"What?" Lucy's face was the mascot of puzzle. Everyone else was too puzzled to talk. Except for Ravi and Rick. Ravi reacted like this is another pain in the ass he'd have to deal with, whereas Rick's eyes were glowing in excitement.
"You...you are kidding... right?" Alex asked with gaps.
"HAHA! It's a prank! I was just messing with your heads!" Sat said while laughing his ass off, which was kinda creepy..."And I wish every morning that if I could say that, but no! Here we are in the reality. Razom case is true. And probably our assumption too." And Sat returned to his normal self.
"So this...is the matter we're keeping secret. This is the whole reason a secret team is working with the government, which I am part of. And now, because of your stupidity and stupid luck, you're now part of it. The good thing is now I don't need to hide anything from you, bad news is now we are in equal danger."
"Hey hey, wait a minute, so are we just gonna die?" Rick was scared for his life.
"Yeah, all that story just to let us be zombies and get crisped to death?" Lucy was furious too.
"Who said you're gonna die? I already said death is a good thing, but you won't be lucky to die. We currently have an antidote to the infection... I mean we had since long ago but Razom happened because we were informed late. So I'll be giving the antidote...but you all are gonna be fighters.
"What do you mean?" Lucy along with everyone didn't understand what's he meaning.
"I shall open your eyes. We are still researching about it, but apparently allowing your body to use the infection as a power source cures the illness. Although it requires constant mind and body training, you will remain alive like everyone else. Oh yes, and it also increases the risk of getting targetted by the bots-" Sat couldn't complete his words as Rick interrupted him.
"So what you're telling us is we are gonna have superpowers instead of dying?" Rick was super excited.
"Umm...if you put it like that, you're not wrong, but you are forgetting future threats, and also you'll be required to train hard, both mind and body not to lose control of body." Sat didn't think someone would be excited to hear this.
"Excuse me, I have some questions. Ravi, Emma and I were not and currently are not affected by the infection. So why are we included in these conversations? I think we're gonna pass this offer." Alex simply didn't want anything life threatening to do with him.
"Only for safety. I certainly won't open your eyes, for we don't have the capacity to do it for everyone, but you'll be kept together, as you were near them, you are already vulnerable to several risks regarding the infection. And moreover, the fighters are trained to fight the threats and save themselves without relying on others. I don't think anyone is gonna give up their best chance of survival." Sat said while looking straight towards Alex's eyes.
Alex glanced towards Ravi and Emma, Ravi seemed quite happy about it, very suspiciously. And Emma seemed to have understood Sat's point. She probably didn't resist because she touched the ball too.
"*sigh* I guess... we'll be in your care." Alex said calculating future risks.
"Umm sir, what's eye opening?" Emma talked after a long time.
"Ah yes, eye opening is a special procedure we apply on 'candidates' whose body reacts with the special material. Upon getting this, the candidate can control the infection and can use it in certain ways. Although artificially possible, there are cases when eye opening happened without any help from outside...and this is one of the reasons I'm keeping you together despite of only two of you getting infected... enough chit chat, finish your food while I take a call. You'll be informed more about the infection in future classes." And Sat went outside in a hurry.
"What did he mean by classes?" Rick was confused.
"Classes? That's what you're concerned about? He implied we can even die dumbass." Lucy sounded like she had lost all hopes from life.
"And here we go again..." Alex murmured in a low voice, but somehow Lucy heard it clearly.
"Yes yes, here we go, we are fighting for our life and Mr. Alex is having a little sarcasm time!" And a quarrel was started in middle of the crisis.
"Yes Sarthak, what happened now?" Sat said in concerned voice.
"She caught me... somehow...listen this..."It seemed like Sarthak switched the call channel. This time Sat started hearing Cécile's voice from his headphones.
"Quite a clever place to hide brother, do you guys really take me for a fool? You stopped as soon as we came here and you seriously thought I won't notice?"
"I may have forgotten certain things...but not you brother. Why don't you want to face me? I promise I'll be alright even after seeing you." The last words sounded like she was controlling her tears with full force.
"Of course the worst possible scenario would happen..." Sat murmured while clenching his teeths. "Anyway she doesn't have any proofs so we are safe, no need to worry.
"Umm...I was thinking... can't we just...let her see a little-" Sarthak was saying something but Sat interrupted him abruptly.
"Let HER see? See you? Sarthak have you gone crazy! Did you forget what happened last time? Do you want to kill her? When I promised I'd fix things, I mean it, we've lost him, I CAN'T LOSE ANY OF YOU."
"I-I'm sorry for saying something like that...sorry, emotion got the better of me..." Sarthak's voice was the same mechanical one but the tone sounded a little bit sorry.
"Listen...I am sorry for getting angry...hope is not bad...but for the sake of the good, for long lasting good, please...till that time, remember, absolute loyalty..." Sat said while looking at a far distance, clenching his teeth again.
"To the leader..." Sarthak finished Sat's sentence.