The Transport

Chapter 4

As Zy looked at the 2 ladies who were about to cry, she simply replied,

"Okay."

Yoko starts talking by telling her a story.

"Let's start with where it all started; God's Blessings. God gave the world 5 unworldly powers that can change a normal person's life. First is your Blessing, Mary's hand. The hand that can heal any injuries or any disease one can have. Second is Noah's Voice, the ability to communicate not just with human beings but also with all the living creatures in the world. Third is Moses' staff. The ability to manipulate any form of water like it's a part of the holder's body. Fourth is Solomon's Wisdom, which gives the blessing's holder a great intellect no one in the world can match. Last is the very elusive Archangel's Sword. Some people believe that it's not a real blessing. That god only gave the world 4 blessings, but there are old scriptures that say it exists. It's a blessing that gives the holder great strength that can defy even the devil himself. And your blessing is the only one that can help us because it can heal not just any injuries or any diseases, because while god gave all these blessings to the world t give hope, The devil himself also gave something to give despair to the world. Curses. A lot of people in the world are not sure where it came from or when it started to come to the world. Some say it came from the devil to bring despair or even destroy the world. While others say it comes from god as an obstacle that we need to overcome to achieve a greater life here on earth. But one thing is for sure, it brings pain, despair, tears and suffering not just to the people who are cursed, but also the people around them. Rome is one of the people who got cursed. And Rome got the worst of them all. They call it" The devil's whisper".

Zy was shocked when she heard this from Yoko, who was crying while telling her this story. Yoko continues,

"The curse involves the person who has it going on a complete rampage. He kills everyone he sees, and he doesn't just kill anyone when the curse starts to act up, he kills in the most painful and most grotesque way possible that the victim will plea for a much faster death. We've all seen it twice, and every time it happens we lose Rome. The person we saw was not Rome. It's the devil himself. And Rome, he is slowly dying while he still has this curse. Like what happened earlier during the meeting. When it starts to act, Rome loses himself and goes into complete darkness. He told us that all he could hear while he was in that darkness was a voice, a voice that told him to kill. When the curse starts to rest and Rome gets his consciousness back, his body will have massive fatigue and his internal organs, especially his heart, will be gravely injured, like when he is in that state something is crumpling his heart from the inside. That's why we're begging you. Please help him."

Yoko and Lia held Zy's hand when they asked for her help. Zy, on the other hand, was shocked by what she had all heard. She just replied,

"Of course I will help you. But I don't know if it will work. Like what my father said, my healing will arise if I think the person I'm healing deserves it and I do think that because I really want to help. What you're all doing for me is more than enough reason to help you. But my father also did not tell you that there are times that even when I think the person deserves my healing and the person I really wanna help, I can't heal them. I don't know why. But of course, I will do it. I will try to heal him."

Yoko immediately hugs Zy and thanks her for granting their request.

"Thank you! I know that you're the only one that can help him. Deep in my heart, I know that you're the one we're waiting for."

Zy just smiled and says,

"I said that I would help him, but we can't be sure that my blessing can help him. Like I said, there are times that it doesn't work even if you want to heal someone."

Yoko enthusiastically replied,

"That's more than enough, and I know that you can do it. Like what happened earlier, he came back because you called his name."

Zy replied,

"Well, that was just a coincidence."

Yoko just smiled at her and said,

"Do you think it's possible to do it before we leave tomorrow?"

Zy replied,

"Yes, I can try to do it. Are you sure? You haven't seen me do it before. You're gonna trust me?"

Yoko sighed and said,

"We want you to do it before we get to the US if possible, because when we get there, Rome might get a lot of episodes from the curse in the US if he is not healed."

Zy was confused and asked,

"Why do you think that?"

Yoko looks at her with a serious face, much more different when she was telling her the story,

"The story that I'm about to tell you is completely personal and I hope you keep it to yourself. Even Rome, he cannot know that you know this story."

Lia interrupts her and says,

"That's not your story to tell Yoko."

Yoko replied,

"If she's going to help him she needs to hear the full story. We owe it to her."

Zy just waved both her hands at you Yoko while smiling and says,

"You don't have to tell me if it will get you in trouble. It's okay. I understand."

Yoko replied,

"No, you also have to know his story. Please, just listen. You don't have to talk, you can just listen."

Yoko was about to tell the story and Lia immediately went to the door of the infirmary to guard it.

"Rome's curse, something or better yet, someone can trigger it."

Zy replied in shock,

"What???"

