note: there's a slight change in the format of the dialogue, I've simple added punctuation marks and I will be editing slightly the grammar of the previous chapters,
so thank you for reading so far, I appreciate it.
-lingo notes:
-( aşkım = my love) in Turkish
- in Turkish the " ş" is read " sh " so you read for example: aşkım is read Ashkim.
the more you know!
..... previously.....
drenched in cold sweat, I opened my eyes to a familiar setting, I found myself laying in my usual spot in the tree house, it was dark outside the window,
I remembered that I almost tried to kill everyone back when I was fighting the zombie Boss,
but thankfully my worries towards them died out as I noticed there was handful of people scattered around on the floor sleeping soundly on Their own mattresses like I was a minute ago, my team
with Mickey laying close to me on my left, Ivan knocked out snoring by the window.
the twins hugging each other asleep on my right side,
and for Omar I couldn't help but laugh as I saw him rolled up like a worm in two blankets at my feet,
everyone was perfectly fine and soundly asleep, but I was far from relieved, as I shifted my gaze towards the window noticing the bright moon outside,
I realized how close I was to the light from the very beginning.
sometimes what you're looking for is right in front of you, but not knowing that could lead to unnecessary trouble.
....
.... chapter begins....
....next morning....
I pretended to be asleep, after waking up earlier from that unholy dream, I laid back on my mattress and closed my eyes.
I didn't sleep, I couldn't or rather didn't want to, so I just laid there.
By the time the sunrise came, almost everyone began awakening from their sleep since someone from the group had already woken up about twenty minutes ago.
" Captain (Y/N)?! so you're already awake, we *yawning* thought you'd be in a coma or something...you didn't wake up from the rest of the *yawning* day after being electrocuted." Omar who was the first one to wake up said to me as soon as I got up from my sleeping position, everyone else was still crashed on their mattresses but slowly awakening.
"it's funny that I feel fine after being electrocuted like that, I don't know what to make of it. I guess I'm just glad I woke up in the end." I replied to him.
I noticed he was doing something or pretty much making something on a portable stove, breakfast maybe, he was seemingly peaceful cooking, Omar really enjoys making food I guess.
" Aww man it smells good! why you gotta be torturing me like that?!" I whined knowing that I wouldn't be able to consume whatever he's currently making, I was missing human food badly now.
" don't be a downer baby (Y/N) arkadaşım! we can still do something about it!" Sultana's head popped up from the outside of the tree house door, her sudden appearance startled me a little, " SHEESH SULTANA! why you gotta pop up like Jack-in-the-box my girl?!" I said slightly terrified.
"(Y/N) Arkadaşım...why you gotta be such a fraidy-cat...Anyways, I brought you some food you can eat, I never thought I'm gonna cook a zombie again in my life but here ya go!" Sultana said going inside the tree house inside while carrying what seemed like a big lunch box or food container in her hands, she placed the box in front of me and sat down fixing her Hijab.
"you cooked what honey?" Omar asked in horror when he finally realized what she said, Sultana rolled her eyes at him grinning maliciously, "a zombie aşkım! I cooked a zombie, you cook bunnies and I cook a dead corpse. that's why I'm more badass than you!" she replied grinning.
I looked at the old fashioned style metal lunch box in front of me suspiciously wondering what's inside.
the others beside me were starting to really wake up finally, "oh *yawning* smells so good!!" The twins said in union at the scent of food filling the air in the tree house from Omar's cooking, " you guys are exaggerating! I'm just making some eggs and some dried meat." Omar replied.
" still, dude I'd rather have some of that instead of this thing your soon to be a bride made for me ugh!" I said murmuring to myself.
" what was that?" Omar asked since he didn't hear what I said, " nothing just keep going dude!" I replied giving him thumbs up before hesitantly opening up the food container sultana brought for me.
for some reason the smell that followed me taking off the container's lid was actually delicious, inside the box there was cooked rice, I was surprised to see rice, I mean human food should be off the list?
on top of the buttery looking rise was a handful of strange looking meatballs, it smell heavenly which was kinda weird, " okay so I'm confused right now? aren't I supposed to know eat the stuff like you standard even food? why you be bringing me a rice and meatballs sis?!" I commented,
"I said you can't leave human food yes but I forgot to tell you a little detail, while it's better to avoid eating any usual type of food as a safety measure, you can actually eat some normal food and by some I mean a little quantity of human food as long as you mix it up with the Zombie flesh.
