Zombie seemed to already know what my response would be. So before I had the chance to let out an air-splitting scream, he had his hands on my mouth, pulling me against him and back to the wall.

My heart beat wildly, my hands shaking at the sight of Dumbo bleeding on the ground.

He'd been shot.

"Canary-Canary," Zombie said, his voice trembling slightly. "It's okay. Everything is going to be okay."

I blinked furiously, as if it would prevent more tears from sliding down my cheeks.

I brought my hand up and pushed Zombie's away from my mouth.

"How can you say that?" I asked, my bottom lip quivering. "Dumbo is on the ground dying!"

I crawled over to where Dumbo was, reaching over his stomach to flip him onto his back. The bullet must be inside him; if it wasn't, Zombie would've been hit.

Zombie moved over and helped me flip him onto his back. "Dumbo, mate-" Zombie's eyes trailed down his back until they reached the gaping hole in the lower half "- you're going to be okay," he said.

I looked around frantically until my eyes settled on my backpack. On top of bringing both of our only guns, at the last minute, I'd stuff our one and only first-aid kit into my bag.

I stumbled over to it, unzipped it, and pulled out the kit. My fingers fumbled with the latch before I finally got it open, exposing the gauze I was looking for.

"Zombie," I said, tossing him the gauze.

He knew what I was thinking because he immediately unwound it, ripping it with his teeth.

We'd been taught how to stop a wound from bleeding at Wright Patterson. We both knew his would bleed out in less than 3 minutes if we didn't do something to slow it down.

Zombie gave Dumbo a small, apologetic smile before stuffing the strip of gauze into the wound.

I dove down just in time to muffle Dumbo's scream with my hands.

"It's okay, Bo," I said softly, cradling his head.

I mentally cursed myself for sounding so much like Zombie. Not even a minute ago I was yelling at Zombie that everything wasn't ok, and now I was reassuring Dumbo that everything was ok.

I shook my head once, feeling guilty.

Zombie looked up at me briefly from under his eyelashes before ripping another piece of gauze. I nodded. Then he nodded.

He jammed the next piece in and I held Dumbo still. my hand pressed so firmly against his mouth that my knuckles were white.

"One more," Zombie said through gritted teeth.

He tore another piece before again, plunging it into the wound.

Dumbo let out a wrenching sob, his entire body jolting. His cheeks were wet and my hands were damp from his flooding tears.

"Shh shh," I said, tears starting to spill onto my own cheeks again.

Zombie ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. "I'm going to kill that motherfu-"

"No, you're not," I said, trying to stifle a sob.

I really couldn't stand to lose control at a moment like this. Dumbo needed me to pull it together and Zombie really couldn't deal with two blubbering squad mates at once.

"You are not going out there," I said, trying my best to compose myself. "Only a silencer could've made a shot like that."

I got why Zombie wanted to killed Dumbo's shooter. I did. I really did. But we were talking about a silencer here. If something were to happen to him, I wasn't sure what I would do. I'd probably drop the plan to save Ringer's ass but then what? Drag both of them back to Grace's? Cry? Get shot myself?

He nodded, already knowing. "I know, I know it's a silencer," he said. "And I know where they are," he pointed toward a building right across the street.

My eyes followed his finger. From one of the upper levels, it was a clear shot to our place in the alley. Even a silencer wouldn't have been able to make the shot from any other location.

I shook my head, strands of hair sticking to my cheeks. "Still, what are you planning on doing once you get up there?" I asked, starting to get angry. "Just blow their brains out? Whoever it is, they're a silencer, You can't just bloody creep up on them."

Zombie stood up, looking at Dumbo once before turning to me. "I need you to stay here with Dumbo. I'll be back."

He started to move but I shot up from my place on the ground, reaching out to grip his arm. "I'm coming with you," I said, my voice steady.

Even Private Zombie, leader of Squad 53, "crush you like a bug" kinda guy wouldn't fare too well against a silencer, an Other.

"Dumbo-" he started.

"I can't do anything more for Dumbo right now," I said, frustrated. Although it pained me to admit it, I wasn't skilled enough to take out the bullet with my bare hands and patch him up good as new. We'd slowed the bleeding and that was about as far as my abilities reached.

"You can sit with him," Zombie protested, his jaw clenched and his muscles tense beneath my hand.