Yoko starts talking again,

"It all started 11 years ago. Rome was happily married while he was in the army. After his tour in Iraq, he went home to his wife. They were a happy couple. But it all ended when someone killed his wife in front of him. That person who killed his wife was a war deserter, Cletus Barnes. He went inside his house and just started stabbing his wife, laughing while doing it. He was doing it while Rome was watching. After that, Rome tried to get the Army's help in finding Cletus. They refused because they said that the job was for the law enforcement, since the suspect is a civilian. But they could've helped him, even if he was a deserter. He is still a veteran and the Military Police have jurisdiction but they chose to do nothing. Cletus got away and Rome got depressed. On the verge of killing himself on the field in Iraq, the first episode of the curse appeared. He killed 55 ISIS insurgents in Iraq in a matter of 10 minutes while laughing like he enjoys killing those people. That's why people call him JESTER, because in medieval times, there was a knight who I guess was a serial killer and loved killing people for fun. Wade pulled him out and when they came back to camp he decided to leave the army. That's why all of us, including him, hate that f*****g name, "The JESTER", because even Rome regrets killing those people even though he doesn't remember anything about those killings. We discovered that the reason why he had his first episode was because one of the insurgents mentioned a name.-"

Zy interrupted Yoko and said,

"Cletus Barnes."

Yoko looked at her and said,

"Yes. We tried to mention the name and that's the second time we've seen Rome's curse. On learning that information, Wade and Nick almost die because they tried to stop Rome's rampage. We investigated to see if that motherfucker was still alive and yes, he still is. We found him in the underworld as a hitman named The REAPER. We tried to kill him but we never got to see him when we raided his famous base. That's why when Rome hears his name he goes dark, but you got him back. That's why I know that you can help him."

Yoko just looked at Zy smiling. She smiled back but deep within herself she was ashamed. Ashamed of all the things that she said and all the things she thought of Rome. Now, she fully realized why his brown eyes were yet so beautiful but full of sadness and despair. She realized that she was not the only person in the world who suffered so much, there is another person who also suffered a great deal of pain and despair. She looked at Yoko with her eyes full of determination and said "I will do everything to help him." Yoko kissed her hand while crying and said,

"Thank you so much!"

Lia also approached to hug her and said thank you. Zy humorously replied,

"Well, as long as he stops being a d**k to me. I guess I can do that."

The 3 of them laugh.

The next morning, 7 or 8 am. Zy wakes up by the voice of Yoko calling her. She sees her already dressed in her camouflaged clothes but not the same as the US military. Yoko hands a set of clothes. A pair of jeans, underwear, a white tank top, a black checkered polo and a pair of sneakers. Yoko said,

"You need to get ready. You can use the shower. I know it's not the kind of clothes you wear, but they're the only clothes I have and we're the same size."

Zy looks at the clothes and smiles,

"No. These clothes are more than enough. Thanks. By the way, Can I ask you a question?"

Yoko sits down and says,

"Of course. Is there a problem?"

Zy looks at her with a serious face.

"Are you being nice to me because I can help you with Rome's curse? Because if that is the case, you don't have to give special treatment. I told you I would help you whether you are nice to me or not."

Zy just looks down and is obviously disappointed. Yoko was shocked by her question but she smiled and said,

"You know, I am not gonna lie to you. If this is a different scenario, I am not gonna be this way to you. I am actually the b***h in this team. Not Lia."

Yoko laughs and Lia added while standing at the door and smiling,

"Yep, I was only a b***h to you because I see a spark between you and Rome".

Yoko smiled and continued,

"But, when I started talking to you in that helicopter last night, I felt something. I felt that you would be a big part of my life and I feel that I can open up to you anytime. Hell, I even told you that I was in love with my boss on the first night we met. That's why I'm nice to you."

Zy looks at her and tears start to fall from her eyes.

"This is the first time someone wants to be friends not because of my father's money."

She hugged Yoko and Yoko just laughed and said,

"Oh, when we get to China there's no way we are not spending a lot of your daddy's money. HAHA"

They both laugh. Zy looks at Lia, who's also smiling and says,

"Wait, you said that you were mad at me because you saw a spark between me and your boss. Are you a supporter of Yoko's?"

Lia just laughed,

"Supporter of Yoko's?? HAHA, I will be the one who will marry him. Not her."

Zy was shocked that another gorgeous lady fell for that d**k. Zy says,

"What do you see in that guy? Both of you are really hot. Well, he's not ugly. But there's no way a guy like him is a Casanova."

Lia just smiled and said,

"Just go take a shower. You will have a long time to get to know him. Maybe you will fall for him also."

Zy replied with a disfigured face.

