Thut.
Thut.
Messiah Ate was unbuttoning his shirt.
He stood on the bed, one leg on either side of the unfazed captive.
"Finally. Finally, the day has come when I fulfill my greatest desire."
Messiah Ate—previously known as Joe Baston—had been completely enraptured.
So much so, in fact, that he completely forgot about the feed from his living room.
There, it was no longer only the unconscious trio and the dead Sean.
But, a couple more people—five of them to be exact.
One was a lady in black.
She was the crew director.
The others were all men, each in khaki.
They followed her directions and carried the bodies away.
After the mess was slowly cleaned up, the lady, stone-faced, stared at the camera.
Taking out a Glock fitted with a suppressor, she shot at it.
Bang.
The feed went black.
Messiah, still in his paradise, didn't notice.
The TV screen was dark, and the lady—oh, she was coming upstairs.
*****
It was raining, and the skies of Teal City were far from the color teal.
Yet Nala Von Naisom didn't let the rain hinder her steps.
She was heading to the place Zaire had wanted them to go:
The West-Teal Army Cantonment.
If survivors exist anywhere, that is the haven.
That's what Zaire had said. And she believed him. Wholeheartedly.
The sun soon showed its face.
Covering the intense rays with her wet palm, she squinted.
Sniff... phoo...
I might catch a cold like this...
Nonetheless, she didn't dilly-dally.
She kept walking toward the city. Toward her destination.
She had walked a kilometer before she finally spotted a bicycle.
A mess of blood and organs lay lathered over it.
The rain had washed most of it away, but the leftover mess had turned gooey.
Nala closed her eyes and clasped her hands.
Whoever you were, may you rest in peace... Lord, please bless this soul like all the rest... Thank you!
Tss...
Opening her eyes, she took in a deep breath.
Feeling content, she picked up the bike.
Shake, shake.
Shaking the bike and rubbing some grime off the handlebars, she rode off.
After pedaling for an hour, she was there.
She was at the Army Cantonment.
And... there were people.
Tears mixed with a warm smile broke across Nala's face.
To fulfill the duty she had come for, she dropped her bike and rushed inside.
*****
Brigadier General Yves Quiver was strolling absentmindedly in his office.
His face looked blank. His lips were pressed into a frown, and his eyes had bags.
Stress had added ten extra years to his age.
All communications had been down since the apocalypse.
He had been trying to establish comms from the very beginning.
He was entrusted with the duty to save the people. Yet he had been failing.
The radio signals got no answer.
He had rounded up the army very fast and dealt with the beasts inside the cantonment, but getting deeper into the city's heart had proven incredibly difficult.
Beasts had banded into large hordes, and some had turned so ferocious that their mere presence was enough to instill terror in men.
But he was still hopeful.
Hopeful because he had seen something that surprised him.
And that thing was simply the tenacity of humans.
Many had lost their loved ones, yet only a few had broken.
Every hurt soul—those his men had rescued, and even the families of his own soldiers—banded together.
Each helped the other. People, humans, had turned this post-apocalyptic world into a genuine community.
Many civilians enlisted and helped the army in its endeavor to find and rescue more survivors.
Brigadier Yves was proud.
He was proud of humanity and knew that anything was possible because of the incredible resilience of people.
As Brigadier Yves pondered ways to break deeper into the city, he failed to notice another presence in his office.
A very, very rare occurrence for someone so astute.
And he wouldn't have noticed the person if that person hadn't called out to him:
"Sir, I need your help... Please, help me."
Alerted, Brigadier Yves took a few steps back.
Pointing his gun at the intruder, he commanded,
"On the floor, right this instant!"
But then he saw the intruder.
A girl half his age.
A very innocent-looking sweet summer child.
Immediately lowering his gun, he softly asked,
"Kiddo... Who are you? Why are you here, child? And... wait, why didn't I notice you?"
The girl looked at the middle-aged man.
She knew she had to make herself and Zaire seem incredibly impressive for this man to consider wasting valuable resources to save them.
"Sir, I am Nala Von Naisom. My skill is called 'The Forgotten.' It's passive. Simply put, people and beasts fail to notice me unless I grab their attention. I had to break in to impress you, sir. My... friend is in grave danger, but I promise you, he is a hundred times more impressive than me. Please, help us. We will surely repay our debts."
Brigadier General Yves Quiver looked at the girl.
Tears had welled up in the girl's eyes.
He was her last option.
The world must have been harsh to her, and what a horrible skill...
"Come here, child."
Yves Quiver beckoned.
Nala, perplexed, took steps toward him.
When Nala was close enough, he hugged her.
Brigadier General Yves Quiver had lost his whole family to the apocalypse—including his baby daughter.
"Child, freshen up. I'll call my assistant. He'll take you to your quarters. Eat and replenish yourself. I promise you, the army will save your friend... And child, don't worry. Everything will be fine."
He lightly caressed her head.
Nala Von Naisom couldn't understand why she was crying in a stranger's embrace.
But she couldn't control herself.
She bawled, she openly did.
*****
Messiah Ate looked at his palms.
He was horrified.
They were drenched in blood.
He had fallen off the bed where he had been standing.
Messiah Ate felt his vision blurring.
Fuck, I have a hole in my head. How?...
His penultimate vision was a girl in black gazing from the doorway.
She was quivering and looked stern simultaneously.
Nala Von Naisom... fuck...
And his ultimate vision: Amelia Skylance looking at him... with a smile of freedom and tears of relief.
Fuck... Even in this world I am a nobody...