When Tristan and Darren joined the others, they both stopped and stared with jaws hanging open and eyes wide at the scene that greeted them. Ruby had much the same expression on her face, standing with her pistol cradled to her body and her back pressed up against the wall of the house as she watched.

"He's… like a one man army." She whispered, shaking her head. Tristan could see the tears on her cheeks, gritting his teeth ever so slightly and turning his gaze back towards the Smoker.

Tori was standing without his jacket and his hat, his silky black hair flying around him as he moved amongst what was left of a swarm. Bodies and body parts lay strewn about him, and he was covered, quite literally, in blood and gore. His eyes were black, his expression one twisted in rage, and he let out a cry as he swung his axe out to sever one of the infected's heads. The severed head bounced along the ground as the body it belonged to fell lifelessly, and two other bodies soon joined it on the pile.

They kept coming… The infected kept rushing, kept swarming, and Tori kept killing them, seeming to have no end to his energy.

He wasn't coughing, he wasn't pausing, he didn't seem to register what was going on around him. All that he had shut away after Aster's death seemed to be catching up with him.

"… we have to stop him." Darren said, stepping forward, but he didn't get far before Tristan grabbed his arm and dragged him back, furiously shaking his head.

"You go in there now, man, and he'll kill you." The southern boy drawled. "Lookit him… he's lost it."

Tori picked up one of the infected and used it like a club to beat another one nearby to death, then swung the one he was holding in a short arc that ploughed several others under. Finally casting the now deceased infected aside, the Smoker let out another cry, his tongue shooting out to grab hold of a fallen log nearby. He whipped it towards himself, releasing it at the last second and ducking beneath it as it knocked most of the group in front of him over before passing harmlessly over the Smoker himself and coming to rest with a crash nearby.

Tori straightened up again, plunging his claws through the face of a rushing infected and tossing it aside with a hiss. Another came up right away, Tori leaping at it and driving it to the ground with his greater weight. He crushed the infected's throat with one heavy boot, finally pausing to look around as the wave stopped.

He turned his black eyes to the others on the porch, Tristan shifting his grip on his shotgun as Darren wet his lips and Ruby stared at the Smoker in a pleading fashion. When Tori flashed them all a grin, they breathed collective sighs of relief.

"Is that it?" He rasped.

"More out back, big fella." Tristan jerked his thumb.

"Joey?"

"Dead." Darren confirmed, Tori raising a sculpted eyebrow briefly before grunting and moving up the steps past them. His eyes were still black, but he seemed to be in good spirits… something told Tristan this wasn't a good thing.

It continued for longer than Tristan dared to venture a guess, and by the time Tori was done with the infected, the place looked like a warzone.

"Stay here." Ruby cautioned the others as she moved outside, Darren simply nodding while Tristan chose to wait near the door and listen to the two of them to make sure Tori didn't try to kill Ruby too. The Smoker, while being much the same as he was before they found out he was infected, was still a Smoker, and therefore unpredictable. The infection did terrible, terrible things to people, and if Tori lost control, it wouldn't matter who they were.

To him, they would simply be in the way.

…

"Someone will have seen it." Tori's words startled Ruby. She hadn't said anything to him as she approached, her footsteps soft, but she had to keep in mind that he was infected and his senses weren't the same anymore. "Someone will have seen the flare. They'll send a boat, a vehicle to investigate."

"Is that a bad thing? Maybe it means getting to safety?" She said with a smile, careful not to touch him as she circled round to face him. "Wouldn't it be nice not to have to keep looking over our shoulders-"

"I can't come with you if that's the case." Tori's eyes were still black when he turned them to her. "Changes are too noticeable. I wouldn't want to endanger you."

Ruby frowned, shaking her head. "Tori, don't say things like-"

"Even if they don't care I'm infected, they'll care about what I've done. They'll care about who I've killed."

"TORI!" Ruby snapped, seizing his shoulders and shaking him. "Stop your bullshit! We're not going to just leave you behind, alright? Not now, not EVER! And stop dwelling on the things you've done, you did those things to survive in this world gone mad!!"

