I found Jerry’s office rather quickly because I saw him and Naomi in front of it, to my surprise, Sandra was also there. As if that wasn’t enough, I saw a man who looked to be around Lucius age, he looked even more imposed than Jerry, but he didn’t look that young. He had a well-built body, and his hairstyle was just like Jerry’s. Black and short. He also had a few scars on his face, but aside from that, he didn’t have any other remarkable characteristics.
Survivor A – HP: ??? MP: ??? STA: ???
Skills: ???
Evolution Orbs: ???
Evolution Coins: ???
Behind him, I saw a young woman who had long black straight hair, she also had dark brown eyes, and she was wearing glasses. In her hands, she was carrying something like a paste with a few documents. She was probably that man’s assistant.
Survivor A – HP: ??? MP: ??? STA: ???
Skills: ???
Evolution Orbs: ???
Evolution Coins: ???
Those two were quite secretive with their status; in any case, it seemed they spend a lot of coins to buy the item to counter my analyze skill. After all, not even Jerry and Naomi could hide their status. I looked at the man’s and the woman’s right hand, and I saw a dark ring in them. But to me, it didn’t matter why they were doing that or who they were.
“What are you doing here?”
“I already know about you,” Sandra answered. “I just came here to hear that from their mouths, and I also want to know why.”
“No wonder you annoyed me so much… did you tell anyone about this?”
“No,” Sandra answered.
“Then why Claire annoyed me so much, as well?”
“I knew that she was feeling indebted to you,” Sandra explained. “That was why I told her to stay close to you to help you or to stop you. Since she knew why you became even more introverted, she didn’t ask me any questions. I was worried about your mental health; I thought the truth would drive you mad. That was why I tried to keep you with us, I guess by doing that, I end up annoying you. Claire didn’t know anything, but since you are also hard to deal with, she lost her cool many times and tried to force you to stay with the group.”
“I see… so you knew him, huh.”
“Yes,” Sandra answered.” I knew Eric; he was a good friend.
“Well, whatever. Let’s just finish this already.”
“Wait a minute, Ethan,” Jerry interrupted me when I tried to enter his office. “First, let me introduce to the general and his assistant. His name is…”
“I’m not interested.”
It seems he was the leader here, after all, Jerry, which was one of the strongest survivors, was slightly bowing his head to introduce him.
“… I think you should,” Jerry said, showing a complicated expression. “He is the man who supervised the entire ‘Ethan project.’ He is the man who decided everything in your life, your schools, your job, the people who would get close to you and many other aspects of your life had been determined by him.”
“I see… but I’m still not interested.”
Until now, that man just stared at me without showing any emotion, but I could see in his eyes that he was getting angry. Finally, my natural talent of getting on other people’s nerves was working on him.
“In any case, the name of that man was Eric, then the name of the project was Ethan; hence, that is my name. You don’t have any creativity, do you?”
With his arms crossed, the general stepped forward. He was twenty centimeters taller than me, so I had to look upward to see his angry face. But to me, he looked like a cute cat; he had to work on his threatening skills a little more. Even that dragon didn’t scare me; there was no way in hell a human would.
“Boy…” The general said with his grave voice. “You are just like him, and that is why I will forgive your impertinence this one time. But if you want to live peacefully inside these walls, you won’t want to get on my bad side.”
“And who said that I want to live here?”
The general studied me for a few seconds; it seems that he was having a hard time deciding if he would attack me or not. He appeared to be a prideful man, and in any occasion, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill me on the spot, but since he was the leader here, he probably made someone analyze me. He knew my skills, I was sure of it, and that was why he didn’t attack me.
“Ethan… can you stop this?” Jerry said nervously. “Please, sir, calm down. Given the circumstances, Ethan has the right to act like this. For now, let’s enter and talk. After that, we can discuss everything else.”
For some odd reason, Jerry was acting extremely careful around the general. Almost like that man was the most important person in the entire country, when I thought about that, I understood everything. He wasn’t only their leader; he was almost the supreme commander of the survivors; thanks to his position before the monsters appeared, he really became the most important person in the entire country. The president probably had died; we also didn’t have any governors or politicians. He was the last remaining symbol of power and order of our previous society. At least, he didn’t look crazy like Ken or Ann.
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The atmosphere around us was tense, but eventually, everyone entered Terry’s office. Although that building was simple, like the other one, Terry put a lot of things inside that room to make his work easier. It looked like a typical office; there were chairs, tables, a lot of documents and a coffee machine. After we sat down, Naomi gave to each one of us a cup of coffee. But I refused and began to drink my lemonade. Naomi showed a wry smile.
“Well…” Jerry said after a long sigh. “Where should I start?”
“From the very beginning.”
“Ok…” Jerry said, showing a tense expression.
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In middle school, Jerry, Naomi, and Sandra, who lived in the same neighborhood met for the first time a boy called Eric. Just like me, he had light brown hair and light brown eyes. But he was very athletic and somewhat smart, he was quick to make new friends, and he only stopped at his home to eat or sleep. He was always playing with his friends and neighbors. However, Eric had a problem; he was quick to pick fights when someone was causing problems to his friends. Instead of ignoring, his first action when he met bullies was to punch them in the face.
