Apocalypse: The Savior with System

25 Judith versus Rahu

“What the fu—“

Right cheek smarting, he looked up and saw Judith and Rahu glaring daggers at each other.

As if he was not present, Judith stomped towards the stairs, where another body lay haphazardly.

“What the hell happened here?” asked Paul as he stood. He opened the door wider to let Eric see that all was clear. Eric turned to his companions and motioned for them to stand.

“Ask him,” Judith said coldly, pointing her chin towards Rahu who stood glowering at no one and nothing in particular. Then, she hopped over the body on the stairs and went up to her bedroom—or Rahu’s—slamming the door shut.

“Er, before I do ask, I just got back from the safety zone and rescued some friends,” Paul said to Rahu, pointing at Eric and the rest. “I hope you don’t mind.”

Rahu grunted. He gave a nod in the general direction of Eric and began piling the dead bodies in the living room. Eric and the other men with them helped out, bringing the bodies out of the house. Then, Paul gave Eric the passcode to open the munitions factory where they can settle for the night.

“You should stay with your friend, Eric,” Eli said when Eric made a move to go with them. “We’ll be fine. Just don’t get sick.”

“Too late but thanks for the warning,” Eric said good-naturedly, waving his friends off.

“They came in the dead of night, last night, while you were away,” said Rahu. Paul and Eric sat down in the living room. Rahu extracted a piece of cloth, an embroidered patch, and handed it to Paul. Paul did not know what it was and gave it to Eric. Eric’s eyes widened.

“This is the Special Forces patch,” Eric said, frowning. “It’s been used since last year.”

“Well, our late-night guests were wearing that on their shirts,” snapped Rahu. He glared at Paul then towards the bedroom upstairs.

“Because I haven’t repaired the security, they were able to get past the door. I came out of the weapons vault and met them in the kitchen while I was about to get a glass of water. I had no choice but to immediately use the closest available weapon to me.”

Paul remembered seeing one of the kitchen knives still embedded in the back of one of the dead.

“I take it Judith didn’t agree to your method of disposal?” Paul hedged.

Rahu snorted. “She never agrees with my methods.”

Paul rubbed a hand over his face. “Okay, okay. I’ll talk to her and see what I can do. By the way, Eric, Rahu’s infected so, yeah, just a reminder.”

He left the living room while Eric and Rahu got acquainted with each other. He went upstairs, knocked on the bedroom door, and entered. He found Judith packing clothes into a bag, half of which were Rahu’s.

“They’re not even zombies!” Judith exclaimed before Paul could get out a word. Her eyes flashed angrily behind her spectacles.

“Yes, but—“ Paul began.

“They could just be following orders! They could possibly not have known what they were supposed to do here!” Judith folded a jacket and rammed it inside the bag.

“Yes, that could be true but—“ Paul tried again.

“Not everyone who works for the government is evil!” she shrieked, flailing a hand and knocking her glasses askew.

Paul said nothing and let Judith calm down. She took several deep breaths, fixed her eyeglasses, and looked out of the window.

He wondered if Judith was only angry about the death of the soldiers downstairs or if her sudden loss of emotional control came from something more personal.

He wondered if she saw herself in those soldiers.

Paul glanced around the room and found the serum vials and unused syringes on the bedside table. He walked over and found a short note under, instructions on how to administer the serum. Paul bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling.

 “I need to go to the safe zone,” she said abruptly, zipping the bag closed. Without another word, she grabbed the bag and went past Paul. He followed her downstairs. Rahu raised an eyebrow and then stood to open the bullet-ridden door.

Turning to Judith, he said in a calm voice, “If you want to leave, no one’s stopping you. Let her have the van, Paul.”

If Rahu truly wanted to be cruel and vindictive, he would not have even offered their only means of transportation to her. This can still be salvaged, Paul thought positively.

Judith ignored Rahu and turned to Paul. “I’ve used some of the serum and I don’t think I’ve been infected yet. You saw where the rest are. I’m heading to the safe zone. Give me the van’s keys. With your skills and the resources in the munitions factory, I think you can make a car in a few days.”

