Rhys knew that he had thoroughly offended Ash this time. He had to admit that he had been irresponsible with the matter regarding Emma. Ever since the trip back from the mission where he lost Ash, be was always absent minded. He didn't feel like doing anything and there was always a stuffy feeling in his chest. Emma, being the reason they made that stupid bet, was a constant reminder to the blunder he had made. As such he couldn't face himself every time he saw that little girl. Thus he had unconsciously distanced himself from her as much as he could.

Yet now the girl was missing. He had indeed promised Ash before that he would look after her. So it was under her watch that she disappeared. And he was feeling terribly guilty. So, he had been on the lookout for any clues he could find as an apology. Yet today Rhys had an uneasy feeling since he woke up. That feeling festered as the day went by.

When he finally witnessed the splendor of the red light illuminating the afternoon sky, he finally knew why he had been uneasy the whole day. At once the memory that he had kept aside drifted to the forefront of his mind. 'Red smoke, retuning rescue team, the tide of zombies, sound of gun shot, Kyle dead on the ground with the bullet shot and the culprit...

Back then he was part of the rescue team that ventured out. Rhys clenched his eyes shut trying to control his emotions. This time... he was wasted and useless so Kyle decided not to bring him along. Maybe this variation would be the deciding factor in Kyle's survival. 'Yess! I will go help out the snipers. At the same time I will keep an eye on Ash." Rhys was determined to never let that disaster happen again. Without another thought he set off in a sprint towards the front gate.

When he got there, the atmosphere was very tense. He could tell by a glance that everyone was nervous. It took him a while to spot the person that he was looking for. Ash was stationed next to the left entrance. He looked very rattled. Rhys glanced out at the situation outside the walls. Three vehicles were rushing over at full speed one after another. Following closely behind them was the largest group of zombies he had seen yet. They looked more aggressive than usual. Not to mention the inhumane speed that they portrayed. Even he would be apprehensive at the thought of facing them head on. It was like they were being instructed and led. Just the sight of them acting this way send shivers down his spine. Just as he was wondering what could make those zombies act this way, he saw the last vehicle at the back get swarmed and lose control. It heavily hit into a nearby tree and stopped moving. Black smoke drifted out from the hood. After a moment the people inside jumped out of the vehicles and started rushing towards the gate. Rhys narrowed his eyes as he spotted the distant figure of Kyle and his friends making their way over on foot. The horde has close behind and the group had to constantly watch their backs as they moved forward. Even with the guns at hand they were at a great disadvantage.

Without hesitation, Rhys grabbed the rifle from the closest person to him and started shooting down the zombies to assist his friends. The bewildered young man whose gun was stolen didn't know if he should be angry or delighted that the tedious and terrifying task was taken away from him. That is until another gun was forced into his hand by Admiral Viktor.

A few feet away from them, Stephanie watched in surprise as Rhys took down one zombie after another with terrifying accuracy. She was in a dilemma. The scientist had tasked her with one final task. To bump into Ash as soon as he reloads the rifle the second time. Apparently it was to misdirected people from thinking there was something wrong with the bullet. It was such an easy task that she had assumed she could pull it off without a hitch. Once completed she would be rewarded with weeks worth of food and other essential supplies. But now a problem has cropped up. Rhys was just a few feet away from where Ash was. And it seemed like half of his concentration was constantly on Ash's every movement. He was so alert that it was impossible for her to act without rousing suspicion. She was both frustrated and jealous. 'What to do?' She bit her nails as she rattled her brain. Even after several minutes of thinking. No idea came to mind. As such she took a 'wait and see' approach. If the opportunity arises then she would fulfil the task. If not, then.... she was certain that it wasn't going to cause much of a difference either way. She was unwilling to risk her relationship with Rhys by making him suspicious of her.

Oblivious to the thoughts and dilemma of these two people Ash was straining to not fire in the direction of Kyle although he saw that most zombies were crowding around that group. He was completely ignorant of the fact that Rhys was in the vicinity and was observing him with a frown on his face.

