• Alystir dropped down to his knees, clutching his shoulders with his hands, his arms folded over his chest. "Liam, I thought you were so kind.. But you do this to people who don't deserve it.. You lock them up in cages and starve them."

    "First of all, they aren't people, they're zombies." Liam stood up from his bed and looked down at Alystir sitting there on his bedroom floor. Alystir looked up at Liam with a shocked expression. "You know as well as I do that your kind don't belong here on the world, this is all the cause of some enormous man-made mistake and you should very well be dead. I as well.... Should very well be dead." Liam lowered his head.

    Alystir couldn't believe what Liam was saying. Standing, he moved closer to him, lifting a hand toward him. When Liam looked up at him, he drew it away. "Liam, you can't keep them down there like that. You know it. I know you aren't evil. You can't be evil, not after all the kindness you've shown me. You treat me like I'm a person, like I deserve to exsist.. " Alystir was in a state of denial, he refused to believe Liam could be bad. Looking into his eyes, he refused to believe Liam was looking at him like a monster.

    Liam stepped forward and brushed a soft kiss against Alystir's cheek that made him feel warm inside, despite having no real warmth at all. "What can we do? We tried to help them but the experiments failed. We can't release them or they'll kill or turn more humans. The only thing we can do is kill them. Would you rather they be dead?" Alystir's warmth faded as he wound his arms around Liam, nuzzling into that soft hair and gratefully being curled into in turn. Liam had a point, they couldn't release them to kill more people, but to just slaughter them? He understood now Liam's dilemma. "Kill them.. They aren't doing you any good as experiment subjects if Nathan was right when he said their brains are destroyed or nearly destroyed. They at least deserve peace." Alystir looked down at Liam who looked back up at him, staring into his eyes for a long time before the blonde nodded. "Tomorrow."

    The next day, Nathan and Alystir sat in Quentin's white room, the boy whimpering as he nuzzled against Nathan's chest, the redhead stroking over his hair. As Alystir requested, the zombies in the basement were being executed. Alystir couldn't bear to see it, so he'd decided to spend the day with Nathan and Quentin.

    "You're no better than those bloody humans." Nathan sneered at Alystir, combing his fingers through Quentin's soft curls.

    "Would you rather they set them loose to kill innocent people?" Alystir looked at Nathan and sighed. He knew already Nathan didn't care about the general populace.

    "Our own kind is being executed like criminals because of you.. They're guilty of nothing but being bitten and turning." Nathan looked down at Quentin and hugged him tight. "Don't worry, I won't let the nasty human-lover kill you off too. I don't care if you still aren't trained yet."

    Alystir sighed and stood, regretting his decision to stay with Nathan. "I shouldn't expect you to understand.."

    "You're in love with him, aren't you. Really in love with him." Nathan looked up at Alystir calmly, though his eyes still showed resentment.

    "I am.. Though even if I hadn't fallen in love with him, I would have made this same choice. Killing them to spare others' lives and to save them from having to exsist as we used to... it's humane." Alystir nodded to himself, trying to convince himself of the same thing. "You weren't against killing zombies yourself, before.. If you don't recall the day we found Quentin."

    Nathan looked down at Quentin thoughtfully, touching his cheek. "At least then they had the chance to fight back.." Though Nathan's fight seemed to go out of him. He was beginning to realize the hypocracy in which he fought for the aware zombies, yet cared little for the unaware ones, like the one he had curled up on his lap. Nathan was starting to understand this caring thing again, too.

    Alystir turned to head for the door.

    "Oi."

    Alystir turned his head to the voice, looking back at Nathan.

    "Might as well stick with us for a bit, don't wanna expose you to them carrying the corpses out." Nathan held an arm out to Alystir, who smiled and settled down next to Nathan, leaning his head against his shoulder as Nathan's arm wrapped around him. He laughed as Quentin reached out to play with a pink bit of his hair, and tickled him, causing him to squeal and giggle.

    Liam stood on the other side of the double-sided glass, watching the three zombies cuddle and play. He leaned against his arms on the little ledge next to the glass and sighed as he pressed his forehead to the cold, smooth surface.