Toast

Sear and the other three stopped at the now charcoal-black tree that had been burning earlier. Fallow crouched down, doing her best to drag what remained of Spare out of the smoldering coals.

“Hey, Fallow, I think that guy’s toast,” Blackout quipped.

Fallow shot him an unamused glare.

“What? You don’t get it? He’s burnt—like, well done. Uh…” Blackout tapped the side of his head, thinking.

In the background, Sear motioned with his head to Pulse and she began walking toward them.

“Oh! Flambéed—”

Before Blackout could finish, Pulse’s hand clamped over his mouth. “I think that’s enough jokes for now,” she said with a smile. But Blackout’s eyes narrowed.

“Eew—what the hell!” Pulse recoiled, kicking Blackout square in the gut and launching him backward. “That little shit just licked my hand!”

“Haha, that’s what you get,” Blackout laughed from the ground.

Pulse rolled up her sleeves and walked towards Blackout, who was now scrambling backward in slight panic. “Comeone Pusle i was just jokeing”—Pulse grabbed his collar and hauled him up.

“Sear, permission to punch some sense into Blackout?”

Blackout shook his head frantically, fear etched across his face.

“STOP!” Sear’s shout cut through the moment, causing both to freeze and look at him.

“You two—go check on the Fallo unit on the left side.”

“Yes, sir,” Pulse replied, releasing Blackout. He staggered to his feet.

“Ha! Saved by the bell,” Blackout laughed nervously as he slowly got up.

“That’s not something to be proud of, Blackout,” Pulse muttered as she marched off, Blackout quickly following.

Sear watched them disappear into the trees.

“Hey—what the hell, did you just smear my own saliva on me?!” Blackout’s voice drifted back, the last of their words before silence took over.

“Those two seem like a handful, huh?” Fallow finally managed to pull Spare’s charred body free.

“Yep.” Sear grunted, dragging Lucky’s corpse over to where Chain lay. A moment later, Spare joined them, forming a grim line.

“So… done now?” Sear asked. His voice was flat—no sorrow, no anger, just a simple question.

“You could benefit from showing some humanity, you know.”

“Sure,” Sear replied dryly. “Just not right now. I’m wondering why the shooting’s stopped.”

Fallow paused to think. “Maybe they’re like us—getting ready for a final assault?”

Sear gave a slow nod. “We’re in range to call Slick, right?”

Fallow pulled out her radio and made the call. Before long, Slick, Blip, and Halfy arrived.

“Good. Now let’s head back to Havoc and the others.”

Back at the radio station

Under the dim glow of a small lamp, Raven and Havoc carefully worked over a small injector. Nearby, Tace sat with Fascia’s head in his lap, gently stroking her hair. Every so often he paused to check her heartbeat, almost in a trance.

“I think we got it,” Havoc’s voice broke through, pulling Tace back to the present.

“It’s done?”

Havoc held up the round injector between his thumb and index finger. “Yes. But before we do this—I need you to be sure. We still don’t fully know how it’ll affect a Fallo. Honestly, it’s only ever worked on Sear.”

Tace stared at the injector for a moment, then looked down at Fascia’s peaceful face. “I’ll do it. Just hurry.”

Havoc and Raven exchanged a brief look. Then Raven took the injector and sat beside Tace, pushing aside his uniform collar to find his jugular.

“Ready or not…” she said.

“I’m rea—ow!”

A sharp sting cut off his words. Raven held it in place for a few seconds, then pulled it out.

“How do you feel?”

“Nothing yet. Just… give it to her, too,” Tace insisted, eyes fixed on Fascia.

Raven leaned over Fascia. “Her scarf’s in the way.”

She didn’t have to finish—Tace immediately tore it off.

“Thanks,” Raven said, then pressed the injector to Fascia’s throat. It hissed, and a second later she removed it.

“Alright, that’s it. We’re done.”

“Done? Like… it worked? She’ll be okay, right?” Tace’s eyes darted between Raven and Fascia.

“Righ—”

Suddenly, Tace doubled over, clutching the injection site.

“AAARGH—WHAT IS THIS?!”

His body convulsed, shaking violently his veins popped up in a dark red color going down from his throat to his hands. The bloody wound on his face began to harden, the flow slowing, then stopping entirely as the blood dried and crusted over. Finally, he slumped back, panting like he’d run miles as his arm veins went back to normal.

“Eeh… ahh… what was that?” he managed.

“That was your body taking in the serum”. Sear’s eyes narrowed as the looked at tace And Fascia “Congratulations seems like—you survived. And by the looks of it… so might she.”

Sear and the others arrived just in time to see Tace collapse. He looked up at Sear for a moment, then back at Fascia, a faint, exhausted smile breaking through.

“That’s… great.”

“Yes, very wonderful,” Sear muttered, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “But if she doesn’t wake up, it won’t matter much.”

Without another word, he walked past the group and headed for the stationary radio, leaving everyone else exchanging confused glances.

Blip rocked back and forth awkwardly. “Sooo… what’d we miss?”

Slick sighed, then gave Blip a sharp slap across the chest with the back of his hand. “Hey, brother—why don’t you and Halfy go check our ammo? Make sure we’re not about to run dry.”

Blip grumbled but didn’t argue. He and Halfy started gathering everyone’s packs, sitting down nearby to sort through them.

Meanwhile, Slick strolled over to Havoc and Raven to strike up a quiet conversation. Tace stayed right where he was, gently holding Fascia’s head in his hands, waiting in tense silence.

Fallow stood off to the side, arms crossed, simply watching. Her eyes drifted over each person until they landed on Sear. He sat alone at the radio, leg bouncing restlessly.

With little else to do—and needing to speak her mind—Fallow finally walked over.

Sear looked up at her briefly as she approached, then slid over on the rock to make space without saying a word.

“Thanks,” she said, sitting down beside him.

“Yeah, yeah…” Sear muttered, then paused. “You wanted something, right?”

Fallow hesitated, then spoke. “Maybe try being a bit more positive. Fascia is hanging on by a thread here—your comments don’t exactly help.”

Sear’s expression didn’t change. “Yeah, well… neither does lying to him. If she doesn’t wake up, and we get overrun, I highly doubt we’ll have time to carry her. I’m thinking logically. If I stopped doing that… I’d be terrified.”

Fallow set her hands on the rock beside her, leaning back to look up at the darkening sky. “Didn’t know you could even be terrified.”

“Guess the serum’s wearing off,” Sear said with a shrug.

“Already?”

He only shrugged again, eyes fixed on the radio, leaving the rest unspoken.