It was past midnight and Miles was not sleepy yet. He had class tomorrow, he should have been in bed ages ago but no, here he was watching TV in the rec room. His two dogs were keeping him company, their bright red eyes giving a reddish tint to the dark areas of the room while a part of it was illuminated by the programming the teenager was constantly zapping through. The rest of the place was dark and silent, with seldom a voice being heard in the distance from those residents who preferred to dwell in the late hours of the night.

click! Racing horses were speeding on the track, Lizard Green was on first place while Chained Muse was a distant second, when suddenly Lizard Green tripped and Chained Muse sped past and won the race!

click! The Undertaker was fighting Reptilon, a musclebound oaf in green paint who was choking and strangling the Undertaker to the point the battle seemed to be lost, but then the undead wrestler managed to free himself and smashed the reptilian themed one's head against the floor and five minutes later the Undertaker was being proclaimed the winner...

click! Children's programming. They were telling the story of the rabbit and the turtle and teaching kids how if you're first but are not careful, you can end up last...

click! Zombie movie. One of the bad ones...

Miles had a tendency to talk to his dogs, specially about his problems when no one was around. He never expected an answer but it always helped him get things off his chest.

"People think this zombie apocalypse stuff is just B-movie material. That it could never happen, that they'll always be safe..." he said, patting Tinaker on his unfazed head.

"They're lucky they don't have a clue I exist. Ignorance is bliss after all."

By all ends, it was turning out to be a great night for the shadow stalker. He had done his nightly rounds which had resulted in barely any violence. Unfortunately, Shade did have to draw his blade in anger that night, but it turned out to be simple misunderstanding. He didn't even have to the kill the guy, just had to give him a friendly reminder of who's territory he was living on. The worst part about his night was the friendly reminder had left the right sleeve of his hoodie soaked in blood. On his trip back, Shade had managed to remove most of the red liquid from his jacket, but he could still feel his jacket hardening as the blood, soaked into the sleeve, began to coagulate.

It was late enough that the night owl doubted anyone, but Lisa would still be up. Shade had began to believe that she might indeed be a mutant with her only skill being that she never needed to sleep. She never even looked tired. Ever.

Indeed, when Shade stepped through the front door, the perfect secretary gave her ever-proper "Good Morning, Shade!" followed by "You are home early. Do you need anything?"

"No." Shade replied shortly before disappearing into a shadow. He never needed anything, yet she always asked. Always.

From the foyer, it was only a hop, skip, and a 'jump' to his bedroom. Moving through the deserted areas, Shade was just about to his room when he 'ported into the Rec room. It was not deserted like the other places. The TV was on and allow he could not see the source of the voice, Shade could hear a younger voice talking from the other side of the couch.

- "...Ignorance is bliss after all."

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Shade asked suddenly, as he stepped into the light casted by the glowing TV. The shadow mutant had yet to see the black animals curled up by the teenager.

"GEEZ!"

The teenager shrunk into the corner of the couch and got startled by the sudden appearance which caught even his dogs by surprise. Tinaker perked his ears, scanned the hooded man with his red eyes and growled, but did not move from where he was, while Astor, who had been lying on the floor, rose up in a challenging posture.

Miles was aware he didn't know everyone in Sanctuary. Many of the residents were older than him and led completely different lives that did not involve school or interests that appealed to him, so he still kept making new acquaintances even after all this time. They were all mutants, so seeing some of these people hang from ceilings and be 7 foot tall or be hotties that were constantly followed by ghosts was something you simply needed your mind to be prepared for.

The hooded man appeared right out of nowhere but that shouldn't make him a threat, specially if his first words were asking why he wasn't in bed. He calmed down, patted his smaller dog on the head again and simply whispered "Down, boys" and both dogs relaxed and returned to their 'as still as furniture' status, completely ignoring the newcomer. He didn't know or had seen this man before, or even heard of him either, but he figured if he was in Sanctuary it's because he lived here.

Miles stretched his hand to a little table by the side of the couch that had a plate with a few snacks, salted crackers, a muffin and a soda can. He grabbed the can and took a swig out of it.

"Can't sleep. I don't know why" he said, sipping from his Mountain Dew with 55mg of caffeine. The question did make him feel a bit like a child being scolded or told what to do, so his instinctive reaction was to behave a little more rebellious and mature. Pointing at the TV set with the remote he added:

"They don't even have porn. I already checked."