After several minutes of continues firing, the magazine was empty. Ash reached in front of him where several magazines were neatly arranged for immediate use. He connected it into the shaft and positioned himself for another round. Ash was panicking a bit. So far he had been straining his mind to keep an eye on his immediate surroundings in order to avoid the mysterious person who is to bump into him. But no one has even come anywhere near his location for this long that Ash was starting to have mixed feelings. He was stressed about why it was different from the memories but at the same time happy that he could avoid the entire misfortune. With a slightly lighter heart, He tuned off the safety and fired.

Rhys was watching from the side lines, Ash hadn't done anything suspicious so far. If one thing that he found weird about the whole situation, it was that the boy was consciously trying hard not to shoot in the direction of the approaching group. All his shots focused on the zombies at the edges of the horde. But even then the bad feeling in Rhys's heart was not going away. Just as he was trying to convince that he was being unnaturally paranoid he saw the last shot out bullet curved in its trajectory as it was fired. And it seemed to head straight towards..... Sudden gasps sounded around him. Rhys snapped his head back towards the field lightning fast. Just as his eyes fell on Kyle, his brother's body swayed and hit the ground heavily. There was a moment of panic from the approaching group as they were indecisive whether to go back and get Kyle or just keep running.

Rhys's heart started thumping really hard and his chest was suddenly gripped by an unbearable pain as if someone was squeezing his heart into a puddle. No!!! Rhys reacted fast. He ignored the shouts of warning and rushed out the gates to find his brother.

Ash was so shocked that he was frozen for a moment as his eyes followed the figure running out of the gate and rushing straight at the horde of zombies. Thump Thump Thump. He could hear his heart beating so loudly as he felt everything around him slow down into a crawl. He had tried his best to avoid the situation but it still haunted him no matter what he did. Ash realized that Fate was not something that could be easily changed no matter what kind of premonitions he received. 'But was it him who shot him? It shouldn't be right? He hadn't aimed in that direction at all.' It seemed like the whole universe was pushing Kyle into that one fixed path that they wanted him to walk in. It wanted Kyle to die here.

Ash quickly looked through the scope of the rifle and his heart fell. The zombie that he had aimed at before was still alive and rushing ahead. His shot had not reached it. It had been a clear shot with nothing in the way and no active elements to mess with its trajectory. Even if the XGuard's homing feature was not activated the rifle should have still acted as a normal gun and it should have still hit it without fail. The chances of him failing to land a hit was practically zero in that situation.

Something had gone wrong, and Ash's gut was telling him Kyle's situation was his fault. The same emotions he felt during his visions suddenly sprang up inside him and his hands started to tremble. He wanted to run and hide. He knew what was coming next and he really didn't want to go through a beating. The only difference from last time was that no one suspected him yet. And he wasn't planning to draw attention to him. With great difficulty Ash forced himself not to focus on his terrified heart and instead, for the first time since the horde attack started aimed in the direction he was originally meant to shoot.

He knew Rhys quite well. With all the missions they have gone on together, the man's fighting style was etched into his brain. Not to mention that he had been given personal training from the guy himself. Even though Rhys was more reckless at the moment his movement were fairly readable to him. Without another second of hesitation Ash shot. A zombie that was jumping at Rhys's back fell down with a clear head wound. He shot again and another one fell. Shot after shot rang in the air, creating an almost effortless path for Rhys to reach his destination. The people standing around Ash were surprised at the amount of coordination shown by these two. It was as if Ash was reading Rhys's mind.

People soon jumped out of the surprised state that they fell into when Rhys rushed into the midst of the horde and started clearing out the rest that got anywhere too close. It took around another hour before the last person was able to rush through the gates safely and the doors were firmly shut to block off the outside threat. The snipers were given a chance to breath and were replaced by ordinary civilians in order to give them some practice. Now that those who had training have taken care of the hard and dangerous part, the rest of the horde that was clambered outside could be taken down by just about anyone with a gun and a sense of aim. The soldiers also thought this would be a good chance for those who never had any experience in killing a zombie to get those firsts.

