Never in my life have I wished for night vision, as much as right now. Everything was completely dark, except for a small light in the hallway behind the door. The door had opened close to an hour ago, but I was worried it was a trap, so I sat right before it and waited.

I finally inched myself out the door, my eyes focused on the lone lightbulb hanging off the wall before me. The house was warily quiet, the only noise I could possibly hear being my heart beat and the shuffling of my bare feet on the floor. I sucked in a breath as I entered a dark room, the faint outline of furniture making my eyes squint as I tried to look around.

"Fuck." I muttered as I tripped over something, my feet landing in something sticky and wet. I scrunched my face as I reached down, gently swiping with my fingers as I made my way back to the hallway with the light bulb.

I felt my stomach lurch as I realized it was blood, covering my hand and all up and down my legs. I clenched my jaw, spinning around as I stormed back into the dark room. I needed a weapon, and I needed it now.

I stumbled through the dark rooms, blindly moving my hands around as I felt up the walls, cabinets, everything for something. I growled out when I finally found something that felt like a poker stick, my eyes shutting in relief as I clutched onto it.

My eyes flew open when I heard what sounded like something moving, the shuffling of feet that weren't mine. I looked around, trying to make out something while my eyes tried to hone in on where he noise was coming from. I inched a foot forward, my fingers beginning to ache at how hard I was clutching onto the poker stick.

"Little Fern, little plant. It seems as if your Damien began to search for you." I didn't even know this assholes name and his voice was sending chills down me, my fury rolling through me in waves. "Come out come out little Fern."

His voice sounded closer, even though it had to be rooms away. I inched my body into the corner of the room, shutting my eyes as I tried to focus on his feet. The shuffling came closer, the air shifting as I heard his breathing enter the room I was in.

"Fern." He sung out, his body no more than five feet away from me.

It was silent, dead silent for a few moments. I clutched onto the poker a bit harder, opening my eyes. Hot breath spread out across my face, his body heat warming my dead cold skin.

"Found you."

I swung out, connecting with something cold and hard. A scream of pain left him as I ran around him, pounding my way across the room. I didn't want to kill him, didn't want to turn into him, but I don't know what choice I have now.

"Fern, when I find you, you're dead."

***

Damien

I could feel my blood boiling, the rage completely obvious across my face as I looked down at the dead bodies before me. Jake lay in a buddies of his own blood, his father not far from him.

Believe me, I figured out who the fuck Jake was, problem was it was only minutes after he took Fern from the house. I growled to myself, my fist clenching and unclenching at my sides. It had been two days since I realized who they were, since I last saw Jake.

Because of my boneheadedness and my stubborn streak, I refused to go to our bed for those two days. I finally went up there, desperately climbing onto her smell on my sheets, when I saw her note.

So now I'm right in front of two bodies, trying to not blow up on Charles and Joey. I knew they were doing their job, Joey checking for clues around their bodies while Charles works on the computer, although he isn't as good as Fern.

"Guys! I got something!" My eyes snapped up to Charles, my feet moving before I could even process exactly what the hell was going on. I stood over Charles and looked down at the computer, trying to not breathe in that much from the stench of the dead bodies.

"Something was attached to a virus, but I think he did it on purpose." He muttered as he typed something, a small screen appearing once he clicked on something.

It was in night vision, some type of camera expanding out onto what looked like a living room. My breath hitched when I saw a body stumble through, their face turning until I finally saw who's face it was.

My Fern, god my little Fern looked terrified. She was searching around the room blindly for something, her hand finally catching and clutching onto a fire poker. Her face snapped up, she must've heard something, a looked of sheer terror crossing her face even brighter than before.

I didn't have fury rolling through me until I watched another body walk into the room, a broad looking man looking up exactly to where the camera sat with a smirk.

The fucker knew we were watching.

"Can you figure out where the hell this is coming from?" Joey asked as he inched closer to the screen, almost like he thought sitting closer would make him be able to see what was going on better.

"Yes, it'll just take a bit." I nodded unconsciously as I watched the dark figure, trying to figure out where the fuck I knew him from.

"Fuck." It hit me like a train, a ton of bricks, whatever the hell you want to call it. I watched as he reached Fern, a smile falling on my face as I saw her hit him with the poker and bolt away from the corner she had been sitting in.

"It's Brian, Jason's other kid." I watched as both of their fists grip tightly, Charles typing away at the computer.

"Got it!" He quickly wrote down an address, all three of us bolting from our seats and to our cars.

Joey called up parts of the gang we knew we could trust, my fingers tightening onto the steering wheel as I raced down the highway. It took close to thirty minutes to get to the address we had programmed into the navigator, an abandoned dirty house nestled between a bunch of dead trees outside of school.

I growled at the silence, my body walking around the house. I looked for any weak spots, trying to find an open window or at least one that wasn't fucking boarded up. I grit my teeth when two other cars pulled up, nodding to the six men that got out.