The dogs gave Shade a fright about as much as he had given the teenager on the couch. However, the shadow mutant's first instinct was to form a blade from the shadow of his hand. He held the knife tensely as he locked eyes with the blood red ones of the black dog. Shade only broke the gaze when the mutt was called off by his master. Relaxing a little, the night crawler waved away the knife as it turned to smoke. Advancing to the couch, Shade slipped a leg over the back of the couch and slopped down next to the teen, chuckling slightly at his comment.

Cheeky. That was what this generation seemed to be. Someone always had to be popping a joke. The boy reminded Shade of the bird-brained youngster the shadow mutant had run into the other day. He had been most cheeky too.

Not wanting to ruin the couch his blood, Shade removed his hoodie, revealing a black T-shirt beneeath, before using the clean sleeve to wipe off a little of the blood that had seeped through the fabric and covered his forearm. He then tossed the destroyed garment on the floor in front of an adjacent armchair. His albino appearance was obviously evident with the removal of his sweater with his strikingly blond, almost-white hair and blue eyes. Not to mention his skin was as white as a ghost.

"No porn, huh? Well we might have to talk to management about that." Shade commented as he reached across and stole a fresh Mountain Dew can. He glanced at the dogs and was surprised to see them still frozen in their nature, not even their tail was wagging. With a raised eyebrow, he popped the top to his can and took a long drink.

"They have something to do with your mutation, I presume?" Shade asked, gesturing towards the mutts.

The guy was messy, in his manners and in the way he handled his clothes. He was also pale, chalk white. Miles never noticed what he created and vanished in his hand, then he tried to clean something wet he had on his sleeve but in the darkness it was difficult to tell if it was water or mud. His hoodie ended up getting thrown on the floor soon afterwards.

Miles was wearing rubber sandals, dark blue shorts that went past his knees and a white t-shirt. He flung his sandals away from his feet, as if to prove the guy wasn't the only one who could throw clothes around, then brought his bare feet up into the couch. The guy was definitely not the preachy sort when he pretty much took the porn comment in stride and then asked about the dogs.

If Miles was in Sanctuary, it was obvious he was a mutant and that went without saying. The dogs, however, could always confuse other people regarding what his mutation was about. People's first choice was usually mind control, others vouched for possession and a few others knew the dogs were dead, whether it was because they had sharp senses, they noticed the dogs didn't need to breathe or Miles had made a dumb mistake and let it slip.

"Yup" he said at the guy, taking another swig from his can. "They're pretty much my slaves. Highly obedient. Totally under my control, so no need to be afraid" he explained, as the dogs were usually very scary for the average folk.

It was obvious that the albino was not average though and when someone asked you about your mutation, it was almost common courtesy to ask about theirs.

"What's yours? You just popped up in here and gave me a scare. I bet it's... walking through walls."

Shade was distracted for a moment by the zombie movie that was still playing on the television. Presently, it was showing a man's guts being ripped out by a horde of the undead as fake blood sprayed out like a broken water fountain. The shadow mutant laughed at the spectacle. It was like they hadn't even seen someone be killed before! Returning back to the conservation at hand, Shade refocused back on the boy.

"Well I'm glad. I wouldn't want to be bitten by them. Especially that one." He said, nodding at the larger of the two canines. Shade knew better than to try and touch a strange dog.

"No, but you are close. I can jump through shadows." He replied simply. The rest of his mutation would be a little hard to explain, but those parts were also what made Shade the perfect assassin.

"So I'm guessing your name is like 'Wolfpack' or something like that?"

Good lord, zombie movies were freaking violent and the effects were so realistic...

The guy easily picked out the more dangerous of his two dogs and Miles smirked at that. Astor's loyalty and protective instincts towards the boy was unquestioned, even before he was turned. Regarding jumping through shadows, his brain did take a moment to understand that. Why shadows? Weren't shadows just... the absence of light? Why would light suddenly put a stop to his jumping? Maybe there was something else in the shadows people simply didn't know and took their immaterial qualities for granted?

Still, the guy's mutation was downright cool. If albinism was the only visible drawback, it didn't seem like a big one. A person could do all sorts of things jumping through shadows.

Creepy things.

