Down the winding road they went, over tar and over dirt, through forests and plains. Up mountains and down mountains, through the sunrises and through the sunsets. A journey of nearly three days in which the convoy had been going nearly non-stop across the landscape of Canada from East to West. Along that long and multi-day long journey so few stops had been made short of fuel and normal break stops.

Several military trucks and buses moved across the roads, lit up, jeeps also in formation behind. A vast collection of soldiers, vehicles, and artillery all heading for one singular spot- Emerton. On one of the buses sat Elise in a seat to herself, lying against the window, eyes settled to the sight of Sephiroth before her in hand. Around her, the rest of Vulfax Squadron, Domino Squadron, and many others.

Zoey walked down the line in the middle, turning to take a seat just to Elise’s left across the aisle, “So Lieutenant, how does it feel to finally be heading home?”

She looked up from Sephiroth with a plain stare given in return, “Not sure actually.”

“Ah come on now, surely it ain’t that bad,” came the laugh of Mark.

“Eh- I’m uneasy alright? Bad memories.”

“She’s not wrong,” Samantha murmured.

“We lost a lot working for Vulfax. Vulper might have turned things around but it still is painful.”

“You’re thinking about the lot of them who died because of Azala, aren’t you Elise?”

“Yeah- I just wish I could’ve done more at the time.”

“Well instead of thinking about what you could’ve done, shape up and be ready for our arrival,” Tony called out, sitting a few seats back, “This conflict is shaping up to be a lot more difficult. Undead are going to be the main currency used by the enemy for cheap soldiers. We’re going to be outnumbered at some point, they with unlimited force and us with so few.”

“Undead as the currency of war. Heh, that’s a new one. I like it,” Rusty chuckled from his seat.

“You would brother,” Britt replied.

“Smart when you think about it actually. Unlike the zombies people think of these days, these guys can easily be salvaged and repaired with proper dark magic. Most are just spliced together concoctions of different bodies anyway. So cheap and easy to produce.”

“Think of these days? What, people actually think about zombies Tony?”

“Eh? I thought you were supposed to be book smart. Yeah don’t you know, zombie movies and such these days are all about viruses causing some exponentially spreading apocalypse. Used to be about voodoo but the concept of zombie changed decades ago in the seventies and eighties. Of course the possibility of zombies made by virus is real, just- no one can easily control them and world governments already have measures in place for such a thing.”

“Oh. Well sorry, I’ve never seen a movie before.”

“Wait what? What?!” Sora choked, “Never seen- what the devil? Have you lived under a rock your entire life?!”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Jeez Elise, there is a lot for you to learn about. Next thing you know you’ll say you’ve never played a video game before.”

“...”

“Oh come on!”

“Hey Sora, enough alright? Cut her some slack.”

“Sorry Calie, heh.”

“Anyways,” Tony cut in, “The point is that you need to be made ready, all of you. If this new innovation for undead succeeds, we’ll be looking at a lot of fighting.”

“Pipe down back there!” came a shout from the front, “We’ve arrived!”

All turned their heads, some out the window, some straight ahead. The convoy made another turn right up a hill for some distance to the peak, then right down where there was a town. An empty deserted place, soldiers and equipment everywhere, boarded up buildings. Dirt all around and cars left in the streets. Buildings lay in several pieces while some remained totally intact.

Elise shot up immediately, both hands on the back of the seat before her, eyes launched forward. A quiver, a shiver of skin, a slight gap between her lips with the shaking of her emerald gaze, “Wh-what?”

More buildings lie in ruin, piles of rubble, buildings with entire sides gone barely standing. Some lacked boards to their windows and others held few that simply hung to the ground. Doors clung by a single bent hitch. A large lot of fallen trees and craters mixed itself in a variation of bent and shattered playground equipment. Her head turned slowly with view out the side windows as the convoy moved through the town now looking more and more ransacked.

