****Smallsvile***.
"**
For weeks Smallsvile has been under attack by the werewolves. The killings have been maddening. Everyone seemed to be dying in hastiness and the world outside didn't know what is happening.
The news getting to people in Figma P and Batök is different from what people in Smallsvile manage to see in the news. They thought everyone else knows about their condition. The dead died thinking people outside knew about them.
Communication had been restricted. People in Samllsvile can't call outside.
The streets looked barren. The trees have died first from the rain than from everything else. Bones are now on the roads. Cars can't move freely. Gangs sprang up among the newly evolved werewolves. Damien now owns a gang and he started controlling from the east end to the second alley. Alpha now controls the Danim. He killed their master and got information on Elvira's dealings but he doesn't care about that. His new strength is enough.
"Thinking spoils a man. We aren't humans. We shouldn't think. Kill them all. And there are still some humans hiding. We'll hunt them down. What do you say, guys?"
"Hunt them down! Hunt them down! Hunt them down!"
They continued shouting around him. A woman steps forward. Her eyes are wider and she has a tattoo of a crab on her left hand. She looked green and taller. Her voice was stronger and staunch.
"I want to say to you all," the shouting died down.
"I am Georgina Nicole. A material scientist from The Fifth Alley. When we were hunted down, I ran here and I have been hiding for months. I swear my allegiance to you, Alpha. Let's build a nation together."
"Join me up here." He reached for her hands. "We shall rule together. We shall destroy them all. And for those factions, we'll also hunt them down."
"Hunt them down. Hunt them down." The shouting continued and the stars made the night richer.
***
Down in the bunkers, Sam, Catherine, and Sarah continued exchanging messages. Catherine found a laptop and they've been digging up stuff. They know it's hard to find the right answers. One stumbles on them with the right buttons. They know the werewolves are evolving but not necessarily smart.
A message came in from Sarah.
"Hello, how are you holding up? I'm planning on coming over. we should be together. Though I have Linda here and Allen. They'll be coming with me. We'll be over when the gangs are out. They now party hard at night."
Catherine knew she has lost many things lately. She knew she might not get Alpha and Damien back if they didn't find a solution sooner before they killed them. She is tired but suppressing it. She loves Alpha but now that love is in doing the right thing to help them.
"Looking forward to seeing you. Make sure you are safe. Sam has been a great guy."
She sent the message and went back to the page displaying the structure of what Jenn had turned into. The amino series are completely different and toluene is missing in another. But the puzzle remained, how did they build the prototype of which her aunt is now part.
Sam came in. He held a shield and a sword shining at both ends. It has inscriptions on it in Insibidi and none of them could read it.
"I found this in the antic. Martha described this on that page."
"What?"
"Yeah. This is what we need to kill them temporarily and quickly reverse them back. I hope it'll work."
"We should try it first. And my aunt, where can we get her?"
"I don't think we can get such a force. She's like the spectrum. If we capture it. It'll grow stronger and we'll have to deal with that."
"Let's see what comes up."
"Alright."
"And Sarah is coming over."
"What?"
"She's coming over with two other humans."
"That is dangerous. Considering what the gangs are doing lately."
"Let's see how it goes. She wants to be with us. If she dies on her way to that, probably it's justifiable."
"What? I don't think it's that way. Though we can't dictate to her what to do we know what it takes to be out there. These folks' senses are stronger and they've lost that sense of acquittance."
"Then we'll have to help her get here. I know she has a plan too. She's not some kid."
"And you know Damien comes here every night with his gang to cuss us. Only that he has forgotten where the bunker is. But he didn't forget we are here."
"That's because he's not lost completely. We need to study him more."
"The sword will be used on them."
They laughed and Sam walked back into the other room.
***
Guero's office
"The humans are a mad set of creatures. Look at how they whimper to death." Alpha laughed. Georgina sat on his lap playing with his brows. He held her closer at the waist. She squeezed into him touching him with her bosom.
"We'll get rid of them." She smiled and kissed him on his forehead. He pulled her closer and gradually reaches under her top. She smiled again and gave him the way up. They kissed for a while then someone entered. He's a young boy with bald hairlines and wears baggy jinns.
"What do you want?" Alpha said.
"Oh! I am sent to give you this." he gave him a blue flash drive and stumbled out.
"Come back here…" he called.
"Let him go. We'll continue from where we started after this." She plugged in the flash drive to the laptop and boom it exploded.
The shockwave threw both of them against the window. The glasses shattered and they fell burning. Another explosion blew up downstairs throwing them all out like confetti. Fire engulfed the fortress and Alpha and Georgina was nowhere to be found.
***
It was that moment Sarah and the other two people ran out of the bunker towards the gate. They docked fires and ran through sweating. They know their survival depended on it. They could die if they remain in the bunker and they could die now too. Life is nothing but a dice.
***
When Damien had the fortress was bombed and that Alpha is missing, he only continued laughing and drinking his wine. He was in a bar that night when the news came up. He couldn't remember his past with Alpha nor does he feel any remorse for not remembering. Somehow he feels he's safer now even though he couldn't remember his past.
"Tim, bring me more bottles. I'm going to party tonight."
"Alright, sir."
"Faster, boy."
He looked at the static picture of the fortress alongside that of Alpha but couldn't remember anything.
***
Sarah Lawson and the others managed to get to the bower. They entered and found the hound patched outside eating something that looked like a bat. They walked past without looking back. She called Catherine and she came out of the bunker looking rough and dank.
" Hey,"
"Look at you," said Sarah. " Meet my guys here."
"How are you doing?" She shakes hands with them. Sam came out too and smiled. Sarah hugged him.
"She's the Queen here. You should know her."
"Heard of her when in Fifth Alley."
"You are welcome."
***
When they got in Sarah narrated what happened to them. Though she didn't see how Alpha fell she heard they were searching for him.
"I'm sorry, Catherine. I hope he's found."
"We all die someday," the boy said. " And people will mourn us. Though not all we get to be mourned."
"You are right, son," Sam said. "Come with me. Let me get you something to eat."
***
That night Catherine couldn't sleep. She was hoping they could save him first then the others. She smiled at her selfishness. We are all selfish and our world views revolve around it. So, she thinks, Alpha is gone. She turned in bed thinking about everything. She has lost so much in little time. She wants them all back. She wants to tell them something.
She looked at the hard walls supporting the bunker and the way it was designed. She knew the designer knew he or she will not last to continue seeing it. She saw the inscription on the wall saying: Stay around and make your life worthwhile. She smiled and tears roll down her cheeks. She remembered a poem she wrote in her note while in high school.
"The moon has no light
It comes after a struggle
A struggle you have to face
Hirelings
Saber
A bullet to your head
Run
Embrace the moon…"
***
Damien continued drinking away his life. He doesn't know what to do. That night. That night, he does not know what to do. He staggered, smiled, and grabbed his bottle.
"Good night, boy." He said. "See you tomorrow."
"Goodnight, sir."
"Fucking bastards! Cads and midgets."
The night went slow for them.