the thing is you need to eat more quantities of Zombie flesh than the human food whatever it is, always make sure that the portion you eat of any normal type of food must be fewer and lesser than its Zombie flesh portion counterpart. like for example crack an egg over a zombie leg, also you Don't have to eat the zombie flesh uncooked although it might seem like a better option and ngl cooking the thing is quite a taxing process, and frankly speaking Arkadaşım a cooked meal is always the best choice." Sultana explained to me,
" I don't get why normal food is bad for us Hybrids?! I mean when I ate that chocolate bar Ivan gave me the other day it tasted normal, there wasn't anything bad about it like it didn't taste weird or anything." I asked curiously,
Sultana gave me a long stare with her light as the sky blue eyes before she answered me, "I'm not sure what to think of it all o know it that you should avoid it, I apologize if I do come off as rude saying this (Y/N) but I am not capable of answering all of your constant questions, to be honest all what I know is all what my sister Yildiz managed to tell me and she can't tell me everything either, it's her agency's policy. even family members have to stay out of an HHZ business, unless you work at the union of the hybrid Blood agency you can't get all the answers, they are a pretty tight-lips community."
" Sultana is right, as much as we want to answer all of your questions, we're not experts and we're not part of that HHZ agency anyway." Mickey spoke. he has just woke up alongside with Ivan who looked as unwelcoming as usual.
"listen kiddo, if you want answers you gotta work for them okay. We don't have to do you anymore favors than we already did." said Ivan wearing his cap over his head before standing up on his feet, a crack sound came from his old body.
in an instant, Sultana also got up facing the grumpy old man with an angry expression on her face, "hey soften up a little Ivan! ( Y/N) literally saved everyone's lives here. can't you be just a little bit grateful?!" She shouted.
"Grateful?! the likes of this freak is what got us here in the first place." Ivan replied, it was enough for Sultana to loose her composure even further.
grabbing her gun and aiming it at Ivan's face, everyone else including myself quickly stood up from our places in shock.
" Sultana put the gun down there's no need for violence!" Mickey spoke sternly, his hands slowly trying to reach Sultana's gun.
The hijabi Girl noticed him coming closer and pulled out her second gun making this one's barrel face Mickey.
staring him up and down, sultana spoke "you're not out of the blame either mister Mickey O'Brian! you've been covering for this Maniac for so long I want to kill him and you. if only not God was not watching Me from above, I would have done it so long ago."
"Honey please, don't." Omar spoke, he approached sultana facing her and maintaining a direct eye contact.
"he's done enough, (Y/N) literally saved his miserable life and he keeps treating them with disrespect?! This man is beyond rude he's a big pathetic waste of space!" Sultana replied clutching both guns, her face turned from Anger to resentfulness.
" You hate him, I get it homegirl but trust me" I said putting my hands on Sultana's shoulders, "People like Ivan sadly exist, and it's not our job to rid the world of'em, all we gotta do is avoid such types of people because they do bring the monster within us pretty easily." I add gently moving my hands slowly and lowering her arms so that she's no longer pointing her guns at anyone.
" thank you for defending me Sultana, but I'll take it from here. again thank you for everything! " I said in a firm tone, the last thing I want is for this team to turn again each other.
"tch, fine!" Sultana scoffed walking Away from us with her guns, lowered but still in hand.
I smiled at her saying," the guns buttercup, put'em back in place too."
" whatever (Y/N) Arkadaşım, I'm leaving anyways, enjoy your meal."
"will do sweetheart." I said, I then watched Sultana leave the tree house as stealthy as she came in earlier.
the whole mood atmosphere was below zero, as mickeyy was clearly glaring at Ivan for his generous contribution in this mess, " just to be fair I'm giving you heads up!" Omar said grabbing Ivan's attention, " I'm shooting you dead if you step one foot in mine and Sultana's upcoming wedding party. I don't want you to even talk to her anymore or come closer to her in any way Ivan! infact do me a favor and keep a good social distance between me and you because I'm only tolerating you for Mickey's sake if you haven't noticed A-hole." Omar added to his previous statement before he abruptly decided to leave the tree house as well.
