In search of Kaya, he stepped out of the office. The music was loud and although the dance floor empty, he found her behind the bar, already serving drinks to a few zombies who'd arrived early.

For a moment, he observed how she interacted with the customers. Tonight, for some reason, she seemed fidgety and distracted. He intently watched for a few minutes, when she turned towards him. Their eyes locked, and a look of guilt plastered over her face.

He wondered why.

Marc curled his index finger, motioning for her to come closer. "Kaya, could I speak with you?"

She curtly gave him a small nod, walking over to him.

"Did you happen to see Teal before she left?"

She nodded slowly.

"How long after I was gone did she leave?"

She shrugged.

"You have no idea?"

She shook her head.

"Do you remember I asked you to go see her? Upstairs?"

Kaya nodded.

"Did you? Did you tell her what I asked you to tell her?"

"Yes!" she snapped.

"I'm making sure, Kaya." His voice was tender, but loud in her ear to get above the blaring music. "Sometimes you forget things, honey."

She forced a smile, "I saw. Then ..." She moved her hand forward as if the signal universally meant to have left.

"Okay, okay. No problem. I had to ask." He tiredly smiled at her. "I'll be back in an hour. I'll let Rocco know I'm leaving."

Keeping her smile, she acknowledged and momentarily dragged her attention back to the drinking zombies sitting on stools before her pupils followed him out.

Striding down the foggy street he felt the soft, warm wind on his face, and a stale smell in the air. The buzzing hummed in his ears. The sound of generators was common in their world, but tonight they seemed extra noisy. During his ten-minute walk, he practiced different ways to let Teal know he was sorry, without actually saying it. Life had been difficult for him. Correction, it was hard for all of them, and thank you, I'm sorry, nor please, were usually part of his vocabulary.

Disgusted, he stood facing the black door, but couldn't bring himself to knock. Marc took a cool breath and without giving it any further thought, he gave a quick thump on the weathered door.

Teal's mother opened. Her eyes wide with surprise, when she saw him standing, tall and overpowering. "Marc? Hi!" She raised a brow. "Is Teal with you?" She looked around behind him.

Staring at her face he froze. He was looking at an older version of Teal. The bright eyes, the night-sky tresses, the shape of their face...

"Mrs. Felix." When he finally spoke, his voice was soft. "I thought she was here. I didn't see her at the club."

"No. She never came home after she left to go talk with you."

"Could she be at Samantha's, or with Jax?"

"She would have said something to me before she left. Jax is staying over at Samantha's tonight." Her eyes pointedly searched his, concerned. "Should I be worried?"

Marc tried to stay under control and although slightly panicked, looked at Morgan with his cool stare.

"No, no-no, not at all. I must have missed her on the dance floor." He forced a smile.

"Are you sure?" Morgan looked skeptical.

"Yes. I must've not seen her. The club was full." he lied. "And I was out earlier. I didn't get to spend the early part of the evening with her." He opened his arms and threw his hands out in a matter-of-fact fashion. "I should've searched better for her before I came to bother you."

She looked him up and down slowly, then nodded. "I trust you'll take care of my baby? She told me about her plan."

Without hesitation, his voice didn't falter. "Yes." Then he rolled his eyes. "That's one stubborn zombie." He whistled. He could tell he's taken Morgan by surprise, because her eyes grew large, and a crinkle formed at the center of her forehead.

Sighing, Morgan half closed her eyes. "That, she is." She gave a short amused laugh. "Can't blame her, she is me, when I was human." Sheepishly she smiled.

He chuckled. "Sorry to have concerned you."

With those words, he turned and left. Maybe he could see where she'd gone, on the security cameras.

Arriving at OnDead, he turned to his bouncer. "Rocco, did you happen to see Teal when you arrived?"

"No."

"Did you get to take the corpse-boxes to the human gates?"

"Yes. Pick up, dusk."

"Good. I'm glad we're on schedule. Thanks." He patted his trusted bodyguard on the back and headed to his office.

💀💀💀💀💀💀

What the fuck?! What the hell was going on?

The footage was missing from all the digital cameras he'd checked.

"Rocco..." The walkie-talkie app on his phone chirped. "Rocco, come in."

"Go for Rocco."

"I need you to come to my office ASAP."

"Copy."

The more footage Marc viewed, the more confused he got.

"Boss?" Rocco's huge, bald head peered through the open door.

"Does that old, outside camera still work? The one by the telephone pole?"

Rocco nodded.

"Do we have any video in it?" It was the only wired camera and it was not connected to the wireless feed, nor a monitor.

"Yep. Need?"

Marc nodded running four fingers over his forehead. "It records for forty-eight hours, then erases?"

The large zombie looked confused.

"Does it record for two days, then automatically erases what it recorded?"

He nodded.

"I'll need it. We're missing footage from the other feeds."

Rocco left to get the recording. In desperation, Marc rummaged his hands over his spikes.

"Fuck!"

After some time, Rocco returned with the videotape. "Boss."

It was an old, pre-zombie, breakout-camera, left from the mid to late nineties. Like most of the things, they had in their world. All new technology was not supposed to cross over to their side for different reasons. The first, zombies had no human money. The second, humans feared they would learn, and use it against them. But, getting that kind of stuff, was his specialty.

He placed the small videotape inside a larger one, then put it inside the VHS that was under his DVD player.