Tori's hand reached out, fingers snaking around her neck briefly before drawing up and over her jaw, his head tilting to the side. Ruby fell quiet, swallowing a few times, her eyes still searching his face, brows still knit.

"You're so sure." He hissed, lifting his chin and dragging his clawed thumb over her bottom lip. "Aren't you?"

"Stop it." Ruby's voice was wavering as she spoke. "Don't do this, Itoria. I can't keep running to your rescue when you get yourself into this situation."

"Then maybe you don't love me like you say you do." Tori offered her a sharp toothed grin, Ruby's eyes widening at his words. She balled her hands into fists, nostrils flaring and blue eyes welling up with tears, Tori seeming to be able to sense this shift through the madness that gripped him. "It would probably be unwise to-"

The sound of the slap was probably so much louder than Tori expected because of the blood on his face, and it stung much more than he thought it would. Maybe it had something to do with how incredibly angry he had just made the love of his life.

The fog of rage began to clear from his head, a gasping breath escaping him as he slowly turned his head back to face her, her expression murderous.

"If you ever say something like that again," Ruby began, hissing through her teeth, "I'm going to leave you, Itoria Levon Henry. Now get your skinny ass inside and get cleaned up and STOP THIS NONSENSE. We will deal with the subject of leaving when we are actually able to leave."

When she stalked away, Tori took a moment to gather his wits about him, raising his hand to his stinging cheek slowly and touching his claws to it. He had crossed a line he never meant to… he had said something he never should have said and he did something he promised he would never do.

His words had hurt Ruby when he promised to never hurt her.

Tori felt as if that little slap wasn't enough to punish him for such a thing.

…

Tori was drying his hair after his shower when the door to the room he and Ruby were sharing edged open, the girl coming into the room, pointedly not looking at him as she turned to close the door again. The Smoker chose not to speak, coughing a little as he sat down on the edge of the bed and tossed his towel over the back of a chair, a sigh escaping his throat.

Of course she was still mad at him. He didn't blame her in the slightest.

"The boys are going to stay up and keep watch. They can't sleep anyway." Ruby's voice broke the silence between them, Tori looking up at her and meeting her pretty blue eyes.

Yes, she was still mad. Those blue eyes were blazing, the look on her face so fierce he thought he might catch fire if he looked at her too long.

Rubbing the back of his head, Tori exhaled slowly again, turning his eyes away, half closing them. Ruby approached the bed, a whisper of fabric following the nightgown she wore as she slipped the straps from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. The sound drew Tori's wide eyed gaze, but as he opened his mouth to speak, she put one finger to his lips, the fingers of her other hand resting on his bare chest gently as she knelt with her knees on either side of his hips on the bed.

Ruby continued to gaze at him with those fierce eyes, Tori now terrified to look away, unsure of just what was happening and what she was trying to tell him.

"The world be damned, Itoria." Ruby whispered, brushing her lips against his and pressing her body close. Tori's heart began thundering, her skin against his making an explosion of feeling rip through his body. "You belong with me no matter what any of them say, no matter what any of them think. They can't judge you for killing people like us when we commit mass murder of people like you every day. What right do they have?"

She traced her fingers over his neck, his shoulders, his chest, nails dragging over his stomach as he drew in a shaky breath and leaned his head back.

"If you still feel the need to stay when we go… let me show you what will be waiting when we see each other again."

It lasted far into the night, with Tori letting Ruby do all the work, letting her show him what she needed to and do what she wanted with him. Tangled together, basking in the afterglow, Tori let his amber eyes close as he rested his forehead against hers. Ruby's breath took some time to calm down, hot against his skin, her trembling fingers resting on his chest and her shaking legs entwined with his.

"Sometimes…" She breathed, Tori opening his eyes to gaze down at her. Her pretty blue eyes were open, and warm tears dripped onto his skin. "You make me hate you, Tori. Sometimes, I wonder if it's all really worth the fuss, worth the work, worth the hell you put me through. But… I love you so much, it hurts to think of ever being parted from you."

