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Candace was getting anxious again. She heard a door creak in a breeze she didn't feel, she heard bushes rustling..but she didn't hear the things one should hear in a quiet town. No chirping crickets, no tweeting birds, not even any distant barks of dogs in other neighborhoods. She rubbed her lips together, looking back at Aria and Caelius to make sure they were still with her.

The scanner beeped, getting her attention. Almost there...it was getting stronger still. She couldn't even tell where they were going. This was annoying.

The drawback of having a fill-in for a hunter was remembering all too late that said fill-in was still a trainee. Aria had gone on ahead of Candace, enabling the division leader to give the intermediate trainee a quick, unreadable look before focusing her attention on the town center. The scanner was already in her hands, activated. She said nothing; the previous glance was the only form of acknowledgment Candace would receive.

In the center of town the fog had thinned enough to see several feet away. The ground was littered with news papers from a nearby news stand that had been knocked over, the papers scattered about haphazardly. Over there lie the breadcrumbs that pidgeons would have consumed, had there been any around. A child had even dropped a stuffed animal, the stitched face half-buried in a puddle and rapidly absorbing the liquid.

It was silent, broken only by the soft clicks and whirrs of the scanner held by Aria. There was no wind, no animals, no shriek of an old gate swinging open in the breeze. It was as Mark said: there were little signs of life, but the evidence of life was everywhere.

That was much better. Candace liked being able to see ahead of her even if only a small bit. Anything was better than nothing. She looked all around, eyes catching the newspapers. The stuffed animal. This place had definitely been lived in, possibly recently as Candace had not been hoping for. Were they okay? Had they run and hidden somewhere? Were they out of the town where it was safe? She swallowed to try and get rid of the lump in her throat, rubbing her lips together and glancing Aria's way. She was waiting for an order of some kind, for more information on what was happening. Candace hated not knowing things. It drove her crazy to find there was valuable information she either didn't think to ask for or just wasn't told about; how was she supposed to give them her best when things kept springing on her. She hoped it was simply a test and that it would become easier after being promoted.

Mark's voice cut in and she nodded her head, tensing up again when she heard the tell-tale hum of Circe. She was not going to look. She would not. She did not want to. Candace didn't look at all surprised by the fog clearing even more as Caelius made his arrival. Of course. Why not. She finally looked his way, her eyes narrowing into a glare until she heard the shriek. Candace jumped, eyes wide as she took a step back in a direction away from where the shrieking came from. More shrieking, and then more..

Candace had seen a lot of zombies since awakening as a hunter. Hell, their first mission immediately after waking up had involved zombies! And then there were the students..some of them were zombies. But for some reason seeing them in those settings was different from seeing these. They looked like they could have just been normal people if not for the bloodstains that covered them. They could've just been druggies or something. But no, they were obviously...not..people. The blood, their faces, the movements..toss in a few bugs and it would be like witnessing Julie's demise all over again. Candace's heart raced. No, not again. This wasn't like that. They weren't Julie. She frowned and shook her head, ruffling her hair a little and glaring at the things walking toward them. They weren't Julie, they were just monsters. Monsters that probably--

"Hang on, there are no traces of Fear from these bodies,"

"Just..what? But that would mean--" Thud. Candace's eyes slowly turned down to meet with lifeless, glassy eyes staring up at her from the ground. These were people. People...people like them! What was he doing?! "Wait! Mark sai--" And then the second one was sliced clean through. What the hell was he doing?! They..they could save them! They could help them! Insanity meant they could be saved! The rest of them had been infected by it and it'd gone away! It wasn't permanent! What. Was. He. Doing?!

Candace breathed in deeply, fists clenching tightly around the scanner in her hands. She looked to Aria, then the bodies, and then Caelius again. "If it was just Insanity couldn't we have helped them in a way that didn't mean..killing them? Mark said they could be quarantined." She kept her voice as calm and even as she could manage. They were people. They were human! Weren't Hunters here to protect humans?! Then again...the look in their eyes, the way they moved, it had been so easy to mistake them as just your average run-of-the-mill zombies. But..Insanity wasn't permanent...was it?

Some people can't be helped. Atropos didn't sound bothered by Caelius' actions as Candace was. It was taking so much effort not to further embarrass herself than she probably already was with her reaction. She was keeping herself in check as best as she could. There had to have been another way. We could have subdued them. Knocked them out. Taken that knife away. They didn't have to die.

