The Following Day, Deep into the forest, lies a witch, Odessa Soulton, who is exiled and imprisoned by none other than Kal Blade. 200 years ago, the wandering witch was causing mayhem in a village not too far from newfound valley. The 4th Kal Blade at the time, have investigated the matter and confronted the witch.
As she was close to her demise, she pleaded for her life to be sparred. Kal Blade saw an opportunity of use for the witch and forced a contract of eternal service. Only and Only then, can Kal Blade, bearer of the title break the contract should they choose to release the witch. If Odessa is to break the terms of the contract, her soul is to be wiped from existence, indefinitely.
Ever since, She resided in a designated area within the forest and called to service when needed. Quade approaches her and requests a fortune tell.
“Tell me something.” he said as he sat down.
She takes his palm and places 3 crystals on top of it. The stones begins to change colors and she describes what she sees.
“You have an interesting fate bestowed upon you, Quade phoenix. You and your friends will make decisions that will affect the worlds of the living as we know it, but beware, you will find yourself stuck between the old and the new, both which you love and both you shall lose.” she said as she smirks.
Quade, less amused asked, “Last time you said something about a woman that might uncover the meaning of our existence. I might’ve just met her, now tell me about the other so called ‘friends’.”
“a Man that has lost sense of time, who understands the true meaning of love and despair, that bears the mark of a curse, so old to be deemed a touch from the great old ones.” she replied.
“and where do I find this, cursed man?” he asked.
“The crystals only reveal what is needed to know, not what you want to know. When the time is right, he will reveal himself like the women did. So, did you bring it?” she asked.
“Store didn’t have cake today so I brought you some chocolate instead.” he replied as he left the area in search for the missing member. It’s 6:00 am at Patty’s apartment. Lauren is still asleep, dreaming. She stood inside The McLean house, stuck and unable to move.
A voice suddenly came out of nowhere and said, “Who are you? You’re not my wife!”.
Within a blink of the eye, Lauren was on the floor with Mr. McLean on top of her, strangling her till she woke up from the nightmare. She breathes heavily and tries to remain calm, leaves her room and heads to the bathroom. She brushes her teeth and at the same time, looked at the mirror and felt some-what hollow. She splashes her face with water to snap out of it and walks towards the Lounge.
“You’re awake. Here. a Welcoming gift.” said Patty as she handed Lauren her breakfast.
The two were eating while getting to know each other.
“So what are your plans for being here?” asked Patty.
“As I finally work at the library. I’m thinking of creating a branch within it, like I might start my own museum, I don’t know really.” replied Lauren.
“that’s wonderful. Honestly, I envy you. a Women with a purpose. I’m just a waitress and sometimes, well most times, it just lacks the excitement, and the pay is crap too.” she said.
Lauren reassures Patty, “You’re a strong and kind woman, also being the coolest waitress I have ever met in my life.”.
Patty, with her mood lifted thanked Lauren, who left the apartment to get on time for work.
As she arrives at the library, she gets a call. Lauren answers it and to her surprise, it was her parents. They were concerned when they read a fire broke out at the same residence they dropped her off, on the media. She reassured them that she was fine and the call was cut short when she saw Quade’s vehicle outside the library. She enters the premises and sees him waiting in her office reading some of her notes.
“You’re late.” he said.
“-- no, I’m on time.” she replied.
“Well. I brought you some things you’d probably poke around with.” he said as he puts away her notes.
“Do you just walk into any place and do whatever you want?” she asked as she sees him touching her equipment.
“Not unless I don’t own the place.” he replied.
“You’re my boss?” she asked, visibly shocked.
“Surprise.” he said as he got out of her chair and gently moves the box towards her. Lauren wears her white gloves, curiously opens the box and removes the items. Some of the items had little value to it, others not. One particular item stood out to her. a Necklace with the language of the Sumerians written on it. She picks it up gently and analyzes it.
