Hush in The Bush

The Other Lead

The door had opened wide, uncovering the men. Isabella hurriedly pulled her close to her in a corner where no one would notice. She’s living by her own shadow and she needs to be anxious now that she’s back. She understood that this part needs to be spoken out only with Isabela. The two captains have arrived and now she’s underneath the table, obscured by the cloth and dealing with the loud beats of her chest as the dust brushed her palms. Her hair had been lunged by those cobwebs as well. She could only see those shadows of their legs and heard those small studs. Catheryne kept tapping her shoe in front of her, annoying her a bit as she scratched her back.

“Why are you still up?” Captain Roswal asked.

“We’re just checking up on the queen if it’s still awake and now she had joined us for a bit of a talk.” Isabela answered, stepping her fingers all of a sudden. “What about you? Why are you here?”

Mildred wanted to scream in agony, but she would be caught and now she had to deal with the throbbing pain instead. It was a payback from Isabela. She bit her lip hard, her eyes were staring red and maddening. She waited for her to move her shoe. She’s sure that it was purposely.

“We want to tell you that I’ll be the one to transfer the case tomorrow. The early the better and Mr. Wilbert wants it soon enough for the tests.” He pondered.

“I know. I assumed that it would be better if it’s you who would take it rather than me, right Captain John?”

“I definitely would agree.” John shortly stated.

“If you’re done there, please take the woman to her room. Mr. Wilbert also wanted to discuss some things with her alone by tomorrow. We’ll take her with us. Be prepared, queen.” He winked his eye to Devian in exchange with such a cold gape. The woman is still not unnerved.

Her eyes were glancing underneath and George had witnessed it, making her stop by pinching her left arm. The two were apprehensive about their current actions but they have thought that they were just depleted. Captain Roswal had tapped the doctor's shoulder and smiles at them all.

"I'll see you tomorrow. As for you, Devian, prepare yourself."

John still wanted to talk to Isabela, but the woman had shown no interest in finding such time to spend with him. Captain Roswal had grabbed his mug that he had forgotten a while ago and went to the door. Before he left, he had reminded them to take their shifts seriously as Dr. Victoria and the others are still healing in their rooms. They need their presence somehow.

The two slowly departed and George decided to follow them and was directed to his laboratory first to get his tubes. Catheryne had accompanied her best friend. When silence had entered the premise once again, a hand had clasped Isabela's ankle making her flinched unexpectedly. She forgot that they had hidden Mildred underneath. A squeal of fun came out from her. She tapped her knees from the filth and sat beside Devian.

"I think I would love to have you as a friend than these two." She pointed to them.

"I didn't ask either."

"Oh no. It's a free offer. You should take it. I don't offer myself to anyone that easily. Where's the doctor?"

"He'll be with us tomorrow." Catheryne said.

"Oh. So this is girls' power now. Unfortunately, I only need Isabela this time. Get the queen inside her hive now." She insisted to Catheryne and grabbed Isabela to the other room where no one would hear them. Shutting the door, she faced the woman as she raised her hand in front of her to let her see the redness that she had made from stepping on it. "I'll give it a pass this time."

The window was open to their right and the cold air had drifted inside, swaying their hair. "You need to see this first." She cupped her pocket and snatched an insignificant red box. She opened it slowly and a silver badge with a red-eye symbol.

"Do you know something about this?" Mildred attentively questioned her.

She shook her head fast as she examined it. "No. Not at all. What is it?"

"It's the lead that I took from Roxan. I was hoping that you know anything when you see it but I guess it's no point. The woman told me that it came from one of the people here. It would take us quite some time to ask each one of us here, but then something came up as I talked to Roxan. She told me even more that it was a symbol of a higher-ranked official.

"Why do you trust that woman in the first place when she had completely made Victoria and our team to suffer back there?"

"You need to shed blood sometimes in order to win, Isabela. It is part of my plan, but it has never been my intention from the start to hurt them. They were just unlucky that it was them that have experienced it."

"Don't act such superior here. You're no different from them."

"And what makes you different then?"

It had shut her mouth for a while. Cutting her off guard had been a thing of Mildred. To her, Isabela hasn't changed at all. She could still see her as a child, standing still behind her father. She doesn't want to question her leadership but as to what she can see, she can tell that her emotions have been mixed up lately and they're bothering her.

"Try to remember it. I know you have something in your memory about it. And as an answer to your question, Roxan is a woman that we can trust at the same time an enemy. She's a two-faced woman. Right now, she's helping me to catch the man and someway or another, I know that she would do a thing about it. She hates defeat just like me."

"They will hunt you."

"Not for now. She surely got the message this time that I made for her and I'm distinct that she would take the other path. She sees me as her new dog. We'll hold on to that. So...let's continue our discussion about this." She waved the badge and smiled.