Just as the third of the Insanity-possessed, glassy-eyed humans lunged for the Death lead with a knife, Aria decided to take the time to lecture him on human ethics.

She was rewarded with a second body thudding lifelessly to the ground. Silence again as Candace was all but shoved aside, very much effectively becoming the third wheel. "Aria. I appreciate your sentimental lecture on ethics." That look, both condescending and extremely pissed off. "The very same ethics that should have been left with the Tibet team five years ago: ******** dead and buried underneath layers of ******** snow and bodies. When you are done complaining about the morality of my work ethic, perhaps you should start considering whether or not someone driven mentally and permanently to the point of complete instability armed with weapons is considered a ******** asset or liability. Or have you forgotten that Fear and Insanity fundamentally come from humans."

Dear Candace: you have entirely been forgotten in favour of what was potentially becoming yet another Division Leader scuffle. It didn't help that there were more figures looming from the fog directly towards her, indeed, as Caelius put it completely unstable and armed.

Aria's face grew darker as Caelius mentioned the Tibet team. "Leave them out of this," she hissed. "I did what needed to be done. And this? Last I checked you had two feet to maneuver around with and Circe has an end that doesn't have a scythe. Is it that hard to swung her the other way and hit someone on the back of the neck to knock them out? Or are you so delighted by the way their heads roll that you don't want to stop? News flash, Caelius: it's possible to break someone's neck when trying to knock them out. You can still get your goddamn jollies."

At least Candace agreed with her. Aria was pleased that her trainee had taken her side of the argument. It didn't matter that the trainee held one of the highest death tolls for her group, or that she used Circe to do it. What mattered was that Candace agreed with her. Even though she was still a trainee, it was two against one. Which... actually didn't matter considering it was Caelius they were both dealing with, come to think about it.

Aria brought the runic shotgun up, using the horizontal length of the barrel to block an incoming blow. She released one end of the gun, bringing it down as she stepped up to the infected's side only to bring it up then down again. The figure crumpled at her feet.

A glance was thrown to Candace, a quick look of approval as the trainee asked her question. The leader's attention then turned back to the approaching horde, fighting off the nagging feeling. What if Caelius was right? What if a week's worth of exposure was enough to be permanent? It wasn't as if they had any test subjects on Deus to monitor.

Aria took a deep breath, side-stepping another strike from an Insanity-afflicted human before stepping close long enough to disable them, stepping back again once they fell unconscious to the ground.

They were still arguing. Candace resisted the urge to growl with frustration, grasping the scanner tighter in her fist instead. She shot a look to both Caelius and Aria. It was bad enough trainees thought it was okay to fight each other during missions, she'd liked to think leaders <******** knew better. Come on. There were way more important things to worry about! Like the fact that they just lost contact with Mark.

Wait, what?

Candace paused a moment to take off her headset, looking it all over in a vain effort to find something wrong with it with a quick visual confirmation. Nothing..nothing at all. She put the headset back on, frowning. "Mark? Mark, are you there? Mark!" Goddamnit. There wasn't even white noise. Great. Just. Great. Candace looked down at the screen to see what Mark had given them. She blinked. That was..a very large dot. Please don't mean it's a large...thing. Please oh please. She looked up to see the figures coming closer. Great. The scanner was pocketed for now, kept somewhere safe where it wouldn't go flying while she fought off these people. Remember, Candace; incapacitate, don't kill. This wasn't her hunter trial. This wasn't some game. This was serious. There were real people here, people that needed their help, people that needed to be saved. This was about the rest of her ******** life.

It was a little surreal even for Candace watching a figure leap at them, and she had been ready to act on it until she watched Caelius slice the person clean through and then very ******** nearly attacked her leader. Oh hell no. A figure came at her and she ducked, grabbing their arm as they nearly tripped over her and throwing them to the ground. Honestly? She didn't think it would work. She'd never pulled that off on a non-inanimate object before. There was a brief swell of pride until she realized the fog was closing in on them again. No.

No, no, no, no! No! This couldn't be happening! Not today! Not this time! She was with two leaders! Her own leader whom she respected and felt so strongly for and...then there was Caelius. He was no doubt strong, very practiced and very capable just...he..he was clearly insane. She frowned. Circe had ******** with her head so badly...his own weapon didn't do that to him, right? She was so strong, and watching Caelius carelessly slaughter people with no remorse..

It was like being in that small six by six foot room full of chairs, blood and bodies all over again.