"You got the crazy look in your eyes. This isn't one of those 'my precious' scenarios is it?" asked Quade as he made a reference to gollum and the one ring from ‘Lord of the rings’.
"Where did you find this?" She asked.
"In one of Henri's inventories labeled 'Useless'--" he said before being interrupted with a follow up question.
"No, I mean where was it discovered?" she asked.
"No idea. Not sure either that it was Henri who discovered it. Could've been the Kal before him." he replied.
"You got to work with me here, its like you give me a bread slicing machine, then ask me to use it and do something with bread crumbs." she said in suspense.
"Well, you are the archaeologist and I’m just a yes man" said Quade sarcastically.
"I m sorry, it's just-- so exciting. If this is what I think it is. I just laid my hands on an artifact from the first civilization known to mankind." said Lauren as she is filled with joy and curiosity.
"I'll leave you be. I have other matters to attend to. If you need me, just call this number, for emergencies only." said Quade as he hands her a paper with his number on it.
As he was leaving the office, she asked one more request.
"Wait. One last favor please, try and find out where it was originally found. There might be more clues connected to this." she said.
Quade nods his head, hinting he will look into it and leaves. Lauren prepares her workspace. She places the necklace on the center of the desk and grabs an illuminated magnifying glass to get a more closer and detailed look on the writings. She continues taking photos with her DSLR camera and uploads it to her computer. Using her artistic skills to make a 3d reconstruction of the necklace, she was able to make out the calligraphy.
She then hand-writes and replicates the Sumerian language engraved on the necklace and starts translating it. It was described as the following, ‘world to world, soul to soul, we live on and beyond.’. The writings sounded familiar to her as she continued searching through her database for anything relating to it. Hours went by and she finally found the information she was looking for. The writings was a portion of a poem, that was written by Princess Anki of the Sumerians.
No discoveries were made publicly on whether she survived the demise of the Sumerian empire or not. She continued digging into the history and analyzes the composition of the necklace using her lab equipment.
Meanwhile, Quade investigates a series of reports, about missing properties. At first it was random, no connections could be made. One report was a missing car engine, the second was a public electric pole missing it’s wires. Most of the victims saw nothing except one.
Quade interrogates the witness, Mr. Jones who lost his pick-up truck engine.
"Last night I heard strange noises, I woke up to check it out, then I saw someone was picking on my truck. I grabbed my bat, switch the exterior lights on and ran outside. I thought it was a thug but then I saw it before the lights blew out. That thing was not human. It ripped out my engine and ran away, but the police think I’ve lost my mind. I know what i saw." he said agitated.
"Calm down sir. No one is saying that. Were you able to see which way it ran to?" asked Quade calmly.
The civilian points it towards south of the valley. He continued to analyze the damage done on the pick-up truck. The hood of the truck was opened with sheer force that no ordinary human could do. He reassured the civilian that his truck will be repaired as well as find the culprit who did this.
Quade enters his vehicle and goes over the list of items once more, trying to think what the thief is trying to make with the stolen goods. "what are you tryi-- unless you’re trying to power something." he said as he floors the pedal.
The sun sets and he goes on a stake out, at possible locations it might reappear again. Back at the library, Lauren locks up late and sees Patty outside waiting with two of her friends, Sedonna and Daisy, screaming with joy "Its time to party!".
Lauren who completely forgot about it tried to cancel, "I shouldn't be drinking. I'm still working tomorrow."
Patty refused to let her stay at home alone while they hanged out.
"come on, it'll be fun. You're not spending your evening alone in an apartment. You need to blow some steam every once a while." she said as she left the vehicle and gently grabs Lauren's arms, pulling her towards the car. Lauren agreed to have only two drinks and patty was excited.
Two hours and Thirteen shots later at a bar, the ladies were completely drunk and Lauren is spilling the beans about the night she almost got killed.
“He basically set me up-- to die” said Lauren while taking another shot of alcohol. “That is fucked up” said Daisy.
