Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Kyle Crane accepted the mission from the Global Relief Effort, he never expected for there to be zombies. Yeah, sure, okay they had warned him that there was a disease going around the city causing people to behave abnormally but zombies? Jesus. When he landed in Harran, he had a goal in mind, find Suleiman, get back the file that he stole from the GRE and get out. Bada bing bada boom bada bam, he had places to be and well… they were paying him well (-add the fact that this was his true first solo mission ever and well, he wanted to make a good first impression).

Well. Someone should have warned Kyle that things never went according to plan. To recap what happened, and Jesus he can feel the guilt resurface, he landed in Harran, the wind blew him against a building causing him to get stuck like a dumbass and Tahir, one of Rais’s goons, showed up to steal from him. Of course, he wasn’t aware of the fucking zombiesat the time and he shot his gun like a complete and utter moron, instantly grabbing the attention of nearby virals and biters.

Tahir and his goons bolted like some jerks who would leave people to die (-and oh wait they did leave him to die, those bastards.) The virals wasted no time in launching themselves at Kyle, causing him to stumble back because holy shit, uh, zombies. Because of his dumb ass hesitancy, he got bit (- and Kyle swears he saw his life flash before his eyes, not that he would ever tell anyone that). That is when Jade Aldemir and, oh jeez the guilt, Amir Ghoreyshi show up. Jade, also known as ‘The Scorpion’, wasted no time, she dragged his sorry and bleeding ass out of there, but Amir stayed behind to give them time to escape. From what little Kyle was aware of, Amir didn’t make it. Of course, everything after that is just foggy since he passed out in Jade’s arms like some god damn pillow princess.

3 days later and he wakes up to two screaming kids. Awesome. Can you feel his sarcasm? Good. (Don’t get him wrong, he likes kids… just not when he has a splitting headache and apparent memory loss). He wakes up and no one wastes time on immediately judging him, (-it honestly probably has to do with the fact he’s wearing tourist clothes.) They don’t exactly call him names but hearing that he’s just another useless nobody, another mouth to feed, oof it rubs him the wrong way (-he grew up being told he was a waste of space, he was going to prove them wrong-). Not only that but they had the audacity to call him lazy, him, Kyle Crane! Nonsense. He was going to show them that he was willing to help out… after finding Suleiman.

Speaking of…

He grips his camera against his chest, glad it was undamaged throughout this entire ordeal (-it was part of his cover story, a tourist who just so happened to see too many survival movies-). The people at the tower all tell him the same thing, if he wants to help, go talk to the boss. Going inside the room labeled as ‘headquarters’ was a whole different story of course. He walks in and the first thing he notices is the television broadcasting some spiel from the GRE, to not harm the undead because what if they were your grandmother before they turned? Scandalous if you behead grandma. Outside of the balcony, on the other hand, was where he needed to be. Some guy was leaning over the railing, holding his device given to him by the GRE that would allow him to communicate with them regardless of the jamming devices Suleiman had put in place. He eyed his phone, opening the door, clearing his throat, “uh Boss?” he asks, pausing when the other turns to look at him.

He’s young. Ridiculously young. Well, not as young as Kyle but still, too fucking young to run this Tower full of apocalypse survivors. It also happens to seem that ‘Boss’ is a mind reader as well from the way he was looking at Kyle, it was obvious the guy didn’t think much of him either. Whatever, he’d show them later what he could do. “You must be the boss, I’m-” he blinks when the guy waves his hand, effectively muting him.

“Don’t bother, I know exactly who you are, Kyle Crane,” brown eyes stare into his soul, “the GRE tried to reach you while you were unconscious. They told me about your mission,” he tosses the phone back to Kyle, “obviously, I answered. The name’s Rahim, by the way, and no I’m not the boss,” he glances behind Kyle, nodding at the open door, “close it, we need to talk.”

Oh fuck, he’s screwed.

They spent hours talking out on the balcony, no one having come to distract them. Kyle found out that the guy’s name was Rahim Aldemir, younger brother of the woman who saved him, Jade Aldemir, 24 years old and planning to be an aspiring pyro engineer (-in other words, the guy likes to make things go boom.)

After their introductions, where Kyle saw no point in saying much about himself besides it being his birthday today, 23 years old, and that he was born and raised in Chicago, they began discussing Kyle’s original plan with Rahim evidently saying that his plan was just plain stupid (-he actually said it was shit but calling it stupid was more merciful). After thinking some not so good things about him, Kyle asked what a better plan would be. Rahim just smirked at him and said, “anything but your original plan.” Jackass.