"Ew! There's no way I'm falling for that guy. My type is gentleman. And your boss, well, but he's kind of a dick."

Yoko and Lia just laugh while Zy walks towards the shower.

Zy finishes showering and heads outside to leave, heading to the US. Lia and Yoko are waiting for her outside.

"You waited for me to finish?"

Yoko replied,

"Yeah, we're the ones who are assigned to be close to you at all times. So we are your bodyguards."

Zy apologized for taking too long in the shower.

"I'm sorry, If I knew you were waiting I should have taken the shower much faster!"

Yoko smiled at her and replied,

"It's fine. If it was me, it would take much longer than you. Let's go. I will introduce you to the team."

Zy replied, who's obviously shy,

"You don't need to do that. I already know all of you."

Lia then answered her,

"We need to introduce ourselves properly. We will be together for a long time. Plus, you will be the one helping our boss. It's fair we need to get to know each other."

Zy agrees. They reached the tent that's near the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III that will take them directly to the United States. When they entered, Yoko yelled,

"Gather around! We need to formally introduce ourselves to Zy."

Rome just looks at Zy and immediately looks away to talk to Miggy. This once again irritates Zy. Yoko starts talking,

"Everyone, we all know her already, she is Zy. This is our team. You already know me and Lia. These are Wade, Nick, Tony, Wardo, Tanya, and that's Miggy. The youngest of all of us. Snail was the one who got shot. He was picked up by Hannah earlier this morning. And that's our boss, Rome."

Everyone approached Zy and shook her hand. Yoko was pushing Rome to get him to approach Zy by saying,

"You need to go to her, just say Hi to her. She's the one who helps you. Come on."

Zy heard Rome whispering the words.

"Do I really have to? She is so annoying. We can do this when we land in states."

Zy replied in a disgruntled manner,

"I'm annoying?? You know you're a d**k, right?''

Yoko then elbows Rome's side and says,

"Play nice!"

Rome approaches Zy and says in an obviously forced manner,

"Sorry for what I've said. Nice meeting you."

Zy just looks at him and says,

"You don't have to do an act. Just remember that I'm only doing this because of Yoko, because she's nice to me."

Yoko excitedly asks Zy,

"Wait, you're doing it now?"

Zy replied,

"Well, you said we need to do this before we leave for US. Let's do it now. By the way, why did you not ask me to just heal your other friend? I could actually do it if you wanted."

Yoko replied,

"I actually asked him about that last night. He said that he was fine. You can just take Rome as your patient."

Zy shakes her head and tells Rome,

"Your men really love you and I really don't see why. You should be grateful. Sit down."

Rome sits down and Zy stands in front of him.

"For me to heal someone, I need to put my hands on the injured part of the body. Since I don't know where his injury is, I will just grab his face because there's a chance that the curse was put on his mind. I'm gonna touch your face, okay?"

Rome replied and was obviously uncomfortable in this situation,

"Will you just do it? You talk so f*****g much. Jeez!"

Yoko pinches Rome in the back and says,

"I told you to play nice!"

Rome then behaves and Zy starts touching his face. Everyone was looking at them. Zy's hands started to glow. The color of the light that surrounds her hand is yellow. It took a few minutes and the two of them were sleeping and one of them was standing and the other one sitting down. All of them are both excited and worried. Zy's hand continued to glow, and after a few minutes her eyes started to open. Her eyes were sad. Seems like she saw something. She lets go of Rome's face. Yoko asks her

"Is everything okay?"

Zy replied,

"I don't know"

Yoko then asks Rome,

"Boss? Are you okay? How was it? How's the gun? Is it heavy?"

Rome opens his eyes and says,

"I don't know."

Rome stands up and looks at his hands and says,

"I'm fine. I feel great actually."

Rome looks at Yoko smiling. Yoko then hugs Zy, saying,

"Thank you!"

Zy asks her,

"Did it work?"

Yoko replied while looking at Rome.

"I think so.."

Yoko continued,

"Should we test it out?"

Wade then interrupts,

"Wait, wait.. We can't be reckless here. Last time we tried to stop his rampage, me and Nick almost died. We can't take that risk here."

Yoko then replied,

"Then, how will we know if it worked?"

Wade says,

"If that motherfucker shows up, we can know if it worked or not. Plus, we said that she's our only chance, so if it didn't work here, maybe it would work if she tried to heal him again once Rome sees that cocksucker. I have a feeling that we will encounter that motherfucker on this mission."

Yoko yells

"We can't take that risk. If it didn't work here and Rome saw him. His rampage will be much worse and it might kill him trying to kill that guy."

