One Hundred Ten |

The sun had rose only a few minutes ago, beside me Sebastian was still sleeping silently and while I wanted nothing more than to admire his shirtless state, and the way lines of white danced across his skin in the form of scars, something from my mom's letter weighed on my chest like a fucking bus, and I hadn't been able to sleep since that stupid dream.

When we reached the house, you were screaming in pain, and then you bit me. I didn't think anything of it, but you didn't turn. You didn't because you are subject zero.

I'm onto the fourth hour now, my fever is terribly high and I will turn soon.

Her words, those words, they plagued me. At first I hadn't really considered them, my thoughts were scrambled from absorbing the entirety of the letter but now that my thoughts had a chance to calm, those words remained. Like a bad taste in my mouth, or an unresolved stink in my nose. She didn't mention being attacked by anyone undead. Instead, she specifically mentioned not being bit—I was the one bit, not her. And yet when I didn't turn into a zombie, I had bitten her in my state of pain and panic.

I didn't think anything of it, but you didn't turn.

You didn't because you are subject zero.

I never considered what it exactly meant by being subject zero meant. I knew it meant I had zero in my head, I had the virus in my veins and stupidly, hell zombies even avoided me now, and I thought that was all it meant. But in my own ignorance, I ignored the facts that were right in front of me. I was subject zero.

That meant I was the Lyssasolanum.

I am the original zombie.

Dread smothered me, and it all made sense why Maxwell had given me so much information that night. All that torture, it was to distract me from his true intent. He wanted to figure out how I worked, how my dad had turned me into this—this monster that I was. That was how he'd control the zombies.

"Hey," the delicious accented voice was thick with sleep.

I looked down at Sebastian, my body relaxing slightly as I stared at him.

"Hey," I whispered, running my fingers over his bare arm, "Are you alright?"

"Heh. I was gonna' ask you that. You look worried about something," he replied sitting up, then looking down at his bare chest, "Oh, would you look at that, I have become partially nude in my slumber. I do hope my nakedness isn't the cause of your distress."

I snickered, he switched into old English man real quick. That was certainly a sleepy Sebastian thing and honestly I wasn't mad at that. He was cute when he was groggy. His accent became thicker when he was tired. I licked my lips slowly, for a moment forgetting everything but the man in front of me.

"Definitely not," I muttered, my eyes dancing across his body.

He smirked, leaning towards me, "Not even a little bit my love?"

"No," I breathed softly, my breathe escaping me.

Our lips were inches apart, and I found myself leaning in. My lips parted, his hand slid around my waist and rested on the lower of my back. I inhaled with anticipation, my eyes fluttering closed when suddenly there was a loud knock on the front door—the noise echoed into the bedroom, and my eyes popped open, a blush on my cheeks. He chuckled, pressing his lips to my forehead before sliding from the bed.

"Come on my love," he chipped, throwing his shirt on, "The day awaits!"

You are subject zero.

The words echoed in my mind. And yet, I didn't feel like the monster I was meant to be.

Sighing, I rose, Sebastian was right, the day awaited and it would come quickly. Which it did; very quickly. Before the sun had even fully rose our group was called back into the notorious council room. If I thought I hadn't gotten enough sleep, these people surely didn't either. They all looked like shit, some more than others. The only one who looked like they were well rested was Father Antonio.

"Good morning!" he boasted with a warm smile.

Samson grunted, "Get to the point Antonio."

"Right," Antonio said, before looking to me, "The council has decided that you are right. Eric Maxwell has left us in peace for the past twelve years, however now that you are in our care it seems he is no longer satisfied with his own dwellings. We have decided that he cannot have you in any circumstances, which also means we will need to be prepared for his reaction to that. Unfortunately, compared to Maxwell's empire our island is small," he paused with a heavy sigh, "we will admit gathering allies will decrease our loss at the end of the day. So, we will form a team who will accompany your group on your mission. However, there is a lot to prepare so we also have come up with a liable plan of action and we'd like you to fit your people into our planning, as we form to strengthen our bonds between us and the neighbouring settlements."

I nodded, hiding the truth of how relieved I really was, "What's your plan?"

"We will be sending out a group, with you, to the settlements. We'd like to keep the group as small as possible, the smaller it is the less resources we need to send, and the more people can stay here and prepare," Marley continued on, "When your team moves out, we will send a few birds with you. Once you get to each settlement, the leader is to be given their designated letter. From there, you will be the negotiator."

I frowned slightly, sensing a but, "And what's the catch?"

"Well," Marley hummed, "We have decided on the group we'll be sending out does not involve your entire group. In fact, we'd like Ophelia, Lisa and Sebastian to stay here. Which means, aside from our selected group members, only you and Oliver will be travelling to the settlements."

And that hit me like a baseball bat.

"Fuck no," Lisa snapped.

Sebastian's eyes narrowed, and he wrapped his arm around my waist, "I go where Mira goes, what part of that didn't you understand?"

Lilith rose her hand, as if she needed our permission to speak, "I understand your lack of cooperation but we'd advise you to reconsider. We considered each of your abilities carefully before making up this plan and originally we only considered sending Mira by herself. However, after analyzing Oliver's ability, we understood sending him along would decrease the loss on our teams side. Sebastian we'd like you to stay due to your close combat skills but also we believe we can turn your blood into a weapon, blood bullets to be precise. Thus, it could decrease the amount of bullets needed in combat, and would make our guards more effective. Lisa, we'd like you to stay and oversee our gun training, as you have a remarkable aim despite using a pistol in battle. We'd also like to train you to use a sniper rifle. And Ophelia, we'd like you to stand as the communicator between your team and Mira while she is gone. We will also assign you both birds to keep this communication wide open."