"What an asshole. Look at me, I'm Quade and I can do whatever I want. He was gonna put her in Joe motel. That rat infested-- sick place. Men, Typical." Said Patty as she mocked Quade while having trouble standing on the table.
The ladies have quite a laugh while safely bringing patty down from the table. One of the ladies, Sedonna, advised Lauren that she has Quade in her palm and that she should keep him on a tight leash.
The power goes out and the ladies simultaneously complain, "Boo", "why is everything so dark", "I can't see anything, "I think I'm going to puke." they said.
"Wait, this is an emergency-- where's it. Quade is going to fix it." said Lauren as she searched her pockets for the number Quade gave her.
"Yass Girl tell him". Said Sedonna and Patty while cheering her on. She dials his number and he answered. “what is it, I’m-- busy right now." said Quade as he's breathing heavily, chasing something in the dark, inside the local power station.
“Quaaade, the power is out. You said for emergencies--." said Lauren until patty intervened, shouted “fix it!” and continues to laugh.
"Are you drunk?" he asked.
“No—maybe.” answered Lauren.
The Non-human-like being just stole an electrical transformer from the power station. Quade hangs up the phone and tries to get a look at the being using his flashlight. He catches a glimpse of it and takes a quick photo at the same time. It wasn't human, just like the civilian stated.
"hello-- he hanged up.". she said as the ladies gasp.
"he did not just do that" said Patty in disbelief.
Patty continues to dial back but it went straight to voicemail.
“well, boo you.” said Patty as she drops the phone.
Quade continues chasing the mysterious being down the neighborhood east of the local power station. He tried to chase it on foot but it outpaced him. He eventually gives up and decides to continue in the morning, during daylight as that will give him an advantage of spotting anything unusual.
The ladies leave the bar and as they were walking, Lauren was thinking about nothing but the Sumerian necklace. She zones out and the noises echo around her while she kept asking herself all The possible ways The necklace could have found it's way half way across The world from it's original origin.
"Explorers found it? No it would've been in a museum already. But it was in bloody box for who knows how long. Wait-- wait wait wait. Could it be? They were here? No no, oh my" she said as she was getting paranoid.
"They were here patty, they were here." said Lauren as she grabs Patty, holds her shoulders tight and shakes her gently. "Who was?" asked Patty as she laughed.
"The Sumerians, first civilization found their way here, but why. I need to know why!" she replied as she goes down and pukes.
"Someone had too much to drink, come on, we're going home. You're such a lightweight" said Patty as she grabs Lauren and continues laughing.
The ladies went their separate ways, the Local municipality fixed the damages hours later and the power of the town was restored. The next morning, Lauren wakes up in her apartment, on the kitchen floor with a hungover as her alarm clock continues ringing. She struggles to stand up and leans against the wall.
"Patty? Patty?" she said as she called out to her roommate. No response from Patty as she was laying on the couch, out cold. Lauren makes her way to bathroom and cleans herself up. She leaves the apartment and sees Quade waiting outside. “You again.” said Lauren as she sighs.
"Yeah me, Looks like you went all out last night” he said.
“It was your idea I should join, remember.” she said.
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“True, but I didn’t recommend getting wasted. I hope it has nothing to do with that night? That ghost can't harm you Lauren. You know that. If you continue like this. It won't end well. " Said Quade as he stood at the edge of his car.
" What makes you think it's that night?" She asked as she fake smiled.
Quade pulls out his phone and plays a video she send him while she was drunk about how cold of a person he is. Lauren sighs with a bit of shame and asked what he wanted so she could end the conversation sooner and leave for work.
He was slightly worried about her current state as she clearly hasn't gotten over the fact that he set her up to die.
" I'm worried you won't take care of yourself properly. One night will turn to two nights, then to three and then the next thing you know, you're an alcoholic. Drinking will be your solution to everything. Is that what you want Lauren?" he asked.