Ash didn't even notice when someone patted him on the shoulder for a shift change. His mind had already blanked out with worry and fear that he had gone into Auto mode as he continued to shoot down zombies with ridiculous accuracy.

Ash didn't know how long he was like that. But he was suddenly yanked out of that state by a fierce pull. Someone had grabbed him so hard by the arm that he was certain it was going to leave bruises. But even with the pain he didn't register who was grabbing him, what they were cursing about or where he was being dragged to. All he could keep repeating in his heart was, 'Its not me. I didn't do it.'

"Ash!" Someone's terrifying growl woke him up from his stupor. It took him a moment to register what was going on around him. It seemed like those around him had called him several times before he responded. Ash quickly scanned his surroundings. He was in the waiting room of the makeshift clinic that was available in the camp. Most of the people he knew were present.

Everyone had gloomy and angry expressions on their faces and it seemed like they were all directed at him. Suddenly he felt motion from the side. When he glanced over he saw Rhys being heavily restrained by several people as he murderously glared at him. He must have tried to rush at him the moment he laid eyes on Ash. And certainly would have if he wasn't stopped in time. Of all the times he had seen a similar expression on the man's face, this time was the most vivid and intense. His anger and hate was radiating out of him and it made Ash feel suffocated.

Ash could sense that none of them were holding the man down willingly. The strongest grip was by Jule, and his brothers naturally followed his lead without question. Being unable to rush at the boy and vent his anger with his fists, Rhys could only resort to cursing. His eyes were bloodshot and a trace of madness could be seen flittering across them. Him being suppressed made the veins on his forehead jump in resistance. His hands were clenched so tightly that one could see small traces of blood on them. This was the first time that the people had seen Rhys lose his temper to this extent. Many were terrified, others worried. What everyone agreed on was that they never wanted that sort of anger directed at them.

In the midst of Rhys's curses Anne slowly slipped to Ash's side with a grim look on her face and whispered, "Kyle is unconscious. They say he lost too much blood. Plus he was bitten a couple of times. The situation is not good. Problem is they say that the bullet wound on his body was from the set distributed to you." Her face became darker. She didn't know what emotion to portray on her face at that moment. "We didn't believe it at first but apparently the bullets are in fact distributed to you name after we personally checked several times. I really hope you have a good explanation to this and... pray that nothing happens to Kyle."

After she gave the warning, she slowly placed her hand on her gun holder and took a protective stance next to Ash. Her heart was struggling like several others here. Kyle was like a father figure to a lot of them and he was the center piece that held them all together. On the other hand Ash was a good friend of hers and from the few rumours she heard from James, he might very well be the reason she was still alive. If Ash really had shot down Kyle, then she really didn't know which side she should pick.

It was like some people were faced with a similarly difficult choice. For most it was easy to know where they stood but there were those few who were in a similar dilemma as Anne.

While Ash stood there petrified not knowing what to do, a thousand thoughts flashed through Rhys's brain. As soon as he picked up Kyle's shot body and rushed over, his emotions were turbulent. First was such intense pain that he felt like he would choke to death. This pain seemed to be carried over from two lifetimes as Rhys felt like his very being would succumb to it. Then came anger which overtook his rationality. He became fixated on the past memory where Ash was the culprit behind his brother's death and naturally assumed without any doubt that He was to blame this time as well. No one had to accuse the boy as his head had already made up its mind to recognise Ash as the perpetrator. Right after he dropped Kyle at the clinic, he had wanted to rush over to find the guy and kill him, but the people around him recognised his murderous intend and restrained him until the doctor pulled out the bullet for them to confirm that it belonged to Ash. When everyone was shocked by the news and uncertain on how to proceed, Rhys had wanted to break out from them and go find that bastard. But it seemed like someone was more quick witted than the others. Jule restrained him immediately and his brothers followed his lead without question. Rhys felt betrayed and couldn't do anything but curse at everyone to bring that guy before him to kill.

