Adelle went to get Uncle Belden. He embraced her tightly when he saw her and also shed tears of joy, feeling relieved she woke up. She introduced Dean and he was happy because he's much better than Aquan.
They ate lunch quietly, after that they went to the living room and are now drinking tea.
Sipping from her teacup. She held Dean's hands.
"Just like I told Uncle Belden, eleven months from now, there will be total chaos. Others call it the end of the world, others the Apocalypse.
Meteors will fall without any warning. The sky will turn red as blood and the air you smell will never be the same. Explosions and death everywhere. Water and soil will be contaminated making it impossible to plant and raise animals. Thus food would be limited. Other animals also changed into something you only see in your nightmares. I also heard some trees became alive and devoured many but I didn't see them personally.
Crimes would go unpunished for months, hospitals will deplete medicines and resources, more people will die and the undead will appear.
They are already dead but walk like the living, eat human flesh, drink human blood, and way stronger than us. The only way to stop them lies in their brain. It has to be chopped, smashed, or shot in the head. Inside it are colorful stones that seem to be the cause of this phenomenon. Others said that these were used to increase an ability user's power, but I wasn't able to try it because we used it to exchange for food at the beginning. They became more aggressive as time passed by so harvesting them was very difficult for low levels like us"
"Wait Bella darling, you're speaking as you've experienced it? But last time you told me you only dreamt about it," asked Belden confusingly.
"Yes I lied to you because I didn't want you to think I'm crazy, but since you're my family, I would like to take a risk. Telling you this would put me in danger but at the same time, I can no longer live without all of you by my side. At first, I was only thinking about mine and Adelle's survival. But now I met your uncle, Dean, my parents, and our friends. So because of this that I needed to rethink everything." Bella said, sighing. Dean held her hands tightly.
"You lived in that chaos Bella?"
"Yes Uncle, I did, but I could only live for five years after it started…." Bella said with a sad voice.
"It's really hard to believe, I'm sorry I don't know what to say." said while placing the cup in a saucer on the table in front of him.
"Many people develop abilities that could combat the undead but others were useless like mine." "Poof!" The table with the teacups disappeared."
"WHAT THE F*****!" Belden with eyes widely opened and trembling when he shouted.
"Poof!" Bella returned the table. "BAM!" Uncle Belden rolled his eyes and fainted….
"Thank god he's on the sofa." Adelle murmured.
Dean was in deep thought. Bella only watched him patiently.
"That's why you're learning from me?"
"Yes, all the things I'm doing is for a greater chance of survival."
"Were you planning on telling me?"
"Of course, I wanted to tell you last Sunday, but I fell unconscious…."
"I'm sorry you've been carrying this burden alone…." He embraced her tightly. Adelle went to cover Uncle Benden with a quilt and went to the kitchen to give them some space. Bella cried some weight in her heart was lessened.
"So how can I help you?"
"Aside from accumulating resources, I want to warn my parents. I don't know how."
" Are they in trouble?"
" I think so. From my mom's letter, it answered many of my questions, but it also made more of them. I wanted to ask Uncle Belden. Now there's another threat that could endanger them even more. Oh yeah, Uncle Benedict is not my father, it's Stefano, his younger brother. But he disappeared in Shoda Country when I was a month old."
"Stefano Chen?" asked confusedly.
"Do you know him?" asked excitedly.
" Heard of the name, but I'm not sure if they're the same person. We should ask Grandpa about it."
"Okay, I'll ask him."
"UUUuuurrgghhhhhh, my head's spinning." Uncle Belden said while holding his head with two hands. He noticed Bella and Dean watching him.
"Bella darling, I'm sorry I slept. I had a weird dream…." "Poof!" Bella again took the table. "Bam!" He fainted again….
"Hey, I really love your villa. It would be an excellent base since it has a large space. Maybe you could convince grandpa to make adjustments with the walls."
"Do undead climb walls?"