"You did this to me! You did! Why me, why did it have to be me." She said as she gets closer and pushes him against the car over and over. Quade stands his ground and tries to calm her down as he is filled with guilt.
"What do you want me to say, 'I'm sorry'? That won't do you good Lauren. Believe me, if I had a choice I wouldn't have involved you, it was out of my hands." he said.
“what the fuck is that supposed to mean?” she asked.
Quade doesn’t respond.
"Why are you even here, did you just come here to scold be out. I don’t need to be babysit alright." She said annoyed.
He takes a few seconds just looking at her before removing an envelope from the passenger seat. He hands her the envelope and some keys.
"The envelope contains information regarding the necklace. The knowledge that the Kal Blades have stored in the bunker for hundreds of years, are confidential. I will be away for a while. If I don't return within 48 hours, there's an antique shop on 14 Riveren street. Use the first key to access the front door of the shop. The second one is for the bunker door, in the backroom behind the closed curtains. Don't bother opening it now. It's sealed and will only open after the timer has ended. You're the only one that truly knows what I do for a living so I trust you with this." he said as entered the vehicle.
"Where are you going?" She asked. "hiking." said Quade as he drives off.
He drives off to south-east of the valley as he pinpointed the location of the mysterious being. As arrives at the edge of the forest, He climbs out the car with his hiking gear, his Blade and his custom energy powered hand gun, attached to his right thigh. He checked the map on his phone one more time and decided which path he was going to take. While Quade was roaming the forest on his hunt, Lauren arrived at her office, exhausted. She sits down and massages her head due the headache she has.
For a brief moment, she just inhaled and exhaled, trying to feel calm before opening the envelope. She opened it and as she read, to her surprise, it answered her question about where it was discovered. Henri's great grandfather, John Nolan discovered the necklace in 1915 during the first world war. The town was once a barricade to prevent the Soviets from entering into the land.
Tunnels were dug below the town as to give the soldiers an advantage and set up traps for the Soviets to keep them at bay. During the time, John and his crew accidentally dug out a grave. A corpse of a woman with the Sumerian necklace around her. To his estimate, She was dead for centuries. The report ended there.
"This can't be it, where's the rest?" she said as she searched the papers back and forth. She tried to call Quade but it went straight to voicemail.
"Oh come on." she said as she sat there thinking what to do.
"Okay think Lauren. I need-- during world war-- public records yes." she said as she goes to the backroom, searching old war records of the town. She finds the private map of the tunnels and puts it along side the modern sewers map. The two maps align except on the old map, there's several tunnels that were not displayed on the modern map. She begins her investigation.
It's midday and Quade still continues his search for the being. He grows impatient as the day is nearly over and failed to discover anything but wildlife. As he sits down, he notices an unusual foot print, twice the size of his own and not the paw of any animal known to his knowledge.
He follows the footprints and suddenly it came to a stop, before a giant boulder. It surroundings was weird, trees crushed below it.
"Where are you." said Quade as he looked around for anything suspicious. He leaned against the boulder with disappointment. He accidentally head tapped the boulder and as he was about to leave, he noticed the sound was hollow.
"odd." he whispered to himself as stood before it.
He continued finger tapping it, and ended it with a knock.
"Impressive camouflage. Almost fooled me. I'm not here to hurt you, just to talk. So show yourself." He shouts to whoever could hear him.
"Leave human, or I will kill you." said a voice that echoed from within the boulder.
"No, no you won't. You see, you could've killed the old man who saw you steal his engine, or me down at the station, but you didn't. So therefore I'm unarmed, Wait--" said Quade as he removes his gun and dagger from his waist and throws it aside.
"Now I'm unarmed. I’m not a threat." he said while he stood there, waiting.
There was no response for a bit amount of time until at last, the camouflage was disabled and a stranded ship appeared. a Door opens slowly and a seven foot Alien steps out the ship.