“Why are you wearing such ridiculous clothing?” Rahim asks, vaguely pointing to Kyle’s ingenious tourist costume. “I mean, no offense but I thought the GRE would send their merc with the latest equipment for a successful mission,” he states, leaning against the railing, arms crossing over his chest, “or someone with better experience.”

Well that’s just rude. Kyle hides the offended sound that was waiting to burst out, “it was my idea to hide as a tourist,” he mutters, affronted, “and this is my first solo mission, my mentor decided to finally take my training wheels off.” Rahim gains a smug smile and Kyle wants nothing more than to rub it away. Jerk. “Either way, I’m the only help you’ll be getting from the GRE so… use me however you like,” he shrugs, “I can’t leave until I get that file.”

That got his attention. Rahim’s eyebrows raise at the words, blinking at the man before him. “Well… the original plan was to see if you could be one of our Runners,” he admits, “I would have tested your skills and sent you on scouting missions. But seeing as you are a trained merc, I don’t think I’ll need to test your parkour skills.”

… Huh?

Now Kyle just looks confused, “hold up, what? Parkour? Why do you check if people can do parkour?” he shifts, loosening up. The tension from earlier ebbs away. There’s something about Rahim-

The moment vanishes the minute Rahim to roll his eyes, “we can’t be on the ground because of the biters,” he leans over the railing, pointing at the shuffling zombies down below, “see those slow ones? We call them biters, because that is their main focus. They bite. They spread the infection.”

Spread the infection? Like… carriers? Kyle blinks at that, Rahim’s words washing over him, “wait, you are talking as if there are different breeds of these things,” he states, incredulous, “you’re shitting me.”

“Unfortunately, I’m not,” Rahim scans the crowd below, making a soft ‘ah-hah’ noise when he spies what he was looking for. He beckons Kyle over, pointing down at the crowd, “see that one, the one that seems to be breathing harder than the others?” at Kyle’s nod, he frowns, “those are called virals. Recently turned people. The difference between a Viral and a Biter is that Virals are fast, incredibly fast, and can still jump and chase you down. We have lost so many people to them,” Rahim scowls, turning to face Kyle. “Sometimes, Virals will plead for mercy when you hit them. Do not let this distract you, Kyle. They are no longer human. Dr. Zere believes that each time you hit them, because they have recently turned, the infection loses its hold, but it will evidently return. It’s… it’s fucked up, I won’t lie.”

He looks away from Rahim. He stares down at the crowd of zombies, noticing how the Viral twitches it’s head when a nearby Biter stumbles into crates, breaking them in the process. “They are attuned to sound,” Kyle notes, “is there anything else I need to know?” he asks, turning back to look at the other man.

Rahim shrugs, “there are rumors of some weird mutated zombies going around but personally I haven’t seen any, so who knows.” The native pulls away from the rail, glancing back at their plans, chewing the inside of his cheek. It’s obvious he wants to say something.

“Spit it out, Rahim. What do you want?” Kyle asks, quirking an eyebrow at the others lack of eye contact.

 “… you’re going to need to go to Rais if you want to retrieve that file,” Rahim turns back to look at Kyle, “and Crane… if you do that, you could also fetch the data stolen from Dr. Zere… it’s important. Not every runner in the tower knows about it, so I’m trusting in you right now. The cure isbeing worked on by Dr. Zere and Dr. Camden, but they are also working on a way to cure the infected,” Rahim’s brown eyes shine as the sun begins to set, “think… think about all the lives we could save,” he whispers.

Cure the infected?Kyle glances back at the crowd of Biters, feeling sick. Rotting. Decomposing as they shamble along. How could anyone want to come back from that? Death seemed more merciful. Rahim seems to notice his discomfort. “No no, the cure is not intended for the later stages of the virus. I meant virals. They are working on a way to bring them back from the infection’s clutches. Back to their natural state instead of them being the hunters and us the prey.”

Holy shit. “Holy shit,” Kyle’s eyes widen, “so wait, you’re saying that if I got that data from Rais… we could, what, round up virals and cure them?” Amazing.

“Yes,” Rahim steps closer, Kyle’s amazement being infectious. “But this can only happen if you help us, Kyle. I want to help you complete your mission, but will you help us with ours?” Rahim looks at him and honestly, he shouldn’t even have to ask.

The answer would always be yes.

Chapter Text

They waste no time in gathering the supplies they need for their recon mission. No one knows what they are planning, Jade is still out on some mission and Brecken is out with Lena somewhere in the tower. Rahim feels excitement pool in his gut, finally. Finally, they could do something about this god forsaken virus ravaging across his home city. All he needed was for some god given mercenary to fall into his hands. He glances over at the American, his insides twisting painfully. As of right now the tower has 5 runners, if they go out and don’t return, there’ll be 3 runners left and dwindling supplies. They have to make this count, for the tower, for the infected.