Streets caved in, piles of burnt ash and blackened wood, bricks tossed to piles of remains. Where there once stood the library now stood nothing at all, also in burnt pieces of materials. More than half of the fire station had caved in, taking out a diner nearby. Her figure slumped back into the seat behind, hands still on the seat in front.

“What-what happened here?” Milly murmured, pitch high and waving.

Rusty himself now stood in the aisle, head zipping around, “This place looks like a war zone.”

“Taking out Azala didn’t fix things here you lot,” came a response from up ahead by a single soldier staring back at the group, “With Arkaza gone and Azala dead, a power vacuum opened up that drug every clan, pack, and tribe in the area into a frenzy. Emerton was one of several towns in the area that got hit. Casualties here were… high, to say the least.”

The convoy drew to a halt near the center, collapsed and ruined buildings all around. The doors to the bus opened and quickly soldiers to the front streamed out. Domino Squad and Vulfax Squad pooled out, Elise slowly mixing her way in and filing out once at the front. Pavement below her and but a few carried steps away, she stood at the center of it all. The ruin, the smell of smoke, the slightest stench of burnt meat, of death.

“Why weren’t we told about this?” Scott questioned as he moved passed Elise.

“Because they didn’t want us to know, to be distracted,” her reply came shaken.

“This is the result of war I’m afraid,” spoke a voice from not far off, deeper, yet not heavy.

The group turned, Elise included, seeing the approach of a man of dark hair and skin, clad in a black coat showing wear and tear. His boots clomped upon the ground as he strode close. He held a variety of weapons around him from daggers to guns, all sheathed for that time, and then an ax upon his back.

“Vulper.”

“Vulper!”

“Long time no see you mangy cur, haha.”

He stopped short of the group with a smile of sorts that soon faded, “I’m- sorry we have to meet like this as it is. I’m none the happier about what happened here but-”

“What exactly did happen?”

“Well Zoey- it was several things. Fighting began in the valley with Azala and Dustin gone, many trying to determine who would rule this region of the Yukon. The fighting turned sour and engulfed the humans before long. I don’t particularly know how many groups went in for it. We allied with the Government to try and halt it, even picked up a few other allies on the way but- it wasn’t enough.”

“Pft- and here Elise put you in charge thinking you’d handle everything. Just goes to show her lack of foresight.”

“Shut up Rusty,” she grumbled back.

“At any rate, we need to get a move on. Everyone head North to the outskirts where our little coalition has set up the main base for the area.”

Both groups began to move away casually, those of the area looking around however. Elise in particular was looking around most of all, a gaze from broken glass to a half burnt doll lying in a pile of ruble. Another cafe lay to the left of her in pieces, one which she looked over and stopped in place for momentarily.

The sides of the streets were bustling near the cafe, people moving in and out. A bell would ring each time the door opened and closed with floods of townsfolk moving on. Laughter, conversing. An officer moved by and then an older gentleman dressed with a green apron.

“Oh- good morning Elise,” the officer spoke.

“Goodmorning Forest Girl, heh heh,” the older man greeted.

“Hi Officer Hansel, Mr. Vilmur,” she replied.

“Say, the cafe here has some new crazy crispy chicken sandwich. Have you had it yet? The town is going nuts about it right now.”

“Oh uh, I haven’t. I don’t really have any money right now, heh-”

“Nonsense, here, I’ll buy you one for the road.”

“Nonsense Bill, I’ll take care of it.”

“Stevens, please-”

Her attention turned back to the street before her, away from the cafe. A sigh left her before moving on.

“Memories?”

Her eyes shifted to her right where there now stood Vulper.

“Thought so. I can always tell the gist of what’s up with you kid,” he spoke as he began walking alongside her.

“I just can’t believe it. No matter what happened, Emerton always seemed like it wouldn’t be touched,” she murmured, sighing with eyes closed for but a moment, “I thought taking out Azala and driving out the others would restore peace. Instead it just brought chaos. It makes me wonder why I even got these powers if this is just what’s going to happen after I’m gone.”