"I guess we should, uh, introduce each other. I'm Quade and you are?" he asked with deepest respect as he tries to avoid showing off any sort of aggression.
The alien just stares at Quade for a few seconds before responding with a translator device that turns its raw sound into human speech, which hangs around it’s neck.
"My name is Vaeccu. You're not afraid human?" it asked. Quade nods and explains to Vaeccu on why he is different.
" I'm not like the rest. There are some, like me, that know the existence of other non earth-like beings, although I have not met one from space before. I'm here because you've taken things that does not belong to you. From what I can tell, you're trying to power something. Your ship?" he replied.
"Quite perceptive Quade, of the human race. My ship got damaged during a meteor shower. My automated power diverging system malfunctioned. I've repaired what I could, but it needs a considerable amount of energy to start it up manually. Your primitive tech is not enough." said Vaeccu.
"Well you took an engine that's seeing the end of it's days. I have a far more powerful one stored in my vehicle. I think that would suffice." said Quade.
" You are willing to help me human, Why?" asked Vaeccu with visible confusion.
"Better to have a friend than an enemy, don't you agree." replied Quade with a sense of trust.
Vaeccu accepts Quade's assistance and asked where his vehicle was.
"About that, it's outside the forest, and there's no road getting to here so that's another problem.” he replied.
"That is not a problem, I will carry it." said Vaeccu with confidence as his ships door closed and walks towards the car.
"Oh, how you-- okay." said Quade as he was briefly confused and went with Vaeccu to fetch it.
As they were walking, the two have a casual conversation about each other.
"So what planet are you from?" asked Quade out of curiosity.
"One not from this galaxy. I have not been home for years, I think it’s time I go back, the second I get of this planet." replied Vaeccu.
"What brings you to this galaxy if I may ask? " asked Quade as nearly trips off a log.
"I'm an explorer. I've learned about many planets and it’s history, as I roamed through the universe. Your planet was not my on list of places to visit as you humans have created a reputation for yourselves. You fear what you do not understand and then use violence to justify it. Although, your kind is not the only one to go through this phase but is the worst of them all. There were stories about this place. It use to be a common center planet for all kinds of beings, from the smallest to literal gods, but humans had enough and took over the planet in a rebellion that determined the outcome of their survival. Most beings that weren't human has left the planet, some that stayed had suffered a miserable demise and now what is left is myth about whether any being but human, exists or not. Humans are--" said Vaeccu before he was interrupted.
"Shit, yeah we hate ourselves too. The sins of our past always finds a way to make things worse, just when we thought it'll get better. I try to be different than my predecessors were. It doesn’t change much but for what it's worth, I believe there is some hope for us." said Quade.
“We shall see.” said Vaeccu as they continued walking.
Back at the library, Ms. Walters comes across Lauren who is stressed out. The memory of that night haunts her as she can not come to terms and accept the fact, she nearly died. Ms. Walters comforts her by trying to assist her but Lauren changes the subject by showing Ms. Walters the necklace. She was amazed that Lauren found something so ancient on her first week.
"This is promising after all. This actually might help the town regain it's popularity. Over the years, it's been declining in tourists, as well as residents. People just flock to the big city now and soon there will be nothing left but a ghost town." she said.
The word ghost triggered Lauren, causing her to feel agitated. " please don't say that. Don't say that word." she said.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you sure you're okay?" asked Ms. Walters, who was concerned about Lauren's mental health.
She calms herself down and replied, " Yes, I'm fine. I'm just, hungov-- I mean tired. Worked all night on this.".
"work is important but sleep is just as important dear. Don't torture yourself like this." said Ms. Walters as she advised Lauren before leaving the office.
Lauren grabs the keys Quade handed to her. She looks at the time while holding the key, eager to go to the bunker without waiting for the timer to finish. She drops the keys and decides to wait it out instead. She lays her head down and takes a nap.
