It took a few moments for Gerard to speak, staring at the cross, before lowering his eyes to the mound. "I...I don't understand..." He stuttered out, finally looking up at Frank, who had turned away from him, hair plastered to his scalp and hiding his face.

"C'mon, Gerard...don't make me say it..."

In a split second, the elder had grabbed Frank's shoulders, forcing him to look up, forcing him to meet his eyes, and Gerard was shaking so much that he was making Frank shake too, his grip biting into his skin.

"Just say it. Tell me. I don't get it, Frank - tell me what's going on."

"I can't -"

"Frank -"

"No -"

"Tell me -"

"He's fucking dead, okay?!"

Gerard released the shorter male as if his clothing was corrosive, rubbing his hands together and stepping back. He shook his head, trembling all over, and his gaze returned to the mound and the cross, his eyes watering. It may have been raining, but even Frank could tell that what was running down Gerard's porcelain skin was not precipitation.

"You're lying." He choked out, closing his eyes. "You just - you j-just lie about everything -"

"Do you want me to dig up the body?! Because he's under there Gerard, he has been for some time!" Frank spat, frustrated even though he had no right to be.

"Stop it! Stop it you're lying!" He looked up and saw Frank staring at him with a mixture of impatience and regret on his face. "Wait..." He whispered, realisation hitting him like a bucket of icy water. "No."

The younger's eyebrows drew together. "What?"

"You didn't."

"Didn't what?"

"It was my brother you killed?!" Frank fell silent. "Jesus Christ Iero, out of all the people in the world - why the fuck would you do that?! You can't just - don't just - can't go around killing people just because you feel like it! That's - that's just - he was my brother!" At that, Gerard broke down into terrible sobs, as if his body couldn't fight it any longer. "I n-never got to say goodbye...you monster!" He screamed at Frank, who barely flinched. "Just - just fuck off, I never want to see you again! I hope the zombies get you!"

"You're her little pet, Iero, that's what you are!"

Clenching his jaw, Frank turned around and stormed back down the hill, rain pelting his back. He didn't look at Gerard, not even once, not even when he was at the bottom. That was it. Gerard hated him now.

And for good reason.

~

"I want to leave," Mikey said quietly, thinking that it was Lindsey behind him and not Frank, who stood a few meters behind the younger Way brother. "I don't feel safe here."

"How can you not feel safe here? This is the safest place I know!"

At Frank's voice, Mikey turned around, tearing his gaze from the raging river below. There was a backpack at his feet, and he glanced over to the small factory-type building at the base of the hill. Lindsey was in there, along with other survivors, people who had no idea what she was capable of. People who had no idea what she'd do to them. The things he'd seen, he desperately wished he could unsee.

"Where's Lindsey?" He asked, reluctantly meeting Frank's gaze. The younger was frowning, arms crossed over his chest, shivering a little in the harsh wind.

"She's...experimenting."

Mikey rolled his eyes, knowing what that meant. She was finding new ways to twist someone's mind, to destroy them, to turn them into some kind of creature they shouldn't be. A killing machine.

"You can't leave." Frank said. "You can't. Everything's perfect here."

He shook his head. "You don't understand, I should never have left my brother. I need to go back, to see if he's okay."

"But he could be states away by now -"

"I don't care, Frank! I've already been gone too long, he's probably gone crazy by now without me."

"He's a grown-ass man dammit, I'm sure he can live on -"

"No, no he can't!" Mikey threw his hands into the air in frustration. "See? I knew you wouldn't get it! You're just a dumb kid!"

Frank shoved him, and he stepped backwards, closer to the edge. "And what are you? You're barely older than me! Besides, you think Lindsey's gonna let you go?"

"Well no, but I'm not gonna tell her, am I?"

"Maybe I will!"

Mikey pushed him back in retaliation, and the younger almost fell down the hill, regaining his balance just in time. "Do it then, I dare you! Tell her I've gone, and while you're at it, tell her that she's a monster and I hate what she's doing."

"She's trying to help us, you idiot!"

"Help us? She's killing us! You're just too blind to see! You're - you're her little pet, Iero, that's what you are!"

Frank saw red, and his fist swung out, catching Mikey hard in the face. The elder stumbled back, not realising how close he was to the edge of the cliff, and he slipped on the loose stones, falling forward and hitting his face on the edge. The impact knocked him out, sending him rolling down the cliff, his body breaking upon impact with the jagged rocks that stuck out from the cliff's face. Frank heard, rather than saw, his neck snapping before he got to the bottom, and the sound echoed around him, making sure it would haunt the murderer forever.