We grew silent because damn it, it made sense.

"Alright," I breathed slowly.

Sebastian turned to me, "Love..."

My head shook, "No, she's right. We need to stop acting like it's them and us vs. Maxwell. They're trying to accommodate us into this war, and we need to start helping. Sonar would want us to survive, he'd want us to turn this shithole into a nice ass bird bath."

Lisa frowned but nodded, her hand wrapping around mine. Sebastian said nothing, his gaze dropping to the floor as his crimson eyes smoldered with anger. I knew he didn't want me going off without him, but this was for the best for now.

"You are scheduled to leave in two hours—" Samson began before the door swung open.

I turned, standing there dressed in all black (a long sleeve black shirt, black pants, black boots, a thick black vest with pockets, an assault riffle on her back, black gloves—all the works) was Jessica. She frowned, her short blonde pony tail swinging back and forth as her eyes drank me in. My own eyes narrowed as I knew what she was doing here, I just hoped I was wrong.

"Ah Jess," Samson hummed, his words soft but his voice hard, "Perfect timing. Subject zero meet your abroad team leader. She will be escorting you to the settlements, and will be commanding the rest of your team."

My teeth grit but I nodded, "Sure."

"Sir," Jessica hummed, eyeing me up and down, "I believe subject zero is equipped for this journey, are you positive she is fit for this mission?"

My eye twitched as Lisa let out a snort.

"She ought to be or she will die," Samson replied, "Now enough of this. Take her to get sized and dressed. Fill her in on the mission on the way. The rest of you will remain and be filled in on the remaining actions for the day. Any questions?"

Lisa smirked, "Yeah I got a question for that dumb blon—"

"—No," I cut in quickly, a small smirk on my lips as I squeezed her hand, "We have no questions. Please just give me a few minutes to say goodbye to my friends."

"There is no time for that," he growled, clearly annoyed.

Antonio smiled warmly, "We will give you a few minutes to do so. Samson, we can delay for a mere minute or so, they will find the future hard and unforgiving, give them a moment to say their goodbyes."

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Fine," Samson grunted, "We will break for a few minutes. Oliver and Mira will follow Jessica in a few minutes, then I expect the rest of you back in here."

So we did, leaving the room quickly. As soon as the door shut behind us, Lisa pulled me into a tight hug. I smiled, hugging her tightly back, holding in my tears as a sense of woe and loneliness hit me. I didn't want to leave them but I knew it had to be done. As I hugged Lisa, I noticed Ophelia and Oliver saying their own goodbyes.

"You'd better come back in one fucking piece," Lisa whispered in my ear, sniffling.

I chuckled, "You know I will. I promise you that."

She stepped back, looking over to Sebastian, who was content on glaring at the wall. A smirk tugged onto her lips, lighting up her glossy eyes. She moved over to join Ophelia, before giving me a pointed looks. I lightly kicked at the ground before taking a step towards Sebastian.

"I don't want to go without you," I whispered, the lump in my throat back.

His eyes slid to meet mine, "I know."

"But I have to."

His accent was thick with emotions, "I know that too."

We stood silently for a moment, and while my fingers twitched to hug him, I was worried he'd reject me. I'd rather not act on my sudden desperation for his attention than have him reject me before I left here for a while. His eyes softened and he then stepped forward, his arms wrapping around me, and I buried my face into his chest, my hands rising to grasp his shirt. His hug was tight, and warm—I felt safe and loved.

"I'm gonna be worrying about you the entire time," he chuckled lightly, but I could sense the chuckle was forced, "Damn it love, I'm going to miss you so fucking much."

I bit my lip, looking up at him with glossy eyes, I needed to tell him, I needed him to hear me say it out loud and yet I struggled, "Sebastian I-I--"

"I know," he smiled, "I know love."

A frown pulled onto my lips, "Shut up."

His eyes widened in surprise, "Love?"

"I love you Sebastian," I blurt, demanding my doubts to stop controlling me, "I love you. S-So please just wait for me to come back, and please just--"

I didn't get to finish my sentence before his lips pressed to mine. I gasped softly, my eyes fluttering closed as pleasure and love filled me. My entire body warmed and for a moment, it was only us. No, this feeling was something more than that. This feeling reminded me that there was always us despite not being only us. Ever since the first time I meet him, it had always been us, our love that slowly built like a small flame that kept growing until it devoured us, leaving behind nothing but warm ashes. I leaned into him on my tippy toes, my fingers reaching up to grab the sides of his face and I deepened the kiss. His hands held onto the small of my back, and then there was a loud cough. We broke apart, our eyes lingering on each other and I smiled brightly—so did he.

"It's time to go," Jessica snapped.

Sebastian winked at me, "I'll see you later love."

I nodded, biting my lip, "See you later."

He swooped in again, quickly this time to press his lips lightly to mine before he whispered, "I love you too by the way."

My face heated and I rolled my eyes.

"Let's go," Jessica snarled.

Oliver and I turned to face the impatient woman. As I turned, Lisa slid over to me, giving me a final hug before Ophelia gave me one as well. Then, it was time to go. I held my head up high and refused myself to cry, I wouldn't shed a single tear in front of this woman. Instead, I would be strong, and I would get this mission over with, then I would come home and Sebastian and I would get our happy ending, Lisa would get hers and Ophelia would get to have hers with Oliver. I would end this war against Maxwell, and then, the world would truly be ours.

Til' death do us part.