Focus, Evans." Levi's voice calls to me and I shake my head.

Not Ty. They can't take Ty from me. I can't lose him. Don't they realize that I've already lost so much? I just - I can't lose Ty.

"Please, Ty." I beg and a Flesh Feeder that approaches us explodes, the guts raining down on us. Ty's eyes flutter open after a chunk hits his face. I smile at him with tears in my eyes. I can be strong for him. Like Josh said: even when it gets difficult, I have to be tough as shit.

"You're gonna...do...big things...in this world...Riles." Ty rasps out and I shake my head at him. He can't die. What the hell did I do to deserve this? What the hell did he do to deserve this? "Leave me. You....have to."

"No, Ty. Stop. I'm not leaving you." I put more pressure on the wound, looking away from his eyes to try and lessen the amount of blood coating my hands

"Riley." He starts to argue but then he stops. My eyes immediately go to his, yet they aren't exactly his eyes anymore. They're just blank. The wind gets knocked out of me at the realization that he's gone. Just like that, one of the only friends I have is dead.

Suddenly, everything goes silent. The gunshots stop pounding in my ears, the screams of pain cease, all of the noise halts. I look up to find everything still going on. Soldiers are still shooting their guns, people are still dying, and the battle is still going on. All I hear is a quiet ringing noise. Am I in shock? I think I remember it sounding like this when those men killed my family.

"God dammit, Freak. Are you trying to kill yourself? Get up." Josh's voice breaks through my haze and the roar of sound assaults me. I get ripped up by the arm to a stand and Josh smacks my check hard.

Oh shit.

I turn my back to him and the advancing Flesh Feeders blow up on the spot. How did one of them not kill me? I was on the ground with my back turned to them for a long time. I find Levi close to Ty's body, shooting away. Was he guarding me? I owe him big. I manage a glance down at Ty. He's actually dead. I don't think I can even process that fact right now.

"You back to reality?" Josh yells and I nod my head, finally feeling the sting in my cheek. He hit me. Asshole. "Parker needs you, Freak. Don't pull that shit on me again." With that, he runs into the group of Flesh Feeder. He's crazy. I cause the line of Flesh Feeders closest to me to explode. A few of the soldiers glance back at me and I nod at them. I'm good at this.

As long as I keep Ty out of my head, I can do this.