Invasion Day 14Wonosobo, Central Java, IndonesiaIn the middle of Lake Wadaslintang, a teenage boy stood surrounded by the water. The ghastly beasts of huge crocodiles, sea snakes, and other supernatural beings had long gone. He was alone, but that didn’t make it easier for him.His name was Artha, and he wouldn’t stop saying the chants in his head, even if the infectores attacked and the world ended. He had to keep meditating to complete this ritual.Well, that was the plan, anyway.On his third day in the lake, he heard someone asking for help. Right in his ears.“Help.”“Help!”“HELP!”There was no one.There was no one beside him, all alone in the middle of the lake. Surrounded by still water, and nothing else was there.“Help.”“Help!”“HELP!”But they screamed.They screamed,
Invasion Day 15Queens, New York, USABeatrice walked into the busy John F. Kennedy International Airport with her head held high. She looked at her surroundings, noticing that the usually great place was nothing more than a huge garbage now. Littered with infectores and some unmoving corpses.[3 people detected in the control room.]Thankfully, she was invisible to them due to using one of her skills. It allowed her to look like an infected person in the infectores eyes, making them think she was one of them. Although, the skill’s duration wouldn’t last long.[Skill – The Fool’s Mask ends in 3 minutes.]Beatrice sighed and hurried herself to the room control, following the map given by the System. Alas, the door was locked from the inside. She tried to smash it open with her axe, but even with the added Strength from her passive, the door didn’t budge.“Hey!” She yelled, hoping the people inside to hear her. “Open the door.”When no reply was heard, Beatrice looked up and searched fo
Invasion Day 15Queens, New York, USA“Invasion?” the bearded staff of the John F. Kennedy International Airport repeated. “So we’re in a war? What country dared to attack us?”Beatrice sighed, feeling annoyed. “Don’t you hear what I said earlier? Alien might be behind this invasion. Get your patriotism somewhere else, we’re not fighting humans. Earth is under invasion, and there’s only one place safe for human.”They paled at the implication. “Where?”“Point Hope, Alaska.”“How do we get there?”Beatrice grumbled. “We’re in an airport, how do yo go from place to place, mister? Did an infectore eat your brain already?”“No, it’s just …” The bearded airport staff moved to the large window and opened the blinds.Destruction upon destruction in the trajectory field. Infectores stroll around, looking for more brains to consume. Burnt and blown-up planes littered the grounds.It seemed that her venture to the airport birth no fruit.“Wait, we still have it, right?” The female staff looked
Invasion Day 16Queens, New York, USABeatrice used her trusted axe to ward off and kill infectores left and right.Her current companies, Spencer and the female control room staff who finally introduced herself as June Brickman, were uselessly holding on to their steel bar and shrieking whenever an infectore was within their reach.If they were going to be useless, at least they should have refrained from screaming their lungs out to her ears. And if Beatrice did not need their help finding the old fly, then she’d just left them to flail around with the airport’s infectores.It should be entertaining enough for Beatrice that she’d curse and mock them as if she was watching a live stream of her fellow gamer.The hallways of John F. Kennedy International Airport seemed so big compared to what the System’s map showed her. Understandable, as it should be, but without her enhanced Strength and Speed, she wouldn’t waste her energy running around the airport.Spencer shrieked again as an in
Invasion Day 17Wonosobo, Central Java, IndonesiaOn the seventh day, the last night and last hour of his ritual in the middle of Lake Wadaslintang, Artha gapped as he stood surrounded by still water. Something came from the darkness. Two white tigers of huge size and a beautiful woman riding one of them.Artha couldn’t take his gaze off them – not that he wanted to, anyway. It was an incredible sight. He never saw someone with such beauty in them. He knew her appearance was not what pulled his interest in her. The woman riding a white tiger, who could stop staring when it was a majestic sight like that?He almost forgot to continue his chants. Thankfully, there was no storm as a result of his negligence.The lake seemed to part in half, showing the stepping stones from the other side of the edge. One of the huge white tigers stayed by the lake’s shore, while the other tiger – with the most beautiful woman sitting on top – stepped on the stone. No white and black fur touched the wate
Invasion Day 18Wonosobo, Central Java, IndonesiaArtha did anything he could to stay still on the stepping stone, clothes dripping wet as the lake parted ways for the supernatural beings in front of him.The beautiful woman wearing a long, green kebaya offered him a cup made of a broken human skull. The dark, red liquid seemed to call his name. She brought the skull up, almost touching his lips.Artha leaned closer and sipped the dark blood from it, forcing himself to hold his gaze against the woman’s eyes. He wanted to throw up right away, but he could only close his eyes at the moment.No matter what, he must not throw up. It was the worst feeling he had to suppress.A moment later, the woman was back on the tiger’s back. She still didn’t say anything, but her eyes shone under the moonlit night. She was proud of him, for who knows why.The white beast retreated gracefully; its long tail swayed like part of a dance. Once the white beast’s paws touched the lake’s shore, the water clo
