[zombie] How Not to Fight a Zombie 2
How Not To Fight A Zombie
Fic Rating: PG-13
Pairings: implied Ed/OC
Spoilers: set after episode 12, and before 13, so if you haven’t seen 1-12, why are you even reading this?
Warnings: 31 pages… enough said.
Continued from Part 1.
The sunset came faster than Ed had realized. He and Al spent the day asking around town about what was the cause of that fire, only to receive no explanation. There were no witnesses but the ones in the restaurant, and all but two had passed out due to over exposure to the smoke. Those two being Gloria's mother and Roxy. The Elrics had spoken to Gloria's mother, Ruth, only to hear that she and Gloria had been locked in the storage room accidentally before the fire had even started. Though Ed had a pretty good idea to who, or what, had started the fire, Al had no knowledge of what had happened within the restaurant that night.
"If Gloria and her mother were both locked in the storage room, and the kitchen was shut down after we left, so if no one saw any one else go back there but Roxy, she's the only one left," Al analyzed, looking to his brother for an answer.
"She didn't do it," Ed replied immediately.
Al was a bit surprised. He had never heard Edward be so sure of someone's innocence in such a crime without evidence of it. Al wondered if there was something he was missing. "Are you sure?"
Ed sat up and gave him a stern look. "Yeah, Al. She was on the floor when I found her."
"Well that doesn't necessarily mean-"
Edward cut him off with a sharp expression of annoyance. "She just didn't, okay, Al?!” he huffed, lying back down on the bed and turned towards the wall.
Al sighed. Why must Ed always get so defensive? But why was he getting so defensive? Al wondered
Ed sighed also, realizing he was being a jerk. Not admitting it, but calming down, he turned back to Al. "Look, I saw what happened, and I know she couldn't have, so don't go getting ideas that she did."
Al looked out the window, seeing that the sun was halfway set by now. Then, turning back to Edward, he asked, "Alright, well who do you think did it then?"
"I don't know." He shrugged as he stood up and stretched. "I'm going to go stretch my legs for a bit." Ed was through the door before Al could ask if he wanted company.
What is with him? Al thought as he turned to look out the window.
--
Ed walked up to her and frowned. "I thought we agreed to meet at the restaurant?"
She shrugged. "You were late, so I came down here to see what was taking so long."
"Whatever, let's just go get this over with," he responded, following Roxy as she led the way.
The two walked in silence for a while, both lost in their own thoughts. Roxy glanced at Ed occasionally, noticing that something was bothering him. She considered asking him, but she wasn't sure whether it was her place or not. After all, they had only just met and he didn't seem like the open book type of person. But she soon decided it best, and turned to him. "What's bugging you?"
"Nothing," he lied, "why would you think something was wrong?"
That did convince her. "You didn't want to lie to your brother, did you?"
Ed always hated when someone could read his expressions. Al was exceptionally good at it, and even though they were together nearly twenty-four hours a day, he still hated talking about it. Ed chose to remain silent.
"I'll take that as a yes," she said, surveying his expression. "So why did you then? Why didn't you just tell him?"
"Because-" he said irritation in his voice. “We don't need to get him involved when he wasn't even there with us."
Roxy could have argued, but figured it would be better not to. It seemed to be a touchy subject for some reason or another. Or maybe it was just that Edward felt the need to protect his brother, even if it means lying to him. She respected him for that, but at the same time did not see the need to keep him in the dark. After all, Edward seemed so sure that what they were chasing wasn't zombies or any other mythical creature that goes bump in the night.
By the time the pair had reached the cemetery, the last of the sun’s light peered over the horizon. They walked along the path, through a field of headstones and grave markers. Ed's stomach churned within him, but he ignored it, as he searched for a sign of disturbance among the graves. The cemetery was the least cared for Ed had ever seen. The grass was overgrown, the path was made up of rocks and overgrown weeds, and not one grave had living flowers placed on them.
"Doesn’t anybody care that it looks like this?" Ed asked, observing the disgraceful cemetery.
Roxy let out a laugh. "It's not that… this graveyard is supposedly haunted by some vengeful ghost. No one ever comes here anymore."
Ed let the subject go without a second thought. If these people were that afraid of a rumored ghost, he understood now why the newest load of crap started. They continued on, seeing nothing abnormal.
"I don't see-" Ed spoke too soon. As they reached the top of the hill they had been climbing, a plot of land with not one grave untouched could be seen. It looked as though a horde of rabid dogs had gone on a digging spree after the corpses below.
Roxy kneeled down beside one grave, examining the dirt. "Call me crazy, but this dirt looks like it was dug up from underneath."
"There's no way," Ed said, crossing his arms.
Roxy pointed to the outward pointed grass. "It doesn't look like a shovel was used…" she then reached down into the grave and wiped the dirt away from the coffin. “The moment of truth…," she said, as Ed scoffed, and lifted the lid open. Ed's jaw dropped. No body or bones could be found inside. Roxy stood, staring back into the grave.
"Please explain that to me," Roxy said, taking a few fearful steps backwards.
Ed gave no answer. He stared down into the empty coffin, before running to another and doing the same, only to find it empty as well. His thoughts raced, as he looked around at all the disrupted, and vacant, graves. Ed's train of thought was interrupted only when he looked closer at the walls of the pit. A small stream of blood red liquid ran down the side, making a small puddle in the top of the coffin.
"Ed?" Roxy called, walking over to him.
He snapped out of his gaze and turned to her. "Is there a river nearby?"
Thrown off by the random question, Roxy stuttered. "Uh, well… there's a stream that runs down from Xenotime over there-" she said as she pointed behind them.
"Show me," Ed ordered.
"Is there something I'm missing?" she asked as she led him down to the stream.
Edward could feel himself getting dizzy from the smell. No doubt that the red water from Xenotime had somehow leaked into this river. "The river is contaminated with red water, the liquid form of red stones.” Roxy coughed a couple times, reminding Ed to smack himself for already forgetting, that the red water was toxic. He hastily grabbed her and pulled her back up the hill to the fresh air.
Roxy looked up at the sky, realizing that the sun had completely disappeared behind the horizon “We should probably be getting out of here soon."
"Yeah, come on," he agreed.
The two made their way back into town, stopping back at the inn to use the phone. Ed quickly dialed the number to the Colonel's office. He waited, counting up to ten rings before anyone picked up. A harsh, tired voice picked up.
"Colonel Mustang…," he answered dully.
Ed rushed. "Colonel, it’s Ed, I-"
A long sigh came from the other side of the line. "What do you want, Fullmetal?"
"Mustang, listen!" Ed shouted, though he continued to ignore him.
"You should be at Eastern Headquarters by now, where are you?"
"MUSTANG! Listen to me!" Ed yelled into the phone.
Roxy sighed with irritation. "Give me the phone," she demanded as she grabbed it from his hands. "Roy Mustang, would you shut up for once in your life and listen to what someone else has to say?"
Ed's mouth dropped to the floor. How does she know him? he wondered. Better yet, who does she think she is talking to him like that? He stared at her in amazement.
Roy had a similar thought running through his mind. "Who is this?" he asked abruptly.
"I'll give you a hint," she mused. "I've known you all my life, there hasn't been a time we haven't bickered about something or another, and I was the one who told all your friends that you wet the bed until you were ten." Ed's jaw dropped further.
"Well, that narrows it down quite a bit," Roy answered bitterly.
