"Who are you?!"
While my voice sounded a bit more desperate than what I desired, it still came off rather okay when considering what the hell was going on.
"Shut up. Where is the plant?!"
Instantly stopping my attempts to learn just what was happening, the man that now stood above me threateningly reloaded his weapon. Seeing the shell falling down before my nose, sent a shiver down my spine. As far as I was willing to go to protect my regained happiness and family, it didn't mean that the thought of just dying here like a dog didn't scare me. To be more precise, if only my body would stop tensing so much, I would surely have already made a nice, glistering pool below me.
"What plant, what do you want?"
The tension of the situation didn't drop even for a moment. For the first time, playing obedient and nice didn't work how I expected. But given how I was against invaders with unclarified purpose instead of people that couldn't really bother with me, it was no wonder that those soft protection techniques failed to achieve their objective.
"The plan that you attempted to sell. Where it is?!"
Finally revealing the true intention and dooming a huge part of my heart to darkness, the same man put a barrel to my head.
"In the garden."
If I would die here, then it would be the end. I would be powerless to do anything for my family. Right now, I simply had no chance against a group of disciplined and well-armed mercenaries.
"Pull him up."
Unable to even straighten myself up, two of the men that previously pinned me down to the ground suddenly rose up and grabbed me below my arms. Instead of helping, they actually had to drag me behind with how it felt as if my body ceased to function.
"Which one?"
This question mischievously once again sparked a tinies flame of hope in my heart. If they didn't really know what they were looking for, then maybe I could make them take the plants given to me by the king?
Using all my willpower to stop any emotions outside of desperation from appearing on my face, I used all the remaining energy in my body to swing my chin a bit.
"This… one…"
Pretending to be weak and powerless. That was the last of the soft techniques that I could use in this situation. And from the looks of it, there was a chance that it worked.
Reaching towards the plant that I gestured with my chin at, one of the mercenaries took a closer look at it, before turning towards the clear officer of the unit.
"This seems to be right."
In one moment, the atmosphere in the entire area changed. Everyone suddenly dropped their weapons, as if this was some kind of unfunny reality show with film crews stuck to every single crevice in the building.
But that was obviously not the case.
"Sir, now that we confirmed it…"
Clearly attempting to report something, one of the mercenaries started to speak, only to stop as rapidly when silenced by the officer's raised hand.
"No, what we will do…"
This time, before the officer could finish his words, a strange thing happened.
After a slight 'plop', the man turned a strange look on his face, before starting to lose control over his stability. By the time his body was falling to the ground, I could see a red rose blossoming where his heart was.
"What the…"
Form that moment, everything happened simply so suddenly. Almost all at once, most of the mercenaries suddenly shook, before looking at each other with a look of shook and panic in their eyes, before the light would be forever gone from their pupils.
The rest was over right in the next moment.
As if falling from the skies, a group of uniformly looking men wearing the trusty uniforms of the army descended on the heads of the remaining invaders. In but a one moment, everything was over.
"Mom!"
Feeling an insane relief when seeing the colours of my country, for the first time since the apocalypse happened I regained the faith in the flag. In this one moment, I suddenly started to regret all those stupid remarks about how the country was long gone in the faction war between basically everyone. Maybe there was still something to this white predator spreading its wings while wearing a golden crown. For the first time in my life, I truly felt what the freedom embodied within this symbol of a crowned eagle meant, in its truest form.
Finally free to move, I only managed to nod my head to the soldiers that so suddenly descended from the skies before lunging towards my mother…
Only to get pinned down to the ground even faster than when it was done by the mercenaries from before. At the same time, I was simply put down like a dog with paralyzer to my ass, not bothering the newly arriving force at all.
"Search the location."
Second by second, despite the electric waves still shaking my body, I could realise what was going on. What was even worse, instead of just taking the flower that I pointed out before, those very soldiers that I considered to be my saviours just a moment ago, were now plucking out every single herb in the entirety of the garden. In just a few moments, someone took notice of the other slightly different plant, quickly turning the single barrier that kept my mom's safe into just another package stockpiled in the middle of the open field.
"No…"
Barely capable of even voicing out my protest, I could only watch how in a mere instant, my mother's complexion suddenly took turn for worse. Without a single soldier or officer bothering to check on her, my mom's eyes bloated, as if some kind of great force suddenly started to squeeze her.
Ignoring the entire situation, the soldiers quickly left the scene, not bothered by the sight of suffocating woman at all. Forcibly pulling the hooks of the taser's shoot from my bottom, I jumped towards my dying mother.
What should I do?
How?
When?
What?
Stunned by the situation, I could both see and feel my mom's body weakening…
"Hey, do something! Take all the energy away from here!"
Shouting from the bottom of my very soul, I screamed into the god of the world. I screamed with the hope that something would happen. That a miracle would descend from the vast skies and save the person that I worked so hard to save myself.
And it did actually come. Not from the skies by any chances, but directly from the height of my arm.
"Activating emergency measure, implosion. Establishing safe core…"
Hearing the mechanical voice of this pale female once again, I realised that I had no time to waste. Instantly throwing myself on my mom, I shielded her from what was about to come before extending my arm as far away from the two of us as possible.
"Thank you for your cooperation, dear host. Please replace the used holobra at your next visit to the hole store."
In one instant, an impossibly small ball of light appeared at the tip of the hologram's projector, quickly expanding to way above two meters in diameter, enclosing me and my mom from the rest of the garden. All at once, I felt as if my lungs suddenly bloated, allowing me to take more air than a moment before. As if a pressure of the air suddenly decreased…
Connecting the dots, I looked down at my mother right when the sphere above us exploded outwards.
In one instant, this hell came to an end. No building could stand against the force released by my bracelet. Crashing all down, even though the two of us were still in the garden, just the sheer power of the explosion was enough to throw quite a few huge chunks of what used to be our house at us.
Shielding my mother as tightly as I could, I felt as if my back turned into one of the beaches known from the d-day landing. At some point, I wouldn't lie by claiming that my back caught fire, burning for a short moment before the next wave of pressure from the decomposing building put it down.
And then, it was over.
From the few hints that I could see, it seemed as if no person anywhere the building had any chances of escaping the disaster. Just by knowing that my father was in there, watching the boiling pot with potatoes when all hell broke loose…
Before any prior warning, my mind was overwhelmed with guilt. My father was most likely in the building, a building that collapsed solely because of what I did.
But before this thought could break my soul, I realised that there was still one more important person right beside me.
Opening my arms and raising my body, I could see the slightly open eyes of my mother. Still moving, even if only ever-so-slightly.
"Krist…"
For a short moment, my mom's lips moved as she spelt my name. Feeling how weak she was right now, I realised that it was my last moment.
My last moment to say goodbye to her.
"I will be okay, mom. I will be…"
Finding her hand and giving her fingers a delicate squeeze, I felt a wave of rebellion suddenly shaking me awake.
"No. I won't be okay. Mom, hang on! Just for a little longer, just for the shortest of moments!"