“That’s just part of the cycle unfortunately. Life is evil in concept, sin will always overtake societies. But hey, that’s why it’s up to us as individuals to help clean it all up right? These towns might’ve been ruined, the different groups in the valley area might’ve gone to war; but at the same time it has also freed a lot of people. You may not know it but plenty of people fled their clans and such after the Government came in to help, and plenty of people from the towns were evacuated safely. Sure, a good few didn’t make it out- but many did.”

“Meanwhile our enemies are growing stronger and stronger; though I suppose that just means we need to get more powerful to oppose them.”

“Power isn’t everything, you know that. You might’ve gained some rad new abilities but your mind is still your best weapon kid, remember that.”

“Trust me, I do remember. It’s the best advice I’ve ever gotten.”

Another building, formerly a storage facility, now decked out with multiple computers, holotables, and a variety of other equipment. Around one table was a hologram of Holly and then on the other side was Wesley. Several stood with them pointing out a valley between two hill tops, a forest ahead. Overall it sat rather simple like many others in use by this outfit- by the Tribe and their allies, one that could be easily broken down and moved.

“A bombardment would be the best approach sirs.”

“No captain, that would wipe out everything. You people need remember we need intel and just destroying everything that moves isn’t the way to go about that,” Wesley grumbled.

“An attack team could swarm in from the front and maybe we send soldiers down the hillsides to infiltrate?” Holly proposed, pointing at the two hills that the warehouse stood between.

“I’m sorry milady but the thing has been fortified into a fortress. There are sentries all around, guards, snipers, mounted guns. Any force we would send at it would be mowed down. There are also a ton of Zaherian present.”

“Have you confirmed their actions?”

“Yes. A large number of trucks from semis with trailers to box vans have been moving in and out. Of course to maintain secrecy we have yet to intercept any of them but it more or less confirms things. They’ve also got something new going on in there. As stated the last time, there are new undead that are stronger, faster, and seemingly smarter than the rest of them.”

“Dires, right. Arkaza is stepping up his game. One can only imagine what they’ll create soon enough. The place is probably crawling with Ghouls and one or more of Arkaza’s direct subordinates, making this a tricky operation.”

“So just sneak in?” came Elise’s voice.

All eyes and heads turned as she walked in, a few soldiers in turn giving their solutes to her as she moved by. Wesley’s arms crossed, a bit of steam exiting his nose for a moment with a faint glow appearing and leaving his eyes, “Bakuuva, you have a nasty habit of interrupting our meetings.”

“And yet you let it slide because I sometimes see things others miss,” she replied moving forward, “But I already know the solution.”

“Which is?”

“Stealth. If you want your information, sneak some of us in. There are many options from the vents to moving in the trucks. These off to the side for example, this looks to be an intake versus an output. Throw some of us into the vents and we’ll move like mice into the warehouse. Then when the time comes we can always hit them from behind.”

“Hmph. Once more you impress me, you’re not wrong,” Wesley grunmbled.

“Could always have snipers take out the sentries to give them a clear path,” the captain murmured.

“And they could plant explosives to collapse everything down into the mines when done so that we don’t have to storm anything,” Holly added with a smile.

“Eh, as usual she’s talked me into it,” Wesley concluded, “Alright Bakuuva. We’ll ready things for you to sneak in. Your objective will be as follows. Sneak in, we’ll take out anyone in the way and hide the bodies. Find out any information you can get, report on who is in command of that place, see if the Hive is in on it, plant the bombs, get out- and then we’ll detonate the whole works. Considering it’s a coal mine formerly, it should be a grand enough blast to take out even that Vampiric bastard if he’s inside. Do you accept this mission?”

“Certainly, I do General Ezdorth.”

“Alright then Lieutenant, get your shit together and figure it out. We’ll send Domino Squadron in with you and your Vulfax allies since you’ve all been working together so often lately. Don’t fuck this one up. Now go!”