"Good! Now, go talk to your subordinate," she said in such a way even Roy could tell she had a shitty grin planted on her face. She handed the phone back to Ed and sat down in a chair across the room.
Ed took the phone and raised it to his ear. "So you've met?"
"Unfortunately," he responded. "So what was so urgent?"
"Well I-" Ed's voice was interrupted by a loud crash, followed by a scream. He spun around, seeing the windows of the inn smashed to pieces on the floor, followed by the same looming figures entering. He dropped the phone with a crack, and transmuted his arm into a blade, rushing to fight them off.
"Fullmetal?" Mustang asked, only hearing the shouts from the background.
Roxy picked up a sharp poker from the fire and swung. Edward had managed to knock a few back, but they kept coming stronger.
Al ran in, seeing them fighting, and helped push a couple back. "What's going on?" he shouted to them. "What are those things?"
Roxy ran over to him and readied herself with her poker. "Long story short: These things are what started the restaurant fire and they're after us. Roy is on the phone, go talk to him!" she shouted before stabbing one of the figures through the middle.
Al rushed to the phone and picked it up. "Colonel?"
“Alphonse? Al, what is going on?" he demanded.
"Colonel, you have to hurry and get here!" Al cried.
"Alright, but-"
Al had already dropped the phone again. Edward wasn't much of a match against a group of large men. They grabbed him and threw him into the opposite wall. A chorus of 'Ed's sounded as the figures pushed their way into the inn. The same group was heading straight for him, as he sat trying to maintain consciousness. Roxy ran over to him, forcing him up, and helped fight off the nearest of the men. Al grabbed them and threw them back through the window, but more and more continued trying to get in. Roxy, seeing that the phone was still off the hook, picked it up again.
"Roy! Just get-" she shouted over the chaos, before the line went dead. She cursed, throwing the phone down.
Edward lunged at the next couple beings and fought them off, but again was thrown against the wall. Alphonse, too busy fighting off his group, couldn't stop them as they smashed a vase over his head, finally knocking him unconscious.
"Brother!" he shouted, trying to stray from his fight, but still unable to get away.
Roxy ran towards them, throwing the poker in as hard as she could, striking the figure dead center. It looked down at its chest for a moment, and pulled the poker out with one swift movement, throwing it over his shoulder afterwards. The hole remained as is. Not a drop of blood fell from his chest as he grabbed Roxy firmly by the shoulders, forcing her to walk with them. She knew better than to kick this time, figuring that being conscious would give her the advantage when she tried to escape.
Alphonse continued fighting them off. The things continued coming at him, purposefully blocking him from Ed and Roxy. Whatever these beings were, they were just as strong as Al was. Not only that, they felt no pain and seemingly regenerated. The only logical explanation his mind was coming up with was a human transmutation. But no alchemist known to him could produce such monsters without the help of some sort of power source. Whatever had done this must have wanted Edward for something, being as, as soon as the group with Ed had made their way far away, the others backed off, and disappeared.
---
Roxy tried to watch where they were going, but they formed a tight group around her, stopping her from seeing anything but the sky, though she couldn't really focus on anything but holding her breath. The stench of the rotting corpses around her made it hard for her to breathe, causing her to cough frequently, thus causing her to feel light-headed. Fortunately, Roxy had thought at the moment, they reached their destination rather quickly. They staggered forward, still pushing her along, towards a rather large brick house. Roxy studied the house as they dragged her through it. The laboratory that took up the entire first half of the house consisted of torn book pages that lay spread on the floor, transmutation circles drawn on the floors and walls, and the shattered window glass that sparkled on the floor beneath them.
A few of them groaned as they passed Roxy through the group and chucked her down into the basement, throwing Ed down the steps as well. She sat up, and watched as they closed the door, leaving the two of them in complete darkness. Roxy sighed and leaned against the wall nearest to her. She sat in silence for a moment, trying to come up with any kind of plan she could. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt something brush against her.
"Ed?" she asked.
He sat up and rubbed his head. "Yeah…"
She sighed, relieved. "Are you okay?"
"Don't worry about me, let's just worry about getting out of here," he said, reaching out to try to find where a wall is. His hand touched Roxy's shoulder, causing her to jump. "Sorry about that." she grabbed his arm, letting out a nervous laugh.
A faint wheezing noise from across the room caused the hair on the back of Roxy's neck to stand on end, but she ignored it, making sure to stay close to Ed. A few moments later, she could have sworn something was touching her feet.
"Ed… please tell me that is you touching my feet," she hoped, as she clung to his arm tighter.
He straightened himself, managing to loosen her hold on his left arm, and clapped his hands, sticking them to the wall. The bricks molded together, forming an archway to the outside, and causing the light to stream in, blinding both of them.
"Now where do you think you are going?" a cold voice mused.
Ed's sight had returned, allowing him to see an aged man peering down at them. His twisted smile was just as disturbing as the figures that stood back, shadowing him. Thinking quickly, Ed transmuted his arm into a blade, and charged at him.
The man simply clicked his tongue at him. "You wouldn't want to do that, would you? Someone could get hurt." He looked to Roxy, who kicked as two of the figures pinned her to the opposite wall. A third that had been hiding in the corner now approached her, and with one swift movement, took a sharp-toothed bite from her arm. Roxy winced, biting her lip as she turned away. The creature leaned in for another bite, but retreated back to its corner, after being instructed by snap to do so.
The man turned to Ed. "I have an offer for you, Fullmetal." He crossed his arms. "If you help me with a few… projects that I would like to accomplish, I'll let you go free."
Ed swallowed hard, knowing he had no choice in the matter. "What kind of projects?"
"It's just a few little transmutations… nothing challenging for someone of your talent." He said with another evil grin.
Ed sighed, seeing no way out of this. "Fine…"
"Good, now…," he turned to the figures holding Roxy. "Go have your fun and try not to make a mess this time, I-"
"Hey, wait!" Ed shouted at him.
"Is something the matter?" His nonchalant tone only angered Edward more.
"You said we go free! I want her to stay with me," Ed demanded.
"Oh, but you misunderstood. I said you go free, Edward. I cannot deny my servants a meal."
Ed growled. "You will if you want my help."
"Are you telling me you would risk your life for someone you barely know?" he glanced, looking Ed up and down. "I must admit, there's more to you than meets the eye… I respect that, Mr. Elric, though I severely disagree. I'll grant your request." He said, snapping his fingers again, signaling for the beings to drop her. Roxy blinked, not entirely sure what had just happened, but sank to her knees in relief. Edward walked over to her and helped her up.
She studied his face for a moment, before speaking. "Why did you do that?"
Ed smirked. "It's in the job description."
---
Alphonse was worried. He knew his brother could protect himself, being as he'd been kidnapped by a variety of people before. But this time it was different. Who, or what, had kidnapped him surely weren't anything completely human. They looked it as they stood in the dark of night, but in the light of the inn he could see their rotting flesh, although he thankfully could not smell it. Even if some crazed lunatic bent on bringing the dead back to life or some other useless cause was who the one behind all this, having a hoard of zombies was working for him would be potentially problematic.
Lisa swept up the glass from the window, and looked at Al. "Are you alright? You should probably go lay down after what you were just through."
"I'm okay. I just hope brother can handle those things until the military gets here," he responded, picking up broken pieces of wood that lay on the floor.
