He couldn't move for all he was worth. He could only stand and stare. Everything else around him was outside of his reality. This was reality; right in front of him. He couldn't seem to get through his head what he was seeing.

Amara stared at him, not knowing what to do. She turned to Alexis, who was thinking hard beside her. It was then that Amara realised that they were slowly being surrounded by a small group of Inhumans.

"Alexis! Helmet!" Ken yelled, but Alexis suddenly got up and was about to start charging in Lennox's direction. Ken grabbed her before she could even take a full step.

"What are you doing?" Alexis demanded as Ken jammed her helmet on her head.

"You were going to do something rash, weren't you?" Ken snarled, keeping a tight grip on her. He looked around at Amara, and jammed a helmet on her head as well. Then he looked around at the Inhumans surrounding them.

Day was thrown off for a while as well, but he finally managed to recollect himself. He pulled on his helmet and picked up his spear.

"LENN–" he began, but a body had thrown itself onto his back. "Shit!" he cursed, throwing it off his back as quickly as he could. Suzanna came flying out of completely nowhere, and finished it off.

"Suzanna!" Day yelled, as another two approached him. Next thing he knew, Suzanna was back-to-back with him. Suzanna's agility really was second to none.

"Yes?" Suzanna asked, taking out one Inhuman.

"Lennox." Day replied, taking out the second.

Suzanna nodded, and dashed in the direction of Lennox, but she had only gotten halfway there when she found herself cornered by a rather bulky Inhuman. She ended up getting occupied by it.

Day and Suzanna were busy holding off the surrounding Inhumans from one side. They both were trying to get to Lennox, but neither of them could find an opening. This left a whole other side to Alexis, Amara and Ken.

Amara was shrinking in fear behind Ken, who still had a firm grip on Alexis. He looked around, figuring out what to do. On one side were 5-6 Inhumans making their way towards them, and on the other side, the Inhuman Leanne was getting closer to the stationary Lennox.

When he turned back to face the side of the Inhumans, one was almost face-to-face with him. He was a split second behind, but managed to draw three blades from his belt. All three would have pummeled it exactly where the brain was, but it fell to the ground and instead the three assaulted the Inhuman behind it.

He looked down in surprise to see that it had already been slashed cleanly across the stomach. He turned to Alexis, who had her spear in her hand.

"This much I can do!" Alexis yelled. Ken looked at her, then nodded and let her go tentatively. Alexis shielded Amara with her arm and said, "Protect Amara, okay?"

"Okay." Ken nodded, adapting his fighting stance. Spears were never suited for Ken. The rarely issued guns somewhat. But if you gave him any sort of blade, death of the target set before him was certain. With a knife in each hand, Ken took his place before Amara.

Feeling slightly reassured to see Ken in full fighting mode, she turned to face Lennox and took a good look at Leanne's disfigured face. She closed her eyes for a moment, and took a calming breath. The flow of memories that had been triggered in her mind was all removed along with the carbon dioxide. The kind smiles, the nights of chatting, the reassuring gestures, everything. 

In this war, the biggest wall to overcome was your own emotions.

"Al's good at taking care of people."

Nobody had called her that for a long time.

She opened her eyes, mind clear. She inhaled.

"LENNOX!!" she screamed. "THAT'S NOT LEANNE ANYMORE!! GET OUT OF IT!! LEANNE'S–" She suddenly stopped midway. She took a deep breath again, and finished. "LEANNE'S GONE!!"

She looked back at him, and froze when she saw he hadn't moved at all. He was still staring, transfixed, at the image approaching him. Alexis suddenly got more desperate.

"LENNOX!" she yelled again. "LENNOX!!"

"ALEXIS!!" Ken roared, and Alexis whirled around and only just managed to strike down an Inhuman that would have sunk it's teeth into a non-armoured part of her suit. Her voice sounded more hoarse as she turned to Lennox again.

"CAN YOU HEAR ME, LENNOX?!!" she shouted. "SNAP OUT OF IT!"

"LENNOX!!" Day shouted, struggling with another bulky Inhuman. He finally managed to pierce it right through the head, and he turned his whole body in Lennox's direction. He filled his lungs with air and was just about to continue, but Suzanna yelled his name instead.

"DAY, BEHIND YOU!!" 

Day turned around, and his eyes dilated when he saw the sight before him. Suzanna dashed to his side, but the overwhelming size overcame her.

"'The hell is that?" Day whispered.

A 10-foot-tall creature with a bizarre mix of human body parts was towering over them. It's head was a mash of eyes with skin stretching between them, and there was a disfigured, gaping mouth. It had too many hands, and three long legs. Its main body was a huge knot of muscle.

"That isn't even a human anymore..." Day mumbled. Suzanna had frozen beside him. They were at a loss.

Amara's eyes trailed to this unnatural beast, and the impact of the thing she was seeing hit her harder than either Day or Suzanna. Her body was paralyzed for a full minute, as the creature clumsily stumbled around on its uneven legs. All Day and Suzanna could do for the time being was avoid its stamping feet.

