Ark 3 - The truth is sometimes hard to bear

The person still holding the bag full of equipment dropps it onto the ground and tripps over it in his haste to get as far away from the corpse as possible, Nian Zhei starts yelling at everyone to get a hold of themselves and fall into formation which no one seems to pay any attention to and two of the older girls rush over to the dead woman and start crying over her body. All in all it is a very loud and chaotic scene.

"QUIET, NOW!!"

Suddenly a booming voice could be heard above the screams and frantic running of the humans present and everybody stopped dead in their tracks. Slowly they turned their head towards Zhao Yang who was looking at them with a very unamused expression. Shu Ning shortly glanced in the Man's direction as well before he bend down to pick up the discarded bag and place it back into Hu Jin's awaiting arms.

"Now that everyone has finally quieted down you should notice that we have a visitor."

Zhao Yang raised his hand and pointed towards the entrance of the lab where the dead woman was still lying on the ground. Above her two more females lay pale and lifeless on her open chest and a dark shadow crouched behind the pile of corpses making Nian Zhei curse with recognition.

"Fucking hell. Is that a Level three?"

"I would think so. Intelligent eyes, fast movements, no noticeable injuries. That's not a normal zombie."

Shu Ning stepped up to Nian Zhei and surveyed the scene. The undead was still patiently waiting where he sat but no one could know how long it would stay that way. They needed to come up with a plan, and fast, if they wanted to leave this room alive.

"All right. Nian Zhei use your fire ability to get that thing away from the door. Afterwards Xu Dan and Hu Jin will lead the injured people out of here where Xu Dan is going to heal them. Everyone who can still fight will stay here with us and take care of the undead. Zhao Yang, we will need you to fight in the front and lead us on and everyone else will form a half circle around me as I will need to concentrate on my shields. Understood?"

"Yes, s.."

With an impatient roar the creature jumped up from it's crouch, the lab coat billowing around him and leaped over the pile of corpses towards their direction. In no time the undead breached the distance and swung it's claws at Xu Dan who had frozen in fear. With tears in his eyes the boy cried out in panic and just when the sharp nails descended onto him he jumped to the side to avert the blow. With an earpiercing sound the claws scraped over the floor like fingernails over a chalc board making everyone cringe in pain.

The zombie whirled his head around and pounced onto Xu Dan again. This time though the humans weren't as startled by it's speed anymore. A young man stepped right up to the undeads swinging limbs and lifted his wooden bat to deftect it's attacks.

"Go now. Take the injured out of here."

With a crunch a deep crack appeared in the man's club and a second later the weapon broke down completely. Muttering profanities at the grinning undead he threw away the now useless wood and instead pulled out a butter knife from his pocket. The rest of the humans quickly got out their weapons as well and started forming a circle around the creature.

Just when Nian Zhei got ready to join the fight with his fire balls the zombie jumped again. This time it bypassed the offending human completely and dove at Xu Dan again, as if it wanted to eradicate the weakest member of their group first. The butter knife fell out of the Man's hand as he got thrown off balance and just as he was about to grab at the undead's hair to pull it back another hand quickly grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled him infront of the creatures gaping jaw.

Shu Ning who saw Xu Dan reach out to his fellow human with a strange expression in his eyes saw it comming and quickly erected a transparent wall between the enemy and the surprised gentleman. Those sharp teeth collided with the barrier and before the zombie could pull back to attack again a purple clad hand grabbed at it's neck.

Bright lightning surrounded the undead's body as Zhao Yang channeled his power into the other's skin, burning the flesh beneeth his hands. Nevertheless, The enemy did not just dropp dead from such an attack but freed itself from the iron like grip on it's neck. With a hiss it backed away into a corner where it growled in frustration.

Without waiting for it to recover Zhao Yang set after it, swinging a short knife in each hand and Shu Ning did his best to support the other with his barriers. Moving it from one place to the other everytime tose claws or teeth got too close to the Man's form. Creating enough diversion so that Hu Jin could direct Lao Lao and the injured through the door and down the corridor.

