"I've gotta stop," I panted. "Set me down here."

"Alec," Kendall protested. I waved a hand at him. "Stop. Don't."

He grunted and crouched, letting me slide off his back, having been basically carrying me by that point. Lilly guided me to the ground, and I leaned against the shelves, the metal cold and firm against my spine. I reached up and pushed my helmet off, letting it clatter to the floor beside me.

"Give me a gun."

Lilly pulled a handgun from the back of her waist and offered it to me, her hands trembling.

I tried to hold the gun with my good hand, but it slipped from my fingers, clattering to the floor. Lilly caught it with the other maneuver that seemed natural to her now. She crouched by my side and grabbed my hand, placing it into hers and holding it steady. My fingers wrapped around hers, trigger guard digging into my palm. I felt warmth spread out from where our hands met, sinking into my skin and grounding me. She glanced at me and smiled softly, then leaned in and pressed her forehead against mine briefly and kissed me once before standing back up.

"Lilly," I coughed again. "When Finn gets here, I want you to run. They'll come at you both, but I'm gonna distract them. Got it?" Her eyes were soft and sad, but she nodded, knowing I was right. Kendall's features hardened and he turned and set his head against the pallet racking, his fists clenching and unclenching.

Together, they stood guard as I tried to lock my good arm around my middle enough to stop the blood loss. It was slow now, but I couldn't feel it as much anymore, either. My vision was hazy, dark around the edges and tingling like icewater. The metallic taste of blood coated my tongue. The sound of guns firing seemed distant, but I knew they weren't far off. It just felt distant from me now.

"We can't hold them off!" Mathis screamed, his voice tinny and small from the helmet beside me.

A Turned groaned again, the sound echoing through the aisle. Lilly cursed and drew her machete, walking towards it slowly. She made short work of the monster as I struggled to keep myself aware behind them. I could hear Finn's voice over comms, shouting that they were almost there. A bullet ricocheted nearby, whizzing past my head. Kendall swore, turning back to look down the aisle once more.

"That's nice," I thought to myself. The cold in my bones was almost pleasant now. I couldn't feel the pain of my side any longer.

I tilted my head to see what remained of Bravo and Charlie sprinting towards us. I couldn't count how many were left, but it was a decent amount. I breathed a sigh of relief.

A loud thud shook the building as something heavy hit the front doors. We all turned at once.

THUD

THUD

THUD

Each pound of the alien weaponry shook the very foundations of the building. I felt the pallet racking behind me sway.

Finn skidded to a stop before us, looking at me. His eyes burned as he surveyed me. As more people arrived, I heard several gasps. I winced. "That bad, huh?"

"You're fucked, bud," Finn said.

I chuckled. "Still prettier than you."

"Ehhhh..." He said. "Like I said, you're pretty fucked up."

I smiled at him as he crouched down and set a hand on my knee. "End of the road, sir?" he asked.

"Yeah, this is my exit." I reached for his hand weakly. He grabbed it and set it on my knee in place of his and patted it several times. I heard soft sobs from nearby. "Oh, c'mon," I laughed. "Suck it up, guys."

Mathis knelt by me as well, tears flowing down his grizzled face. "My friend," he said. "Thank you for everything. I thought I was dead when you found me. I owe you every breath I've taken since. My life, my friends, my marriage."

"We all do," Amanda said softly.

I chuckled, tasting fresh blood as I did so, and began coughing and wheezing. I felt something leak from my lips. Lilly reached down and wiped it away, shaking her hand and I saw the last bits of my life fling from her fingertips, away into the metal and concrete surrounding us.

"Well, that's bullshit," I sighed. "We saved each other." I looked around at them, memorizing the details of every face present. I felt a pang of regret as I counted the missing but continued without mentioning it. "Every one of you has saved my ass far more than I've saved yours, in ways you don't even know about. Just promise you'll keep doing that for each other."

Mathis nodded and then stood and turned, stalking away, keeping an eye at the end of the aisle.

I looked at Kendall, who was keeping to the edges of the group, silent sobs racking his body.

"Hey buddy," I said. I motioned my fingers at him weakly. He obeyed quietly, coming to stand before me, his head hung in shame, his fledgling beard soaked with tears.

I grinned weakly. "Kendall. Kendall Kendall. You know I was the first person to hold you after Mom?"

He chuffed, trying to catch his breath, but shook his head. "N-n-no."

