As darkness sat over them the two continued ton infiltrate through enemies territory, with no clue of what is in store for them if they don't chose to go back now and be spared from death. Nova wasn't having any of it as Michael managed to get his hand on a sniper and still in an abandoned building with all of its windows boarded up, and blocked all exits preventing anyone or anything from getting in.
"Just keep any eye out for any walkers and everything will go like we planned" Michael thought to himself taking out any walkers or threat that tries to get close enough to Nova, as she wonders around the streets in search for clues, but it wouldn't be easy for him either as he too would have to move if she falls out of his scope's sights. "Crap.. I need to get to a higher higher place" he muttered to himself and moved the window, standing on the platform that that ladders what went up to the flat roof. He made his way up and began jumping from roof to roof or window onto another roof as not every building was the same size, but it made for great exercise until he got to the perfect spot and began to scope around for Nova until spotting her sneaking around a nearby hoard.
The demon walkers groaned remaining in a spot as if stuck in place by something, making her confused on such odd activity. They circled around something, could it be one of their victims? Or fresh food?
However, the leader of the Black Dragons were spotted hovering over the hoard as if watching over them like they were some sort of pets, with a begging victim in his hand that dangled above the hoard that had their arms reached out, but then something with ripped white wings jumped up a few feet always grabbed them stopping Michael in his tracks realising who it was.
"We need to get out of here and fast, but how can I alert Nova without getting the other's attention?" he muttered to himself as the victim was soon grabbed by the new mutated walker as it grabbed them and pulled the fresh meat down into the group, hearing their screams satisfied the leader greatly knowing that he was still in control.
"My beautiful little minions.. You shall bring me victory and vanquish those Red Dragon worms and destroy all life that's to exist without my authority in a new and far more exciting era, which I shall rule upon as an emperor!" they announced their evil plan to take over the world as a whole and control it with the palm of his hand, once all threats that would intervene is eliminated permanently. He stared at one demon walker in particular, a new alpha among the group, it was no other than River herself. Her face seemed to be partly torn, as other parts of her body was clawed, bitten and gutted making it impossible to save her and death was the one thing that could potentially save her than making the poor kid suffer anymore she had endured. "Talon shall pay for his lies, and will face the consequences for his actions" they added turning to face Michael as if already knowing that he was there meaning that Nova was still here too, making him try and find her, but that too was proving useless.
"Shit! They know we're here, but where's Nova?" he thought standing up by the sound of guns locking on him ready to blow his brains out if he doesn't drop his weapon and stand down. He slowly placed the sniper down, kicking to a side slowly standing up putting both of his hands up at both sides of his head.
"Don't dare try to retaliate or we will feed you to the mutants" one of the Black Dragon recruits warned him, but they appeared to look human other than having weird black markings underneath both eyes, and some parts of his body.
"Why would you feed your own kind to those things? You're all sick in the head!" Michael barked back wanting to at least get something in there brains thinking they were human just like him, as one of the other recruits aimed their gun closer at him, but the odd marking looking one put his arms in front of them leaving the others to lower their weapons.
"You think we are human like you? Please, the Black Dragon gang only allows the strongest of mortals or those with unusual features to join. You are no acception. And if your little friend doesn't come out you'll be sacrificed and become one of the new mutant demon walkers and follow under our leader's favourite walker's command" the odd marked man said as he soon revealed that he was also what some would consider as a freak, his wings were darker than their leader's, but smaller and incapable of flying as it lacked feathers looking more bat like. Michael didn't like this one bit and wanted to live more than die, but for some reason this was familiar like it had already happened before.
"..." he was silent as Nova snuck around and got a closer look to the hoard that circled underneath the leader that flew above them, but there was something different about these demon walkers. They seemed to have evolved until spotting the one that grabbed the innocent victim who became food, and froze in place when it turned around allowing her to see the one sight she wished could be erased.
"R-River?" she muttered standing up allowing all to see her so close to the hoard as the now notified leader if the dead group slowly limped its way towards her, forcing the others to stay in line and ignore the delicious meat bag.
"No-hmph!" Michael tried to warn her of what was happening before he had been subdued, tied up from hands to his mouth making it impossible for him to yell or even talk, as he was forced to watch the walker get closer and closer to Nova who remained glued in place.