My grip tightened. "Sit with him while you're going to skip on over there and try to fight a silencer single-handedly? I don't think so."

Zombie looked away, down toward the ground. "Fine," he said, "Let's go."

If under different circumstances, I'd be grinning from ear to ear with satisfaction. No one I knew or had known was as stubborn as Zombie. So when I did get Zombie to break, it truly was something to celebrate.

I tugged the gun from my belt and pulled it up to my face, glancing back at Dumbo's still body before quickly moving forward.

No, this most certainly was not a moment to celebrate.

Zombie and I cautiously crossed the street, careful not to land hard on the crumbling pavement.

Once inside the building, Zombie turned to me briefly.

"If shit goes down, I need you to run," he whispered.

I opened my mouth to protest, completely appalled that he was still bringing this kind of stuff up.

"I'm serious. I need you to run. If things don't go as planned, Dumbo and the squad are relying on you to find Ringer," he said, shaking his head slightly.

I pursed my lips together, my fingers tightening around the gun I was holding.

"And I need to know that you're going to be ok. I need you to be ok," he said, almost pleading now.

My gaze softened and I looked down at the ground. "Okay," I said reluctantly, hating how easily I'd given up.

It'd been something about the way he'd said it. Almost like a prayer.

A small smile broke across his face and he straightened his back, resuming his fighting stance. "Alright, let's go."

I nodded once, pointing my gun to the left.

Zombie followed suit, pointing his to the right.

We moved together up the first flight of stairs, each of us eyeing a different area, making sure to cover all places we could be ambushed from.

About half way up, I have to cough, overwhelmed by the all-to-familiar stench of death.

Zombie does the same, covering his mouth and nose with the crook of his arm.

My eyes water and my hand shakes slightly, my grip on the gun slacking for a moment. Death was normal, almost expected and common place at this point. But that still didn't make its' smell any easier to bear.

I blinked a couple times, clearing my vision before ascending the rest of the steps to the second floor.

Almost immediately, we heard someone singing, the high-pitched sound echoing out into the hall from the door closest to us.

Zombie and I shared a look before I kicked open the door, sending the withering, splintering wood banging against the wall.

Zombie stepped quickly in front of me, moving into the room. The singing grew louder the more we ventured in. Even after going so long without hearing them, the lyrics were unmistakably recognizable:

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:

How great thou art! How great thou art!

I couldn't remember how many times I'd stood in a church pew singing those exact words. Then, it'd been a song of joy and hope. Now, it only made me scared, planting a sense of dread deep in my stomach.

Zombie gently pushed open the next door, tossing a small grenade inside before closing it again.

I furrowed my eyebrows. Where the hell had Zombie found a grenade?

I shook my head slightly. Whatever. It wasn't like I was complaining or anything.

Bang.

The singing stopped and a high pitched scream split the air.

Zombie sent the door sailing open and took a strong stride forward.

In front of Zombie, I could see a an old woman, hunched over near the stove. She was wearing every grandmothers' staple item: a handmade knit sweater. It was a dull yellow color with green stitching around the collar and sleeves. It made me stop short, reminding me of my own grandmother.

She must've surprised Zombie too because his finger lifted off the trigger slightly.

I moved up beside him, trying to ignore how damp my hands felt and how unsettled I was.

Was she the silencer? Could she be? If it wasn't her, than who was it? Who had shot Dumbo?

"Oh God, please don't kill me! Please don't! I-I," she started whimpering, raising her hands to shield her face.

"Where is he?" Zombie asked, his fingers firm against the trigger again.

"He? He who? Who is 'he'? Should I know? I don't know who 'he'-I-I don't-"

Zombie shook his head once to the side, closing his eyes momentarily. "Is anyone else here?" he tried again.

My heart beat faster. I looked at the stove. She was making something. Or had been.

I looked behind the woman. And there, there was a cat.

I looked back at the soup and then at the woman. Something was off. I couldn't pin point it. But something wasn't right.

"No-no. Just me," the woman said, moving her hands over her head in surrender.

Zombie took a threatening step forward and she let out a strangled sob. "It's just me! I've been a lone for weeks! Just me. Just me, alone with my cats waiting...waiting for-"

My eyes widened. Waiting.

