Upon waking up, I looked around the hotel room. It was nicely decorated, and I hadn't a chance to look at it yesterday because I was so exhausted.
With a couple of glass bottles on the table and some candles littered around the room, I began to wonder what the real purpose of this hotel was. Leaving my room, I headed to the lobby, where everyone was waiting. We were all going up to pay, but the cashier noticed Marcus' weapon sheathed.
"You must be Pathogen Hunters?" The cashier asked, but seemed to be assuming instead of asking.
"Yeah, what of it?" Markus asked, feeling a bit offended.
"Oh! Well, let this stay be on the house then!" The cashier said with a warm smile, holding out his hand politely.
One by one we began shaking his hand, and we were all surprised by how kind everyone was STILL being.
***
Outside, Michi was questioning everything while Pika was telling him to quiet down. Kayla stayed near me but made no noise.
"Are you alright?" I asked, holding her shoulder.
"Yeah, just a little nervous about going back." She lied.
***
We arrived back at camp but were not allowed inside. The gate was locked, and Miko was standing outside the gate, staring at the ground, the shadows covering his disgusted face.
"Miko... what's wrong?" Pika asked, poking him in the arm.
"You cannot enter. Not now." He said, not looking at us still.
"Is... everything fine? Kayla asked, slightly panicking.
"No. Someone was... killed."
We all gasped, almost like the breath had been taken from us.
"The traitors?! Did they kill someone!?" Markus yelled, looking around and pushing his way inside. We all followed behind, blinded by the fear and anger we felt.
That's when we saw... it.
A tangled mess of blood and entrails were strung across the ground and tent. A bloody mess of a body, and a severed head. There were several puncture marks from what looked to be bone bullets. The severed head... belonged to the boy who cried for his dead friend after the first test in the forest.
Miko stood in front of us with a heavy heart, covering us from this sight. He was like a parent, shielding a child from a tragic sight.
"Kids... just... leave for now, especially you Cal." As he said this, heavily shielded police team members approached the body. One guard looked at me for a moment and Miko stood in front of me.
We listened to Miko and escaped. At first, I didn't know why we had to leave so quickly, yet I would soon learn.
***
We all waited nearby in the forest for a while. Miko was walking around the camp answering questions from the guards left and right.
However, after one question, he froze.
He sighed and spoke something in the distance. The guards nodded and left the camp, going straight to the forest. Miko ran outside the gate and began yelling.
"I told you! They went to the city again!" Miko said, seemingly trying to conceal us, but to no real success.
"Come out now! Calibrum Corvus!"
Hearing my name, my heart stopped beating for a second, skipping beats like the quick winds.
I stepped out with my hands up, and the guards quickly grabbed my arms and kicked my legs from under me, causing me to land on the ground. They handcuffed my hands behind my back and I couldn't move anymore. Kayla screamed and began punching the guard who kicked me, but she got hit in the face with the end of the guard's rifle. She fell back in a stagger.
Markus and everyone else mainly remained calm, as to keep themselves out of trouble. They began handcuffing an unconscious Kayla as well. All of this while Miko clenched his fists tightly.
"I already told you. The kid didn't do anything wrong. He was gone all night, he has an alibi." Miko said, still staring at the ground.
"This freak did it and we know it, he'll be taken in and executed if that's what it takes." A guard said, his laugh brought fear to my entire body
I was carried away to a truck, where Kayla was thrown as well. They began driving... "what a waste of fuel", I thought to myself as they blindfolded me.
***
The drive was extra long, but they had dropped us off outside of the city, they got out as well, and when I looked around, I could only see sand in every direction.
"What are you doing?!" I asked, slightly panicked at the sight of Kioka City missing.
"What we were instructed to do with you." One of them answered.
"Kill us?! Who instructed you to kill us?!" I asked, looking from one to the others, I felt tears welling up in my eyes.
"Ah, you see, since he is going to die, we may as well tell him." The man from before said.
"The Vice-Presidents order you see. We were just waiting for the perfect time to get you accused, get you framed... and throw you out here." The man said.
My mouth was wide open, and at this point, Kayla was awake, her blindfold was off as well, but her mouth was gagged with a thick cloth.
***
When they drove off, I felt my entire body fill with dread. We had driven for what felt like hours... and now... we were lost.
"Kayla!" I yelled, putting my handcuffs under my legs so my arms were in the front. I pulled the gag out and fell on my back, the handcuffs were beginning to hurt my hands.
"Cal... why?! Why are they doing this?!" She asked, panicking as she looked around.
Her eye was bruised from when she got hit in the face by one of the guard's guns, but the injury looked really bad now, it needed some kind of treatment, and quick.
"Psst." A voice trailed through the sandy breeze. I could see someone through a thick cloud of sand.
I tried to stand, just in case we needed to fight, but one of the guards came out of the sand cloud. They were wearing their heavy armor and visor over their face. I aimed my hand, ready to fire whenever.
"Wait! I came back to help!" A female voice trailed through the vast desert.
"Help with what?!" I yelled back, "You've already done enough!"
"I came back to free you! What's going on is just... wrong!" She said, clenching her gloved fist. "The vice-president wants to kill... kids? In the desert as well?!"
The girl's voice was weak... she was crying.