"All that is immune to the virus shall fall, so our leader can prevail as the world's newest ruler. Then will there even truly be peace amongst all beings" the odd marked bat winged recruit said having no real idea on how wrong he had his leader's true ideals of changing the world, but it wasn't to make it peaceful.
"No, River.. What have they done to you?" Nova was left in distraught as her hands reached out towards the walker as if it was talk back, but with those moments as it grew closer an intense shooting pain hit Nova unexpectedly causing her to fall onto her hands and knees wanting this pain to stop. "It.. Hurts so much.. What's happening.. to me?" she muttered in sheer pain ignoring the fact that she was probably going to become walker food, but only one was after her as the others were fixated on the Black Dragon leader, who watched from above along with the others at Nova, smirking behind the mask by the thought of watching and possibly hearing her scream once the alpha reaches and begins to devour its own sister.
"teg pu.. teg pu" the gargling and groaning was becoming clearer as the pain in her head began to subside seeing the feet of the walker stop directly in front of her, as if it was waiting. Nova when seeing this lifted her head glancing up at the now dead sister she swore to protect, it tilted its head while its arms remained floppy by both sides of its body allowing the head to droop over closer to Nova and speak again. "eh t'nsi tneconni.. eniaK tog em dellik. eH esohc meht revo em, eh deyarteb su dna edkcip meht" the gargling became clear to be a different language as Nova now knew what happened, standing up before her little sister seeing that she hasn't completely lost herself, and chose to help get back at the one who did this to her.
"I'm so sorry, River, it's all my fault. I didn't mean to let you go out there alone with him. If I knew he was going to do something so cruel I wouldn't have let you go on that stupid mission!" Nova replied apologising to the her now demon walker sibling, having an actual conversation with her as the leader stared down confused on why they weren't killing the intruders.
"ti t'nsi ruoy tlauf.. on eno wenk it saw ginog ot enppah. eH esohc ot llik em, ton uoy" River answered back giving Nova all she needed to know, and stood up with a slight wobble before spotting Michael held captive by some of the Black Dragon gang causing River to flop her head back and moved her body being the only walker capable of seeing so clearly, noticing what she believed was a dear friend in danger. A loud roar came out from River as the hoard instantly went in Michael's direction, upon seeing them running the Black Dragon members who held him at gun point panicked and began to spread when seeing the demon walkers crawling up the walls of the building, a thing they clearly knew nothing about in the new evolution.
"Michael!" Nova called out as River turned her back towards her sister and spread open her ripped wings. Michael was surrounded by some walkers that kept a good feet away from him while some of the others chased after some of the Black Dragon members, successfully catching a few of them in the process.
"teG no" River instructed leaving Nova unsure if her talking deceased sister could even carry her weight when in such a weak state, as most zombies are fragile and could easily break any part of their body if a force twice or equal of their weight was put onto them. Spotting the hesitance in her eyes River just grabbed onto Nova's wrist, and took off jumping several feet in the sky causing Nova to scream until reaching the roof, as her wrist was then released causing Nova to roll upon touching solid ground.
"Warn me the next time you decide to do something like that. I could've died" Nova scolded River who sluggishly shrugged her shoulders, as the walkers that surrounded her moved away from Michael Nova walked over to him undoing the restraints that prevented him from helping her in any way.
"This wasn't supposed to happen! You were supposed to be dead?!" the leader exclaimed in rage hovering over them as the wind from his wings could be felt glaring down at them, not liking the fact that a walker refused to do what it was created to do, kill and multiply. River glared up at the leader causing him to put some distance between them, not wanting to become infected or his plan for world domination will be ruined.
"Well I guess you thought wrong, not everyone is prone to become one of your mindless puppets. My sister is a prime example that this virus isn't as infective and easy to control, even the mindless of beings are capable of self control" Nova said as Michael stuck close to by her side while River remained locked on the person responsible of such carnivorous behaviour, but even for her human flesh is becoming a taste she is beginning to despise.
"You've just got lucky, but I will find a walker capable of listening to my ever command without any retaliation" he growled before taking off in the opposite direction leaving them as victorious for now, but for Michael he wasn't liking the thought of being so close to any walking corpse, gently placing a hand on Nova's shoulder hiding behind her as River walked over to them seeing how her new appearance scared him.
