Despite the evacuation running smoothly, there were still people that haven't awakened or that didn't follow the instructions. There was also the problem of them not taking this seriously, but with the number of people on the shelter, it was something impossible to prevent or control anymore, all we could do is trying for them to be together protect them.
After a while, I just went to the remaining apartments and that way I managed to send all the people on my area to the refuges.
I took a quick look at the advances on the wall and found that despite the increased amount of people there was a lot of work that couldn't be done by just anyone. I don't think that the inner wall was going to be ready at noon as Giorgio said.
The usual gates are in between the inner and outer wall, but they just consist of a bunch of rubble to block a part of the way. In other places, the collapsed buildings blocked the road, but I wasn't sure that these blockades would be able to prevent any beast from going into Green Shelter.
After the quick look I went back to the apartment, there I found everyone gathered including Hayley's dad on the living room, there were various items, and they were discussing what things should we take.
Dante was cuddled with his eyes closed, he was by far the most hardworking cat that I have ever seen. I'm thinking of finding some baby cat food or something, he always loved that. He obviously knew what I was thinking and started purring subconsciously.
"Is everything ready?"
"Almost, we have the backpacks with food, blanket, clothes, and water. We added a couple of camping tents and some tools that Gerhard and my dad think we could need. We are just trying to remember if there is anything we forgot."
I nodded and started to look at the things they had.
The addition of Emma's goons helped to have a couple of extra heavy lifters so we could carry more stuff.
I looked around and noticed Cai-Cai and Paws playing with Dana, and I remembered what Dante told me before about her.
"What happened with Cai-Cai?"
They looked at each other, and Hope started to talk.
"She suddenly became weak and seemed to be in pain. Dana was worried, so she asked Dante if she was ok. He told us that she was fighting that Alpha call, after thinking of a solution for a while, Dante told us to take her to Rose."
"What, she made a pet contract with her? How?"
"I don't know. I think you can ask her later when all this is solved."
Right, this was not the right moment, but as far as I know, Cai-Cai is not an Astral beast right? Then this means that Rose can contract normal beasts too? It was a lot to take, I know for a fact that there was an essential condition that makes this ability a little less unbalanced.
Pacts can't be forced. There was a need for the "pet" to be willing to make a contract with Rose. It was too bad I imagined how amazing it would be to have the Alphas as pets, I wonder, if Rose controls the Alpha, would she control the whole tide of beasts?
Maybe there is a day when she will be able to pull that off.
I nodded after hearing it and decided to talk with Rose about it in the future. Isabella interrupted my train of thoughts.
"Are we going to move to the refuges?"
That was a good question.
"Not sure yet. Gerhard, Watson, Hayley, and Hope can go to the Hunting teams HQ and see if there is something you can help with. Stick together, don't go to different groups."
The goons were like a personal computer's AI, most of them were created to follow some person orders. The process was tricky, and most of them had to take order for the NDR members and some servants.
Dante used the servants to take the goons, but at the beginning, it was enough for an NDR member to appear and any order given by the servant would be overruled, and they would come back. Emma was the most important part at the beginning because only she could control the goons, but after some time, Dante solved the issue and gave some of us the ability to give them simple orders. Emma is still the priority tho.
The group nodded and stood up to leave right away. As Hayley was about to go Mr. Ryan stopped her and gave her a hug. He knew that he couldn't stop her.
"Be careful, ok?"
"Of course dad, see you later."
She smiled at him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before leaving.
"What about us?"
Isabella seemed worried, and she had reasons to be.
"To be honest, I'm not sure…"
Staying here would make it easier for us to escape together if things go wrong, but there is also the possibility that even if we win some beast might get inside without us knowing it, in that regard, the refuges will be more protected.
"I think it would be better to go to the refuges… the protection there will be better."
It would be worthless to be ready to escape if they don't survive that long right? If things go wrong, I will solve how we run away at that moment.
"Do you think I should go to the hospital?"
"Not yet, I'll take you to the refuge in the school which also is acting as a command center so it should be the safest. You will be near if they need you so just stay there and when the wounded start to come you can go to help."
She nodded, it's not that I was a pessimist, but a battle of this scale was bounded to have a lot of injured.
Unfortunately, I have no way to know the number of beasts that we are going to be facing, but I knew something.
The key was the Alphas.
Probably alone it would be impossible for me to kill them, if they are slow, I might have some advantages, but otherwise, it would be difficult.
There is a chance if we work together. I have to find a way for them to not come here at the same time. That way instead of one massive invasion from both side we will have two big beast tides, and face one Alpha at the time.
And I already have a plan for it.
I saw the amount of stuff to carry and thought that I should have waited before sending G and Watson to the HQ to help.
"I'll go get Rose. Get ready to leave."
I went to the room and found Rose still in her pajamas.
She felt that I was near and opened her eyes.
"Everything is ok?"
"Nothing yet, I can see the scouts on the west looking at the forest. If they start to run away, it means that something is coming."
She sweetly smiled at me and showed me a tattoo of a snake coiling around her left arm, it was a light blue color as Cai-Cai. Most of the time the tattoos were hidden and could only be seen if she wanted to show them or when she activates an ability.
"You really made a pact with her, do you know her ability yet?"
"I didn't have time to look at it yet."
"If you become tiny I might take you with me in my pocket everywhere. If you use your astral form, you might look like my personal fairy."
She laughed and seemed to wonder a little about it. She locked her eyes on mine, and I almost forgot what I came here for.
"We are leaving to the refuge… you have to come too."
She looked at the bed for a second and then back at me.
"Can I ask something from you before we leave?"
"Anything…"
"Can we… do "that""
I understood what she was asking right away, he shy look and her red cheeks make her more alluring at my eyes. The idea that we might die now was pushing her, and I didn't want that, but the most important was that this didn't felt like the right moment.
I looked deep into her eyes and started talking.
"Rose I love you, but this is neither the right moment or the right place for it. I want to make our first time special."
"I love you too Spence, but are you sure there will be a next time? What if something happens to you or me. I don't want to think about it, but any of us can die!"
I hugged her and gave her a deep kiss. She was right, about that, but this isn't right…right? My mind was in chaos as I lost myself in the kiss.
I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of losing her.
… Maybe we can?
... just a little.