"Yeah, Dad was on drills. The whole time Mom was pregnant, I hated the idea of a new sibling. Loathed the idea. But, Mom asked if I wanted to hold you, and I said yeah. So, she had me sit in a chair, and a nurse came and set you in my lap. And you were so small. And so ugly!" I laughed. "Like this angry, hate-filled, red and purple lump of potato. I was about to tell the nurse to take you away, but then you cracked your eyes open and looked up at me. And you just smiled. And I absolutely fell in love with you."

He sobbed even harder and held his face in his hands. Lilly joined him and leaned her head on his shoulder, her face impassive, watching mine. Finn's grip on my hand tightened and I heard Mathis swear in the background, a sob pulling from his throat.

"Y-You will n-n-never know how m-m-much I loved you, Alec," Kendall told me.

"I do though," I said, my voice fading. "Because it is how much I loved you."

A wail escaped him, and he pushed Finn aside, throwing his arms around me and squeezing as he pressed his cheek to mine. "I don't know how to do this without you," he breathed into my ear.

"You will figure it out," I said, "I mean, I did, and you make me look like an idiot." He pulled back.

"No, I won't," he said, his voice breaking. "I can't. Not without you. Everything I've ever known, I've learned by watching you."

"You will," I repeated. "Just promise me you'll keep everyone safe. Help out when you can, lead when you have to. You're a good guy, that's what matters in this shithole. Keep being that guy." I smiled weakly. "And if you don't... Well, I guess I'll just haunt you."

I heard the sound of metal scraping against metal outside and more thuds. My heart seized in my chest. They all went quiet for a moment and then Finn spoke. "We promise."

A chorus of voices echoed the statement, shaky and resolute. I shook my head. "Alright ya bunch of sentimental dweebs. Get ready to run. Go out through the loading dock. Circle around the front and keep them pinned in here. Hey, Kendall." His face was forlorn as he responded. "Yeah?"

I tilted my chin at the device on his back. "Burn it all down. Burn every last one of these motherfuckers."

His hands tightened on the nozzle, but he made no reply, just turned away from me.

Lilly sunk to the floor beside me and held my hand, staying with me as they all readied for the fight ahead, taking slow shallow breaths with me as she watched them prepare to go to war one last time. Kendall stood guard over me, watching the rest of the group.

Lilly smiled at me and told me it would be okay. That we would win this one too. That they'd be alright. Her words floated in and out of my mind, whirling and crashing together until they made perfect sense. She was right. This would be okay. They would be okay. I could let go. Let go... I fumbled in my lap, trying to get the zipper for my fanny pack. Lilly reached over and undid it for me. I reached inside and clenched my hands around the egg. I withdrew it slowly and then took Lilly's hand, turned it over and set it in her palm. She gazed at it for a moment, then closed her fingers around it.

A particularly loud crash made her glance over her shoulder towards the doors and then back at me. Her eyes danced and watered as she focused back on my face, her lips moving but no words coming out as she drank in every detail of my eyes before they grew still forevermore.

And then they came through the doorway in all their fury, wave after wave.

I heard the first one go down, saw Lilly leap up and land on her feet before unleashing ammo with two separate weapons. My vision started to swim but I watched as she danced through the chaos like a goddess of war. God damn, she was gorgeous.

The smell of blood and gunpowder overwhelmed me. My heart hammering in my chest echoed through my head as I closed my eyes and tried to focus on her strength. She was in perfect sync with the others; they were a machine built for death and destruction; each move as smooth as if they'd practiced it a thousand times before. Even in retreat, they were magnificent.

I put my numb hands on the floor and struggled to push myself up, latching onto the pallet rack, every effort destroying my already failing body. I felt no pain, but each movement felt like I was moving through deep water.

Mathis screamed loudly, his battle cry piercing the cacophony of gunfire as he charged forward with his machete raised above his head. He parried two blows before severing a Turned's arm at the bicep. The sound of muscle tearing filled the air as he lunged away, and I saw Oscar sinking bullets into the remaining attackers. Kendall gave me one last glance. I waved and smiled at him, then racked my gun. With a ragged yell, he forced himself to turn and run.

"Hey, handsome," Lilly called to me, stopping to look at me one last time. She winked at me, squeezing a single tear out of her eye. "See you soon."

My heart broke as I turned back to face the oncoming horde.

"Hello, asswipes."