~

Frank didn't miss the building one bit. It didn't look better the less eyes he had. Unless, of course, he became completely blind, and then the small factory-type building with half its structure and walls missing would look beautiful.

It was on fire when they'd first arrived, a motley crew of five, including himself and Lindsey. He couldn't remember how many years ago that had happened, but he remembered Ray being there too, but only briefly. Somehow they'd managed to put the fire out, and Lindsey, who had found a laboratory of sorts inside and had also fallen in love with the idyllic setting (Frank had to admit, he had too), insisted that they stay, despite the fact that they were miles away from anything.

And Frank thought it was perfect, especially when Mikey Way came along, tall and handsome and needing to be protected. He'd told them all that he had a brother, who had run off, leaving him alone. That wasn't the case, of course, but he couldn't exactly tell them the truth, that he'd been the one to abandon his brother.

Lindsey had taken a shine to Mikey, almost replacing Frank, no matter how many times she insisted that he was her number one. However, it hadn't taken long for Mikey to realise what she was capable of, and he started to hate what she was doing, what she stood for. He hated her experiments, her manipulation, everything. Frank, on the other hand, worshipped her, but he was also scared of her. Everyone was.

He sighed, glancing back at the hill, where he'd left Gerard, who was undoubtedly sobbing his eyes out. Knowing that he wouldn't be welcome up there again anytime soon, he licked his lips and opened the door to the factory.

It was quiet inside, and he half-expected the door to creak, alerting Lindsey to another presence inside the building. But it didn't, and he wandered through the corridor ahead, trailing his fingers over the dusty off-white walls. His steps echoed in the narrow space, and even though there were doors either side of him, he knew that they led to nowhere special, just spare parts for machines that no longer existed, body parts that Lindsey had no use for. He knew for a fact that there was a box somewhere dedicated to bones alone.

The corridor seemed to get smaller as it came to its end, large, steel double doors blocking his way to the horrors that lay ahead. He knew he should turn back now, save himself from Lindsey's wrath, because if she saw him, she'd kill him, there was no doubt about that. And even if Gerard hated him, he couldn't bear dying without at least apologising. He'd fucked up. He'd fucked up big time, and he didn't deserve Gerard's forgiveness, but...he loved him.

He opened one of the doors, peering around and seeing nothing in the big open space presented to him. It was dark, the only light coming from windows high on the roof, and it was getting dark outside, rain lashing against the filthy glass, which wasn't helping him at all. With one eye and apprehension filling him slowly, he made his way across the factory's main area, remembering it all as if he'd been here yesterday. This was where the living area used to be. This was where everyone used to sleep, until zombies broke in one night (someone had forgotten to bolt the door, a mistake that could've killed them all) and Lindsey insisted that they move deeper into the building.

There was another set of double doors at the end of the area, and Frank headed towards them, glancing around him every so often to remind himself of where he was. He may as well have signed his own death certificate. "I want a mahogany coffin, please, and make sure some obscure Nirvana song is played at my funeral. What, you guys have never heard of Nirvana? This is bullshit!"

Lindsey had to be around somewhere, probably behind the steel doors, most likely residing in the laboratory. That was where she spent most of her time, when she wasn't terrorising everybody. He just had to avoid her.

He passed through the second set of doors, and he could hear voices coming from the door nearest to him: one sort of scratchy and high-pitched, and another average and frustrated. There was a window beside the door, and, doing his best to shield himself from view, Frank peered into it, seeing Ray and Ryan having some sort of confrontation.

Since when did Ray get in here?

"Guys?" Frank said quietly, stepping into the room. "Where's Lindsey?"

Ryan whirled around, looking paler than he'd ever seen him, and there was bandaging around his hand that hadn't been there before he'd run off. Honestly, Frank wanted to demand what the fuck he was playing at and how the fuck he was alive, but when he saw no bullet hole in the bastard's head, he concluded that maybe he hadn't shot himself after all. The bitch.

And Ray, Ray was looking rather...fangy.

"Frank!" Ryan gasped. "You shouldn't be here! You need to leave, like, now!"

"There's something I need to get, I just -" he was lying out of his ass, and Fangy Ray probably knew it, but if it got him past Lindsey then he couldn't give less of a shit.

"No I'm serious, you need to get as far away as you can, Lindsey -"

Ryan was panicking, and Frank really didn't have time for this. "Just tell me where she is and I'll go, okay?"

Ray and Ryan glanced at each other, before the latter sighed. "She's in the laboratory, studying. Stay out of there."

The youngest of the three nodded, and turned on his heel to walk away, to avoid the laboratory, to see if there was anything he could steal and run away with. But he was stopped in his tracks, the breath rushing out of him when he came face-to-face with what he realised was his worst nightmare.

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