CHAPTER 42: INTRUDER!

"Who opened the locks on the door where the diamonds are?!" Drake said, shouting and spitting saliva unintentionally as he called on all the soldiers who went inside the warehouse, including the ash-colored-eyed boy, and made them tell him what they did inside, including where they stopped.

One after another, all the soldiers came in, moving and pointing to the areas and showing him what they took or touched. But among all the six soldiers who opened the door of the warehouse, one person pretended not to hear Drake’s voice and still stood at the entrance of the wall protecting the warehouse, pressing on a mini smart device.

"Who is that standing there?" Drake said, pointing to the guy standing afar.

"Sir, he was the last person to go in the warehouse."

"What’s his name? And why is he holding a smart device? Didn’t you all leave yours at the changing room in the barracks?"

"Sir, we did leave all our devices in the changing room, including any electromagnetic device."

"Go and call him here!"

"Okay, sir."

A few minutes as the ash-colored-eyed soldier walked to the soldier at mention, he stepped back, raised his spear, and pointed it at the man.

"Intruder!" he said, shouting and tilting his head toward the other soldiers being checked by Drake. The moment he tilted his head back, a few saw the man run toward the closed door, climb it, and jump to the other side, laughing.

All the soldiers stationed at the warehouse, including those keeping guard at the junctions outside the walls of the warehouse, picked up their weapons and began running after that intruder. But no matter how and where they passed, hoping to counter him, they ended up bumping into each other and stumbling back, crashing to the ground and piercing the sharp edges of their weapons into the ground.

After escaping from all the soldiers and treading into the market’s women, the intruder stopped and jumped into the opened back of a moving cart that was moving toward the entrance of the city.

...

"Good day, cherished soldiers, I need to drop these rotten foods and garbage into the wasteland," the driver said, pulling the cigarette from his mouth and blowing smoke into the air, and placing it back.

"Uncle Sam... there’s no need to stop, keep going, have a nice day. Don’t forget to set it on fire and wait till they burn before returning..." Kinji said, greeting the man and signaling the soldiers not to stop the garbage carrier.

They all greeted the old man with a white beard smoking and driving the cart and allowed him to pass without checking the back of the cart. Inside the back of the cart, the intruder grinned, seeing himself moving far from the guards at the entrance, and after the cart turned, he moved forward, scanned the tall trees before jumping onto the road.

"Are these the so-called strong and intelligent soldiers of the city of Bion? I alone can fight them till the last of them is down. I shouldn’t have answered the call when they called me to come in the first place," he said, placing the hood over his head and moving through the trees.

A few minutes after walking through the trees, he entered the other side of the road, stopped there until a black jeep halted for him to enter, and drove off at full speed.

"I thought you would not make it out of the city."

"That’s simple, I had everything under control. But by the way, all the information you gave me about the guards is fake."

"Fake?! How sure are you?"

"Didn’t you tell me the soldiers keeping watch at the warehouse and its surroundings are intelligent and fast?"

"Yeah, huh... huh... huh... I didn’t say anything about the warehouse. All those there are just illiterates that know nothing of fighting or chasing after criminals. That’s the main reason why they have been placed there, and not even at the city’s entrance."

"I now understand. But our men almost got caught when one of the new guys, I think, told Drake, the one who always acts as the one in charge, to check."

"So, did he check? For that guy, he doesn’t care about the resources stored in the warehouse. All he cares about is giving orders and controlling them."

Tiny black birds flapped their wings as they hummed, giving the silent street sweet echoing sounds and stopping at the branches. Dried leaves floated in the air wherever the car passed, sending dust in the air and leaving the pattern of the tires on the road.

...

"Do they always come here to take their bath?" Kai said, covering part of his eyes while gazing at Jane and Jinx’s naked backs.

When Jane turned back and looked at Kai, she smiled, stared at him for a while, then tapped on Jinx’s shoulder, letting her turn as well.

The moment both turned, Kai dashed out without waiting for brother Gray or Ryo, who were already standing under one of the opened showers, each. After exiting the bathroom door, he stood there until both of them walked out and walked to the large corridor and stared at the sky through the transparent glass covering both the sides and the top.

After ten minutes of staring at the stars in the sky, Ryo stood up, rubbing his eyes, walked out of the corridor, and went straight to the lab, where he’d been ever since.

"Brother Gray, about my eyes? You haven’t answered me ever since I came here three years ago," Kai said, tilting his gaze from the stars in the sky to Gray, who was calmly inhaling while having his eyes closed.

"It’s not normal for a human to have eyes of those colors," Gray said, inhaling deeply, cracked his eyes open, tilted toward Kai, and smiled.

He didn’t say anything, just continued smiling, until a single tear dripped from his left eye and slipped down to his chin, and landed on the ground with a soft thud sound.

The stars above reeled, spinning and moving like a wheel as the clouds floated underneath them in a grand style until a shooting star moved, cutting the sky into two. And at that instant, three tiny objects floated upwards, moving straight to the shooting star until crashing with it and sending sparks into the night’s sky.

...

Pam. Pam. Pam.

Boxes crashed at the back of a black van as men dressed in tinted ash clothing moved hastily, carrying and dropping boxes with skeletal faces drawn on them, and placing them in the van. Denis, Kang, and others walked on toward the van, moved past the area at which the boxes were at first, holding weapons of different types.

Kang raised the swords, moved them over his head, and slowly shoved them in the black leather wrapped around his waist and crossing his back, forming an "X" shape. Denis raised the handle of the huge butcher sword and struck it at his back. Instead of it hurting him, it stopped the moment it reached an inch above the snaking black liquid moving at his back.

The others followed, placing their weapons at their backs and waists, then boarded the van and set off, speeding and rumbling on the jagged road filled with potholes.