While Wade and Yoko are arguing, Zy felt bad because she thought that she never helped at all. She also felt sorry for what she saw while trying to heal Rome. While Wade and Yoko are still arguing, the whole team is just looking at them. Rome looks at them, but in his mind he is thinking of the person who he wants to kill the most, The Reaper, but nothing is happening to him. He has a clear mind, so he whispers,

"Cletus Barnes."

Still, nothing is happening. He tries saying his name out loud,

"Cletus Barnes."

Everyone was quiet upon hearing Rome. They looked at him in shock. Rome says,

"Cletus Barnes. The Reaper."

Yoko looks at him and is about to cry. Yoko then hugs Rome while the others are smiling because they knew that if Rome did not go berserk that meant what Zy did worked. Rome said,

"I guess it worked. But don't get me wrong. I will still kill that motherfucker."

Everyone laughs, Rome approaches Zy and says in an awkward manner.

"Thanks.."

Zy looks at him and says,

"You should thank your team. Especially Yoko. Not me."

Both of them just smiled, looking at each other. Everyone in that tent was happy and they all approached Rome to hug him.

They all gather around a table for their whole journey to the US to bring Zy to Montana to meet her grandmother. Zy also gathered around the table to listen. Rome starts talking by saying,

"Okay, in a few minutes we will fly from here to the US since we will be using a US Military plane. It will take more or less 17 hours. We need to take as much rest as we can get during the flight. This is the route when we land in Texas."

Rome shows everyone a map of the United States that has a black line from Texas to Washington. Rome continues,

"We will be sleeping during stop overs, so more or less it's gonna take two or three days to get to Washington. We will make a stop over in every state, which means our stop overs will be in Arizona, at the end of California and then Washington. We cannot make any other stop overs aside from the ones I mentioned. That means no sightseeing. But we will make emergency stops if necessary. Vehicles and other equipment will be provided by the US. Understand?"

The whole team replied.

"Yes Boss."

Everyone started getting their bags. Their equipment was picked up by Hannah earlier in the morning when she picked up Snail, so the rest of the team only brought a bag with their clothes on it. They start boarding the plane. Zy sits with Yoko and Lia with her in the middle. Yoko tells Zy,

"You should get some while you can. Once we arrive in the US, the drive will be non-stop. Sleep if you can."

Zy agrees by nodding and starts closing her eyes. Zy was fast asleep because she felt that that was the first time that she felt safe. She feels that she can sleep without worrying about being abused by someone when she's asleep. She wakes up by the noise of the plane being landed. Yoko tells her,

"Great timing that you woke up. We're here."

Zy was shocked that she slept for the entirety of the flight. That was 15 hours of interrupted sleep. They got off the plane and men wearing suits were waiting for them. One of those men was familiar. It's the agent they talked to when they were still in Afghanistan. Rome starts saying,

"Banks, I thought we would see each other in Washington?"

The agent approached Rome and approached while smiling.

"I thought that too. But my boss wants to make sure that you landed safe and he wants me to brief you about the schedule. Shall we?"

They head to a warehouse and there are 5 black SUVs waiting for them. Agent Banks started saying,

"These will be the vehicles that you will be using on transport. Since we can't fly you directly to Washington, do you have a road plan?"

Rome replied,

"Yeah, it will be New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, then Washington. We will make stops in Arizona and California, so maybe in 2 or 3 days we will be in Washington."

Agent Banks replied,

"Okay, I will be your direct contact on this transport, so everything that happens you tell me."

Agent Banks hands Rome a cellphone and then shows them guns.

"Here's the equipment. Since you were all using M4 Carbine in Afghanistan, we will give you the same guns here. All the vehicles have easy compartments for the guns. And we will provide 3 agents who will accompany you on the transport."

Rome immediately interrupts the agent by saying,

"No, it's only us and the package. We can't bring strays with us."

The 3 agents that were introduced by Banks were about to approach Rome with hostility, but Agent Banks immediately stops them using his hand only. Agent Banks said,

"Come on now, they're reinforcements. They will come in handy. Don't worry, you can trust them."

Rome replied,

"The contract says "we". My team will escort her to Washington. We can't bring anyone aside from my team or the package. Or we cancel this right now if you want. We can take her back to Afghanistan if you want."

One of the secret service agents said,

"You think we will let that happen?"

Rome just smiled while his right hand was in the holster of his .500 Magnum Revolver while looking at Agent Banks and says,

"Well? You can pay us up right now if you want us to leave her here. If you can't pay us up, we can settle this in a different way."