Evan had briefly talked to me about the Other's last step, the fifth and final wave. I'd almost forgotten about it until now. In a couple weeks, or I suppose in about a week now, the Others would deploy all the kid soldiers, bomb the cities, and kill the remainder of the human race. That is, after every silencer returned to the mothership.

Was she waiting for the fifth wave? Was she waiting to be taken back to the mothership? I couldn't imagine her waiting for anything else. If she was human, she must know that help wasn't coming.

"Waiting for what?" Zombie asked, starting to grow impatient.

She paused for a moment. "The Lord! The God almighty! The Savior who will come and save us all!" she said, her eyes lighting up with hope.

I narrowed my eyes, starting to understand. She'd taken a moment too long to answer.

My gaze darted to Zombie. He hadn't figured it out yet.

"My soup!" the woman exclaimed, picking her spoon up from the countertop. She stirred the pot once, spinning the brown, murky broth in circles.

"Would you care for some?" she asked, her voice almost timid. "You must be hungry. You and your girl," she said, nodding to me.

"Zombie-" I said, my voice breaking.

Zombie shifted, moving his feet a bit.

"I uh I ran out of cans of soup a little while ago but it's still good. So good," she said, closing her eyes in bliss as she sipped lightly from the wooden spoon.

"If you ran out of cans what's in the soup?" Zombie asked. He looked skeptical. His gaze was hard.

I pursed my lips. Had he figured it out yet?

"Cat," the woman said.

Then she put the spoon down slowly and gripped the pot's handles. The woman stood there, completely motionless for a minute, holding the soup as if her life depended on it.

Suddenly, she whipped around, her once kind-looking features now turned cold.

"You're early!" she hissed, "You shouldn't be here yet."

I couldn't feel my heart anymore; it was beating too fast.

She thought we were part of the fifth wave. She was the Urbana silencer. She had shot Dumbo. And now she would kill us.

My eyes dashed to Zombie again. I couldn't wait for him.

I raised my gun. I aimed. And then I fired.

At the same time, the woman threw the pot at us, her teeth baring.

The soup, the cat soup splashed into my face, fogging my vision. I lost my footing and my gun flew from my hand, causing the bullet to miss its' mark, hitting the ceiling instead.

The woman lunged at me, her boney fingers wrapping around my neck. Her fingernails pierced into my skin, drawing blood.

"You're early," she said again.

She slammed me against the wall, lips curling.

"Change of plans," Zombie growled, knocking a fist into the side of her head.

She stumbled and I writhed away just in time to see her turn on Zombie. She punched him square in the jaw, the same determination still shining on her face.

"The fifth wave. It's started," he gasped, reaching up to wipe the blood away from his face. "Didn't you hear the fighter jet? It's over," he said.

He'd caught on. And now he was lying to her- trying to make her scared enough so she'd let her guard down.

She sent her other fist sailing into the side of his head and he fell heavily into the dining table. It broke under his weight and he collided into the floor with a loud groan.

I staggered forward, searching the ground for my gun.

"Go-" I heard Zombie wheeze.

The woman took her heel to to his wrist, digging it into his skin. He let out another grunt of pain, his jaw clenched and face red.

He struggled against her, sending punches to her face whenever he got a clear shot. But she seemed unmoved, her superhuman body appearing impenetrable to his strikes.

I paused, my breath locking in my throat. No I thought, crawling to where my gun had fallen.

I didn't care what I'd said before. I wasn't leaving him. He had to know I wouldn't leave him even if the world depended on it. Which I guess in this case, it kind of did.

I rose to my feet, pushing myself off the ground with all the strength I had left.

It was a good thing the woman had forgotten about me. It made it incredibly easy to raise my gun again and fire.

And unlike my first attempt, I didn't miss.

<><><>

I didn't even look at the word count of this until I was done and wow can I say longest chapter of Perish ever . This chapter was a whopping 2500 words!

I hope that makes up for the late update! That being said, this chapter was kind of hard for me and seems to be a little all over the place. So, if you have any suggestions to improve it, please let me know!

Anywho, thanks to everyone on the last chapter who wished me a 'happy birthday'! You all are rad!

And of course, thank you to everyone who has continued to stick with Perish through the sporadic updates and sometimes subpar chapters! There's only a little bit more in part 3 and then Perish is complete! So hang in there!

Love you all and get ready for some drama (*cough* Ringer *cough*) and some cute Zanary scenes!