At first, the recording was grainy. The angle it recorded was from far away, and only covered the back door and had a slight view of the street. He wanted to see what time it was when she left and if anyone was with her.

Careful trying to catch all the details, he watched as the metal back door swung open, and Teal emerged, followed by Kaya. Teal was looking at her, as if in conversation, then they both disappeared around the corner to the right.

Some time elapsed.

He didn't see Teal leave for her house, nor Kaya come back in through the door they walked out of, until a very long while after. Finally, Kaya came around a long club, or pipe in her hand. She placed it against the concrete wall and walked inside, closing the door behind her.

Teal never followed.

Under his breath, his voice a harsh whisper. "Fuckin' hell, what did you do Kaya?!"

"Zane, come in."

"Standby." A few minutes passed. "Go for Zane."

"What's your twenty?"

"Just arrived. What do ya need?"

"Could you cover the bar and ask Kaya to come up here?"

"Ten-four."

Marc paced around the room like a lunatic. What the hell had Kaya done? Had she killed her?! Trying a breathing technique he'd never practiced before, he attempted to calm himself but instead, he became more enraged by the second.

"What the fuck is taking her so long?!" He wanted to shatter something against the wall. Anything.

"Boss?" She shyly walked in and closed the door behind her.

For the first time since he met her, she sounded reserved, timid even. And for the first time since he turned into a zombie, he was so angry he thought fire would come out of his nostrils. 

He felt an urge to kill her.

Advancing quickly towards her, he strived to gain an ounce of composure when he stood an inch from her face.

"Where's Teal?!"

She paled even more than she already was. Her voice was small, like a child's.

"Don-don't know."

"Don't fucking lie to me Kaya!" His voice was so loud it might've shaken the walls.

"I-I don't-" She shook her head squirming uncomfortably, backing away from him gradually. With the cold, concrete wall at her back, she could move no further. Kaya had gotten away from him, as much as possible.

"One more time, I am warning you. I'm not in a fucking good mood Kaya. Tell me, what you did to her?!"

"Nothing."

Like a lightning bolt his hand lifted and he grasped the front of her neck, banging her body against the wall. His arm easily raised her frame from the floor. Her feet dangled and her eyes popped and opened wide. She looked scared out of her mind. If he could choke her, he would. But, she didn't breathe. He could rip her head off though.

"I will snap you in half Kaya."

That booming voice resonated in her ears, making her dizzy. He was beyond furious. There was hate in his eyes. The same hate she felt for Teal.

"Kill me! Don't. Give. Shit. Never. Will. Find!"

He slammed her once more against the wall, then let go. Her body dropped, like a rag doll. Her eyes looked at his in pain, then she smirked diabolically at him.

"You not mine, then no one!" The tone in her voice stupefied him. As if she vomited icicles as words.

"Kaya, we are a long time over. We discussed this. Why now?!"

She gaped at him in silence and he furiously snarled.

"There is no us. Never has been."

Fearlessly, she stared back at him.

"We agreed back when we broke up two years ago, Kaya. Tell me where she is. I will find out whether you like it or not. If you don't tell me, I will hand you to the humans."

"Wha-No!" 

He knew her greatest fear, was having to come face to face with the humans. And he could tell she wasn't expecting those words to come out of his mouth.

"You! No!" she spat.

"Oh, I would." He'd checked out of his body and his brain. The rage taking over. Whatever it was, it wasn't him, but a demon. "And if you killed her... If she is fucking dead Kaya, I will hand-deliver you myself and watch them experiment on you."

At that moment, she began to wail. A tearless cry of desperation. Her mouth distorted and opened wide, as screams of distress purged out of her throat. He was coming at her again when his phone rang. Instinctively he took it out of his back pocket to look at it.

A veil of relief draped his face.

"Teal?! Teal?!"

On the other end she sobbed. "Marc! I don't... See... Know-" The connection was spotty and her voice weak. "I-... Where... Am!" Her voice breaking every other word. "... Some ... Of box-"

"Box?" Panic. All he felt was panic.

"... Kaya... Tight- shut! I -ant... -pen... lid!"

"Can you hear me, Teal?! Can you hear me?! Teal?! I'm coming for you!"

The line went dead and all he could hear was the dial tone impregnating his brain.

His eyes met Kaya's. A disastrous clash between them almost to the point of physical struggle."Do you have anything to say?" The shake in his voice was uncontrollable.

Curled-up on the floor, Kaya fearfully watched him. "I should check phone," she stated angrily. "Before. Before close lid on death-box," she cursed herself. "I didn't know Teal had phone."

Grave mistake. His eyes opened wide and his fists tightened digging his nails deep into the flesh of his palms. Her confession was appalling. He wanted to choke her and snap her neck. Instead, he reached for his phone without batting an eyelash.

"Rocco, come in."

"Boss?"

"Where were the cadaver boxes earlier today?"

"Backside. Over."

"Copy." 

He paused staring at Kaya still sitting, legs underneath her, trembling.

"Fuck Kaya! I wish you would've thought things through." Shaking his head, Marc searched the contacts on his phone. He needed to regroup, get help and find Teal. He'd decide what to do with Kaya after.

His head throbbed. Once again, it would be another very long night.

Music By:
Depeche Mode*I'm Coming For You