CHAPTER 45 - Turning point III
Sera
It has been a long time since we have last seen Leo, but not enough for us to imagine just how much stronger he has gotten. The last time he was strong, he could win against the monsters that others tried so hard to fight against to survive, but at that time it was mostly thanks to his quick decision-making and variety of techniques for each situation.
Now, however, it is a whole different thing. The monsters that once posed him a threat can be easily taken care of with just one swing of his. He even managed to tame one of the stronger beasts we have seen so far.
It doesn't make it less surprising though, when my sister, the one who usually took care of things at a slow pace with a calm mind, came to me with her plan. I am supposedly the hot heated one of us, so I can’t even complain as it is a good plan too. The only downside of it, a huge downside in fact, is… If Leo catches wind of it halfway through, we are dead.
No. There is no other way at this point. It’s our only feasible option to do it.
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Leo
Sera guides me to the room where the leaders of this place are having their meeting.
I think I can already see where this is going from the conversation I had with Troy, but the least I can do for the sisters is hear them out, so I enter the room with an open mind and Bruma on my shoulder.
As I enter, Sera closes the door and tells me to sit in the first available seat, which so conveniently happens to be one of the two heads of the table, opposite to Maria.
‘...’ I give a kick nod to Sera, and another to Maria as I sit, looking around to see who I am dealing with.
The table is not that big, even the meeting room is smaller than I had thought. There are four chairs on each side of the table, of which only two are occupied right now. They seem to be seated at random.
‘Whatever, It's none of my concern how they manage their base.’ I think as I look straight ahead, not caring about the looks they are sending me.
Maria waits for Sera to be in place before starting, and once she gets to her right side, she clears her throat and starts.
“First, I would like to introduce you all to Leo, one of the friends me and my sister made in the first days of the apocalypse.”
Then, they all greet me while they tell me their position in the base. It seems that only the ones in charge of external affairs are here. I find it hard to believe the need for so many people with titles for such a small group thought, I don't voice my concerns.
Once the introductions are done, Maria asks for our attention as she gets to the point, just as I like.
“Leo, I assume you have met other groups of survivors before other than us?”
“Yes.” Even though that doesn’t bring good memories at all.
“Then, you should see that our group is a lot different from those kinds of groups. At least from the ones our size where leaders manage the other people.”
‘Yes, she is right. Any other leader would deem most of the elderly and young from this group as unnecessary and chase them out.’ It’s not something to be proud of, but to survive the harsh reality of our new world people will do anything.
So I answer honestly.
“Yes. It follows quite the difference approach, there is a lot more variety in your group members' ages and situations.” I can still remember how the only people I saw with kids in the walled base of those greedy leeches before were the ones who at the very least had two useful parents.
“Well, you see, most of our people come from our hometown, the city where we met you too.”
‘Wait, what? These weaker survivors decided to come all the way to another city?’ Maria gets me out of my stupor with her next line.
“We all run away from there after somehow escaping the clutches of the vampires that live there.”
“No way.” I can’t help but feel paranoid after that statement. Their weak group of elderly and young people successfully escaping the vampires? Yeah, no shot.
“I know it's hard to believe, but vampires do exist, and they are too strong to fight against.” Maria keeps explaining, but I don't care, do they really think they can fool me?
“Maria, would you mind explaining just how you were able to escape then?” I ask.
“I can answer that for you, I got the answer from my own experience.” A middle-aged man who sits to my right says instead.
“Is that so?”
The man, knowing my confusion, goes into an explanation.
“As Maria said before, we are chasing vengeance against the vampires. Why you may ask? Because they only see us as tools or a source of blood.”
“A lot of humans were captured by the ones living in Ferns. The vampires were not numerous, but they were strong, stronger than anything we have seen. They could tear through steel effortlessly with their bare hands a control all the blood around them.”
‘Inhuman strength and control over blood is something I have already seen them doing.’ I think as I hear him out, searching for anything that I have missed about the monsters in my previous encounter or any lies.
“The vampires had a lot of servants too. Talented people from their world who they have strengthened and now follow their will as guards, soldiers, and so on. The family of vampires imprisoned a few hundred humans under their “reign”, as they called it, to help them build their new castle.”
“Before you ask… yes, all those people are humans from their world. They do have some differences overall, but we share the main features.”
‘Wow there, that escalated quickly.’
“That’s some valuable information you got there.” I say earnestly.
“It’s something to take into account, yes, but before going into detail let me tell you the rest.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
He nods and proceeds to go on with a grim expression.
“As they were trying to build a new castle for their family, they used the strengthened humans they brought with them as soldiers, while they used the natives as both; blood supply and forced labor.” He avoids my gaze as he says so in shame.
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“Natives… aka us, right?” I inquire.
He nods.
“I was one of the few people that were living inside their temporary fortress in the center of Ferns.” His expression gets even darker as he says so.
“It was hell.”
“Humans, hundreds of humans, treated miserably… By their own kind! We may not share the same world, but we are definitely related in one way or another. Hundreds of us enslaved by the vampires, working day after day to build an immeasurable structure for only one family.” He solemnly declares.
“I was one of the older and weaker of the humans there, so even if I were part of the construction group, I couldn’t do much due to my condition.” He then shows me one of the arms he was keeping under the table.
“I only have my left hand. Courtesy of one of the rat monsters that appeared all over the city. One of the creatures got to me before the vampires did, and even if they took me in as a slave, I was later found lacking.” He forces a weak smile as he shows me the stump on his right arm.
“I wasn’t worthy of being their blood supply as I was too old, and neither was I able to play my part in the construction process, so I was about to be freed so that other useful prisoners could take my share of food.”
“Freed? As in they letting you out? Alive?” I ask bewildered.