The guy asked if Miles name was 'Wolfpack'. Why would it be? They were dogs. Then again... Dog Boy? Dog Master? He could turn more than just dogs and make pretty much any dead creature a thrall. Thrall Maker? Dead Riser? But... everyone knew him for the dogs. Necronomidog?

"No. It's more like... MIles" he said, pausing and immediately wondering the wisdom of giving his real name to a total shadow lurking stranger in the dead of night. He decided to amend the goof-up a little by giving away a fake last name, the first thing that popped in his head, lest he grow suspicious he just made it up.

"Miles Ermahgerd, at your service."

Then again, strangers don't remain strangers if they know each other a little, right?

"What's yours? And.. why can't you jump through light?"

"Miles...Ohmiguard?" Shade replied, skeptically. It was a weird name, like nothing he had ever heard before, but he had just met a bird boy named Griff. He shook his head in slight disbelief. People had some weird names nowadays. The shadow stalker took another drink from his can of yellowish liquid before he leaned by his a sigh and placed his tennis shoes up on the coffee table. He was certain the new Order leadership would probably frown on this habit, but Shade was tired. And he deserved a rest every now and then.

"It's Shade." The darkness mutant stated bluntly, refusing to use the label that humans had placed on him. He wasn't looking at Miles when he talked, instead watching the gory movie that was playing on the television.

"Well the thing is that I can't shadow 'jump' unless I am invisible and I only turn invisible when I'm in the dark so..." Shade trailed off, assuming the teenager would figure out the rest. He chuckled as a zombie had its head blown off.

"Hey, you ever wonder why when someone gets sprayed with zombie blood- like when they chainsaw one- that they don't turn into a zombie too? Always wondered that." The shadow mutant said, suddenly.

No wonder he had managed to walk in unnoticed so easily and his chosen name fit him pretty well. Going invisible in the shadows? That was sneaky.

"You'd think my dogs fur would help them be sneaky in the dark but the eyes always betray them."

The eyes were always on. Always red and bright unless they closed them and walked blind. To this day, he hadn't figured out the whats and the whys of his mutation, he had just simply learned to accept there would be things about it he wouldn't understand. Just how did that happen anyway? What could he possibly have done to return his animals to life and so changed besides?

Shade mentioned the logic of sprayed blood turning actors into zombies in movies and Miles couldn't help eyeing his own dogs again.

"The movie would be over in fifteen minutes if they did and the zombies would always win" he answered, noticing that the lead in the movie was indeed bloody and still human. "But it doesn't make sense. They always claim it's some kind of disease, that rottens and destroys the bodies of normal people and somehow are hungry for brains? Why would a rotten corpse be hungry for anything? Why brains? It's stupid."

Then he commented something that might have been a little too close to home.

"Real zombies are not rotten and they're never hungry."

Shade glanced down at the pair of mutts when Miles mentioned their eyes. Now, that he thought about it. The shadow mutant had never seen a dog with glowing red eyes, let alone a pair of them. Not to mention, there never moved, like a regular animal. They were always holding a pose. They were always still, too still.

"Yeah, but it makes them look a hell of a lot creepier." Shade commented with an evil grin. Being one of the only times that one saw the shadow stalker without his hood, it could be clearly seen that the smile did not transfer to his eyes which remained stone cold, like they were telling the person looking at them that they had better run before there was a knife in their back.

"Well why can't the zombies win once in a while?" Shade asked rhetorically, throwing a hand at the TV. But he let the teenager finish his explanation. He nodded his approval as Miles explained how zombies seemed, as his attention drifted back to the bloody scene being displayed. However, Shade's head suddenly snapped back to look at Miles when he uttered the last phrase. He wasn't sure if had heard the teen right. Real zombies? Zombies weren't real!

"Wai-what?" The shadow mutant stuttered as he stared at the younger mutant in disbelief.

Oh boy.

Evasive maneuvers Miles, evasive maneuvers!

The teenager disliked talking about his dogs condition to other people, including mutants. He feared they were prone to judging and pegging him under a light he didn't feel comfortable under. He thought his mutation was dark in nature and could freak people out, so he avoided talking about it, specially because it could even be interesting to the wrong sort of crowd. So far, some of the people he had told had been understanding, and that included Kealey, Syn and Mama T, but all three of them were the comprehensive sort, willing to lend a helping hand while this guy's smile had a 'twinkle' to it that caused chills. Miles resorted to his usual lying tactics, but this time, his imagination seemed to have gone on vacation.

