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To kill a man is a form of art.

You may think a murderer to be an unruly savage, a monster, twisted and corrupted beyond human, but to kill is certainly a form of art.

Murder, like any important skill, is difficult to master. Every once in a while a beginner is going to make a couple slip-ups, they're going to do a sloppy job every now and then. This is to be expected. To kill there is a method that must be taught, but to kill is very personal, to kill sloppily is shameful. What 01ParaBomber had done that evening was just damn embarrassing.

So the four argued in a circle, and much like children they all refused to take the blame.

The three were smart enough to agree Liam was of no worth to the conversation, and had removed him from it.

AJ was the smarter of the four, but he wasn't the friendliest. If it wasn't for his status as a skilled practitioner nobody would ever listen to or respect him. Lin was the latest member, and was incredibly childish, but she wouldn't let you know it so easily. The three thought of her as 'the lazy one' (despite her working harder than half of them). She was the one they could blame their own mistakes on, and then they'd get away with it because they'd back each other up. Despite being used to this, over the past month since her recruitment Lin had gotten no better at defending her own case. Nate was skilled in combat, but was otherwise useless. He couldn't cook, or scavenge, and he wasn't good company either, but worst of all he was stubborn. Very stubborn. If something had gone wrong it was never Nate's fault, and if something had gone right it was definitely Nate's fault, in his mind he could do only good. 

AJ refused to let Nate and Lin fight over who's fault was what and why so and so happened for any longer. He knew that the only conversation worth having was how to solve the issue.

And the issue was that the five had been caught killing another survivor.

"Wait a second, Yemi was there."

"So?"

"Yemi is our scout, if anyone's going to be able to help us track down that dude it's gonna be her, right?"

"Yemi doesn't want to help us."

Nate shook his head. "She's dedicated to this team, so she cares about our image. She's going to want to help. If it got out that ParaBomber wasn't actually protecting survivors Yemi would lose her mind."

Lin shuffled away from Nate, "but we are 'actually protecting survivors' though", "Right" AJ gave Nate a stern look, which he chose to ignore.

The atmosphere in the room shifted, so did the topic.

"We are actually protecting survivors, Nate." Lin shuffled back, AJ fixed his posture. "Yes, Nate, we are, right?"

Nate frowned, annoyed with Lin's immature point of view. "We literally kill people." He clawed his hands.

"Yeah, but just the ones that aren't likely to survive anyways! That- That way the survivors who actually have a shot don't have to worry about that... Thing... getting anywhere near them..."

"Oh my God- Lin just call it The Bomber, that's it's fuckin' name."

"Well don't- Nate don't just say it! Yemi says it brings bad energy." "Yemi thinks she's a dog." "Yemi is a dog." "No she isn't."

AJ pushed them away from each other. "Oi. You're bickering again" he sighed.

"We can't just do away with some rando, he wasn't assigned to us."

"So what? You're just going to wait 'til Backer comes back to give us the 'ay-okay' and then wack the guy?" Lin looked at the floor, "he's probably already told people by now..."

01ParaBomber had a public perception as a people dedicated to protecting the remnants of humanity from the wrath of The Bomber, the forger of the armageddon and the strongest zombie known to mankind. They were respected. To the survivors they were like heroes; brave, strong, and determined to keep them safe. The members of 01ParaBomber, of course, were none of these things.

01ParaBomber was founded upon good intention, but it was built upon blood-hungry freaks. Murder is an art you perform to lose your humanity. 01ParaBomber, intentionally or not, was a place you could go to take the risk and criminality from the equation.

No one could know.

"We need to act immediately if we're going to. Yemi isn't coming back anytime soon, and when Backer finds out-"

"Backer isn't going to find out."

The lightbulb flickered.

"Yes she is, it's not like we're going to convince her little pet not to tell her."

"She has a name" Lin glared at AJ. "Fine, Yemi. Fuck."

"Hey guys the electricity is cutting out" Nate double pointed at the light.

Lin coughed, "I'll fix it later, it's not important right now."

"What are the odds that the zombies haven't gotten to him already?" AJ added.

"He didn't look super... Lasting-it-y" Lin cocked her head "he didn't?" Nate turned to her "no not really" AJ sat next to Lin, " yeah he didn't look too well off."

The lightbulb flickered again.

"Wait! If he was in poor health and he was in the area then he could've been a future target anyway! We can totally kill him, Backer won't mind." Nate expressed this point with blind confidence, as if he was the smartest man on Earth

"The zombies could've gotten to him already." AJ repeated

The light cut out completely.

"Lin." "Fine."

Lin came back almost immediately, tears running from her sockets like a broken tap, she was breathing uncontrollably. 

"GET LIAM- GET LIAM" she cried.