            “You ready?” Rahim asks, fiddling with some gloves he borrowed from his sister, Jade. They have to leave now, before the sun goes down ever further. They’ll sneak into the building once the sun has gone down, avoiding the nightmares and Rais’s goons. From there, they will climb the building and enter it from the top. Simple enough.

            “Ready as I’ll ever be,” Kyle responds back, having changed into runner clothing. He looks over to Rahim and grins, “let’s go.”

            Of course, they don’t leave without the quartermaster asking where they are heading. Jade had made sure for everyone to keep an eye on her ‘reckless younger brother’. Irritating, really. “Don’t worry,” he waves his hand at the man, “I’ll be back before sunset,” he assures the man, knowing he’s lying through his teeth, “if not, I’ll stay at one of our safe houses.”

            The man eyes Rahim and Kyle with suspicion before shrugging, “it’s your funeral, kid. If your sister comes back and you are not here, that is not my fault.” He opens his magazine and proceeds to ignore them both afterwards.

            Perfect.

            Rahim jumps down to the ground floor, the blue light of the UV lights tinting the area. He watches as Kyle jumps down after him, smirking as he takes out his bat, placing it over his shoulder.  “Like her? I named her Gyroshrike,” he swings the bat around, showing off before laughing at Kyle’s choice of a weapon. “Dude, what is that?” he points at the wooden table leg with nails.

            Kyle scowls, “some of us don’t have the luxury of having an electric bat, asshole,” the brunet can’t help but glance at his choice of weapon, “plus, my gun was taken from me so… I totally had a better weapon first.”

            “Right,” Rahim drawls out, walking towards the entrance of the tower, nodding at the guard stationed by it. They wait for him to unlock the door before stepping outside. Rahim covers his eyes from the sunlight, wrinkling his nose in distaste. The sun is going down too fast for his liking.

After a moment of silence, Kyle decides to ask what has been on his mind from the beginning of this mission, “so. Any ideas where Rais’s building might be located?” He lifts his hands up in a placating gesture when Rahim turns to stare at him with an exasperated expression. “What? I’m new here! Give me a break, Rahim.”

The native of Harran would like to know what he did to piss off the entity in the sky (-again) to give him a beginner mercenary. “The building is on the West side of the Slums,” he mentions, “it’s going to be a long run and I hope you are ready,” he nods at the sky, “we don’t want to be out when it gets dark. That’s when the nightmares come out.”

This obviously catches Kyle’s interest. “Nightmares?” he asks with amusement, “I mean yeah fast zombies are a threat but how bad can biters be?”

Whatever amusement was on Rahim’s face disappears in a flash and turns serious. “Jade calls them nightmares, but most call them Volatiles. They are the final stage of the infection… Lord, Kyle, they don’t even look human anymore. They walk around with no clothes on, mandibles, their chest explodes open like some alien and they are incredibly fast. Faster than virals. Stronger too. We have to leave now before the sun sets because that’s when the show up.”

Kyle looks horrified at the description. “Jesus…” he whispers, blinking, “final evolution, huh?” he mutters, jogging along with Rahim, climbing on to nearby buildings as they speed towards Rais’s tower, “why do they only come out during the night?”

“Good question,” Rahim pants, gripping on to the edge of a window, climbing up. It takes some time for him to regain his breath, “UV seems to hurt them for some reason. Night walkers as well.” He watches as Kyle idly loots the apartment duplex they are currently inside of.

“Night walkers?” Kyle asks, shoving nutrition bars into his mouth, “is that some other type of zombie or some shit?” He quickly grabs some alcohol and gauze before running out to the balcony and launching himself to the next building with Rahim.

“Nah, they are biters that are in the final stage of their metamorphosis, at least that is what Dr. Zere says,” Rahim pauses when a biter groans and begins to lift itself up from the floor, eyebrows raising when Kyle just… kicks it over the edge. “Well then, I suppose this is Sparta,” he jokes.

“Wait wait wait, you said something about metamorphosis, what’s that about?” Kyle asks, grunting as they land on the ground, vaulting over zombies and launching themselves into the nearest building.

“From what I overheard, biters are the ‘cocoon’ of the infection. They are basically changing the insides of the human host they are in,” there is something pleasing about bringing down Gyroshrike on to a zombies head and watching them writher with electricity. “It’s pretty gross.”

Kyle looks… a little disgusted to say the least. “So wait, this infection is changingus?” he asks, the horror in his voice evident. It grows even more when Rahim simply nods. “Jesus,” he whispers.

After that, they stay silent. They need to be, because in front of them is Rais’s building looms ominously ahead.

Rahim looks up at the sky.

Night is coming.