The clock struck midnight by the time they had finished cleaning up what they could of the mess. Al sat in the lobby, reading a book that he had found laying on the ground. Though Al couldn't concentrate on what was going on in the story, for his mind was already being clouded with the 'what if' thoughts. Alphonse laid the book back down on the table and sighed. The silence he had been sitting in was broken by the clicking of familiar military boots. The door to the inn busted open, making Al jump out of his seat.
"Alphonse" Mustang's voice called. Al watched as the Colonel, followed by First Lieutenant Hawkeye, Major Armstrong, Second Lieutenant Havoc, and Master Sergeant Fuery.
"Colonel, you're here!" Al jogged over to him.
"What is going on?" Roy glanced around. "And where is Fullmetal?"
"Well, brother went for a walk, and I don't know where he went, but when he came back he was with Roxy, and trying to talk to you, but these zombies busted through the windows! And they were big and they looked like they were dead, only they weren't because they were moving! And-" Al was talking entirely too fast for anyone to comprehend, only succeeding in giving Roy a headache.
Havoc leaned over to Fuery. "Are you catching any of this?"
He shook his head. "Not one bit…"
"Al, stop," Roy ordered, and waited until Al listened. "Slow down."
Al let out a nervous laugh. "Sorry, sir."
"So these, zombies, you say, attacked you?" Roy inquired, trying to get a grasp on the situation.
Al nodded. "Uh-huh, and they kept coming at me, so I couldn't get to brother, and they took him and Roxy and disappeared."
"Do you have any idea where they could have gone?" Major Armstrong asked from behind Roy.
Al shook his head. "The last time it happened, brother got out on his own, so I only know a general direction…" Alphonse thought back to that day, suddenly remembering one other person who would know the way. "But… I do know someone who could show us the way." Al spoke as he ran out the door, followed by Mustang and his subordinates.
---
Edward watched the man's every move, as well as his zombie servant's. He remembered the ghost stories of zombies from when he was younger, and how they eat brains and human flesh, but he had never imagined those tales he once called lies could possibly be true. Edward glanced over at Roxy, who was now tied tightly to a chair in the corner. He would never admit it, but his stomach had tied itself into a knot when he watched that thing bite Roxy. The answer to whether the feeling came because he could be next or the fact that she was first, Ed chose to ignore. It was always better for him to focus on what he was doing at the moment, rather than get lost in the past. He had learned that the hard way.
"What do you want me to do?" Edward asked he watched the man pace back and forth.
The man stopped, and walked towards him. "Draw me a human transmutation array."
Edward frowned. “What for?! I am not doing any alchemy that has to do with human trans-”
The man held a hand up, interrupting him. “I just want to see your skill. I wouldn’t trust a kid like you with something like that.”
Edward would have growled, resenting being called a ‘kid’, but suppressed it. Ed had originally thought that the man knew of his failed attempt at human transmutation, but now knew that he, fortunately, didn’t.
The man seemed mildly impressed. "If only I had your talent at your age… I could have my entire army by now."
Ed shot a glance at Roxy. "Army?"
He looked at Edward as if he were an idiot. "Well, of course, why else would I want to raise the dead? I plan on attacking all of Amestris… with my army of the undead, I'd be unstoppable, there's no killing them. And they only listen to me, so if I were to die, they'd go on a killing spree of their own."
Ed hadn't expected that. "So you're just going to kill everyone in Amestris?!"
"Oh goodness, no. Just enough to ensure everyone is bowing down to me," he responded coolly. "I'll never forget the day when my plan began. My wife passed of old age, and I didn't think I could live without her, as I'm sure you know the feeling." Ed shifted uncomfortably, realizing what the man was going to ask of him. "So I went through with the transmutation. I don't remember anything until the next morning. I woke to find my wife alive. Though I regret to say she wasn't the same, it didn't matter to me anymore. I had something better. I had awakened an army of the dead, and they were following my every command." He cackled to himself. "And, well, you know the rest."
Edward really hadn't expected that. This man planned on taking over Amestris, and maybe more just my raising the dead. But the only reason he could do it before was because of the red water, unless he has some other form of power at hand. "That's against equivalent exchange! You have to have a Philosopher's Stone to bring back enough people to cause an up rise."
"Exactly!" he said with the same eerie smile. "That's what you're here for. With all the knowledge you have gained so far, you are going to help me create a Philosopher's Stone."
Ed swallowed harder. If he was going to be forced into making a Philosopher's Stone, it was sure to end badly. He didn't have the right knowledge, otherwise he would have had one by now. But he couldn't tell this man that. "Alright, I'll do it," he said, with a bit more confidence. Roxy gave him a 'what-the-hell-are-you-doing?!' look, but he ignored it.
"That's more like it!" The man said his voice more enthusiastic than before.
"But to start, I'll need some red water," Ed mentioned as he began to make changes to the circle he drew before. "You can get it from the water in that stream by the cemetery."
The man nodded. "Alright, I'll send for it," he said as he left the room, leaving the two alone.
Ed waited for a moment to make sure the coast was clear. Here's my chance, he thought as he hurried over to Roxy, quickly untransmuting the ropes that bound her to the chair. One of the zombies charged at them, but Ed was too fast for him. He clapped his hands to the wall. Suddenly the doorways stretched and remolded to block anyone from re-entering the room. He then formed a door to the outside in the wall.
"Come on!" Ed yelled as he grabbed Roxy's arm and led her outside. Ed turned to check that no one was behind them.
"Look out!" Roxy, seeing what was ahead of them, stopped, yanking Ed back with her.
The man and what he has of his army stood in front of them. "And where do you think you're going?" He snapped his fingers at the zombies. They quickly formed a tight group around the two and grabbed them.
Ed knew this was his last chance. He transmuted his arm into its usual blade, and began to fight them off. Roxy did the same, attempting to kick her way through the circle of them, but they were coming back too strong. Suddenly, with a loud explosion, a few zombies were thrown away from them.
Roy's voice called over the explosion. "Fullmetal, get down!"
Edward knew to be obedient. He pulled Roxy down to the ground next to him, covering their heads with his arms. A few more explosions were heard, finally ending with a couple gun shots. Ed looked up, seeing Mustang, fingers in snapping position, Hawkeye and Havoc with guns pointed at the man and Armstrong fists ready as well. The man growled, and pulled out a gun from his jacket as well, towards Edward.
"Back off or I shoot," The man threatened, his dark eyes fixed on them.
Ed smirked, and stood up. "Go ahead."
"Brother! No!" Alphonse squeaked from beside Armstrong.
The man smirked as well, cocking the gun and pointing it directly at his heart. "You don't think I will do it."
"Don't be stupid, Ed," Mustang called.
Edward ignored him. "Go ahead and shoot. I'm not of any use to you now. I just called the military on you. Your ingenious plot just went down the gutter." He smirked more. "Someone has got to pay, right? So go ahead! Shoot me!"
The man's smile stretched across his face again. "Have it your way." He pulled the trigger and with a crack, the bullets flew from the gun. The wind from the shot had blown the dust from the gun power, along with the dust from the explosion, around, making it impossible to see. A loud thump of a fallen body echoed through the silence among the group.
Al ran forward. "BROTHER!" he shrieked, only to be held back by Armstrong. No one stirred but Al, who continued to fight Armstrong's hold. His brother couldn't possibly be dead. It was impossible. He had to get to him to make sure. "Let me go!" he cried, still fighting to get to him. It's a joke, part of Al's mind told him, but the part that knew Ed, disagreed. He wouldn't do that He's really gone, he really is. Al fought against that thought. No! He can't be! We haven't found the Philosopher's Stone yet! We still have so much to do! Brother can't die now!