Back at the Forest, an hour went by and Vaeccu dragged Quade's car all the way with the assistance of his anti-gravity tech which he attached to the corners of the car, lifting a few inches from the ground up, and finally puts it down in front of the ship.Vaeccu prepares the wires and connects his power system to the car’s engine while Quade was separating the drive-train from the engine, the system connecting to the wheels, to prevent the car from moving in order to maximize it’s energy output.
"Ready?" asked Quade as he sat in the driver's seat preparing to start the engine.
Vaeccu does a few last touches and signals Quade to begin. He starts the engine and shifts into the first gear. Vaeccu signals for more power and Quade shifts into second then third gear. The system is powering up but not enough to keep the ship’s automated system to reboot. The engine revs hard and the exhaust pipe starts to heat up. Quade goes into 4th and 5th then 6th gear. The engine continues heating up and Quade goes into 7th and final gear. Forcing the engine to go beyond its limits. With the output of a thousand horsepower and more, Vaeccu stood there watching the power synchronize with the ship and as he was ready, it synchronized. He flipped the switch which caused the ship to be fully automated again.
"It Worked!" Shout Vaeccu with Joy.
Quade switches off the car and exits it.
“You said, that there might be hope for your kind, but can you say that to those who are imprisoned into depths of the earth.” asked Vaeccu with a more serious tone, as he walks over, which caught Quade off guard.
"What do you mean?" asked Quade cautiously.
"When I crashed here, I analyzed the landscape to identify anything within the area for signs of life right before the system went down. All was above ground except for three. Two were more closer to the surface but one was deeper and away from the town. If you were able to find me, surely you knew about those below.” said Vaeccu testing Quade’s hypocrisy.
“I know about the two that is close to the surface, It’s actually not what it looks like. I’m trying to help a friend of mine, a mistake I made and now I’m trying to fix it, the second one killed a lot of people. I couldn't let it run free, but I don’t know about a third one.” he replied as Vaeccu stood a few milimeters away, looking down on him with it's enormous body.
“At first, the scan couldn’t detect the life. The signal appeared and disappeared. With a more visual enhancement, It was a human, chained up in a cave, on the verge of death.” said Vaeccu.
"a third person chained up underground? I don’t understand-- wait- a man that has lost sense of time." he whispered to himself as he realized.
“Earlier you talked about change and hope, but my question is, what shall you do Quade, of the human race?” asked Vaeccu.
“Every chance I get of changing our past sins, I’ll go for it. All I want is peace, for others, no matter what being they are. The duty I was given is to protect life from chaos. That includes every being. I know not all of them are bad. My encounter with you is just an example of many other. As for the imprisoned human, I will free him.” said Quade.
Vaeccu, indebted and thankful, gifts Quade an item of appreciation. It was an Emergency beacon.
“I have not much to offer, but if you ever need my help, I shall answer your call. For a human, you’re not bad after all.” said Vaeccu.
“coming from you, I feel honored.” said Quade feeling grateful.
They both shook hands and sealed their unexpected friendship. After the restoration of the car, Quade gets in the vehicle and Vaeccu, using his ship, attaches the car at the bottom and drops off Quade at the closest road. It's sunset and Vaeccu flies into the empty sky, through the clouds, flickering the stereotypical lights of UFO's as one last gesture of goodbye.
Quade chuckles as he drives off towards the imprisoned person. He arrives at an old mine, decommissioned centuries ago. As he came closer to the entrance, he was blocked by a wall with the symbol of Kal Blade, the Initials ‘KB’ engraved on it.
" I don't understand, This wasn't in the journal." he thought to himself as he analyzed the wall.
It had cracks as it was deteriorating. Quade exploited those cracks and used the explosives he had in the boot of the car. He detonates and the wall explodes into rubble.He made it across and it was pure darkness. He used a flashlight and looked around before seeing lines of lanterns through out the whole passage He lit the first one which started a chain of lanterns lighting up the whole passage. Quade walked down the pass till he saw a mine elevator. It was really old and as he stood on the elevator, it was squeaking and unbalanced. It's stability has lost it strength over the years.