"It would never be forever." Tori rasped, stroking her damp hair with his claws. "It would only be until we could find a place of our own. Until this whole mess ends and we can go back to living our lives without someone trying to shoot me everytime I walked down the street."

"Will that time ever come? Do you think they'll find a cure for this?"

Tori thought about it for a moment, remaining very quiet. He wasn't quite sure what to say about that…

He knew if they found a cure, he'd go back to the way he was. There would be nothing to drive him, no boldness to make him do the things he did now. There would just be him and the dark side he hid from the world.

He wasn't sure he ever wanted to go back to that.

But going back to that life might mean things would be much easier for Ruby, and he didn't ever want to hurt her again. If him being infected hurt her… if they found a cure, he'd take it in a heartbeat.

For her. For Ruby. For his world.

"They have to." He whispered, his answer seeming to be good enough. Ruby let out a final, heavy sigh, her breath falling soft and even as she fell asleep in his arms. For a long while, Itoria held her and stared out at the darkness, his luminescent eyes casting a strange glow over her already glowing skin. "They have to." He whispered again, closing his eyes to let sleep claim him as well.

The rest of the night went on, uninterrupted.

…

Several days passed without further incident, leaving the survivors to enjoy their time at the house in relative peace. Three days after Joey's death, Tori and Ruby decided to take a walk in the woods, the girl moving off a bit to pick some late blooming wild flowers while Tori climbed a tree, resting with his back against the trunk and humming to himself with his eyes closed.

A few minutes after settling, his nose twitched and he opened his amber eyes slowly, not moving from his spot or looking around.

A Hunter was close…

"Ruby?" He called softly, finally sitting up and glancing around. Her voice, singing something softly, had moved away from him, and though she was more than capable of defending herself, if the Hunter pounced her, she'd be incapacitated.

Getting to his feet, the Smoker remained very still for a moment, hoping to catch a glimpse of the infected, to get a good idea of just where it was headed and what it was doing. He was rewarded for his patience moments later, but wasn't quite prepared for what he saw…

Instead of the hooded, bloody, feral infected that usually accompanied the smell of Hunters, a small figure hurtled into the clearing just past the tree where he stood, launching itself into the grass and rolling about with a rather cheerful snuffling sound. He was wearing army fatigues, his dark hair having grown rather long and shaggy and his silver grey eyes gleaming in excitement.

Getting onto all fours, he stalked around the clearing, sniffing at plants and logs and rocks and just about anything that came into his view, then found a large patch of clover and began to roll about in it, Tori watching with amusement and amazement.

He had never seen a Hunter act like this before… and he had never seen one dressed like this either.

Pulling himself out of the clover, the Hunter got to his feet and shook himself vigorously, Ruby choosing that moment to come back into the clearing.

She stopped short, pretty blue eyes wide and the smile that was on her face falling quickly, the wild flowers in her hand almost falling before she caught her grip on them.

For a long moment, neither Ruby nor the Hunter moved, then the infected sniffed in her direction and offered her a smile, bounding over to her.

He dropped onto all fours on the ground again, in what appeared to be a submissive position, Ruby looking up towards Tori with an expression of confusion. The Smoker shrugged, and Ruby let out a breathless little laugh before offering her hand to the Hunter, who was more interested in the flowers than he was in her.

The Hunter licked Ruby's hand, then put both hands around the flowers she had gathered as though he meant to take them, a female voice calling out across the clearing to stop him.

"Ishmael! Those aren't yours!"

Dropping to all fours again, the Hunter hurried to the woman's side, Ruby relaxing a bit more at her appearance.

"I'm really sorry, he didn't hurt you, did he?" The other girl asked, Ruby shaking her head. Tori remained up in his tree for a long moment, watching the two girls talk and the Hunter prowl about the clearing. "We saw a flare a couple days ago, followed what road was available in this direction. We had to ditch out truck, and we've been walking for awhile. Are you staying near here?"