Suddenly the zombies that had been sitting quietly on the sidelines now began to scramble. The ones that hadn't been blown were running towards the Colonel, who continued on blowing them up. The ones that had been blown up previously now ran at the others, or in the case of those who were missing legs, crawled at them, teeth and nails sharp and ready. They were after something, and guessing by the blood thirsty looks upon their faces, they craved flesh.
Mustang was managing to hold most of them off. The only thing that seemed to actually hurt them was fire. He continued to shoot his flames at them, while Havoc and Riza held them off longer, shooting them in the heads. This stopped them for a little while, but soon enough they would sit up and come at them again. Armstrong was transmuting the ground, throwing them back as well; he transmuted the ground up to hold Al where he was. Losing one Elric was enough for one day. Hell, losing one Elric would be enough for a lifetime if he had any say in the matter.
Roxy had laid still. Either from fear of the zombies, or fear of seeing Ed's dead body, she wasn't sure. She couldn't see through the dust, so she had figured it was better to stay down anyway. But suddenly something grabbed her foot again, pulling her towards it. She screamed at the sight of the zombie that had bit her before, now licking its chops hungrily. She tried to kick it off her, but it only held her tighter, digging its filthy fingernails into her arms. Roxy continued to fight when suddenly a wave of heat spread throughout her body. She suddenly felt woozy, feeling herself slipping away. She tried to stay conscious to fight off the cannibal that pinned her to the ground, but couldn't, though right as she was about to lose consciousness, she swore she saw a red jacket flapping in the wind.
---
The battle of military versus zombie ended within the hour. The dust had cleared, but the smoke of the burning bodies floated into the air.
Roy turned to Armstrong. "Get Alphonse out of here." He then turned to the others. "Havoc and Fuery, go into town and make sure we got them all, Hawkeye, come with me." They all nodded, following their orders.
Mustang waited until he could no longer see Al's helmet before turning to the scene. There lay the crazed lunatic that started it all, dead on the ground. The bullet had hit him square in the chest, killing him instantly. Mustang's eyes trailed from him to where Edward's body should have been, but instead only a puddle of blood.
"Sir… you don't think those things-" Hawkeye began, studying the scene as well.
He shook his head. "No, but I guess we'll find out soon." He pointed to the trail of blood drips leading down towards the side of the house. They followed it, and looked up to see Ed fighting off another two zombies. One fought against Edward, attempting to bite him. The other hovered over Roxy who lay unconscious on the ground. Ed managed to push it off, and cut it through the middle with his still-transmuted arm. This seemed to only anger it more. Turning its attention to him, it lunged, knocking Ed into a tree. The one that had previously gone after Ed was now making his way towards Roxy. Roy ran towards it, tightening his gloves, and with a flash of light, lit both on fire. The two growled, and ran off screeching in pain. Roy ran over to Roxy and checked her pulse which was slower than it should have been, but a pulse nonetheless. He sighed with relief. Then he looked up at Ed who was already staggering over to them. He sat down not to far from them, and sighed, lying back as he did so.
"Fullmetal, do you even understand how badly you could have been hurt? You could have been killed! Why would you provoke a lunatic in the first place?!" Roy roared at him, clearly angry with his actions.
Ed inhaled deeply. "Because-" he let it out again "It wasn't me he was going to shoot."
Roy rolled his eyes. "What are you talking about? The gun was pointed directly at you and-"
Hawkeye finished his sentence. "- and Roxy… he was aiming at her."
Ed nodded. "I wouldn't let him kill her before, so he knew I wouldn't let him this time either."
"But why did you offer yourself like that?" Hawkeye asked.
"I knew I could block the bullet and it would ricochet back at him." Ed answered with a smirk.
Mustang's voice became harsh at the reminder. "But you didn't count on a second bullet, did you?"
Ed frowned. "Is Al okay?"
"No, he thinks you're dead! That's why you need to be more cautious, if not for your own sake, at least for your brother's." Roy scolded. It had always angered him how unstructured Edward could be, but deep down he had to respect Edward for taking a risk to save someone else. He was bold, and Roy had to give him that.
Riza kneeled down to examine Ed's wound. "Sir, I don't believe now is the time to be lecturing him. They are both in need of medical treatment."
He sighed in return. "Yeah, you're right," he said as he picked up Roxy. "We had better hurry."
---
When Roxy woke up, it was nearly three in the morning. She sat up, only to find herself back in a hospital bed.
"It's about time you woke up." Roxy turned to see Roy standing against the wall, smirking, as usual.
"What are you still doing here?" she asked, crossing her arms.
"Making sure you didn't turn into a zombie,” he said, not letting his smirk fall.
She raised an eyebrow. "Have you been drinking again?"
Roy opened his mouth to argue, but Riza interrupted. "What he meant was that he cares about you, even if you argue all the time." Roy shot an 'I-did-not-' look at Riza, but she ignored it "After all, you are his only sister."
At that, Ed, who had been in his bed beside Roxy's, pulled back the vinyl sheet that separated their beds. "What?!" All three of them looked over at him.
Roxy laughed. "He's my older brother." Edward blinked, noticing how similar the two looked.
"You're supposed to be a genius, Fullmetal, how couldn't you even put that together?" Roy mocked, standing straight. "Well I had better be going, tell mom I said, hi, would you?"
Roxy frowned. "You're not even going to stop by and say hi?"
Roy shrugged casually. "I'm a working man."
"Working?" she scoffed "Working what? Your job or the bar whores?" At that moment, Ed lost it. He burst out into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. Even Hawkeye was having trouble suppressing a laugh.
Roy glared at Roxy with pure hatred. "Goodbye." He then turned to Edward, immediately stopping his laughter. "I want you in my office the day you get released from this hospital. You have your recertification test coming up."
Ed groaned. "Yeah, yeah,” he said and Roy turned and left, Hawkeye following behind him.
The nurse walked in shortly after, to check-up on the two. She un-wrapped the bandage on Roxy’s arm and smiled. “Good to see the infection has cleared up.”
Roxy looked up to her. “What do you mean?”
“The bite got infected, and the large amount of bacteria caused you to come down with a fever and lose consciousness,” she laughed for a moment “like those scary stories where they say if you’re bit by a zombie, you turn into one.”
Roxy swallowed hard. “That’s only a- a myth, right?” she stammered.
Ed smirked, through his long bangs. “Even if zombies did exist, these things weren’t them. They were… soulless, mindless, corpses of once real people.”
Roxy frowned. “That sounds like the definition of a zombie to me.”
“What I mean,” Ed said, rolling his eyes “is that those ‘zombies’ weren’t real zombies, so a bite wouldn’t turn you into one,” he then scrunched up his nose “It’d just be really gross.”
--
A few days later, Edward and Alphonse were waiting at the train station, ready to head back to Central. The train finally pulled up, the smoke clouding the sky above it. Ed took a step onto the train, stopping at the sound of a familiar voice.
"Ed! Wait!" Roxy ran up to him and smiled. "I just wanted to say goodbye." She hugged him tight. His cheeks turned pink. "Thanks for everything." She broke away, seeing his blush and laughed. "If you're ever in Deadwood again look me up."
Al laughed too. "We will."
"Let's just hope next time it's something better than zombies." Ed mentioned before saying a final goodbye. The sun was just above them, shining brightly, like the typical happily ever after… the typical kind of ending that made Edward sick.