He made sure that the pulley doesn't fail him by making a secondary climbing rope from his hiking gear and tossed it down the hole. As he gently pulled the lever, it lowered him safely down mid-way before the pulley broke sooner than he expected and started falling down with great speed. He holds on to his back-up, bracing for impact. As he reached the bottom and walked off the elevator with minimal injuries, his Flashlight broke and he grabbed one of the torch holders that was leaning on the side of the elevator and lit it.
A soft voice could be heard and as he walked towards the sound, chains were softly racking on the ground. The light from the fire soon revealed a young man, on his knees, chained up by the neck, arms, waist and legs. The man was mumbling to himself. Quade couldn’t understand what he was trying to say and went closer to see the prisoner's state of mental health, who was extremely anorexic and dehydrated.
"Fucking hell. How long have you been down here? It’s okay, I’m getting you out of here." he said as looked around.
He noticed several tattoos on the man’s upper body except one that wasn’t a tattoo. It was a symbol burned onto his chest, like a cow is branded by a farmer. It was unfamiliar to him. He grabs his gun and shoots the chains open, freeing the prisoner. He grabs the prisoner's arm and holds it around his shoulder, dragging him to the elevator where he ties the prisoner to his back, and climbs him up the mine to the surface. After sheer will of climbing, they finally made it out and puts the prisoner in the backseat of the car. He drives back home with his foot hitting the pedal, speeding down the main road.
As he reaches close to the town, he received notifications on his phone. a missed call from Lauren who he dials back.
"Looks like you're still kicking It." said Lauren slightly relieved.
"Yeah I don't like going out easy. How are you holding up?" he asked.
" Okay I guess, having a near death experience just makes see life differently. I still dream about it, of that moment, I was scared that if I blinked, that it would've been my last." she replied . " Henri use to say, that if you want to understand how the world really works, you first need to understand what it means to live, and a near death experience is the first step." said Quade.
It was quiet for a few seconds before Lauren asked, " is that It?".
"Oh yeah I don't know what else to say." he replied.
Lauren disappointed heard the prisoner moan through phone.
"What was that?" she asked.
"Something I didn't expect to find on this trip- or I did, just not like this. Everything is moving so fast. There is something you should know Lauren, we didn't meet by mistake" he said before being interrupted.
"Really, what gave it away, the fact you set me up?" She answered sarcastically.
"No, it's not a matter of will but fate or whatever the fuck that means. Point is--" he said before he paused for a few seconds thinking.
"Point is?" She asked.
"You're not just anybody. You're remarkable. You could've run away that night, the door was wide open, but you stuck around and not only that, you saved my life. What I’m doing is against everything my mentor taught me but I believe in change, and now that I know it’s achievable, it doesn’t matter how long it will take. One step at a time. You wanted to know what the world really is all about, I will show you. Tomorrow morning first thing, the antique shop. Feel free to let yourself in. Goodnight." he said before hanging up the phone.
Lauren puts the phone down slowly, thinking about her current life goals before she went to sleep.
Quade arrives in his bunker and takes the man out of the car, carries him to a guest bed, using his basic medic skills, he applies treatment. After finishing the treatment, the prisoner's vitals was stable and sedated.
“You clearly went through a lot, one that I can’t imagine, I just hope I didn’t make a mistake freeing you.” said Quade as he left the room and laid down on the couch, snoozing into the night.
Unknowingly the prisoner was conscious, struggling to reach the surgical knife on the table. He crawls down the bed and towards the table. The commotion woke Quade up. The prisoner manages to attain the knife and slices his own throat. The body lies still on the ground with his blood spreading over the floor. Quade calmly walks in with shock and confusion. The prisoner’s heart stopped beating and all he could do was just standing there, watching.