"Y-yeah. Me and my friends. I'm Ruby." Ruby held her hand out, her eyes lingering on the Hunter as she spoke.

"Zoey. And this is Ishmael."

"Pleased to meet you both." Ruby breathed, looking as though she might cry, her smile so radiant it put the sun to shame. Tori smiled with her, dropping down from the tree a little more ungracefully than he would have liked and drawing both of their gazes. Ishmael charged towards him, tackling him into the dirt…

Tori wished he could have said he was expecting it, but he wasn't, and the squawk that escaped him led to an inescapable coughing fit that made the Hunter recoil.

"Ishmael!!" Zoey protested, dragging the Hunter off of Tori, who spluttered indignantly as Ruby attempted to pull him to his feet. "God, I'm so sorry. He gets excited sometimes."

"I think it's because Tori's infected." Ruby admitted, the Smoker brushing himself off with a grunt and meeting Zoey's surprised gaze.

"Itoria Levon Henry." The Smoker exclaimed, bowing deeply. "A pleasure to meet you."

Zoey stared at him for a moment longer before taking his hand to shake it, blushing furiously when he bent over her hand and pressed his lips to the back of it.

"Uh…" She murmured, Ruby giggling softly. "Guess it's fair… Ishmael probably licked you, didn't he?"

"Yeah. I've never been licked in greeting by a person before." Ruby giggled a little harder and Zoey shook her head.

"It's a strange habit he's developed lately."

"Hey, we should head back to the house." Ruby looked at Tori as she spoke. "The others we're with are waiting there and should have dinner ready soon… I told them it was their turn to cook, after all. I'm sure they'd enjoy the company. You two travelling by yourselves?"

"No, I've got a party with me." Zoey looked over her shoulder, frowning. "They should be coming this way soon. We have a couple injured in our party and one very reluctant hostage."

"More than enough room in the house, though sleeping arrangements will get interesting." Tori rasped, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. If these people Zoey were with were travelling with a Hunter, he wouldn't have to worry too much about first impressions.

"You speak… WAY better than Ish does. I'm curious about that." Zoey admitted, looking from the Hunter before turning her eyes to Tori. They were a lighter shade of blue than Ruby's and not as pretty, but Zoey looked like she would clean up well one way or another.

"Tori's an interesting exception to the infected." Ruby said softly. "We'll talk more back at the house. It's not far, just through these trees here."

By the time they returned to the house, Ruby had told Zoey the reason behind the flare, but instead of being met with quiet disbelief as she had expected with the news of Joey's betrayal and subsequent death, she was met with a nod of understanding, Zoey assuring her she knew exactly how they must have felt.

It seemed these survivors had a story of their own to tell.

The rest of Zoey's party found their house a little while later, Tristan finding a fast friend in a middle aged biker named Francis, the two of them sitting on the porch together to talk cars and drink the beer that Tristan had found in the pantry.

A retired former Green Beret named Bill was assisting a willowy older woman Ishmael informed Tori was named 'Shan' in carrying a young black man named Louis, who appeared to be suffering from a gunshot wound while a young soldier named Luke aided the last member of the party, Selene, in walking up the steps.

Selene greeted them in a tired sounding but rather lovely accented voice, retiring to the living room and resting in a chair while Ruby and Zoey sorted out sleeping arrangements.

Darren hung back in the background looking a little shy, soon joined by Ishmael, who appeared uncomfortable around this many people.

"The more the merrier, even if things ARE a little more crowded." Ruby told 'Shan,' the older woman letting out a laugh.

"Tell me you have coffee. I think I'm going through withdrawl." Bill groaned, taking a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and moving to the porch.

"Give me one of those and I'll take you to town and get you all the coffee you can drink." Tori rasped, following him outside with an eager expression.

"Got yourself a deal, son." Bill chuckled amiably.

…

…

…

Author's Note!!

YAY CROSSOVERS!