The reddish sun finally set in, calling forth the dark and the moon to adorn the sky.A skinny teenage boy of average height walked through the woods. He wore unwashed jeans and a sweaty oversized t-shirt. A bulky bag strapped to his shoulders, making him bend forward after an afternoon without rest.A nametag hung from his bag, spelled Artha Sangkala.It had been a long day for him. Soon, as the night started, his world would expand.He didn’t expect this at first.The invasion and infectores – all were stuff coming from nightmares. But here he was, surrounded by moving corpses and endless horror.Artha wasn’t new to this kind of thing. Ghosts, demons, and the devil, he was accustomed to them since a baby. Supernatural beings were what he called normal. A psychic, people said to him. He didn’t mind when the unseen creatures were often better than normal humans.Although, after a long day fighting infectores and killing them as a last resort, he was fed up with violence. However, he w
It had been a while since Artha followed Eyang Wadas through the other dimension. He tried to focus, hoping the walk to be short. But, like many things in life, not everything goes according to his wish. As someone who could be considered a psychic, seeing ghosts and demons was something normal. He wasn’t afraid of them, nor was he interested in hearing whatever they say to him. However, the supernatural creatures in the other dimension were not like what he had seen. Besides their animal-like appearance and humanoid plant shapes, they could speak his language fluently as they tried to entice him into taking them with them. Some of them even offered food, all kinds of them, really. His mouth watered the moment their nice smell hit his nose. He almost grabbed a skewered meat a half-bull half-man brought in front of him, but Artha shook his head, clearing his mind from the craving and hunger. Eyang Wadas was testing him. Clenching his hands into fists, Artha refocused and followed
The raid was a bust.The lieutenant didn't even wait until they were in the privacy of his office before chewing him like useless gum. He demanded, "What is this, Monroe?"Mark bit back the urge to say, 'What did I tell you about raiding it yesterday, Sir?' He waited quietly and avoided any eye contact from the many people in bulletproof vests with bold 'PPD' on their back, strapping their gun back into safety and rounding up their failed attempt. "Why did I spend three hours of driving to the middle of nowhere with a full squad to take down a drug lab and slavery den while there's nothing here?"Again, instead of pointing out that the raid should have been done as quickly as he had suggested, Mark waited."Tell me, Monroe, why are you even screwing up this bad after the rookie slip up with that fake journalist in the warehouse?"'This is not my fault,' he thought. "We are too late, Sir," he said."Too late? Are you saying I'm too slow to act?" Madsen retorted angrily. "Do you even k
"You're so annoying, do I have to remind you every hour?" Rhea grumbled from the passenger seat, watching the dark-haired man behind the steering wheel as the car drove itself to the hill house. "Old news," Lucian commented and then glared at her. "But I already said not to let him into this again."Of course. "Mikhal's right. You do sounds like a jealous secret boyfriend.""Ha. Ha." There was no humor behind that. "First, I am not your boyfriend, I'm your fiance. Second, you're the one keeping this a secret, not me."Rhea grinned, "You didn't deny the first one? Are you jealous?""So what?" She frowned but didn't say anything else. She still couldn't figure out why he was jealous of that tall coworker of hers. No matter how many times she asked him, Lucian wouldn't tell.'Or you just never believe his answer,' a small voice at the back of her head supplied helpfully. She brushed it off because it was total drivel. There was no way Lucian actually felt jealous just because he liked
She was not as reckless as Lucian sometimes said to her. But she was still new in this espionage thing, and Mikhal suddenly pushed her down to the ground. Her heart raced, pounding noisily along with the blood in her ears. Mikhal's tall figure was equally low by her side. Confidence may fool many people, but she had none of it right now. Especially not after a burly man in a tank top suddenly pointed his long firearm in her direction, right before she took another shot of the drug lab with her phone. Breathing quietly, they waited in suspenseful silence until the man turned his weapon away from their direction. Another man came out of the drug lab's door, probably exchanging words before both of them went inside again. Rhea exhaled in relief, shoulders slumping down as both Mikhal and her shared a look. They moved closer, trying to get more proof from the small window at the side of the building now known as the drug lab. Not only from the chemical glasses with some colored liquid
After four days of work, Rhea finally got her day off again. Mikhal texted her, 'Meet you at East Station in twenty.' Smiling to herself, Rhea texted back an affirmation. "So…" Liz glanced at her from behind the steering wheel, "If I may ask, where are you going, Miss Rhea?""Out," she merely said."Any specific place in mind?"Rhea locked her phone, "Not really."The bespectacled girl looked uncomfortable for a second before she asked again. "Do you have any companions?""Yes.""Oh. Who is that?"Rhea narrowed her eyes, not liking where the bespectacled girl was going with this. "Is this an interrogation?""No, of course, not." Liz hastily said, topping it with an awkward laugh that she tried to make it sound natural. "I'm sorry if it came out like that, Miss Rhea. I didn't mean to."She sighed, turning to the sturdy houses that came into view as they finally reached the town's area. "It's fine. Lucian ordered you to do that, right?" Liz stayed silent, so she'd take that as a yes.