"No, but if they crowd in one place, the bodies could stack over another…"
" I understand. Do any of them fly or swim?"
"There were birds that transformed, but I have heard nobody cross the continent nor stayed near the ocean. There were no bases there. If only I can inform my parents to come back to our continent, at least I have more possibility of finding them."
" I have an idea, but it could take months."
" It's okay, as long as It could not endanger them."
"I understand."
"Hey, do you know someone who can modify cars? I want to have those hummers but customized and bulletproof."
"How many?"
"The more the better."
"I'll give you mine, I have two of them."
"What!?"
"Yeah, it's a gift from my brother Drake, and the other was from a client."
"Oh, thanks!" She jumped on his lap and kissed him.
"What else do you need?"
"Hmmm, I ordered mobile houses, about twenty of them and twenty modified containers to be used as medical clinics. But now I think it would be good to have a villa and normal houses inside the space. But It has to be built inside because I can't move them if it's attached to the soil. Also, we need medicines, medical supplies, and equipment, all the things you can think of, and Oh, and those things in case someone needs operations. Healing ability users are rare in the future, so I think we should also know about manufacturing medicines. If you know how to make antibiotics and others, we should secure ingredients in space. We also need weapons, guns, and ammo, lots of it, then more gasoline and diesel…..Why are you smiling?" She asked irritably.
"You look cute when you're serious," Dean said, grinning. Then he kissed her again.
"Arggh common, I'm racking my brains here."
" I know, I know I'm sorry. I'm also smiling because of coincidences."
"?"
"Drake is a general, although we can't get a lot of weapons because it's illegal, we can ask him for other things. As for the guns and other weapons, I know somebody. Then Uncle Desmond is an Architect that works with Devyn, while Aunt Deborah is a Pharmaceutical Scientist. She works in our company, but she spends more time in the main military base." Dean smiled. But Bella froze and starts shaking. "Aunt Deborah is a scientist?"
"Yeah, it doesn't look like it, but her team is a weapon of the country against chemical terrorist attacks. She's the boss." Dean smiled brightly but then noticed Bella shaking.
"What's wrong?"
Bella closed her eyes. "Does this base have a special name?" 'I hope it's not'
"Yeah, it's Tactica Base." He said confusingly.
Bella trembles. "What's wrong, tell me…." He holds her tightly, worried.
"That...That base was our refuge for three years, but then…." She breathed deeply. "Then one night, something exploded inside, the communications tower fell on the wall. The first and second perimeters were destroyed right away. The last fence gave in when the undead crowded in that spot, making the tower heavier…"
Dean frowned.
"It forced us to evacuate the base, so we didn't know what happened till a month later. We went to Escalafon base near the border of Galvin Country. A group of survivors passed and told about it. It was an organized attack that targeted the researchers. It was said that a vaccine was being experimented on there secretly. The base fell at the end. Some went to other big bases like Patrioticas, Riarmo, Combatia, and some sought refuge to family clans like the Mo, Song, Tang, Yang, Yun, and even the rumored underground Lee Clan. Oh, then there was this Clan called Battalion."
Bella was busy recalling the events, she didn't see Dean shook upon hearing the name.
"Battalion was also one of the strongest Clan. When Tactica fell, some rich families went there, but they were refused because it's already crowded. But they offered escorts that would protect them till they found a place to go. They couldn't accept it and held a grudge. After they were escorted to another Clan, they hired a group of assassins and killed the patriarch. The family was infuriated, so they massacred those families involved. But they also lost half of their forces in the battle, so their power decreased….Hey, are you all right?" Bella feels the hands around her waist tightened.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He puffed.
"I need to show you something when you're not busy, but for now continue with the preparations."
"Okay sure." She's a little confused but drops the subject since he doesn't want to say it for now.
They didn't see Uncle Belden, who was already awake, looking at the ceiling while listening to Bella. Adelle came with glasses of Iced tea. She sat down.
"Uncle are you okay?"
"Yeah, it doesn't feel real." "Poof!"