With well practiced team work and the assistance of Nian Zhei they finally managed to back the zombie into a corner and Zhao Yang plunged both of his swords into the throat of the undead, cleanly sepperating it's head from it's body. With a dull thud it landed a few paces away from them, roling under a table where it moved out of sight.

When it was clear that the undead would not rise again they made their way out of the underground laboratory and met up with the remaining survivors of their group. After making sure no one was missing, mostly that Xu Dan had not fled the scene, they hurried to their parked vehicles and made their way back to their home Base.

----------------------------------------------------

When they finally made it behind the grey walls of the safe Base Shu Ning grabbed hold of Xu Dan's arms and pulled him to a stop. The rest of their team members ceased walking as well and everyone turned their gaze towards the young boy, all sporting a complicated expression. No one spoke for a while as they just stood around the distressed male, not knowing how to address the elefant in the room.

Zhao Yang stood right next to Shu Ning and coldly scrutinized Xu Dan who was making an effort not to shrink away from that gaze. That made an amused smile curve the edges of Shu Ning's mouth and he almost couldn't help but chuckle at the venomous glare he received from the stepbrother in response.

"Now then. I am very sure everyone here has witnessed what you have done in the Laboratory. Trying to use a fellow human as a meat shield for your own measy life. That was quite the heartless act. That guy was making an effort to protect you after all. On top of that, if you had thought about using your water ability then you could have saved yourself just fine. Anything to say to that?"

"NO! I-I did not mean.... That was a reflex. I'm truly regretfull of that. Please, that was a stupid mistake."

"Stupid mistake? That's what you are calling it? This 'stupid mistake' of yours almost cost someones life."

"But he didn't die, right? Nothing happenned. And it will never happen again."

"You think you could just get out of this? Listen, You almost killed a comrad in arms and call it a 'stupid mistake' and 'reflexes'. That sounds more like you could do it again if it suits your cause and you can not always use the excuse of lifethreatening danger."

Nian Zhei nodded his approval at that and the man who had almost lost his life snorted in disgust at Xu Dan's willfullness. No one seemed satisfied with the boy's performance and Shu Ning grinned in satisfaction as the humans tightened their circle around the boy. In a rush the latter had tightly grabbed his shirt and pleadingly looked into his eyes.

"Please, brother. You know that I'm no bad person. I never did anything wrong, this was my first mistake. We are family, aren't we?"

"I don't remember you ever treating me that way though. And it would do you good to just own up to your mistakes like an adult."

"But what about your kid? What would he think if his uncle got labled a danger to humans? He wouldn't feel well with that, right? The poor kid could even get hurt by this."

Xu Dan whispered so lowly that no one except for Shu Ning could hear the threatening words. Zhao Yang even questioningly looked at him when he noticed Shu Ning's expression wasn't quite right. Though before the man could enquire about it verbaly a knive sharp icicle flew past Xu Dan's head, only barely grazing his cheek before it evaporated into thin smoke.

"XU DAN! I HAVE FINALLY FOUND YOU. GET READY TO MEET YOUR CREATOR!"

Another icicle flew towards Xu Dan's head and would have actually hit it's target if he did not dug away in time. This time it was Shu Ning who almost got injured by the cold weapon and Zhao Yang was just about ready to unleash a thunder bolt when Shu Ning tugged at the man's sleeve to stop him.

A young boy, maybe thirteen years old, with short brown hair and black frame glasses adorning his face came running in their direction. More icicles formed around him and with a wrathfull battlecry he threw them all at Xu Dan. He did not seem very experienced in handling his own ability though so most of them didn't actually come close to their target and Shu Ning had to hurriedly erect a barrier to keep the bystanding humans out of harms way.

"STOP, YOU STUPID IDIOT! YOU ARE HARMING US MORE THAN HIM! What's your business with him?"

Shu Ning carefully lowered the barrier again when no more projectiles were fired at them and directed the boy to come closer. The new arrival guiltily truged up to him and warily kept an eye on Xu Dan while walking over. A startled look crossed his face when he drew close enough to properly look at Shu Ning's appearance and a happy smile enlightened his features at what he saw.