It took around half an hour for them to locate Ash and bring him back. Which further confirm Rhys assumption that Ash was hiding due to his guilty conscience. By the time Ash was finally brought before him, Rhys's anger had calmed down a bit and during the wait he was constantly wondering how all this is possible. Along with all this doubts was self blame. This time he had been right next to the culture but he was helpless in changing anything. He blamed himself for not taking a decisive stand before and just killing the boy the fist day he was revealed to be a danger to his family. The only thing that held him from giving in to his inner demons was the fact that Kyle wasn't dead yet. He still had a chance to come back unlike in his last life.

But all the rationality vanished as soon as that guy appeared before his eyes. For the first time Rhys thought that the beautiful visage before him was hiding the devil. He felt internally tortured for having appreciated something whose very existence was a threat to him and his family. As he felt the blood rushing to his head and the small voice at the back of his mind whispering to him to end the guy, he felt the hand holding him in place tighten as if knowing his intentions. There was a stalemate as Rhys resorted to glaring the boy to death and using every curse he ever learned.

Suddenly the door to the operating room opened and the doctor with a grim and worn out look on his face came out. He quickly scanned the crowd outside the door and felt burdened. Rhys broke free from his retrains and grabbed the doctor by the collar, "How is he?" He shouted in the man's face with wrath written all over it.

"I-I did all i could." The doctor gulped in fear as several dangerous looking people surrounded him from all sides. "The patient might not make it." The doctor finally said in a small voice and immediately felt the hand around his collar tighten. But it was his job to deliver the news to his waiting family and friends. "He has lost too much blood. Even if that doesn't kill him by a miracle, the virus in him will. The wounds are making it spread faster. Two hours at most and then he will turn."

'Will not make it' the words kept swirling and echoing in Rhys's head until he felt like something snapped. 'Will not make it like Hell!' He quickly turned around grabbed the one person he didn't want anything more to do with and rushed into the room and locked it behind him. They were already behind locked doors before anyone could react to the situation. His mad eyes glared at Ash's pale face without any emotion and said in an even tone. "You will accompany my brother to the next life if something happens to him." Then he shoved the boy towards the operating table on which Kyle lay with his upper body bare and had a peaceful look on his face. If it wasnt for the glaring gun wound right under his heart and and the two bite marks on his arm and shoulder, he looked like he was just in a deep sleep.

Rhys took the only available chair in the room, sat on it firmly and fixated his burning gaze on the frozen boy. He ignored all the commotion that was happening outside the locked doors including the loud banging accompanied by Jules slightly pleading and threatening voice. Seeing that Ash still hadn't snapped out of his daze, he roared, "Start treating him at once."

————

On the balcony of an office room inside the laboratory, two men stood looking out into the distance. This room was one of the few that had a view of the entire area enclosed inside the walls. The people could vaguely observe the situation outside by standing there.

Dr Davis stood upright with his hands behind his back as he narrowed his eyes at the crowd gathering around the entrance of the tightly shut gate, surrounding the shot down figure in the distance. Standing next to him was a self satisfied Dr Hansen who had a big smile on his face.

"George, this is the plan you came up with after all this planning?" Dr Davis scoffed sarcastically as the remaining zombie tide was still being shot down with every passing minute.

The words seemed to snap the smug scientist out of his gloating. He instantly became nervous. "Well it is a two bird with a stone strategy. No actually several birds with a stone. So, what are your worries?"

"I must say it's not too bad of an idea. First you kidnapped the little girl that Ash takes care of, making him suspicious of us. This will make him want to enter the lab at any cost. I am just surprised that he held on for so long."

"Yes." Dr Hansen replied enthusiastically. "It would be of course best if we don't directly abducted the boy. He is one person that his team likes a lot. His disappearance would definitely cause a stir. So, it is best if he walks into our trap by himself. I have been keeping tap of his movement. And noticed that he had been observing our building a lot. As such I doubled the security so that there are no loopholes that he can make use of to sneak in like that guy."

"Mmm. Then your next step was to get the team to hate him and not provide him their protection." Dr Davis went on. "As such you had the tracker planted on Kyle, so that one of the specially designed bullets in Ash's arsenal would definitely hit him. That is why you even let them use the half finished XGuard ahead of time. Are you also behind the reason that the car crashed?"