"I mean... uhm... 'reel' zombies, the kind you see in movie theaters and... not on TV? Those... those zombies are different and they're not... rotten and ... uh..."

Good lord, even a baby could see through that one. Miles petted his dog, who remained unfazed and unresponsive as he tried to fix his answer up.

"What can I say? Zombies are real. I know it from first hand experience. And they're not weak, slow moving, dead eyed, rotting creatures. They actually can kick some ass" he said, trying to remain a little cryptic as he tugged his dog's ear affectionately. The tug made the dog's head turn and stare at Shade's eyes with his bright, glowing, red ones.

"Riiight..." Shade replied to Miles's first comment. It was really a pathetic lie. Then the teen quickly backpedaled on his story. He said that zombies were in fact real, not just real but deadly. With the way Miles implied it, his dogs might even be zombies. It would explain why they rarely moved without orders from the teenager. And why they just stared constantly. The bright, red eyes of the dog staring at Shade made the shadow mutant want to dig them out with his blade, but he restrained himself.

"So your dogs are zombies?" Shade asked, shifting his gaze from the dogs red eyes back to the teen's.

"Did you make them?"

Boom! He laid it out there, no anesthetics whatsoever.

"What!? I never said that! I never implied... I was talking about... other zombies! How did you know!?"

Stupid Miles. Maybe you are sleepy. What other zombies? What else in the entire room did not look weak, slow, dead eyed or rotting? Was he supposed to think you were talking about some past encounter you had? Someone else's zombies? A friend of a friend's?

Well, the cat was out of the bag. The reason he didn't like telling people about the dog's condition was mostly to avoid others freaking out and thinking of him as some kind of dark, creepy mutant. He was not. It was a dark, creepy mutation, that was for sure, but he, himself was pretty average. People just didn't understand...

Then again, Shade was the sort of people who seemed to understand dark and creepy, the way he was enjoying the violence of the film and the fact he actually used shadows to his advantage. He seemed surprised at Miles' revelation, but not creeped out in the least.

"Would it... frighten you... if they were?" he asked, testing the waters. "Hypothetically speaking?"

How did he know? Did Shade really have to answer that? What else in the room did not look powerful, imposing, and deadly (well, besides the shadow jumper)? However, that also begs the question that if these were the most current zombies, had the little kid made more? How many more? How many could he make an army? Now, that would be something to see. Especially, when Shade came to the realization that every dead soldier of their enemy's then became their ally. A especially nasty grin slid across the face of Shade. This kid could be very valuable.

"Frighten me?" Shade echoed the kid's words.

"Are you kidding me? You can make zombies! That is awesome!" Shade replied, half-yelling the last part. Then he turned back to the television as if to return to the movie. However, after a moment, he casted his eyes back to his companion of the couch.

"Just don't ever try to turn me into a zombie." Shade said, glancing in Miles out of the corner of his eye as if he might try it at that very moment.

Now this was a feeling he wasn't used to. He lived in fear of his own mutation, he despised his dark persona and he didn't tell others about it because he always expected negative reactions. To get one so positive about being able to 'make zombies' was completely new to him.

It was like...when you have a hobby everyone considers weird and shun-worthy. You delve into it, you don't tell people about it to not get any strange looks, but the moment you meet someone who goes 'Gosh! I love that!' you can't help but feel like...

... Flaunting? Maybe showing off a little? Spilling the beans?

"Well then, scratch hypothetical I guess" he said with an embarrassed smile spreading on his lips. It wasn't awesome! But damn, it felt good that someone actually found it that way. Then again... What kind of person would think making zombies was awesome?

Shade did warn Miles he shouldn't try to turn him into a zombie, but this obviously uninformed comment pushed Miles down the explanation slope.

"No, no, I can't just go making zombies willy-nilly. It's a bit of a process. A disgusting and awful process but in the end, yes... My dogs are pretty much undead and they both went through it. I figure I could do it to any person, but I've no intention of doing it, less of all to you..." he clarified, trying to give Shade some peace of mind. He then added the linch pin, the key element needed to create a 'zombie'.

"... besides, you'd need to be dead first."