One of the agents said,

"The f**k are you trying to say?"

Agent Banks stops him from approaching by grabbing his neck. He then looks at Rome's hand on the revolver and says,

"Okay, you can take her there on your own. But you have to inform me at every movement. I call, you answer. We cool on that?"

Rome just smiled at him and nodded. They walked towards the guns and started preparing, but Zy was irritated because when she was listening to Rome and Agent Banks, she heard that Rome was either going to take her back to Afghanistan or leave her with the US agents, but she couldn't say anything because Yoko was holding her hand and was shaking her head while they are talking.

They are done preparing and loading all their equipment in the car and Rome says,

"Let's go."

Rome looks at Agent Banks and pulls out his hand for a handshake. Rome looks at his hand and smiles and says,

"I guess we will see each other in Washington? Don't worry, she will be there before Sunday."

Agent Banks shakes Rome's hand and says,

"Yeah. Let's grab a drink once this is all over."

Rome just laughed and said ,

"HA! I'm gonna collect on that. By the way, tell your boss to have my money in a Light Blue duffle bag when I get there so that I can get out of this ugly country."

Rome walks towards the vehicle that they're going to use and Agent Banks says,

"This is your country too, you know."

Rome just simply said,

"My passport says I'm from the Philippines."

The team starts heading out. They only used 2 vehicles, 5 people in every vehicle, Nick being the driver while Rome is in the front passenger seat and Lia, Yoko and Zy in the back, with Zy in the middle. Yoko tells Zy,

"You can sleep if you want."

Zy was confused because all of them were quiet. She is scared because she thinks something is going to happen. She asks Yoko

"Is everything okay?"

Yoko replied smiling ,

"Yeah, of course. Why?"

Zy then felt sleepy and then she says

"Well, everyone is acting strange-"

She then falls asleep.

Zy woke up in front of an old warehouse. It was already night time and when she checked it was almost 11 PM. She asked,

"Where are we?"

Yoko looked at her and said,

"Albuquerque, New Mexico. We will rest here for tonight. Wade says his fractured rib when he got hurt in Afghanistan is acting up."

Zy was confused and said,

"Wait, did he get hurt in Afghanistan?"

Yoko just smiled and said,

"Yeah, Let's go. I'm hungry."

They went inside the warehouse with their guns and other equipment. Some of them started eating canned beans that were heated using an Army stove. While eating a small portion of the canned beans, she is confused as to what was happening because she can see that Wade is fine and doesn't seem to be hurt and Miggy walks around the warehouse and seems like looking for something. She tries to ask around but Yoko immediately grabs her hands and puts her finger on her lips as a gesture to keep quiet. Yoko tells her to keep on eating. Zy can hear Rome talking on the phone that was given by Agent Banks.

"We are here in an old warehouse, we're resting here tonight because one of my men is hurt. Maybe in 3 or 4 hours we will start moving again."

Rome hangs up the phone and puts it on the table and he starts eating. Maybe 45 minutes or an hour of resting, Rome who was lying down stands up and says,

"Is everything clear?"

Miggy replied.

"Yes Boss."

Rome tells everyone

"Let's move."

Yoko approaches Zy and tells her

"Keep your body covered by a blanket. I will explain everything later."

Everyone stood up and moved to the other side of the warehouse. It was dark but everyone seemed to know the nooks and crannies of this old warehouse. Wade opens up a door on the ground. Everyone started to go in. It was dark in that underground tunnel but after a few minutes of walking, they reached the end and there a mini-bus was waiting for them. There's no driver on it, so Nick starts to drive the bus. After 2 hours of driving, they reached a big house. Zy asks Yoko,

"Where are we? What's going on?"

Yoko explains,

"We're still in New Mexico, the house is one of our base. One of our scouts is there waiting. We had to move because we cannot trust them when it comes to our safety. We need to let them believe that they have a tail on us. All of the things they issued to us are either bugged or have a tracking device. So we told them that we were staying there for the night. We left heat signatures there like we are still sleeping."

Zy realizes why Rome said earlier that he would bring her back to Afghanistan or leave her to those agents. It's to distract them from this plan. She realizes that they are really serious about helping her. She felt grateful and happy that she had met these people. She was closing her eyes, smiling, but it was interrupted when she heard the word,

"Are you done day dreaming? We need to move."

When she opens her eyes, she sees the d**k that's been rude to her since she was rescued in Afghanistan. She stands up with an irritated look on her face and says,

"How can I move if you're on the way?"

She walks past Rome and gets off the bus. They are all off of the bus. She sees a beautiful Caucasian lady running towards them.