12 hours ago.

The helicopter was barred from flying over the army base's air space , forcing the pilot to go for one of the hangars a few metres outside the facility.

“ This does not look good. I have a bad feeling there will be restrictions that will keep us from getting to the doctor. The commander did not call this a priority mission and since the doc will be perfectly safe here, I say we should just fly back,” the pilot suggested , turning to Linzy and Cynthia for confirmation.

“ No ! I mean we can at least try to get in. Please ?” Linzy was not about to give up that easily.

She had already come so far trying to reach Jack and she would see the plan through to the end.

“ I have a time limit ma’am. In one hour I should be reporting back to my commander ,” the soldier gave his concerns.

“ We will keep time sir ,” Cynthia supported her friend.

The pilot , a man of few words , grudgingly agreed to let them leave , warning them that he’d leave without them if they were late.

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At the main gates , the two women found a sizable and rather haphazard queue of people trying to gain entry into the facility.

The list included people from all walks of society , the poor with bags containing the last meals they probably had all the way to the rich people with massive cars hooting loudly at the stern looking guards at the gate.

“ Linzy , it will not be easy to get through this,” Cynthia tried forcing her way through the crowd and got on the wrong foot of a stout bitter elderly woman.

“Trying to cut the line , you spoiled brat ? Some of us have been here the whole day and you think you can just waltz past us ?”

She was causing a scene that Cynthia would have preferred avoided as more people were starting to turn their attention to them.

They were all so frustrated at having to wait in line for so long that the thought of someone trying to jump ahead was enough to cause an uproar.

“ I’m so sorry ,” Cynthia tried to defuse the situation.

“ Sorry? Think that will soothe my legs that have been standing here all day aching up a storm? No , someone needs to make an example of you !” The old lady was vehement.

“ But she already apologised ,” Linzy could not understand the old woman’s unreasonableness.

Another group of people arrived , dressed in white jackets that all had the logo of a well known charitable organisation.

Unlike the rest of the common folk , the soldiers manning the gate allowed the organisation to pass without trouble.

“ See , this is what I mean! When some of us have been standing in line for the whole scorching day , some even with children on their backs, these entitled arrogant people are just passing us as if we are nothing !” the old woman cried out with anger on seeing the people who were being allowed in.

She completely lost control of herself , raising her hand against Cynthia.

Her punch was just about to land on Cynthia when her hand was suddenly caught by a tall man with white flowing hair similar to Jack’s. He too had a white jacket like the other people who were being allowed to pass.

“ And what , do you think you're doing ?” He asked her with an annoyed look , then turned to Linzy and Cynthia , “ I think I know you two. Please , come with us and avoid this calibre of people.”

“ Yes , thank you,” Linzy hopped on the opportunity .

She did not recognize the man , but if he could get them through the gate , all other concerns were but dust in the wind.

When they were finally past the gates , the man charismatically introduced himself as Naaman , then proceeded to give each of them one of the white jackets to wear.

“ I work with the Sceptre Medical Wish Foundation , an organisation founded by doctor Misika Chester to help poor children access health care. Keep these jackets and no one in the army will bother you ,” Naaman kindly explained.

“ I’m sorry , you said that you know us . How ?” Cynthia was still apprehensive.

“You work for Mrs. Chester’s husband , right ?” Naaman asked.

Linzy nodded.

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“ Then that’s probably how. We have visited the company a few times before with Mrs Chester , maybe I saw you there.

I can’t really explain it , but it's that feeling of knowing and not knowing someone,”

“ Oh , well that kind of makes sense. If that is all then you have our sincerest of gratitude ,” Cynthia now felt a bit easy around him , though still wanted to get rid of him.

“ Where are you headed ? Maybe you could stick with us for the time being,” Naaman suggested.

“Maybe later. My friend and I have some business we need to attend to ,” Linzy declined.

Though she was actually meant to be looking for Timothy’s wife , but Jack was her only real priority.

She waited till Naaman was out of earshot before starting to lay out plans with Cynthia on how they would start looking for someone being held under the military.

“Breaking him out is treason , you know that right ?” Cynthia was hesitant. They really hadn’t thought through the plan at all.

“ What is treason in the centre of the apocalypse ?” Linzy put forward an argument that was strangely very convincing.