“Yes, you heard it right, I was useless to them, so they were planning on getting rid of me in the easiest way possible. Throwing me out.”
‘That's interesting.’ I ponder over the implications of those words. Does that mean they are merciful?
No no no, there is no way that can be considered merciful. This guy got used while they thought he was worthwhile and then discarded when deemed useless and subsequently thrown out into the maws of the monsters waiting out in the wild. All that while possibly unarmed, in rags, and with nothing to his name.
‘That’s in no way different than sending him to his death.’
Unlike my expectations, he now displays a huge grin on his face.
“Fortunately, I was saved by the arrival of Maria and his group that were scouting the place. The moment they saw me being let outside, they met with me to ask me all kinds of questions. By the time I finished showing them how life was inside for us humans, I could see in their faces that we shared the same goal.”
“We want nothing else than the destruction of the vampires.” Says Maria across the table.
“We want to not only free all our families and friends from their claws. But we want to kill every single one of them that treats humans as mere playthings.”
She is clearly enraged by their actions, and it makes sense after hearing their history.
“All of the people that form this group have someone close to them being exploited by those monsters. Some are fathers whose children are being used as drinks, others are elderly whose sons and daughters have been killed or imprisoned in front of their eyes.”
All of their facial expressions display nothing else than sadness, rage, and revenge.
“All of us have been working on a plan for weeks on end to reach our goal. We have recruited everyone we could, and we have spied on them to discover any loopholes around their perimeter. One of us even went as far as letting himself get caught to get a better look from the inside! Hoping w–”
“Stop.” I say firmly, cutting her off.
I clench my fist under the table, already preparing myself for what is to come. It is as clear as day that they want to recruit me to help them kill those monsters… But it's far too soon.
I escaped from everything and was preparing this last month to be prepared for the future, but this is too much of a challenge for my actual self. It has not even been 1 month since my strength was equal to a mere child of their race.
How can I possibly go against a group of them and a whole army of strengthened humans from another world? I don't even know how much stronger an adult vampire is. I don't like the odds at all.
That's it.
“I think the same as you and support your idea, but I am not going to die for it.” I firmly say.
A few of them sigh, probably expecting this outcome.
“There is so much we can do. We are clearly no threat to them at all. Even if I joined it wouldn’t matter that much.”
“Being one hundred percent honest, I already met one of those vampires you talk about, in fact, they are the reason I fled from Ferns. A small child, it was all it took to make me run from there.” I can even feel my blood boiling as I say it.
“But we have a plan! We know some places that we can use to infiltrate! We can plant bombs, we can prepare traps, we can turn them one against each other! We just need someone fast and strong enough for everything to come together, someone who can bypass their defenses without getting caught.”
‘Such a shitty feeling. And here I thought I wouldn't feel so useless now that my family was lost and I had no one to care about. I grit my teeth so hard to the point I taste blood.
“No is no! We have no chance!” I shout at her and everyone in the room. I am furious, they just remind me how weak I am to do anything meaningful at all. They, as weak as they are right now, still have courage enough to fight against unwinnable odds.
“...” Maria closes his eyes as she stops shouting, finally resigning to my help.
And I start walking away. I need to calm myself, getting furious and moving hastily won’t help me.
“What if–”
‘Fuck! Just give up already’ I curse internally as Maria starts mumbling something when I am about to reach the door, but Sera jumps enraged.
“No! You can’t leave like this! You are just lying to yourself. You know you are the right one for the job, you are just scared!”
“From the day we met you, I knew you were trash! You only cared about your family, you never cared about anyone else, you even left us when you got bored of our company in Ferns. You are just like them, you are just like the vampires, treating us as toys or tools you can swap whenever you like!”
“Sera stop!”
“Shhss Sera don't continue.”
“Please Sera, not now.”
I can hear the other people on the table trying to calm Sera, probably scared that I would retaliate.
“I don't care! Come on Leo, go on, beat me up! Better yet! Kill me!”
“Show me that you are the same as those vampire monsters, that way all of them will shut up and you will be on the right once more. Isn’t that perfect?!”
I remain silently at the entrance, with my hand on the knob.
“You are nothing more than a coward piece of shit! Just like those in power before the apocalypse who had the power. You can change things yet you decide to sit on your small mountain of grievings and fake beliefs.”
“Leave! Leave with your small fox to escape from your fear of making choices! At least I am sure the fox won't criticize you for abandoning your kind. Maybe you only took it as a substitute for your dead family because you are unable to see the truth before you!”
“Sera… that’s too much…” Maria is already crying on the side.
I can see Sera’s hatred showing up as she shouts at me. I would like to shout back, to be able to tear my vocal cords in a heated argument with her. But I can’t deny it, I can’t even find where to start a counterargument. So I just stay still, as emotionless as ever.
For a couple of seconds, Sera stops her shouts, looking at my back, so I take it as a cue to finally leave.
But no…
“Maybe, just maybe, you never even cared about your family, and you just used them to feel good about yourself.” She says in a hiss, stopping me in my tracks.
“Maybe, you are not looking for them because you care, but because they are the only valid justification for yourself that tells you you are doing what’s right.”
‘Maybe I should just kill her?’ I think for a moment while my qi starts washing over the room as my intent to kill her surfaces.
All the people in the room fall to the floor from the pressure, and even Bruma prepares to make a move as I show my intentions, lightning ringing all around her.
‘No… What am I even thinking about?’
I lost all reason for a second, only realizing what I was about to do moments before the disaster.
I freeze and look at my own hands. Just imagining myself killing these people makes my stomach churn.
‘I need to leave before I do something I will regret.’
So I leave the meeting room, closing the room behind me, with all of them laying on the floor, gasping for air.
But even after leaving the place, Sera’s words reverberate in my mind. ‘Is it really like that?’