“Liars! They are nothing but liars. I told you they have nothing to offer. They couldn’t save us so they sent us here to die!”A man and a woman stood in front of Alagan Gate.They were staring at the notes pasted on the signboard.The auburn-haired woman flinched every time she heard the snarls of the zombies from within the city.“Something must be keeping them from the gate," she said quietly as she stared desperately at the warning notes.“What does it matter? If we can’t enter the gate, we can’t get to the facility!” the man snapped at her.His beaked nose flared as he looked at her. “I told you we should stay put. I told you we shouldn’t listen to that ridiculous recording. Now see this!” He jerked his hand towards the notice. " It is all your fault!"“This is not the time for blame,” the woman said timidly. “We need solution.”“Solution. You want a solution,” the man responded with snorted laughter. “Have you gone mad, woman? There is no solution! The world is coming to an end
Colonel Aguilar got a call. The men confessed that they truly had Adam’s family with them. “He is the one that master wants, though,” said one of the men as he pointed at Adam “Well, you are in luck then. Here he is. Take us to him,” Colonel Aguilar said. The men didn’t argue. Two of Aguilar’s men entered Watson's jeep and they led the way. They had not gone far when the colonel’s phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and picked up the call immediately. She kept repeating, “Yes, sir.” “Okay, sir.” “Right away, sir” on the phone in a contrite tone until the call was disconnected. “We have to turn back,” she said immediately. “What?!” Layla asked in shock. The captain sighed loudly and closed her eyes for a moment before saying, “I am so sorry, Lay, but I really have to. My action at the moment is a breach of protocol. I was on duty when I decided to do this. I thought I could help you with this and get back to the facility before they finished offloading the supplies.” “Wh
Foreboding chills engulfed Adam as the men’s whispering conversation went on and on.After they entered the gate only to see more armed men inside, the two men who led them in had told them to hold on at the foyer.Just as they were leaving, a man dressed a bit differently from the other bodyguards came down the staircase and the men who told Adam and Layla to wait quickly went to him.Adam strained his ears to be able to pick out their words, but they were too far away for even his sharpened hearing to pick on.One of the men who brought them took out the note from the colonel and gave it to the man.At a point, the man they were talking to looked over at Adam and they kept talking.Adam’s anxiety grew and he knew that walking through that door would probably turn out to be the worst action of his life.“You should have followed her,” he said quietly.“What?” Layla asked suddenly.“Your aunt. You shouldn’t be here.”“What the hell are you talking about?”The man came towards them.Ad
The bodyguard jumped out of the way right on time.The young master looked up at him with rage.“How dare you?!” he yelled.“I am sorry, sir,” the bodyguard said quickly with a deep bow.“I am sorry, young master,” said the lead bodyguard as he entered. “But master said..."“I know what my father said, damn it!” roared the young master.He turned to look at Adam with vengeance in his eyes. “The stakes have been raised now. This bastard has a lot more to pay for!”“I am sure."“Just shut the hell up!” the young master yelled, and everyone got quiet.Knowing that he probably wouldn’t shoot him again, Adam couldn’t hold back his questions anymore.“Where are my family, please?”The young man let out a disbelieving, short laugh.“Can you hear that? Can you see that audacity?” he asked no one in particular.Then he pointed at the blood patch on the floor again “Sure, why not? They are right there,” he said callously.Adam’s heart thumped painfully as he looked down at the spot, then back a
“No, no. Stop that thing right now, before it puts us in another trouble!” Layla said urgently as she backed away from the rattling sword. While Adam was banging on the door, the sword had materialised. Adam quickly held it before it could ram the door. Still, it rattled in his hands as if it wanted to jump out. “I can't!” Adam snapped in frustration. Sweat ran down his face in his effort to hold on to the strange force of the sword. “What do you mean you can't...? Of course, you can! It is responding to your agitation! Can’t you see?!” “I can see that! Why not do it then since you know so much about it?!” Adam snapped right back. “Where the hell did you even... you know what? Never mind! Just keep it in check before it kills us all!” Layla shouted with fright in her tone. Adam ignored her and concentrated on his feelings. He might not know how to fully control the sword yet but he knew something. The sword acted based on what he was feeling. Adam concentrated on his pain a
“Percy?! I need you to…”“My name is Persephone!” The tow-headed, skinny girl turned back to snap at Dixon. She looked away from him and looked around her unfocusedly as she repeated to herself, “My name is Persephone, and I am not crazy!”“Okay, okay. Good to know,” Dixon responded with a roll of his eyes. With his hands stretched towards her, he said, “Calm your jets. I get it. You are not crazy. I need to know that you know where you are going, though. I don’t fancy getting lost.”She looked at him blankly for a while, then smiled. “You talk funny—the hotel. I know the hotel. Jared said I can’t go anywhere by myself but I can go to the hotel. I know there. I am hungry.”Dixon’s mouth hung open at her erratic way of talking. He still hadn’t gotten used to it.“You are hungry? I met you around wrappers of all kinds of food! How can you... You know what? Don’t answer that. I am hungry too. Just get us to the hotel and I am sure we are going to... well, I will get you something to eat
“Dr. Blair,” Lisa called as she rushed to the side of the coughing woman on the floor.Adam was relieved that the unconscious woman was not his mother, as he had first thought.He watched Lisa help the white-cloaked woman to a sitting position.With her hands held to her head as if she were in pain, she blinked up at Lisa and asked in a thready voice, “Where is the cure?”“What cure?” Adam spoke his thoughts out loud.Lisa looked at him and looked guiltily at the virologist.“I am so sorry, Dr. Blair, but what knocked you out also made me lose hold of the canister. It got smashed and the cure is all gone.”Dr. Blair’s eyes widened, and she instantly forgot her pain as she clutched Lisa’s lapels with both hands “You mean it is all gone? The only solution I was able to extract after so much was gone? My ticket out of hell is gone." Her voice rose in agitation as she shook Lisa with each of her questions.“Okay, I don’t care who you are but I won’t stand by and watch you abuse my sister,
A few minutes earlierColonel Aguillar stood at the head of the throngs of men.She waited expressionless as the scientists made the necessary last adjustment to the tanks they had with them.Outwardly, she appeared calm and unbothered by anything.Yet inwardly, she couldn’t help but think of her niece.What if she had overestimated Cletus's sense of reasoning?What if he didn’t care about her explicit order that nothing must happen to Layla and her friend?What if she had just sent her niece to her death?That would mean failing her sister all over again.Wishing that this assignment would be over as soon as possible, she tried to put all her focus on it.It was a high-risk assignment.She had been directed to Alagan on the pretence of a food courier assignment.As much as she was irked by the sudden assignment that was dropped on the shoulders of her and her men, she knew there was no going back.An order had come from above.All they had to do was follow it.She was sorry for the f