"I t'ndid naem ot eracs mih. sI eh ruoy dneirfyob?" River to others gargled confusing Michael on what the heck she was trying to say, but Nova in response went bright red in embarrassment hoping that he wasn't able of understanding the walkers. Nova cleared her throat and tried to recollect her thoughts a tint of pink could be slightly visible as she turned to face Michael who was unsure of what to do.
"She apologises for scaring you, but don't worry they won't hurt you unless River or another alpha demon walker tells them to" explaining as he looked at her dumbfounded on how the heck she was able to communicate with them, he peaked over at River seeing the innocent tilt in her head when seeing him.
"You can understand them?! Since when?" he asked in shock unaware that they were secretly being shipped by River and Keith ever since they first began to hangout. River limped over stopping beside Nova who glanced back and forth between them.
"I didn't know either until after I survived the most painful headache in the world. Since then she told me what happened, and what Kaine did. Everyone is at risk of being infected if we don't do anything about it" Nova answered his question truthfully with a seriously worried tone for the lives back at the Red Dragon's base, as his brother was still in there along with Kaine and no one knows who's going to be his next victim.
"oD uoy llits evah ruoy iodar?" River asked which struck surprise in Nova as she began to frantically look through her pockets before feeling a solid object, pulling out the radio that appeared to be a little banged up, but it seemed to be working.
"We need to warn Bailey, but do you even know the secret channel that she uses?" Michael asked as Nova scoffed knowing exactly what to do without alerting any others about the situation, but at first no one seemed to be answering which was odd. "Do you think we're too late?" he panicked thinking about his little brother and what could happen if they don't warn them about the Black Dragons plan to take out the Red Dragons base, and regain full control of the city.
"ehT enllaf si gnirefretin htiw eht oidar sevaw. oS s'tahw eht tniop? oN eno si ginog ot eveileb uoy" River stepped in stressing Nova out even more than she intended and threw the radio down to the ground breaking it, as parts flew everywhere. Michael placed both of his hands on both sides of his head, as he couldn't believe that she had just destroyed their only way of communicating to the group.
"Why did you break it?! How are we supposed to warn them now? It's completely busted" he complained picking up the damaged radio, as strings, wires and other parts could be seen dangling out from the radio that was beyond repair.
"There's no use telling them now.. No one is going to believe us nor about me understanding the walkers gargling and groans. I say we go back grab Keith and run while we still can. There is still time before the Black Dragons decide to come back and finish us off, and it won't be done with mercy" Nova went out with it leaving Michael stood there silent unsure of how to respond to such an intense response. River called off her hoard leaving the two to chat and talk things through, knowing it might be awhile until they possible cross paths again. "I will warn Bailey, but if she doesn't listen then we're leaving" she was beginning to stress out causing him to instantly jump in and try to calm her down, as seeing one of your down in such a damaged way is disturbing and hard to get out of your mind once it's permanently printed in there.
"Calm down. Stress isn't going to help us solve this, but we can at least try to warn then together. Remember, you aren't in this alone" reminding her that he will be by her side no matter what happens, not even death will be able to keep them apart. Nova began to take a big breath in and slowly exhaled out, she did this a few more times until finally regaining full control of her emotions and angered rage.
The too made their way back to base prepared for whatever the others had in mind about their crazy accusations, but if no one were to believe what chances would they have in surviving against the almighty Black Dragons? They chose to camp in one of the bigger trees until the sun rises to allow them to continue of their duty to warn of what was to come.
Once back behind safe walls Nova's feeling has changed for Kaine, regretting pushing down any feeling her gut tried to warn her about him by the fact he used to be a gangster before the apocalypse occurred. Michael tried to keep up, but once the one responsible for River's change crossed paths with them Nova began to walk in his direction.
"Eek!" he squealed feeling the fury eradiating from her body shooting never ending fear throughout his body, forcing him to run in the opposite direction towards the walker's arena having no idea how much of a huge mistake he had made. Nova remained walking following his footsteps making it impossible to loose him no matter where he hid, the walkers trapped in that arena helped her way more than she could possibly imagine.
"oT eht tfel.. eH si gindih htiw a nellaf" one of the walkers groaned as she stormed past unsure if Nova could even understand them, but she did and listened to the real supporters even if they were the true victim in all of this.