Amara's arm finally twitched as Day fell over and only just managed to roll aside. She raised her arm, and tugged on the edge of Ken's shirt. Ken turned and glanced at her, but then the huge, bizarre creature finally caught his eye.

"What the..." Ken began. He struck down the final Inhuman in his sight, and fully turned his attention.

Amara's eyes now moved to Alexis, who was still crying out to Lennox to get his attention. However, Lennox was in an unreachable place of memories and regret. Every word she had ever told him, every gesture she had ever given him, were all running through his mind.

Amara saw the blank look in Lennox's eyes. She had a sudden flashback to Jake's blank look right after he had been bitten. Azusa's devastation. She hadn't come out of her room since then, no matter how much Owen tried to coax her out.

Lennox, meanwhile, was completely oblivious to his surroundings. All he could see was Leanne's deteriorating body coming closer to him. But in his eyes, he could only see Leanne, smiling and welcoming him into her outstretched arms.

"We're going to end this together, aren't we?"

"Together...?" Lennox mumbled.

"Yes, together. So come on."

"I can?" Lennox asked, eyes unfocused.

The Leanne in his mind nodded, and he felt all the strength leave his legs completely, as he fell towards her. But it was the impact of the hard ground that brought him back to his senses. He blinked a few times, and then looked up at the face of the person pinning him to the ground.

"Le...anne?" Lennox mumbled.

"LENNOX!!" 

Lennox felt strangely drowsy. He couldn't make sense of Alexis's voice.

Why does Leanne have Alexis's voice? he wondered to himself, closing his eyes. Well, whatever. We can go together.

To everyone else, all they could see was the Inhuman closing in on him, leaning in to take a healthy bite right out of his Adam's apple. They all shouted, but the next thing she knew, Amara was running with all her might, swiping a knife from Ken's belt as she went.

"AMARAAA!!" 

"Lennox!" 

Lennox suddenly felt somebody jam a helmet over his head, and then he heard a stab. Next thing he knew, someone was tugging his arm.

It took everyone a while to understand what had happened. Amara had pushed a helmet onto Lennox's head, and then stabbed Leanne in her arm. Now she was trying to pull Lennox out from under her as she rasped in displeasure.

"Dammit!" Ken hissed. "It's not enough!" He went running in their direction, drawing out a knife as he went.

Lennox looked around at last, and saw Amara's determined face, as she heaved with all her might.

"I want to live."

He finally came back to his senses, and he took in the present situation all at once. But he was too late. His spear was too far, and Leanne was already swinging her arms at Amara. Ken wasn't wielding an easy to throw knife, but he aimed and threw it anyway.

But what really stunned everyone was that the moment the knife made impact with Leanne's skull, there was the sound of a gunshot.

None of them had guns.

Leanne's limp, deteriorating body fell off Lennox, with the impact of the knife, but there was also the mark of a gunshot in her back. Next thing they knew, a black-hooded figure had just landed in front of them, holding the same foot-long but light guns their bases issued in both hands. Amara saw the glint of an eye as he stared down at them.

Everyone froze, even forgetting the bizarre creature that was barreling around. The figure acknowledged them only for a second. Next moment, he raised both guns and started firing. Everyone fell to the ground, but only then did they realise that he was killing off Inhumans that were approaching from over a mile away. 

He turned his head in the direction of the creature, and Lennox distinctly heard a 'tsk'. The figure took off, darting around the creature so that he could only be seen as a black blur. They saw slashes appearing randomly on the body, as it twisted and turned in pain. A silver thread suddenly caught the light, catching Day and Suzanna's eyes as well. They noticed that a silver thread was unraveling as the figure leaped around the creature, slashing along the way.

Suzanna tried to take a more careful look, and she noticed the same glint that Amara always saw. She was just a second on time, just as Ken shouted her name. A bullet pummeled the ground exactly where she was a mere second ago. Suzanna rolled to her feet again, and they all realised the same thing at the same time.

He was killing indiscriminately. 

Lennox's eyes widened as he finally stopped, and pulled hard on the thread he had unraveled all this time. Blood came spurting out wherever the thread cut it, and the creature let out unearthly cries. Even so, he continued pulling with one hand. He brought out his gun with the other, and shot it in its back. Along with the impact, he pushed the creature into the lake, landing on his feet at the bank. He glanced sideways, and stamped on the end of Lennox's discarded spear, catching it as it flew to his hand. He turned it over and plunged it into the lake. Slowly, a whole portion of the lake was tainted with blood.

Lennox was too spellbound to realise what was going to happen next. The person pulled out his gun once more, and pointed it right at him.

Death. 

Amara stared in fear, breathing uneven. She let out a loud scream, but instantly covered her mouth. Lennox noticed the person's hand tighten, and he shielded Amara immediately.

But he felt no impact. He looked back up at the person, to see that his gun had dropped to his side. His hood fell off, revealing a mop of brown hair. He lowered his black mask, and fell to his knees.

This shocked everyone more than anything. Not because he suddenly decided against shooting them.

It was because nobody expected Death to be a teenage boy.