~fin
Fic Rating: PG-13
Pairings: implied Ed/OC
Spoilers: set after episode 12, and before 13, so if you haven’t seen 1-12, why are you even reading this?
Warnings: 31 pages… enough said.
Continued from Part 1.
The sunset came faster than Ed had realized. He and Al spent the day asking around town about what was the cause of that fire, only to receive no explanation. There were no witnesses but the ones in the restaurant, and all but two had passed out due to over exposure to the smoke. Those two being Gloria's mother and Roxy. The Elrics had spoken to Gloria's mother, Ruth, only to hear that she and Gloria had been locked in the storage room accidentally before the fire had even started. Though Ed had a pretty good idea to who, or what, had started the fire, Al had no knowledge of what had happened within the restaurant that night.
"If Gloria and her mother were both locked in the storage room, and the kitchen was shut down after we left, so if no one saw any one else go back there but Roxy, she's the only one left," Al analyzed, looking to his brother for an answer.
"She didn't do it," Ed replied immediately.
Al was a bit surprised. He had never heard Edward be so sure of someone's innocence in such a crime without evidence of it. Al wondered if there was something he was missing. "Are you sure?"
Ed sat up and gave him a stern look. "Yeah, Al. She was on the floor when I found her."
"Well that doesn't necessarily mean-"
Edward cut him off with a sharp expression of annoyance. "She just didn't, okay, Al?!” he huffed, lying back down on the bed and turned towards the wall.
Al sighed. Why must Ed always get so defensive? But why was he getting so defensive? Al wondered
Ed sighed also, realizing he was being a jerk. Not admitting it, but calming down, he turned back to Al. "Look, I saw what happened, and I know she couldn't have, so don't go getting ideas that she did."
Al looked out the window, seeing that the sun was halfway set by now. Then, turning back to Edward, he asked, "Alright, well who do you think did it then?"
"I don't know." He shrugged as he stood up and stretched. "I'm going to go stretch my legs for a bit." Ed was through the door before Al could ask if he wanted company.
What is with him? Al thought as he turned to look out the window.
--
Ed walked up to her and frowned. "I thought we agreed to meet at the restaurant?"
She shrugged. "You were late, so I came down here to see what was taking so long."
"Whatever, let's just go get this over with," he responded, following Roxy as she led the way.
The two walked in silence for a while, both lost in their own thoughts. Roxy glanced at Ed occasionally, noticing that something was bothering him. She considered asking him, but she wasn't sure whether it was her place or not. After all, they had only just met and he didn't seem like the open book type of person. But she soon decided it best, and turned to him. "What's bugging you?"
"Nothing," he lied, "why would you think something was wrong?"
That did convince her. "You didn't want to lie to your brother, did you?"
Ed always hated when someone could read his expressions. Al was exceptionally good at it, and even though they were together nearly twenty-four hours a day, he still hated talking about it. Ed chose to remain silent.
"I'll take that as a yes," she said, surveying his expression. "So why did you then? Why didn't you just tell him?"
"Because-" he said irritation in his voice. “We don't need to get him involved when he wasn't even there with us."
Roxy could have argued, but figured it would be better not to. It seemed to be a touchy subject for some reason or another. Or maybe it was just that Edward felt the need to protect his brother, even if it means lying to him. She respected him for that, but at the same time did not see the need to keep him in the dark. After all, Edward seemed so sure that what they were chasing wasn't zombies or any other mythical creature that goes bump in the night.
By the time the pair had reached the cemetery, the last of the sun’s light peered over the horizon. They walked along the path, through a field of headstones and grave markers. Ed's stomach churned within him, but he ignored it, as he searched for a sign of disturbance among the graves. The cemetery was the least cared for Ed had ever seen. The grass was overgrown, the path was made up of rocks and overgrown weeds, and not one grave had living flowers placed on them.
"Doesn’t anybody care that it looks like this?" Ed asked, observing the disgraceful cemetery.
Roxy let out a laugh. "It's not that… this graveyard is supposedly haunted by some vengeful ghost. No one ever comes here anymore."
Ed let the subject go without a second thought. If these people were that afraid of a rumored ghost, he understood now why the newest load of crap started. They continued on, seeing nothing abnormal.
"I don't see-" Ed spoke too soon. As they reached the top of the hill they had been climbing, a plot of land with not one grave untouched could be seen. It looked as though a horde of rabid dogs had gone on a digging spree after the corpses below.
Roxy kneeled down beside one grave, examining the dirt. "Call me crazy, but this dirt looks like it was dug up from underneath."
"There's no way," Ed said, crossing his arms.
Roxy pointed to the outward pointed grass. "It doesn't look like a shovel was used…" she then reached down into the grave and wiped the dirt away from the coffin. “The moment of truth…," she said, as Ed scoffed, and lifted the lid open. Ed's jaw dropped. No body or bones could be found inside. Roxy stood, staring back into the grave.
"Please explain that to me," Roxy said, taking a few fearful steps backwards.
Ed gave no answer. He stared down into the empty coffin, before running to another and doing the same, only to find it empty as well. His thoughts raced, as he looked around at all the disrupted, and vacant, graves. Ed's train of thought was interrupted only when he looked closer at the walls of the pit. A small stream of blood red liquid ran down the side, making a small puddle in the top of the coffin.
"Ed?" Roxy called, walking over to him.
He snapped out of his gaze and turned to her. "Is there a river nearby?"
Thrown off by the random question, Roxy stuttered. "Uh, well… there's a stream that runs down from Xenotime over there-" she said as she pointed behind them.
"Show me," Ed ordered.
"Is there something I'm missing?" she asked as she led him down to the stream.
Edward could feel himself getting dizzy from the smell. No doubt that the red water from Xenotime had somehow leaked into this river. "The river is contaminated with red water, the liquid form of red stones.” Roxy coughed a couple times, reminding Ed to smack himself for already forgetting, that the red water was toxic. He hastily grabbed her and pulled her back up the hill to the fresh air.
Roxy looked up at the sky, realizing that the sun had completely disappeared behind the horizon “We should probably be getting out of here soon."
"Yeah, come on," he agreed.
The two made their way back into town, stopping back at the inn to use the phone. Ed quickly dialed the number to the Colonel's office. He waited, counting up to ten rings before anyone picked up. A harsh, tired voice picked up.
"Colonel Mustang…," he answered dully.
Ed rushed. "Colonel, it’s Ed, I-"
A long sigh came from the other side of the line. "What do you want, Fullmetal?"
"Mustang, listen!" Ed shouted, though he continued to ignore him.
"You should be at Eastern Headquarters by now, where are you?"
"MUSTANG! Listen to me!" Ed yelled into the phone.
Roxy sighed with irritation. "Give me the phone," she demanded as she grabbed it from his hands. "Roy Mustang, would you shut up for once in your life and listen to what someone else has to say?"
Ed's mouth dropped to the floor. How does she know him? he wondered. Better yet, who does she think she is talking to him like that? He stared at her in amazement.
Roy had a similar thought running through his mind. "Who is this?" he asked abruptly.
"I'll give you a hint," she mused. "I've known you all my life, there hasn't been a time we haven't bickered about something or another, and I was the one who told all your friends that you wet the bed until you were ten." Ed's jaw dropped further.
"Well, that narrows it down quite a bit," Roy answered bitterly.