"Please don't hurt me! I had no other choice" he begged as she steppe around the corner spotting him hiding behind Armaros who was confused until glancing up, seeing Nova back unharmed shocked him, but the energy she brought along was unacceptable and truly terrifying.
"Don't look at me like that. Tell me what you saw before I even let you harm this annoying brat" Armaros asked maintaining a serious expression the closer Nova approached, grabbing her bat and wielded it with a tight grip. ".. You aren't seriously thinking about killing him, are you?" growing concerned about her silence as she began to quicken her pace until eventually running towards them, causing Armaros to dodge out of the way when the bat was swung barely skimming his head as Kaine ducked.
"I missed.." she growled to herself as Michael skidded around the corner out of breath seeing her attacking Kaine, as the boy ran away until being grabbed by his jacket until Armaros jumped in pushing Nova causing her to stumble and fall to the ground, making her bat bounce out of her hand allowing Kaine to stand there as Armaros pulled out his pistol aiming directly at her head.
"I refuse to let a dangerous freak like you wonder around harming other for your own mistakes" Armaros stated not being so nice as he was about to pull the trigger, until being tackled by Michael causing the bullet once shot to skim the outside of Nova's left ear inflicting a small innocent wound. "What the heck are you doing?!" he exclaimed fighting him as the pistol was knocked out of his hand and kicked away by the two as they began to fight. Nova glanced over and reached for her bat until it was kicked away further away, as a familiar click was heard stopping the two in midway into their fight. "My gun.. Where the heck is my gun?" Armaros panicked kicked Michael off him after seeing that his weapon was no longer there, until seeing Kaine with it touching Nova's forehead, and how shocked she was about this sudden change of personality.
"I've had enough with your kind, and your pathetic little sister. She was destined to die anyway, so I did everyone a favour and got rid of the weakest link. And all I need to do now is complete my bounty and get my reward.. Say hi to your sister for me, I just know she's dying to see you" Kaine's tone was pure evil and Nova was left shocked by the fact she had fell for his lies and even gave him the opportunity to marry River, but now the cat has finally left the bag everyone will know who he really is.
"Dying? Who said she's dead?" Nova replied catching him completely off guard when hearing such lies, but by the look on her face it seemed to be true or at least partly true. He regained his posture putting the pistol even more into her forehead refusing to believe such nonsense.
"LIAR! I saw her die with my very eyes, she was gutted and torn like paper. You're just trying to scare me" he yelled not keeping an eye on Michael and Armaros who seemed to be slowly sneaking up on the boy, as he was armed and they were not. "What do you idiots think you're doing? I can spell you guys from a mile away, so stay back or I'll blast her brains out!" Kaine threatened aiming the gun between the two before placing back against Nova's forehead, not seeing the archer aiming her bow directly at him.
"I've got you now" Bailey quietly said letting go of the string sending the bow straight through Kaine's right hand that held the gun, knocking it out as he groaned in pain allowing Nova to scatter back attempting to grab her bat until he grabbed the pistol with his other hand, and fired a shot directly in her left thigh as she yelled in pain while it began to ooze out blood.
"Nova!" Michael called out seeing her in pain as Kaine ripped out the bow that was stuck in his hand, not caring if the wound was open and dripped uncontrollably of blood as he then aimed the gun directly at him, with the soul intention to kill. "Just put the gun down, no one has to get hurt" he begged not wanting anyone to become a victim to Kaine's slaughtering rage and he glanced back at Nova who was still groaning from the bullet he put through her thigh.
"Shut up! I know exactly what I'm doing. And I shall finish what I've been ordered to do wither you idiots like it or not!" Kaine replied showing no intentions of stepping down causing Bailey to reload her bow aiming for either the heart or head before anymore innocent lives are harmed because of his reckless behaviour. The gun aimed back at Nova as she was already in enough pain as there is, but Bailey luckily managed to save her using a special made net that was used to capture demons like himself, causing the gun to drop to the floor as Kaine fell to the ground struggling to break free as Michael rushed over to Nova while Armaros grabbed his gun, glaring disgustedly at the boy who was sure that he would understand, but clearly he does not.
Nova's wound was quickly seen to by a medic, as no bones were broken just muscle and tissue that needs to heal or an infection could makes its way inside, therefore they saved her life once again knowing that this was only the beginning of the war and conflict between the Black Dragons and Red Dragons. Will there ever be an end to this endless bloodshed?