It was obvious that this team is pretty dysfunctional when it comes to their relationships with each other and I was well aware why...Ivan.
the odd one out, I remember Mickey mentioning that he became a part of the team shortly after my disappearance two years ago.
I had my doubts about this man ever since I saw him, but my doubts kept growing bigger and bigger by the minute.
Just who is Ivan Sillo, he's not just a grieving Grandpa and father, he doesn't look as grieving as Mickey, he looks more worried about something entirely else.
And why he's adamant about getting rid of me?
.....time skip.....same day, evening.....
Things went back to being the boring usual stuff, everyone was doing their jobs except for me of course.
even as the main character, I can't seem to get any action in this place.
although I fought that Zombie boss yesterday, that counts as something I guess.
I was back to walking in the forest, this time at least I got a knife in hand, a gift from Mickey.
" got a minute to talk?" a voice came from behind me, it was Sultana.
"oh I didn't see you there! got yourself a strong stealth girl, so what's the problem?" I replied, I expected her to possibly have found some information about me by now,
shortly after Sultana's fight with Ivan, everyone decided to go do their own jobs which basically leads me to do nothing,
so I decided to check up on Sultana real quick as I was told she was out working as well, and accidentally stumbled upon something I know I wasn't supposed to do so,
I saw Sultana making a phone call,
I remembered that the twins said unless you're part of the agency or the military it's going to be hard business for you to make a phone call.
As normal people don't seem to have technology or at least functional enough for them to contact each other.
Sultana noticed me there and she instantly freaked out, thankfully though I managed to assure her that I'm not going to snitch.
we had a talk where she told me she was talking to her sister and that the phone came with the job, turns out our Sweet hijabi girl is a secret agent working for that HHZ agency to scout and recruit more agents like herself, and she reports back to her sister about everything that happens.
so when I discovered this I asked her whether she reported me to her sister, and Sultana said that she didn't! for some reason she felt like she should wait on this.
she also promised me that she was going to try and get some information out of her sister about me, I even told her about my dreams the ones that I had which seems to have surprised her a lot at the time, so when I saw her right now again and the woods, I was thinking that she just came to give me some info.
"Lucky you I managed to contact my sister again in the agency, you know I really had strong doubts about you when we first met, although my doubts cleared a little after you saved us yesterday from a zombie boss,
what my sister told me about you is making me question whether I should be talking to you right now or not." Sultana said narrowing her eyes at me.
" you're making it sound like I was a bad person just tell me where you found, and don't worry you can trust me for now." I replied to her.
" the agency are very organized, they keep tabs on everybody and once somebody becomes a part of them they consider that person like a family, they give you a job they give you somewhere to stay, a circle to run in.
every single person every agent whether they are human hybrid zombie or a normal human, everyone who's working in the agency, all have their data and informations about them and their backgrounds and everything, everything registered carefully by the agency.
despite that the agency job is mostly to eliminating further infection and taking care of unwanted zombies lurking around the streets, not everybody there is a fighter.
I told you about the demon Slayer system where the HHZ or the human hybrid zombie acts as the demon, the weapon or the tool to fight, meanwhile the Slayer is a normal human non-infected who is well trained to monitor and work with that human hybrid zombie, and possibly to eliminate them as well in case they went out of line.
my sister Yildiz despite being a strong HHZ, she's not the fighter type,
I am a normal human , yet I passed both the physical and mental exam required to be hired as a Slayer.
Since my sister couldn't be part of the demon Slayer project due to her mental state, the agency decided to give her an administrative job instead, and that's why she has quite the access to lots of information.
as for me I was hired as an undercover agent to monitor this area for any HHZ activity" Sultana explained to me in details,
this helped me understand why she was in possession of lots of HHz Information and how she was quite the fighter on the battlefield.
" this explains your character more, so what did your sister find about me?" I asked her,
Sultana crossed her arms, she looked kinda frustrated a well "Usually underlings agents all have their data and information to be quite accessible in forms of physical files, I'm talking paper documents and things like that
because my sister couldn't find your written file, we thought maybe you're one of the high ranking agents or even higher higher-ups, someone who's in leading position in the agency which could mean that your infos are mostly likely stored digitally.
Accessing any digital information is going to take a lot of time and may be even impossible.
my sister doesn't really have anything about you in form of papers, but that's not it!" She said,
Skeptical, I raised an eyebrow, "if there is no paper document about myself and no digital records that can be accessible, what do you mean by that's not it?" I asked.