The cafeteria was full of cola and burgers. "Free dinner for everyone!" one of the senior staff called out as they entered it. Rhea grinned – almost jumped in excitement – as her favorite food was served in front of her for free. Emi, on the other hand, chimed in a loud voice, "We don't pay to eat here!"She stuffed her face with the burger. She sat surrounded by a white shirt and blue vest-wearing staff, finally having a nice break out of the craziness of the afternoon shift. "I can't believe I was so excited about it before."Emi smiled broadly, munching on her mouthful bite of burger. She looked funny. "Didn't I tell you that it's crazy?""Yes, but you carefully left out the fact that it is precisely like that oddball group all over again, except, it happens continuously. Marching in a group in the lobby, then shoving each other to get in the elevator. Why do we only have four elevators, anyway?""But it only happens in the afternoon. After that, it's pretty slow, isn't it?"Rhea h
Lucian had been at the scene of serious diplomacy once, ages ago as he was still ten, where his father was showing him how to negotiate with a foreign mafia boss from another country. Earl would sign an agreement of letting said mafia boss move into Livingard and give him a little territory on the border to set up whatever operation they had planned. Earl would get back his prized butler slash right-hand man safely in one piece in exchange. He was fond of that man, his favorite butler. A middle-aged friendly guy who had a penchant for cutting apples into beautiful figures and dragging Lucian out of bed before dawn for a morning run. So, hearing that his favorite butler would be back after missing – he was captivated by the foreign mafia after accidentally crashing his motorbike to the mafia's daughter on the road – for three days, Lucian was eager when his father wanted him to tag along. It was supposed to be a valuable learning experience for him.One of the foreign mafia subordinat
'Let him be, don't talk to him, whatever, just ignore him.'She didn't even want to see him. But bottling her overflowing emotions? It was a ridiculous idea.Then a notification chimed in, breaking into her bubble of thought, pulling her from the suffocating underwater feeling. 'How's' your girl's day out with Emi?' Mikhal texted her, oblivious to the chaos she made herself. 'She was great.' She texted back.'Cool. No more outings today?' His reply came seconds later, followed by three dots, signifying he was typing now. 'Imma starts the afternoon shift today. Dunno what to expect.''Expect the worst.''Never know u'r such a pessimist.'She wasn't. Fine, maybe she was. Just at the moment, though. Rhea responded with a laughing emoticon. Followed by a string of crying yellow faces.'What was that?' She bit her bottom lip, 'I want to go out.' Her thumb sent it before she even read the line. She considered deleting it. No use, Mikhal already typed again.'I'm free, if you were asking
Sprinting to the beach, Rhea suddenly stopped before her sneakers touched the wet sand. Quickly taking them off, Rhea looked around for a place to put them without getting worried that the wave would sweep on them or someone take them away. Not that she was suspicious of some people enjoying the beach there, or that her shoes were extremely pricey – they were, not that Rhea knew about that, because it was Lucian who paid – but Rhea didn't want to lose her only pair of sneakers.She looked back to Lucian's parked car on the edge of the beach, where the dry ground met with green patches of grass. Squinting her blue eyes, Rhea calculated how much force she needed to get her shoes to the car's side. The light brown-haired girl got into a stance as if she would throw a slider with her sneaker as the ball. Then, Rhea let go of one of her sneakers in a powerful side swing. It flew in a bent trajectory and landed safely on the dry sand, though still a little far away from the car."Ah, I need
It was the first time Rhea saw a wolf in real life.The wolf looked like how a wolf would in a book or movie. Nothing special, unlike the jet-black wild wolf she saw in a show. Or the majestic white wolf in legends. The animal in front of her looked just like the usual wolf. Short, triangular ears. Broad snout. A long tail. Looking slender yet seems powerful in its built. Its back was grey, so was its upper head. While the rest of its fur was light brown, and the underside was white.Rhea could not believe it."Should we continue?" Jo asked, stepping slowly on the gas pedal.As Jo drove the car past the watchful gaze of the wolf, Rhea felt a shudder run through her body. Either it was a creepy coincidence, or Lucian somehow controlled the wolf to appear there and failed Rhea's escape. Which sounded impossible. Both of them.It was some minutes later that Jo stopped the car. They were near the first building in the outskirt of Stradfield's little town. "Are you sure you want to get off