"Good! Now, go talk to your subordinate," she said in such a way even Roy could tell she had a shitty grin planted on her face. She handed the phone back to Ed and sat down in a chair across the room.
Ed took the phone and raised it to his ear. "So you've met?"
"Unfortunately," he responded. "So what was so urgent?"
"Well I-" Ed's voice was interrupted by a loud crash, followed by a scream. He spun around, seeing the windows of the inn smashed to pieces on the floor, followed by the same looming figures entering. He dropped the phone with a crack, and transmuted his arm into a blade, rushing to fight them off.
"Fullmetal?" Mustang asked, only hearing the shouts from the background.
Roxy picked up a sharp poker from the fire and swung. Edward had managed to knock a few back, but they kept coming stronger.
Al ran in, seeing them fighting, and helped push a couple back. "What's going on?" he shouted to them. "What are those things?"
Roxy ran over to him and readied herself with her poker. "Long story short: These things are what started the restaurant fire and they're after us. Roy is on the phone, go talk to him!" she shouted before stabbing one of the figures through the middle.
Al rushed to the phone and picked it up. "Colonel?"
“Alphonse? Al, what is going on?" he demanded.
"Colonel, you have to hurry and get here!" Al cried.
"Alright, but-"
Al had already dropped the phone again. Edward wasn't much of a match against a group of large men. They grabbed him and threw him into the opposite wall. A chorus of 'Ed's sounded as the figures pushed their way into the inn. The same group was heading straight for him, as he sat trying to maintain consciousness. Roxy ran over to him, forcing him up, and helped fight off the nearest of the men. Al grabbed them and threw them back through the window, but more and more continued trying to get in. Roxy, seeing that the phone was still off the hook, picked it up again.
"Roy! Just get-" she shouted over the chaos, before the line went dead. She cursed, throwing the phone down.
Edward lunged at the next couple beings and fought them off, but again was thrown against the wall. Alphonse, too busy fighting off his group, couldn't stop them as they smashed a vase over his head, finally knocking him unconscious.
"Brother!" he shouted, trying to stray from his fight, but still unable to get away.
Roxy ran towards them, throwing the poker in as hard as she could, striking the figure dead center. It looked down at its chest for a moment, and pulled the poker out with one swift movement, throwing it over his shoulder afterwards. The hole remained as is. Not a drop of blood fell from his chest as he grabbed Roxy firmly by the shoulders, forcing her to walk with them. She knew better than to kick this time, figuring that being conscious would give her the advantage when she tried to escape.
Alphonse continued fighting them off. The things continued coming at him, purposefully blocking him from Ed and Roxy. Whatever these beings were, they were just as strong as Al was. Not only that, they felt no pain and seemingly regenerated. The only logical explanation his mind was coming up with was a human transmutation. But no alchemist known to him could produce such monsters without the help of some sort of power source. Whatever had done this must have wanted Edward for something, being as, as soon as the group with Ed had made their way far away, the others backed off, and disappeared.
---
Roxy tried to watch where they were going, but they formed a tight group around her, stopping her from seeing anything but the sky, though she couldn't really focus on anything but holding her breath. The stench of the rotting corpses around her made it hard for her to breathe, causing her to cough frequently, thus causing her to feel light-headed. Fortunately, Roxy had thought at the moment, they reached their destination rather quickly. They staggered forward, still pushing her along, towards a rather large brick house. Roxy studied the house as they dragged her through it. The laboratory that took up the entire first half of the house consisted of torn book pages that lay spread on the floor, transmutation circles drawn on the floors and walls, and the shattered window glass that sparkled on the floor beneath them.
A few of them groaned as they passed Roxy through the group and chucked her down into the basement, throwing Ed down the steps as well. She sat up, and watched as they closed the door, leaving the two of them in complete darkness. Roxy sighed and leaned against the wall nearest to her. She sat in silence for a moment, trying to come up with any kind of plan she could. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt something brush against her.
"Ed?" she asked.
He sat up and rubbed his head. "Yeah…"
She sighed, relieved. "Are you okay?"
"Don't worry about me, let's just worry about getting out of here," he said, reaching out to try to find where a wall is. His hand touched Roxy's shoulder, causing her to jump. "Sorry about that." she grabbed his arm, letting out a nervous laugh.
A faint wheezing noise from across the room caused the hair on the back of Roxy's neck to stand on end, but she ignored it, making sure to stay close to Ed. A few moments later, she could have sworn something was touching her feet.
"Ed… please tell me that is you touching my feet," she hoped, as she clung to his arm tighter.
He straightened himself, managing to loosen her hold on his left arm, and clapped his hands, sticking them to the wall. The bricks molded together, forming an archway to the outside, and causing the light to stream in, blinding both of them.
"Now where do you think you are going?" a cold voice mused.
Ed's sight had returned, allowing him to see an aged man peering down at them. His twisted smile was just as disturbing as the figures that stood back, shadowing him. Thinking quickly, Ed transmuted his arm into a blade, and charged at him.
The man simply clicked his tongue at him. "You wouldn't want to do that, would you? Someone could get hurt." He looked to Roxy, who kicked as two of the figures pinned her to the opposite wall. A third that had been hiding in the corner now approached her, and with one swift movement, took a sharp-toothed bite from her arm. Roxy winced, biting her lip as she turned away. The creature leaned in for another bite, but retreated back to its corner, after being instructed by snap to do so.
The man turned to Ed. "I have an offer for you, Fullmetal." He crossed his arms. "If you help me with a few… projects that I would like to accomplish, I'll let you go free."
Ed swallowed hard, knowing he had no choice in the matter. "What kind of projects?"
"It's just a few little transmutations… nothing challenging for someone of your talent." He said with another evil grin.
Ed sighed, seeing no way out of this. "Fine…"
"Good, now…," he turned to the figures holding Roxy. "Go have your fun and try not to make a mess this time, I-"
"Hey, wait!" Ed shouted at him.
"Is something the matter?" His nonchalant tone only angered Edward more.
"You said we go free! I want her to stay with me," Ed demanded.
"Oh, but you misunderstood. I said you go free, Edward. I cannot deny my servants a meal."
Ed growled. "You will if you want my help."
"Are you telling me you would risk your life for someone you barely know?" he glanced, looking Ed up and down. "I must admit, there's more to you than meets the eye… I respect that, Mr. Elric, though I severely disagree. I'll grant your request." He said, snapping his fingers again, signaling for the beings to drop her. Roxy blinked, not entirely sure what had just happened, but sank to her knees in relief. Edward walked over to her and helped her up.
She studied his face for a moment, before speaking. "Why did you do that?"
Ed smirked. "It's in the job description."
---
Alphonse was worried. He knew his brother could protect himself, being as he'd been kidnapped by a variety of people before. But this time it was different. Who, or what, had kidnapped him surely weren't anything completely human. They looked it as they stood in the dark of night, but in the light of the inn he could see their rotting flesh, although he thankfully could not smell it. Even if some crazed lunatic bent on bringing the dead back to life or some other useless cause was who the one behind all this, having a hoard of zombies was working for him would be potentially problematic.
Lisa swept up the glass from the window, and looked at Al. "Are you alright? You should probably go lay down after what you were just through."
"I'm okay. I just hope brother can handle those things until the military gets here," he responded, picking up broken pieces of wood that lay on the floor.