"Yes. I instructed one of the men to tinker with the engine. Doctor, You understand my plan perfectly. Although even when the transporting team informed me that the special zombie mentioned in the call had rallying ability. I never expected it to be to this extent. To be honest the amount that followed them had me worried for a second as well" Dr Hansen was excited but remember to get back to the previous topic they were discussing. "Once Kyle dies, him being the emotional anchor of the whole group, Ash is bound to get a lot of hate. I am certain that the team will even push him away. At that moment of vulnerability, if we extend a hand towards him, coupled with the fact that he wants to investigate the little girl's disappearance, there is no chance Ash would refuse our invitation. No one will care if he disappears from then on. Not to mention that we were able to get rid of Kyle who was able to discover all our secrets." He looked like a puppy wanting praise for a job well done from its owner. "I would like to think that my plan is ingenious. Didn't you see Kyle being shot down right now. Now all we have to do is wait."

Dr Davis chuckled. "There are several factors still to consider dear George." Seeing the confused look of the man next to him, Dr Davis continued. "The plan is flawed from the beginning as Kyle made it back all way to the camp still alive. Even though you want to use him as a variable to get Ash on our side, it is still too huge a risk to let him survive this long when he literally is a ticking bomb on our side. Another thing you should consider is that Kyle doesn't die even after all your meticulous preparation. Which in itself is a problem as he can blab as soon as he recovers. Not to mention that there is no guarantee that he hasn't spilled the beans to the other members of the raid team during this time. The second issue is that even if Kyle dies, the group might just ask blood for blood. Rather than just let Ash be, as such the boy might be just killed off instead. That would be a colossal loss to us. Then there is the fact that you said no one will care if Ash disappeared after that. Which in itself is wrong. Strong hate can make people care more than otherwise. Not to mention the most important factor, I have a feeling that some members of the team are already aware of Ash's powers. Would anyone with a proper head on their neck, be willing to let go of such a treasure especially when the treat of infection is around every corner. They would rather imprison and torture the guy than give him up." He smiled at the baffled look on Dr Hansen's face. "It seems like you get it."

As George opened his mouth to try to refute some of the claims, there was a knock on the door. Both men turned towards the person who stepped into the room. It was Dr Hansen's secretary, Shelly. "What is the situation." George immediately asked, the previous confidence gone.

"Kyle is shot and in critical condition sir." She replied immediately seeing the urgency in her superior's face.

"H-He is not dead?" Dr Hansen stuttered.

"Not yet Sir. The bullet hit his chest but not his heart. Thus he is still alive. He had lost a lot of blood due to the late retrieval and is unconscious. He also seems to have one or two bites but since the zombies were more focused on retrieving 'the object' his infection is not critical yet. But as you instructed before, we helped to dig out the bullet and verified that it belonged to Ash's set." Shelly went on to narrate in a serious voice.

Seeing the slightly dangerous cold smile on Dr Davis's face, Dr Hansen felt shivers run down his spine. "It's okay. There is still time to get rid of him. He is unconscious. So we just have to kill him off silently before he has a chance to get back to his feet." He shot a sideward glance at Dr Davis and noticed that the dangerous aura has retreated a bit. He sighed in relief and he quickly asked his assistant for more information, "What is the response of the others regarding Ash?"

"I am not exactly sure, he was dragged away right after. But from the expressions on the faces of those people, he is not going to have a good time." Shelly informed. "By the way sir, the team that was rescued has brought us the sample that has caused all this commotion. I will ask someone to fetch it for you. The group that brought it, will join you in research ones they are out of quarantine."

"Mmm alright. You may leave. Keep an eye out for how it goes and inform me if anything major happens." Dr Hansen said and watched as his secretary left with a nod. Once she was gone, he turned to Dr Davis and gave him an awkward smile. "I will arrange for someone to act against Kyle. This time he will die. And I am fairly certain that Kyle hasn't informed anyone else. Or our spies planted in his team would have informed us. But just to be completely sure, I will make sure to get rid of those not associated with us."

"Mmm. Good."