Candace shuddered, shaking her head and ruffling her hair. No. No. These things were not going to gain the upper hand. A figure leaped at her and she ducked to the ground, watching it sail over her, land and turn to attack her. She kicked their stomach, shoving them away from her. Candace didn't want to hurt them. She really, really didn't want to hurt them. It came at her again and she groaned, tripping them and sending them to the ground by sticking out her leg. She did not have time for this.

The beeping from her pocket got her attention. Right! The mission! ********. They had to find the missing hunters and eliminate this source. She wanted to stick to Aria's suggestion. Candace wanted to find the hunters first.

A few hunters...a town, possibly more. What was more dire?

Candace bit down on her lip and ruffled her hair. Damnit, damnit, damnit!

Damnit. Damnit. Candace glared at the glowing blue she could see slashing through bodies, watching them fall to the ground in bloody, twitching heaps. he was crazy. Heartless. An a*****e. Candace hated him with every fiber of her being..

And yet...there were more important things to worry about. Candace frowned, reaching into her pocket for her scanner. The red dot..

She couldn't go alone...Candace couldn't handle a nest on her own. But the leaders were too busy arguing their differences to pay her much attention. What if she just went on ahead? Would Aria follow? Caelius would just scoff about another stupid...disposable trainee..

She was not a disposable trainee. Candace was a ******** Hunter. "We need to find the source. Now." Candace said loud enough for Aria and Caelius to hear.

"We can search for the rescue teams in the meantime, but the least damaging route is to eliminate the threats now while we have strength and not later when we're getting tired, our fear shields are weakened, and we're possibly burdened by injured hunters." Candace's hand was shaking as she held her scanner. "And no more ******** arguing now is not the time for that kind of s**t. It's bad enough trainees choose missions as times for conflict, I would like to think a pair of leaders know to keep their personal dislike for each other on the island." Her voice was firm and even, and she looked ready to push past them and move on without them if they didn't listen to her. She was scolding not only Caelius but Aria as well. She felt terrible doing it, speaking to Aria this way, but both of them were just as guilty right now.

Just as Candace was about to move to follow Aria's wake of destruction, a very familiar weapon stopped the Mist trainee, even as her leader moved on ahead. The flames closed in around the two, effectively narrowing their options of exit to one visible path forwards. "Easy to give instructions when you're not busy being someone else's b***h is it not Candace?" As arrogant as ever, Caelius stepped first, letting the trainee walk behind him. The path was arduously slow, devoid of any other signs of life. "I'm curious as to how you can accept this promotion mission when you have fallen to a level beyond the human range of pathetic. Candace, Epsilon-10, who once held power in their hands as a candidate and even a beginning trainee, who now cries and begs and continuously pleas for help. A need to heavily rely on others, and then blame them when everything goes wrong." Another long pause, the trail of flames still bright against the fog. "How does it feel to lead with no power and know that even with a new rank, you will always be <******** powerless."

The flames had died now, fog climbing again in their wake, curling against the edges of their coat, fabric, threatening to consume the two. Caelius took one step closer, Circe, the weapon that once devotedly followed Candace, now pressed against her neck. "I might consider relieving you of your misery if you beg. You are quite familiar with begging I am sure."

"No." That same calculated, terse voice that lured in so many other candidates, trainees, Hunters, and just as easily watched them all die. "You don't have a choice." 

A loud, shrill hum as the weapon moved forward without a second's more of thought- 

-Right through Candace. Entirely, transparently through, as if she was no more than a ghost. Was it just her imagination or did she hear something beyond the odd, melodic hum. It sounded like soft laughter, cold and mocking. 

And that was it. Not even Circe wanted to dirty herself with Candace's blood. The trainee was worthless. Candace Pennington deserved a more pitiful death, even more so than the mobs of salivating, mindless humans around them.

Silence, interrupted only by the dull beeps on the scanner, consistently warning them of how close to the nest they were. Was it just a coincidence at the visible lack of civilians? "Mission reports from your peers  label you a weakness, a liability, an emotional hazard that is more invested in relationships than completing the ******** mission. If your choices do not make you cripplingly weak, it makes you desperate." And there was Candace, getting a lecture from the one person whom she probably hated the most. "Know your rightful place, to be nothing but fodder until death finally accepts you."

Before she could answer, something flat and heavy slammed into Candace's side, painfully knocking the wind out of her as she went sprawling into the thickest of the fog. Right at the nest, the horde of slow lumbering bodies. 

To fight for her place as bait or simply drown with her hopes and beliefs.