The clock struck midnight by the time they had finished cleaning up what they could of the mess. Al sat in the lobby, reading a book that he had found laying on the ground. Though Al couldn't concentrate on what was going on in the story, for his mind was already being clouded with the 'what if' thoughts. Alphonse laid the book back down on the table and sighed. The silence he had been sitting in was broken by the clicking of familiar military boots. The door to the inn busted open, making Al jump out of his seat.
"Alphonse" Mustang's voice called. Al watched as the Colonel, followed by First Lieutenant Hawkeye, Major Armstrong, Second Lieutenant Havoc, and Master Sergeant Fuery.
"Colonel, you're here!" Al jogged over to him.
"What is going on?" Roy glanced around. "And where is Fullmetal?"
"Well, brother went for a walk, and I don't know where he went, but when he came back he was with Roxy, and trying to talk to you, but these zombies busted through the windows! And they were big and they looked like they were dead, only they weren't because they were moving! And-" Al was talking entirely too fast for anyone to comprehend, only succeeding in giving Roy a headache.
Havoc leaned over to Fuery. "Are you catching any of this?"
He shook his head. "Not one bit…"
"Al, stop," Roy ordered, and waited until Al listened. "Slow down."
Al let out a nervous laugh. "Sorry, sir."
"So these, zombies, you say, attacked you?" Roy inquired, trying to get a grasp on the situation.
Al nodded. "Uh-huh, and they kept coming at me, so I couldn't get to brother, and they took him and Roxy and disappeared."
"Do you have any idea where they could have gone?" Major Armstrong asked from behind Roy.
Al shook his head. "The last time it happened, brother got out on his own, so I only know a general direction…" Alphonse thought back to that day, suddenly remembering one other person who would know the way. "But… I do know someone who could show us the way." Al spoke as he ran out the door, followed by Mustang and his subordinates.
---
Edward watched the man's every move, as well as his zombie servant's. He remembered the ghost stories of zombies from when he was younger, and how they eat brains and human flesh, but he had never imagined those tales he once called lies could possibly be true. Edward glanced over at Roxy, who was now tied tightly to a chair in the corner. He would never admit it, but his stomach had tied itself into a knot when he watched that thing bite Roxy. The answer to whether the feeling came because he could be next or the fact that she was first, Ed chose to ignore. It was always better for him to focus on what he was doing at the moment, rather than get lost in the past. He had learned that the hard way.
"What do you want me to do?" Edward asked he watched the man pace back and forth.
The man stopped, and walked towards him. "Draw me a human transmutation array."
Edward frowned. “What for?! I am not doing any alchemy that has to do with human trans-”
The man held a hand up, interrupting him. “I just want to see your skill. I wouldn’t trust a kid like you with something like that.”
Edward would have growled, resenting being called a ‘kid’, but suppressed it. Ed had originally thought that the man knew of his failed attempt at human transmutation, but now knew that he, fortunately, didn’t.
The man seemed mildly impressed. "If only I had your talent at your age… I could have my entire army by now."
Ed shot a glance at Roxy. "Army?"
He looked at Edward as if he were an idiot. "Well, of course, why else would I want to raise the dead? I plan on attacking all of Amestris… with my army of the undead, I'd be unstoppable, there's no killing them. And they only listen to me, so if I were to die, they'd go on a killing spree of their own."
Ed hadn't expected that. "So you're just going to kill everyone in Amestris?!"
"Oh goodness, no. Just enough to ensure everyone is bowing down to me," he responded coolly. "I'll never forget the day when my plan began. My wife passed of old age, and I didn't think I could live without her, as I'm sure you know the feeling." Ed shifted uncomfortably, realizing what the man was going to ask of him. "So I went through with the transmutation. I don't remember anything until the next morning. I woke to find my wife alive. Though I regret to say she wasn't the same, it didn't matter to me anymore. I had something better. I had awakened an army of the dead, and they were following my every command." He cackled to himself. "And, well, you know the rest."
Edward really hadn't expected that. This man planned on taking over Amestris, and maybe more just my raising the dead. But the only reason he could do it before was because of the red water, unless he has some other form of power at hand. "That's against equivalent exchange! You have to have a Philosopher's Stone to bring back enough people to cause an up rise."
"Exactly!" he said with the same eerie smile. "That's what you're here for. With all the knowledge you have gained so far, you are going to help me create a Philosopher's Stone."
Ed swallowed harder. If he was going to be forced into making a Philosopher's Stone, it was sure to end badly. He didn't have the right knowledge, otherwise he would have had one by now. But he couldn't tell this man that. "Alright, I'll do it," he said, with a bit more confidence. Roxy gave him a 'what-the-hell-are-you-doing?!' look, but he ignored it.
"That's more like it!" The man said his voice more enthusiastic than before.
"But to start, I'll need some red water," Ed mentioned as he began to make changes to the circle he drew before. "You can get it from the water in that stream by the cemetery."
The man nodded. "Alright, I'll send for it," he said as he left the room, leaving the two alone.
Ed waited for a moment to make sure the coast was clear. Here's my chance, he thought as he hurried over to Roxy, quickly untransmuting the ropes that bound her to the chair. One of the zombies charged at them, but Ed was too fast for him. He clapped his hands to the wall. Suddenly the doorways stretched and remolded to block anyone from re-entering the room. He then formed a door to the outside in the wall.
"Come on!" Ed yelled as he grabbed Roxy's arm and led her outside. Ed turned to check that no one was behind them.
"Look out!" Roxy, seeing what was ahead of them, stopped, yanking Ed back with her.
The man and what he has of his army stood in front of them. "And where do you think you're going?" He snapped his fingers at the zombies. They quickly formed a tight group around the two and grabbed them.
Ed knew this was his last chance. He transmuted his arm into its usual blade, and began to fight them off. Roxy did the same, attempting to kick her way through the circle of them, but they were coming back too strong. Suddenly, with a loud explosion, a few zombies were thrown away from them.
Roy's voice called over the explosion. "Fullmetal, get down!"
Edward knew to be obedient. He pulled Roxy down to the ground next to him, covering their heads with his arms. A few more explosions were heard, finally ending with a couple gun shots. Ed looked up, seeing Mustang, fingers in snapping position, Hawkeye and Havoc with guns pointed at the man and Armstrong fists ready as well. The man growled, and pulled out a gun from his jacket as well, towards Edward.
"Back off or I shoot," The man threatened, his dark eyes fixed on them.
Ed smirked, and stood up. "Go ahead."
"Brother! No!" Alphonse squeaked from beside Armstrong.
The man smirked as well, cocking the gun and pointing it directly at his heart. "You don't think I will do it."
"Don't be stupid, Ed," Mustang called.
Edward ignored him. "Go ahead and shoot. I'm not of any use to you now. I just called the military on you. Your ingenious plot just went down the gutter." He smirked more. "Someone has got to pay, right? So go ahead! Shoot me!"
The man's smile stretched across his face again. "Have it your way." He pulled the trigger and with a crack, the bullets flew from the gun. The wind from the shot had blown the dust from the gun power, along with the dust from the explosion, around, making it impossible to see. A loud thump of a fallen body echoed through the silence among the group.
Al ran forward. "BROTHER!" he shrieked, only to be held back by Armstrong. No one stirred but Al, who continued to fight Armstrong's hold. His brother couldn't possibly be dead. It was impossible. He had to get to him to make sure. "Let me go!" he cried, still fighting to get to him. It's a joke, part of Al's mind told him, but the part that knew Ed, disagreed. He wouldn't do that He's really gone, he really is. Al fought against that thought. No! He can't be! We haven't found the Philosopher's Stone yet! We still have so much to do! Brother can't die now!