I'll be honest, the guys in my gang are scary. They all are almost covered in tattoos, bulked with muscle and some shaved their head because they think it'll make them scarier. Fern got close with almost all of them instantaneously though, so a lot of them looked out for her and wanted to protect her.

"So what're we doing? Go in guns a blazing?" Joey quipped up, loading a handgun as he spoke.

I shook my head, loading my own gun as I eyed the house before me. "We need to get in quietly, figure out the weak spots. Try to watch out for Fern, get her out. That's the first priority."

They all nodded to me as we circled the house, finally finding a window that led to the basement in the house with loose boards covering it. Joey takes a silent saw, cutting through two of the boards before pushing them out of the way. Charles steps in silently, crouching under the window as he searches around the room with a small flashlight.

The smell hit me as soon as I got in, the smell of rotting flesh and decomposing bodies. My stomach lurched when I flashed my flashlight up to find at least three dead bodies, blood splattered all over the wall above them. Charles looked almost as sick as I felt, while Joey and Alex, one of the other guys we brought with us, actually gagged.

"Okay, we need to get into the house, try to keep the lights as minimal as possible. Use these," I handed all of them goggles I had brought in my bag, setting the now empty bag onto the floor. I flipped a switch, letting the night vision peak over just like on the camera.

They all nodded as we made our way upstairs, my breathing as quiet as I could make it. I tried to listen for the sounds of feet moving, or someone breathing, but all I could hear was the bugs buzzing around the dead bodies as we passed them and the occasion drip from a pipe. I stepped into a long hallway with a single lit lightbulb, my feet drifting down it until I rounded the corner.

A lone puddle filled the floor with bare footprints surrounding it, most likely Ferns. My heart sank at the thought of her having to touch that, at the thought of her even being in all of this mess. I heard heat sounded like skin on skin contact, like someone punching someone or something hitting someone with something.

I looked over to the guys who nodded to me, signaling that they heard it too. I signaled with my hands to spread out, walking up to a small room in the corner of the hallway where we began to hear shouting.

"Fuck you!" A sick thud sounded, before a dark chuckle drifting through the air of the house.

"Hitting me like that isn't going to scare me off, it'll simply excite me by thinking of how harshly I'm going to punish you once I have you." I grit my teeth at his voice, gripping the gun I had even harsher now.

"That's if you can catch me dick for brains." I smiled at Ferns voice; even in the face of being killed and tortured she still finds a way to be a smart ass.

I signaled to one of the guys to enter from the opposite side and one of the connecting bedrooms. I stuck my head from one the doorway in the hall, my eyes landing immediately on Fern. She had blood splattered all over her and was looking around wildly, since it was still pitch black in the house.

The guy lay on the ground panting, only three feet from her. I grit my teeth as I looked over to Alex in the other doorway, pointing to Fern. I nodded and watched as he slowly crept in, my body sticking to the wall as I crept in not long after him.

"How nice of you to join us." My eyes shot over to Brian on the ground, his face still bent low as he caught his breath. "I can hear you breathing, you know."

He chuckled, pulling out a gun slowly. I looked over to Alex, his eyes trained on Brian. "Now!"

He shot over to Fern while I cocked my pistol and shot at exactly the same time Brian shot his, my bullet embedding itself straight into his forehead. "Target acquired!"

I shouted out into the house just as a siren landed, more gunshots ringing throughout the house and the yard outside. "Get down!"

I let Charles and Joey command the rest of the gang I had brought with us while I made my way over to Fern, clutching her as soon as I made contact with her. She let out a scream and tried to jump back, her eyes still wide as she stared at where my body would be.

"Fern, its me, Damien." Her body relaxed almost instantly before she jumped onto me, her arms clinging to my body.

"Damien." She whispered as the gunshots slowed down, Charles and Joey kicking down the front door before running out to look for any remaining men.

"All clear!" I felt something warm against my bare hands, my eyes widening as I looked at her arm. It was covered in blood, along with streaks down her neck and across her chest.

"Oh god, where are you hurt?" She looked at me confused, or at least as good as she could since it was still pitch black. Something must've clicked as she looked down, her eyes widening before looking back up to where my face was.

"This isn't mine, I uh, hit him with something and I think it might be his?" I chuckled at her tone, leaning down and kissing her temple before lifting her as gently as I could've.

"I missed you." She took a deep breath as we stepped outside, using her hands to slip off my night vision goggles since we had one of the car headlights on. She quieted against the lights as I stepped closer to it, wincing at the intensity of them.

She snuggled up deeper into my chest as I sat down in the back seat, her hot breath splaying out against the thin skin of my neck. She placed a soft kiss right at the base before moving up to kiss my lips, melting right against my skin like she belonged there.

"I missed you too, I didn't think you'd come for me." I chuckled as I placed another kiss against her, resting my forehead against her own.

"I will always come for you."

***

A/N: I'm sorry for the wait, you're all aloud to stab me with as many plastic forks as you want.