Regardless of his nature, Jerry, Naomi, and Sandra became his friends, and for years they did many things together. They studied together, played together, and traveled together. They looked like siblings, even though in high school, when Eric was very known as delinquent thanks to his hot temper. They ignored all gossips and acted like always. But nothing lasts forever, Eric wanted to join the army to live a thrilling life, Naomi wanted to study and become a doctor, and Sandra wanted to become a firefighter. Only Jerry didn’t know what to do when he finished high school, he wasn’t particularly athletic or smart. So, he decided to follow his best friend and joined the army.
The group became smaller, and life in the army wasn’t easy, but that only strengthened the friendship between Jerry and Eric. Besides, they were always doing everything together, just like before. So, they didn’t complain even when they trained for weeks inside forests or when they stayed away from home for months.
The next few years passed rather quickly, and they learned a lot. In the army self-discipline was a given, but they also learned several martial arts, they became skilled in using many types of firearms, they even learned how to create grenades and guns with things which everyone has is their own homes. But eventually, the learning time ended, and they finally had to put what they learned in practice.
Those two traveled around the world in many missions, thanks to their skills and discipline they picked the interest of General McKenzie, who was just a major at that time. He saw the potential in them, so, he ensured that they would travel the world in as many missions as possible. They participated in pacification missions, they searched and arrested many potential terrorists, and they even fought against massive terrorist groups.
Thanks to those missions, they became even better soldiers; they became elite soldiers. They were selected to be two of the ten members of a unique team, which would investigate and combat terrorist organizations behind the curtains. Eric was ecstatic when he had been selected for that time, it was a thrilling job, and he also would make the world a better place, he couldn’t ask for more. But on the other hand, Jerry was feeling tired. Five years had passed since they joined the army, they saw a lot of things, and they saw everywhere the darkness of humanity. One could quickly find it, and after fighting so much against that darkness, Jerry understood that it was a never-ending war. But he didn’t abandon his best friend; for two years he fought alongside him on strange lands. He couldn’t tell his family where he was, nor could he call them on a daily basis. He endured and endured until he met Naomi again.
Jerry and Eric were collecting information about a terroristic group in a country devastated by civil war when they saw Naomi working as a volunteer doctor. Seven years had passed since they saw each other, and now they were adults. Jerry and Eric were working in secrecy, so, they couldn’t talk to her. But that didn’t prevent Jerry from feeling a lot of things, Naomi looked much more beautiful than in his memories. Before she was only his friend, but now he wanted much more than her friendship… because of that feeling, he decided to return home.
General McKenzie let out a long sigh when he heard Jerry's intentions; he learned many things in the army; most of all, he learned how to be direct. He didn’t hesitate that he wanted to quit that job because of a woman, a woman who he didn’t even know if she was single. But to his surprise, Eric totally supported him; they were close like brothers. The only thing they wished for each other was happiness.
That being said, Jerry was an important soldier, and he had valuable information about many things. So, he returned home, but he was still working for General McKenzie in secrecy. After two years, Jerry and Naomi got married, and to their surprise, Eric and Sandra showed themselves. After nine years the group was together again, and that had been the best day of their lives. Sandra was married and was pregnant. They had many reasons to celebrate, but after that day, those four would never be seen together again…
Two years after his marriage, Jerry began to feel worried about Eric. Since his marriage he didn’t saw or talked to him, it was only obvious thanks to the nature of his job, but that didn’t make Jerry feel less worried. Once in a while, he would meet General McKenzie, and since he acted like usual, he didn’t ask about Eric. But even though he had been trained to be patient, he couldn’t stay so calm after so much time without notice of his best friend. When he decided to question the General about Eric, the General informed him that Eric had disappeared.
Since he was his best friend, he had been selected to lead a team to search for him. But it wasn’t because the General was a good person; it was because his entire unit had vanished along with Eric. Ten highly trained men have vanished overnight without leaving a trace.
Jerry headed toward the last city where Eric and his unit had been sent. And to his surprise, the entire city inhabitants had also vanished. They were in the extreme north of Europe, but they didn’t find a single sign of the twenty-five thousand inhabitants of that city. The vehicles were there, their clothes were there, their food was there, and even their money was there. For some odd reason, they disappeared, but they left behind even their pets. Jerry found the house Eric and his teammates were using, and there he found their equipment.
For three months, they stayed in that city looking for clues, but they didn’t find anything. However, one hundred days after the inhabitants of that city had disappeared, a single person appeared out of nowhere, and that person was Eric. He was covered in blood, he had lost his two legs, and his face was half-burned. But still had the energy to say a single sentence to Jerry before he died: The monsters… are coming…
When General heard that, he immediately believed in those words. His men were always under surveillance. And Eric didn’t show a single time any sign of craziness in his actions or in his words. That said, the word of one of his underling wasn’t enough to convince others. So, he reunited a group of researchers to analyze Eric’s memories, and Naomi was among them. But they didn’t have the technology to analyze the data inside a dead brain. After many failures, they had an idea. They decided to create a clone of Eric and upload his memories to that clone’s brain.