Unclassified; Zero and Still Standing

It was already late in the evening.

The forest had grown dark.

Thin beams of light swept between the trees as Squad 11-D searched in silence.

"Finch!"

Their voices echoed through the woods.

No reply came.

Yesu was ahead of the group.

She was leading them in the direction where she and Finch had parted ways, her flashlight cutting through the darkness ahead.

Isaiah followed closely behind her, carrying the battered computer from the Base beneath one arm.

Every few seconds he glanced down at the monitor.

Waiting. Hoping for even the faintest signal to appear.

Nothing.

Reggie caught up to them.

"So let me get this straight." He said, addressing Yesu. "Finch actually decided to take on a senior one-on-one?"

He shook his head unbelievably.

"I still find that hard to believe."

Yesu glanced at him. She obviously didn't understand his line of thought.

"What's hard to believe about it?" She asked.

His response was immediate.

"What isn't?"

Their footsteps gradually slowed.

Eventually, they stopped.

They had reached the scorched path.

Soraya walked past everyone. She swept her flashlight across the area.

The beam illuminated nothing but blackened earth.

Ash.

Soot.

The surrounding vegetation had been reduced to lifeless remains.

The rest of the squad slowly gathered behind her.

Nobody spoke for a moment.

Isaiah broke the silence.

"What exactly was that senior thinking?" His eyes remained fixed on the destruction. "He took things way too far."

Carrots folded her arms.

"Maybe he's the edgy type." She tilted her head. "Or mentally deranged."

Yesu looked around the burned path, visualizing how it had burned earlier.

"He did seem to enjoy throwing fireballs around." She remarked offhandedly.

Soraya glanced sideways at her.

Once again, her eyes drifted over Yesu's burns, cuts, and smoke-stained uniform.

Reggie noticed.

"Wait a minute," he looked back at Yesu, frowning. "How did you even survive all this?"

He gestured toward the destroyed forest.

"You're just a Zero."

Carrots burst into laughter.

"Are you seriously asking that," she said, pointing a thumb at Yesu, "to someone who's been walking around with an open skull?"

She suddenly paused, eyes gleaming with sudden interest.

"Come to think of it, I wonder if it's healed already."

She reached gingerly toward the back of Yesu's head.

"Stop it."

Soraya's voice cut through the night.

"We have a squad member to find." Her gaze swept over everyone."It's getting late. Who knows what condition he's in."

At the mention of Finch, Farida quietly sniffed.

She had been unusually somber since he had been declared missing. The worry lines on her face were completely visible.

Reggie sighed.

"For once, I agree with Soraya."

He looked across the scorched trail.

"Judging from what that senior did here, I doubt he'd hold back during a fight."

Grover lowered his flashlight.

"Finch must be badly injured." He said. "That could probably be the reason why he couldn't make it back."

Carrots slowly raised a finger.

"Or..."

Every head turned toward her.

"Or what?"

Carrots made an uncertain face.

"Maybe the reason he couldn't come back wasn't because he was too injured but because…"

She stopped.

Everyone waited. Nothing seemed to be coming after that.

The silence became suffocating.

"Because what?" Reggie demanded.

Carrots shrugged.

"He's dead?"

A pause.

"Maybe?"

The forest fell silent.

Not a single person spoke. Not a single breath seemed to move.

Then—

"What is wrong with you?!"

Farida's voice shattered the silence. She rounded on Carrots, eyes blazing.

"Why would you even think something like that?!"

Carrots frowned.

"...Because it's happened before."

Farida lunged at her.

Grover reacted immediately, catching her with his good arm before she could reach Carrots.

"Let me go!" She struggled furiously.

"Enough."

Soraya's voice cut through the commotion.

Farida pointed accusingly.

"She started it! Why would she even suggest something like that?"

Carrots merely shrugged.

"It's just a probability."

Farida threw herself forward again.

"I'll show you a probability!"

Grover barely managed to hold her back.

Just then—

"Wait."

Isaiah's voice interrupted them all.

"The computer's picking up something."

Everyone rushed toward him. He stared at the screen.

"It's Finch. He's close."

Yesu looked over the display for only a second.

Then pointed toward the opposite trail.

"We have to go down the slope. From the other path." She said.

***

Several minutes later, they reached the bottom.

The place where Finch had made his stand.

Everyone stopped.

The destruction here dwarfed everything they had seen before.

The ground was charred black.

Entire patches of vegetation had been burned into ash.

The earth itself looked torn apart.

Unlike the previous destruction, this hadn't been random.

It had been deliberate.

Grover slowly scanned the battlefield.

"Must've been some fight."

Reggie's mouth hung open.

"Fight?" He shook his head. "Nah. This wasn't a fight. It was a battle."

Without waiting, Yesu began sweeping her flashlight across the area.

The others quickly joined in.

Urgency grew with every passing second.

Then Soraya stopped.

She bent down.

"Isaiah." She called.

The whole squad hurried over.

Soraya held up a tracking bracelet and handed it over.

Isaiah placed it against the computer.

A confirmation flashed almost immediately.

"It's Finch's."

No one spoke. No one moved. Every face went pale.

"Spread out." Soraya's voice became sharp again. "He's somewhere nearby. Search in groups of two or three. No one moves alone."

The squad obeyed instantly.

Isaiah hesitated.

"Shouldn't we contact our supervisors? Tell them what's happened?"

"We'll do that when we return to Base." Soraya answered without looking up.

Nearby, Grover glanced at Carrots.

"What was that incident you mentioned again?" He asked in concern.

Farida shot him a glare.

Carrots sighed and went on to explain as if Farida hadn't almost jumped on her earlier.

"Four years ago, a senior killed a junior student during Trials. Then buried the body."

Silence.

"It took three days before anyone realized the student was missing. A week before they identified the senior, who killed himself before he could be arrested."

She sighed again.

"And it took two weeks before they finally found the body. Which was already rotting, by the way."

"Stop it!" Farida's voice cracked.

This time it wasn't anger. It was heartbreak.

"Please..."

Tears filled her eyes.

"Just stop."

Meanwhile…

Yesu had wandered farther than everyone else. Alone.

At the foot of a tree, something caught her eye.

A jacket.

She picked it up.

The large 11 stitched across the back stared back at her.

She slowly turned it over.

The gold-plated name tag reflected her flashlight.

Finch Virel.

Someone spotted her and yelled.

"Guys, Yesu found something!"

The others immediately ran toward her. Voices surrounded her.

Questions.

Guesses.

Hope.

Fear.

Yesu heard none of it. Her eyes remained fixed on the jacket.

It was stained with blood.

Finch wasn't here. She knew it.

She didn't know how. She just did.

Finch...

...was gone.

Like the wind he wielded.

Yesu's fingers slowly tightened around the bloodstained jacket.