Suddenly the zombies that had been sitting quietly on the sidelines now began to scramble. The ones that hadn't been blown were running towards the Colonel, who continued on blowing them up. The ones that had been blown up previously now ran at the others, or in the case of those who were missing legs, crawled at them, teeth and nails sharp and ready. They were after something, and guessing by the blood thirsty looks upon their faces, they craved flesh.
Mustang was managing to hold most of them off. The only thing that seemed to actually hurt them was fire. He continued to shoot his flames at them, while Havoc and Riza held them off longer, shooting them in the heads. This stopped them for a little while, but soon enough they would sit up and come at them again. Armstrong was transmuting the ground, throwing them back as well; he transmuted the ground up to hold Al where he was. Losing one Elric was enough for one day. Hell, losing one Elric would be enough for a lifetime if he had any say in the matter.
Roxy had laid still. Either from fear of the zombies, or fear of seeing Ed's dead body, she wasn't sure. She couldn't see through the dust, so she had figured it was better to stay down anyway. But suddenly something grabbed her foot again, pulling her towards it. She screamed at the sight of the zombie that had bit her before, now licking its chops hungrily. She tried to kick it off her, but it only held her tighter, digging its filthy fingernails into her arms. Roxy continued to fight when suddenly a wave of heat spread throughout her body. She suddenly felt woozy, feeling herself slipping away. She tried to stay conscious to fight off the cannibal that pinned her to the ground, but couldn't, though right as she was about to lose consciousness, she swore she saw a red jacket flapping in the wind.
---
The battle of military versus zombie ended within the hour. The dust had cleared, but the smoke of the burning bodies floated into the air.
Roy turned to Armstrong. "Get Alphonse out of here." He then turned to the others. "Havoc and Fuery, go into town and make sure we got them all, Hawkeye, come with me." They all nodded, following their orders.
Mustang waited until he could no longer see Al's helmet before turning to the scene. There lay the crazed lunatic that started it all, dead on the ground. The bullet had hit him square in the chest, killing him instantly. Mustang's eyes trailed from him to where Edward's body should have been, but instead only a puddle of blood.
"Sir… you don't think those things-" Hawkeye began, studying the scene as well.
He shook his head. "No, but I guess we'll find out soon." He pointed to the trail of blood drips leading down towards the side of the house. They followed it, and looked up to see Ed fighting off another two zombies. One fought against Edward, attempting to bite him. The other hovered over Roxy who lay unconscious on the ground. Ed managed to push it off, and cut it through the middle with his still-transmuted arm. This seemed to only anger it more. Turning its attention to him, it lunged, knocking Ed into a tree. The one that had previously gone after Ed was now making his way towards Roxy. Roy ran towards it, tightening his gloves, and with a flash of light, lit both on fire. The two growled, and ran off screeching in pain. Roy ran over to Roxy and checked her pulse which was slower than it should have been, but a pulse nonetheless. He sighed with relief. Then he looked up at Ed who was already staggering over to them. He sat down not to far from them, and sighed, lying back as he did so.
"Fullmetal, do you even understand how badly you could have been hurt? You could have been killed! Why would you provoke a lunatic in the first place?!" Roy roared at him, clearly angry with his actions.
Ed inhaled deeply. "Because-" he let it out again "It wasn't me he was going to shoot."
Roy rolled his eyes. "What are you talking about? The gun was pointed directly at you and-"
Hawkeye finished his sentence. "- and Roxy… he was aiming at her."
Ed nodded. "I wouldn't let him kill her before, so he knew I wouldn't let him this time either."
"But why did you offer yourself like that?" Hawkeye asked.
"I knew I could block the bullet and it would ricochet back at him." Ed answered with a smirk.
Mustang's voice became harsh at the reminder. "But you didn't count on a second bullet, did you?"
Ed frowned. "Is Al okay?"
"No, he thinks you're dead! That's why you need to be more cautious, if not for your own sake, at least for your brother's." Roy scolded. It had always angered him how unstructured Edward could be, but deep down he had to respect Edward for taking a risk to save someone else. He was bold, and Roy had to give him that.
Riza kneeled down to examine Ed's wound. "Sir, I don't believe now is the time to be lecturing him. They are both in need of medical treatment."
He sighed in return. "Yeah, you're right," he said as he picked up Roxy. "We had better hurry."
---
When Roxy woke up, it was nearly three in the morning. She sat up, only to find herself back in a hospital bed.
"It's about time you woke up." Roxy turned to see Roy standing against the wall, smirking, as usual.
"What are you still doing here?" she asked, crossing her arms.
"Making sure you didn't turn into a zombie,” he said, not letting his smirk fall.
She raised an eyebrow. "Have you been drinking again?"
Roy opened his mouth to argue, but Riza interrupted. "What he meant was that he cares about you, even if you argue all the time." Roy shot an 'I-did-not-' look at Riza, but she ignored it "After all, you are his only sister."
At that, Ed, who had been in his bed beside Roxy's, pulled back the vinyl sheet that separated their beds. "What?!" All three of them looked over at him.
Roxy laughed. "He's my older brother." Edward blinked, noticing how similar the two looked.
"You're supposed to be a genius, Fullmetal, how couldn't you even put that together?" Roy mocked, standing straight. "Well I had better be going, tell mom I said, hi, would you?"
Roxy frowned. "You're not even going to stop by and say hi?"
Roy shrugged casually. "I'm a working man."
"Working?" she scoffed "Working what? Your job or the bar whores?" At that moment, Ed lost it. He burst out into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. Even Hawkeye was having trouble suppressing a laugh.
Roy glared at Roxy with pure hatred. "Goodbye." He then turned to Edward, immediately stopping his laughter. "I want you in my office the day you get released from this hospital. You have your recertification test coming up."
Ed groaned. "Yeah, yeah,” he said and Roy turned and left, Hawkeye following behind him.
The nurse walked in shortly after, to check-up on the two. She un-wrapped the bandage on Roxy’s arm and smiled. “Good to see the infection has cleared up.”
Roxy looked up to her. “What do you mean?”
“The bite got infected, and the large amount of bacteria caused you to come down with a fever and lose consciousness,” she laughed for a moment “like those scary stories where they say if you’re bit by a zombie, you turn into one.”
Roxy swallowed hard. “That’s only a- a myth, right?” she stammered.
Ed smirked, through his long bangs. “Even if zombies did exist, these things weren’t them. They were… soulless, mindless, corpses of once real people.”
Roxy frowned. “That sounds like the definition of a zombie to me.”
“What I mean,” Ed said, rolling his eyes “is that those ‘zombies’ weren’t real zombies, so a bite wouldn’t turn you into one,” he then scrunched up his nose “It’d just be really gross.”
--
A few days later, Edward and Alphonse were waiting at the train station, ready to head back to Central. The train finally pulled up, the smoke clouding the sky above it. Ed took a step onto the train, stopping at the sound of a familiar voice.
"Ed! Wait!" Roxy ran up to him and smiled. "I just wanted to say goodbye." She hugged him tight. His cheeks turned pink. "Thanks for everything." She broke away, seeing his blush and laughed. "If you're ever in Deadwood again look me up."
Al laughed too. "We will."
"Let's just hope next time it's something better than zombies." Ed mentioned before saying a final goodbye. The sun was just above them, shining brightly, like the typical happily ever after… the typical kind of ending that made Edward sick.
~fin