“ While it is true that the soldiers might not even notice it when he is gone , we still need to find him first,” Cynthia brought forward the next hurdle they would need to overcome.

“ Growing up as an orphan and bouncing off from one foster home to another taught me a few tricks. With these kinds of places , there’s always someone willing to talk if the price is right, ”

“ You’re talking about bribery , yet another law you wanna break ,” Cynthia gave a scolding look.

“Will you just play along Cynthia, lend me your bank account. The bank I use has already been destroyed ,”

“Your plan is shit,” Cynthia emulated what Hamilton would have told Jack.

The two women settled on this idea and soon found a watchman of questionable character to work with.

Cynthia , who apparently had an exceptionally loaded account balance owing to her frugal spending habits , offered to pay him his one thousand upfront. They got no further quarrels with the man and he immediately started leading them on a path through the barracks.

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“ The man was brought to this place last I saw ,” the man stopped in front of the door to an obviously deserted building whose top floor was still under construction.

He planned on taking them inside , robbing them of all of their money and then silencing them for good before he made his escape to somewhere far and safe from the monsters.

To the watchman, it was their fault for believing someone’s intel without even taking time to verify it.

“ Here , of all places ?” even Linzy was getting worried.

“ Let’s just go and get this over with . And you , don’t try anything funny with us ,” Cynthia warned the watchman before leading the way.

After having spent so much money on this, all she wanted was to see it done so she could go back to Hamilton.

“ After you ,” the man offered Linzy , feeling for his pistol as he followed.

The lighting inside was decent , but was still unable to permeate through the corners effectively.The walls were dusty , littered with cobwebs , evidence that the place was very rarely frequented.

“Hey ,are you sure he’s here ?” Lindsy was hesitant to take the flight of stairs and check on the upper floors.

“The man you’re looking for , was intercepted by monsters on the way here and is probably dead,” the watchman took his gun out , “ I don’t have to tell you to put your hands in the air,”

Cynthia shrieked for a moment but was instantly silenced when the watchman fired a warning shot just next to her feet. If anything , he had perfect aim .

“ Don’t you worry ladies. After all , the apocalypse is coming for all of us now isn’t it ?” he said,patting them down with his free hand. He got their wallets and phones, which he then demanded passwords for.

“ My my , this is the famous doctor Chester , right?” he paused after getting Timothy’s wallet from Linzy and opening it ,

“ This is her husband with her, I’m sure of it. Strange , I don’t recall them having any children . Are you the mistress perhaps?”

Linzy wanted to slap that insult back into his mouth.

“ Look if it's money you want, take everything and leave,” Linzy spat , angry at herself for overlooking what would have been so obvious had she not been so obsessed with getting Jack.

Looking at Cynthia , she blamed herself even more for not putting her into consideration. Now her friend was in danger just because she had trusted her lead.

“ You’re not even begging for your lives ? You know the funny thing is , I get the impression that even if I were to leave you like this unharmed, you wouldn’t even bother reporting me.

No , you would go on with whatever you were doing , looking for that man ,”

“ I’m giving you my word that we won’t tell a single soul. Just please let us go ,I’m begging you,” Cynthia was too frightened to say anything so Linzy kept going.

“ Lucky man , is he not? To have someone that’s ready to turn the world just because of him.

Jack Kamphar , if he survived and I ran into him , I wonder what I’ll say ,” The watchman pointed the barrel at her head. He figured that Linzy was the one who should die first since she looked like the one most likely to fight back or yell for help.

The watchman checked off the safety of his pistol and a bullet shot through his chest before he could shoot Lindsy.

Mrs Chester was left standing behind as the watchman fell forward on his head . One of the ten or so soldiers with her had put a clean shot through the man , ending him instantly.

“ Linzy Chase and Cynthia Snow , you two work for my husband. Next time think twice before following strangers into abandoned buildings in the night. Now go to the hall where the rest of the survivors are. Two of my men will accompany you. Oh , and also , get rid of those jackets,” the asian woman took over the situation before the two girls even had time to acclimatise to what had just happened.

Linzy was quick to stop the doctor just as she was about to turn and leave.

Now that they knew Jack wasn’t in the Army headquarters , she decided to just do what had brought her there.

“ Your husband told me to say this to you ma’am ,March 4th , 2023 .”