Apocalypse: The Savior with System

24 The Rescued

“I’d hug you but we can’t,” Paul said quickly before Eric could latch onto him like the old days.

Eric just laughed with obvious relief. “Jesus! It’s good to see you, Paul! Really!”

Paul sighed, surveying the chaos around them. “I can see that.”

Everywhere were small piles of ash, remnants of the zombies that had been attacking Eric and his companions, some of whom were unfortunately killed. A dark-skinned woman approached, face covered with grime, followed by a young man.

“Oh! This is one of my friends, Andie. And this here is Eli.”

Paul nodded to them, smiling. “Hello, I’m Paul.”

“Yeah, we figured,” Andie said. “That was so cool, what you did there. How’d you make those fireballs?” She openly looked about Paul’s body for a gun or machine but found none. Even Eric looked at him questioningly.

“It’s a bit hard to explain in detail,” said Paul. “Let’s just say it’s something they gave me in Pakistan.” He gave Eric a pointed look. Eric blinked in response, an old sign they used should a verbal answer be forbidden.

“It’s really lucky you got here,” Eli spoke up, shaking his head at their dead companions. “It was getting hopeless…I was becoming hopeless. Half of the group is gone now.”

“Well, what are you doing here, Paul?” asked Eric.

Paul motioned for them to follow him, which was away from the mountain and the safe zone. They walked for a while until they came to a hidden road where what looked like a security van was parked.

“I came here to scout the area and try to see if I can get Judith inside the safe zone, to you,” Paul explained.

“Who’s Judith?”

“A scientist for Pearse-Sachly. She was in Pakistan with me.”

“A scientist!” Eli exclaimed. Paul watched with interest as the three exchanged looks. Eric turned to him.

“For the last few weeks, the scientists in the safe zone were being taken to somewhere without any explanation. They never return. Then, they also started taking computer specialists. We escaped in secret…or it was secret until we were found out and chased into the mountain where the zombies were.”

“So you left the safe zone?”

“Yeah.”

Paul wanted to groan. If Eric had left the safe zone, there was no way he can help Judith now.

“Paul? Are you okay? You’ve suddenly gone quiet.”

Paul shook his head. “Judith needs to get some data for the vaccine research and I suggested that since she’s not infected and you were inside the safe zone, you could meet and you could help her. I guess that plan’s no good now.”

Eric grimaced. “Sorry about that.”

“Nah! We’ll just find another way.”

Paul looked at the rest of Eric’s companions. There wasn’t a lot and saw they could fit inside the van.

“If you don’t mind sitting in a cramped space for the next few hours, I can take you to Rahu Knight’s place.”

Someone gasped. “Rahu Knight?! As in The Rahu Knight?!”

Eric looked at Paul. “Long story, man. I’ll tell you on the way. I’m driving; take the passenger seat.”

The ride back to Rahu’s place became a chance for the two friends to catch up with one another and reconnect. Paul found out that Eric stayed in Pakistan for a year and was almost court-martialed himself for divulging the truth about Paul’s family prematurely. After Pakistan, Eric worked for the intelligence arm of the military and retired for good only a few months back. Like so many others, he also lost his entire family to the virus.

“I’m sorry, man,” Paul said sincerely. “I know how close you are to your folks and Suzie.”

Eric shrugged. “I think it’s better that way. I couldn’t bear it if they turned into Phase Fives. It’s grace for them to just die of the virus. I do have relatives, still. But they’re all distant ones and we don’t really communicate.”

They talked some more about the mundane things and shared experiences in West Point and their tour of duty. It took them another day of travel, mainly because they had to find food. Paul also took the time to replenish his resources and increase his thermal energy reserves since he used up more than half killing the zombies. He explained the system to Eric. To say Eric was very interested in the technology was an understatement.

“It’s nanotech and I think it’s related to Rahu Knight’s design,” Paul told his eager friend. “Judith, Doctor Merkel, I mean, was the one who implanted it in me and helped me for much of the training period. You’re in luck because you’ll meet the two of them soon.”

Although he told Eric about the system, he could not yet share with his old friend his own questions about the technology. As far as he knew, the people directly responsible for its existence (and his, for that matter), are all involved in some mysterious and possibly dangerous plan. Better if Eric never got himself embroiled in his own troubles.

Soon, they reached Rahu’s compound and parked in front of the house, whose front wall was now semi-fixed…or was supposedly already semi-fixed through his and Rahu’s efforts.

Now, it was pockmarked with bullet holes…again.

And the house was too quiet.

“What’s with all the debris?” asked Eric as he alighted from the van. The rest of his companions from the safe zone also came out.

“Looks like a fight went on here,” remarked Eli.

“Two nights ago, yes, but we’ve cleared this the whole morning after. Unless—“ Paul cut his statement short and ducked. “Quiet and get down!”

Everyone fell to the ground, fear evident on their faces.

“Oh my God! Did they know we were coming here?!” Andie asked almost hysterically. Eli shushed her and pressed her closer to the ground.

Eric swiftly crawled to Paul’s position under one of the windows, careful not to be seen from the inside.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

Paul shook his head. He did not know either. Signaling to Eric, Paul took out a handgun and handed it to him.

“Me, first,” Paul signed. “Cover me.”

Slowly, Paul crept forward, rose to a crouch, quickly turned the doorknob, pushed the door open, and jumped in…

…then tripped over something bulky on the floor landing face down on marble tile.