"Shi Wei. You are alive?"

"Yes? I believe I am, why?"

"Do you remember me? I know it has been a while and you were busy with your illness as of late, but I deffinitely still remember you."

"Oh. Um. Sorry..."

Shu Ning awkwardly looked at the young boy infront of him and raked the originals memory for any information on this person, but came up short. With an apologetic smile he shrugged his shoulder, waiting for the other to alaborate.

"That's fine. I grew a bit since then. I'm your cousin, Shi Juan."

Shu NIng: "Cousin? The plot doesn't talk about a Cousin, so where did he suddenly come from."

Alpha: "Butterflyeffect?"

Shu Ning: "..."

"Allrigh. A-Juan. I'm sorry for not recognizing you but you truly grew a lot since back then. Will you tell me then what animosity you have with Xu Dan? Isn't he your Cousin as well?"

"That guy is not my cousin. He is a devil hiding behind a human mask. He is a madman, a bastard, a wretch, a liar, a-a-a...."

With a chuckle Shu Ning placed a hand on the fretting boy's head, rubbing it untill the hair fell in messy strands. He shared an amused glance with Zhao Yang as Shi Juan hurriedly cowered his head with his arms in afront, before directing his attention towards his new found cousin again.

"I understan. I understand. Go on then. Tell us what happenned."

"Well. This guy here has killed my parents. He is responsible for mom and dad's death. For uncle's and aunt's death too."

"Explain!"

Zhao Yang stepped closer to Shu Ning's side, carefully slinging an arm around the latters waist in moral support.  Shu Ning wasn't actually related to Shi Wei's parents so having to hear how they died didn't upset him in any way, but he still leaned into the warm body beside him. This at least seemed like a good reaction to have on listening to Shi Juan's next words.

"When the appocalypse started our parents were actually on a hiking trip together. When we suddenly got attacked by these creatures we all fled together. Then suddenly Xu Dan grew ill and eventhough there was a chance that guy would turn into these monsters as well aunt and uncle took good care of him. Even when the fever broke they still spoiled him relentless, not even minding that he never participated in any fights, and when Xu Dan started taking more and more food for himself they reduced their own rations instead. It all went well but then aunty got infected by the virus and when she begged Xu Dan to heal her that maniac pushed her away in fear. He let her get eaten by the zombies so that he could escape and in response uncle went crazy and used his own ability to exploded himself together with the remaining zombies. My parents still continued to take care of Xu Dan in honor to uncle and aunt but they too suffered for it. The house we were staying in at that time got swarmed by zombies and we needed to run away again. We had two cars at our disposal and when my parents climbed into one of them Xu Dan grabbed their clothes and pulled them out again, getting in himself and driving off. I was in the second car and could only watch helplessly as they got swallowed by a mass of undead."

Shi Juan sniffed and a stream of tears were running down his cheeks as he explained everything in a rush. Then he turned around to face Xu Dan who had multiple people restraining his limbs and a hand covering his mouth so that he could not interupt their conversation. With an angry snarl Shi Juan pointed a finger at the other person and a cold mist appeared around his body as he utilized his powers.

"It is all your fault. They are all dead. My whole family is dead and it's all because of you."

Shu Ning just stood there rooted to the spot as the people tried to calm down Shi Juan. He was in total shock from the revelation and using everybodys distraction to sort through the plot and memory once again. When the hand at his waist tightened their hold he finally looked up to see Zhao Yang worriedly gazing at him.

"I'm fine. Was just a bit much at once."

With a strained smile he tried reassuring the man with little effect. When Shu Ning turned towards the chaos infront of him he was just in time to witness Xu Dan lash out with a wip completely made out of water and then thrash his way through the crowd. In the blink of an eye the male dissapeared in the bustling activity around them and before Shi Juan could set out after him Shu Ning placed a calming hand on his shouder.

"Let it be. Xu Dan will have a difficult life ahead of him now. The people will talk about this and that will keep us updated about that guy's wearabouts. Don't worry I will take care of this properly."