"you have to understand that my sister and I are pretty new to our jobs and not only that, as I mentioned before the agency is a pretty much a tight lips community just because you're in there, doesn't mean you know everybody and what they're like." She said while looking around as if she's making sure nobody is watching us.
Satisfied that we're not being watched, Sultana continued explaining to me " we found a file that has the name of someone that both you and I know about."
i looked at her confused, "Who's file is that?"
" Ivan Sillo" Sultana replied.
" Ivan?? wait Ivan is an agent at the same agency as you?" I asked in disbelief, what the hell that old dad got to do the agency I mean this motherfucker has been discriminated against me since day one, and then he turns out to be working with the same kind of freaks he keeps calling freaks?
"okay I don't really get it, did you read his file did your sister told you anything about it? something unusual or at least an explanation for the hell is going on?" I asked again, Sultana quickly nodded in response.
"Apparently he's been working from the very beginning with the agency! which is unbelievable! someone like him who's been working for a long time should have at least been promoted once or like leading his own team of operation?! but for some reason according to the file he's been denying any chance of promotion not only that but he also has refused to work in the demon Slayer projects despite that Ivan has passed the exam successfully!
which is again super weird, apparently Ivan doesn't accept doing a job unless it's undercover, and that's not it either." Sultana said, distress was audible in her voice.
"doesn't work anything unless it's undercover! that's really something? are your files this specific? was there any other information about him?"
Shaking her head with a no, Sultana answered my question " well that's as far as the file got us, however my sister said that the pages that were supposed to be including information about his recruitment and how he became an agent were taken from the file, someone took it."
I took a moment to think, an Idea popped in my head, "listen girl, what if the reason why he's only accepting undercover jobs is because he's looking for someone, until 2 years ago when Ivan Joined Mickey's team, apparently he wasn't aware that his daughter who married Mickey was dead by the start of the Apocalypse and he also wasn't aware that baby Rory his granddaughter was also missing until after he met Mickey right after my disappearance.
maybe he took those jobs for a reason to find them! to find his daughter and Granddaughter?" I said explaining my thought to her.
" that could be well a good reason for it, if he was driven by the motivation to find his daughter and granddaughter then why didn't he stop now that he has met Mickey 2 years ago and he's well aware that the two girls searching for are no longer alive. why didn't he leave this place yet?" Sultana asked, it was a question of neither of us had an answer to.
Sultana and I decided to Walk to the tree house, we still continued talking about what we just gathered about that old grump.
"Do you think Ivan knows you're also an agent? " I asked her,
" possibly (Y/N)! since I talk a lot about my sister with Mickey and his team, Ivan could have well achieved that conclusion that I might be also an agent.
However it's kind of an unspoken rule among agents who aren't on the same mission to not bother each other, So he probably wouldn't ask me about it and to be quite honest I don't really want to talk to him about his mission either, You know I can't stand the guy." she replied,
it's then when I remembered something, "homegirl, so does your Omar knows that you are an agent? you two are getting married for real right?! it's not just play pretend to throw people off?" I said earning a sort of glare from Sultana.
"well besides you now (Y/N) Arkadaşım, Omar is also the only person other than yourself that knows about my job here.
we are getting married for real, the agency is highly interested in hiring Mickey and his whole team, including Omar.
I was instructed to reveal my identity to the whole team after the wedding and pursue them to join the agency then I would be leaving this town for good, because I recently got promoted, and that means I'm no longer going to be an undercover agent." she said,
" you're Leaving Sultana? is Omar okay with leaving with you? I mean it's seems like everybody's lives are attached to this place."
Sultana's glares faded away, a smile appeared instead on her face, "yeah he's okay with this, You don't have to worry about him. If anything that sweet idiot is excited for the new life ahead of us, Mickey might be the hardest to convince but I hope you'll be able to help me.
Do me this one favor, when the time comes from me to reveal my identity, I want you to help me convince everybody to leave this town."
well that's a strange request, I feel like I owe this much to her, Sultana has helped me more than she should and it makes me feel like that's the least I can do for her.
"you got yourself a deal! don't worry I'm by your side" I said agreeing to her request,
" thanks (Y/N), you're as good as Omar described you."
... chapter ends.....