Judith held out a hand imperiously, palm up. Eric pretended to be busy inspecting the handgun Paul gave him earlier. Rahu continued to scowl from the doorway. Paul pursed his lips for several seconds before saying, “Eric’s here now. He can help you.”

Eric’s eyes shot up. “Me?”

She shook her head. “There’s no need. I can get it myself inside the safe zone.”

Paul sighed wearily. “Judith, I think by this time they would’ve already known you escaped the institute. And if our hunch is right, they’re hunting you down as much as they’re hunting me down, too. Whether our enemies are the same or not, the truth is, you won’t survive out there on your own. You don’t like to kill, fine, that’s not a bad thing. But these times…the world is no longer a safe place for anyone.”

He looked pointedly at Eric who gave him a commiserating look. “And if you think the safe zone will help you, you cannot be more wrong. Eric and some of his friends there had to escape at great risk to their lives. Strange things have been going on inside the safe zone, with scientists and computer experts being taken away by the military by force.”

At the mention of the scientists, Judith paled. Paul went to her and laid his hands on her shoulders. “For one, you’ve been exposed to us. Despite the serum, you could already be infected, too. They won’t allow you inside. Second, even if you aren’t infected, the fact that you’re a scientist, and a Pearse-Sachly one at that, it’s definitely going to raise the alarm. You won’t even be able to get the information you want. They’ll just take you away, Doc.”

Judith stared at somewhere in the vicinity of his chest and Paul watched as her furious expression softened into one of contemplation. She looked at Eric. “Can you really help me get into the database and anywhere I need to go for information even out here?”

Eric nodded. “All I need is a working computer and the internet. I think I can manage to get you through.”

Paul tsked.”Eric’s just being humble. This guy can crack any code, decrypt anything encrypted, and encrypt what you want kept safe with just a few keyboard clicks. You don’t have to be in a safe zone.”

Eric opened his mouth to say something but closed it again and muttered unintelligibly to himself.

“If I take the van, you’ll all never make it out of here fast,” she said in a low voice. “I don’t want you—or anyone else—to die unnecessarily.”

“None of us is going to die here,” Paul promised. “Not on my watch.”

Judith slowly nodded, shrugging off Paul’s hands. Shoulders slumped, Judith grabbed her bag and made her way back upstairs, locking herself in the bedroom.

Once she was out of earshot, Paul collapsed on one of the couches and groaned.

“It’ll be quite a huge work to be married to that woman,” remarked Eric, leaning back.

“Close the door, Rahu. She’s not leaving,” Paul said wearily. Rahu closed the door, grunting, and then sat down as well.

Without prompting from Paul, Rahu told them of his observations of their attackers.

“The patch indicates they’re within the military,” he said. “But from their number and their actions, they’re more likely a small force that’s being used for private purposes. If Yardley has been working with both Pearse and Morgan, then the government already knows we’re here. Which of them owns this private force I dispatched last night, I don’t know.”

Eric, whom Paul already briefed on their way to the house, asked, “So who are they after?”

“Can’t say exactly who,” Paul replied. But he had a gut feeling that despite Rahu and Judith’s unusual circumstances, it was he who was the target.

Rahu was already dying. Why would the government or whoever it was that was so powerful as to afford to hire an elite force, want to kill Rahu, anyway?

As for Judith, she’s just one scientist, easily replaceable. Why spend so much time and effort to hunt her down?

Then again, she was also involved in the creation of the system that was now in Paul’s body. So maybe, as long as he was alive and freely walking, she was also in danger. Paul tried to think of anyone he had angered or messed up with but he couldn’t. Sure, he had been a pain in the ass back in Pakistan but with good reason! And he got punished for it already. So why come after him with such violence now?

All these thoughts only served to raise more questions and confuse him but Paul realized he cannot shrug off the many coincidences and meetings. At some point, they would have to leave this place and, like Rahu planned, get to the arsenal and get their hands on the resources there. Paul meanwhile has to find a way to discover why the technology inside him was created.

Most importantly, why they chose him.

But for now, his most pressing concern was to upgrade the system by getting more resources in the immediate area or else, like the virus, it was going to drain him alive.

It’s already a part of him—a good part, hopefully. Might as well take care of it properly, right?

Right?