So this is really it, huh?
William stared into space for a moment, before Marianne broke the silence.
“So Zacharias lied about everything?” she said.
Vivian shook her head apologetically for some reason. “Only the part about Firdaus being able to control the zombies. Zacharias is the one who has the psychic ability to control a mutate’s mind. He blocked and altered my memories, but now I remember everything. All the times my body was being used to control the mutates.”
“Why did he unlock your memories now, of all times?” Marianne frowned.
“When does a villain reveal his plans to the heroes?” William spoke up. “When he’s luring them to a trap. He wants me to pursue him to one of the source machines.”
“What is this source machine you’re talking about?” Marianne eyed him suspiciously. “And what does he want with you?”
“I… I’m sorry, darling. I should’ve told you this earlier,” William’s voice wavered a little. “Remember when Zacharias took a photo of all of our electric fields? I found out that mine is blue. He means to use me as his puppet to take over the entire world’s zombie population.”
“Couldn’t he have just done that while you were sleeping or something? Why such theatrics?”
“That’s because he also needs to be near a source machine for that to happen. It amplifies his ability similar to how the mutation wave was boosted to spread to the whole world. He didn’t make a move because he did not have its location back then.”
Marianne gave William an uncomfortable penetrative gaze, as if she was trying to look into his mind.
“Is there something else you’re not telling me?” she asked sharply. “You wouldn’t be so calm in a situation like this. Not especially when a trap is laid so obviously for you.”
William could not resist a small smile; Marianne really had him all figured out. His mind worked to figure out a roundabout manner to break the news to her, but he decided against it. She deserved to know the full truth. William took a deep breath.
“This… this trap is not necessarily a bad thing. The entire mutation wave will be reversed for good if an enhanced with a blue aura goes into the source machine. If Zacharias decides to take control of me, I will step in immediately and end everything,” he said. “Including my life.”
William braced himself for an outburst, but found himself waiting for a little too long.
“I feel like a new character in season three of a show; I’m so lost,” Henrik muttered. “Why don’t we just destroy a source machine so that he can’t use it? There’s one at Firdaus’ place; Yuxia brought us to confirm that just before she got captured.”
“Putting aside the fact that a source machine is probably going to be reinforced by thermanite and all sorts of heavy duty metal, that’s only going to make the situation worse,” William replied. “If we destroy even just one of them, we’ll doom the world permanently. There’ll be no way to reverse the mutation wave.”
A small sniffle caught William’s attention. He glanced over to Marianne who had turned away, but he could still clearly see the single tear that rolled down her face. He reached out a hand to her, but she flinched just before his hand could touch her shoulder.
“Do what you have to do,” Marianne said stoically, though her body language clearly did nothing to help her facade.
“I…” William’s voice trailed away. He wanted to embrace her; to tell her that everything will be okay, but they both knew that would be a lie. So he settled for staring dumbly at the ground while she kept her back turned to him.
“So how are we going to do this?” Vivian’s wavering voice changed the subject. William looked up at her, and immediately wished he had not. Why did Marianne have to have an identical twin sister…
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
“R-right.” He forced himself back into a rational state so that everyone else did not need to bask in the awkwardness of the moment any longer. William flipped the pages of Henrik’s journal. “Victor- I mean Zacharias, saw the location of the source machine from this book. I’ll need some time to read it-”
“No need, it’s here,” Henrik said curtly, pointing to a marked point on a hand drawn map in the book. “The locations of all the source machines are on this map; they’re connected by some underground train tracks.”
William peered at the drawing and recognised two locations; Firdaus’ settlement and the motel. His eyes were quickly drawn to what he presumed was a key installation, especially since there were enough stars around it to recreate the former flag of Sector 62: The land of the free and other cliche dystopian propaganda. His eyes widened with recognition after staring at it for a while.
This has to be a goddamn joke.
“Isn’t this…” Marianne looked over his shoulder.
“The town in Sector 163 that was destroyed by us.” William nodded grimly. “There’s enough rubble there for Victor to knock us out before we can even start searching for Zacharias, which is why we’ll focus on saving Yuxia and the others first. Zacharias’ target is me, which ironically means that Victor will be safe until I arrive.”
“Please don’t tell me you’re going to confront Zacharias,” Vivian said. “It’s obviously a trap.”
“I know. But so does he,” William said in a grim tone. “Which is exactly why I intend to spring it with a trap of my own.”
----------------------------------------
An incessant tapping gently prodded Masako awake. She groaned and touched her head, not noticing a rat scurrying away from the metal door. I’m gonna get permanent brain damage if I get knocked out one more time.
“Finally awake, eh?”
Masako looked up in surprise. “Yuxia? What’re you- Where are we?”
Yuxia gave her a wry smile with traces of dried blood still visible across her cheek. Her body was slumped against the concrete wall in a position that could have easily been mistaken for a corpse. Masko’s chest tightened with fear; she had never seen the Red Clover look so broken before.
“Told you it was a bad idea,” Yuxia said in a dispassionate tone. “We could’ve been dead by now.”
Masako sat up to move towards her and felt a weight shift off her shoulder. It hit the ground with a loud thump.
“Brett! Brett, no!” she gasped, trying to shake him awake. “Please don’t be dead! Ple-”
“Calm down, Masako. He’s just knocked out.”
Guilt gripped Masako as her memories slowly popped back into her mind. “He took a hit for me. I’m so sorry… Please wake up… I don’t want to lose you…”
“You must really like that boy,” Yuxia muttered.
“Wha-” Masako sputtered as her face turned bright red. “I just- I mean- H-he’s five years younger than me! It’s not right for me to-”
“No shame about it, girl friend. I was once with a boy two years younger than me too.”
“What happened to him?”
“Died on a mission eight years ago,” Yuxia’s voice dropped. “He was only seventeen then.”
“I’m sorry…” Masako held Brett instinctively. “I guess you’re right; I’ve been having feelings for him for a while-”
“Wait, really?” Brett’s eyes flew open as a wide grin spread across his face.
“Eh?!” Masako gasped audibly and let go of him. “You were awake all along?!”
“N-no! I mean, only partially.” Brett pushed himself to a sitting position. “You woke me when you dropped me to the ground earlier.”
“You moron. Hmph.” Masako pouted, turning away from him. Yuxia rolled her eyes, though she was thoroughly enjoying this childish show. Brett opened his mouth to coax Masako, but a serious expression crossed her face.
“An odd rhythm of electrical signals turning on and off just appeared suddenly,” Masako said. “I think it’s… morse code?”
A look of mild realisation crossed Yuxia’s face as she leaned forward intently.
“Tap it out for me.”