Jeremy crumpled up like a mouse hugging his tail inside a rat hole. Tina Yunis stood up in front of Sam Grobes, peeked at his face, wondering what was happening to him. Sam isn't looking up, because when he does, he's going to receive a hit. Turns out, she's not in the mood to slap someone. Sam blinked several times, hissing as Tina walked down to the huge windows, pulling the string to let the blinds up.
Jeremy and Sam got blinded, and shielded their periphery vision. The eerie of silence was all over the place. They couldn't retaliate, because if they do, Tina would label them as rebels. It's the things they don't want to happen at all.
"I'm not very impressed with this week's performance of yours, Mr. Sam Grobes. Something must be up. C'mon, tell me." She sat down, cross-legged, to the rattan swing she bought last week. Jeremy was the one who got ordered to deliver it right in her office. Tina quivered her bottom lip, her arms right at the arm rests, and swayed it a little. Sam gazed carefully.
"Tell me how Zella Albert escaped the penitentiary state without traces from where she went through. I get that you want to say to me that she went through the duct, to the storage room, to the tunnels and such, but how about the Tempus Moneda? How can you not locate and survey a death convict in the most critical penitentiary state I know?" Tina's words were fast. One word after another, Jeremy's jaw tightened. It's good he chose to lead the Calvorite. Sam sweated a lot right now.
Sam sucked in his teeth. He turned at Tina, knelt down, apologizing, "I'm sorry, Mrs. President. We don't know…"
Tina closed her eyes, and clicked her tongue. She knew exactly was happening. And she dreaded it may happen soon. Once the Tempus Moneda got deactivated, and when she got out of the line, it would be hard to reactivate it. Amount of technology professionals will do that, and if it happened, it will be later, not sooner.
"We don't know how to reactivate it, madam president." Sam clasped his hands together. What he's more afraid of today was his mother on the intensive care unit. It was going to be bloody hell if Tina Yunis meddled in with his business. Sam didn't even know how should he get out of the room without a slap from the president.
"How can I even trust you again with these things, Mr. Grobes?" Tina's menacing voice made Jeremy swallow. Even though the Calvorite was in control, they still had to make reports. The Cassanos have known their limits, and if they didn't show one fugitive at all, he's doomed.
"Spare my life, Mrs. Tina Yunis." He completely laid his head down, begging for mercy. Tina slapped her lap, guffawing in laughter, knowing it sounded absurd. Sam Grobes begged for his life when he needed to save it. Tina hissed, ignored Sam's sobs, and turned to Jeremy Tyran. He sensed the president looking at him.
Jeremy bowed his head down.
"Report to me next week alone, Mr. Jeremy Tyran. My mood isn't really well today, because of Sam Grobes here." Tina Yunis rolled her eyes. She stood up from the swing, and back behind her table. Jeremy blinked twice, and stared at the glass plaque of her name. He hissed, tapped Sam's shoulder, persuading him to get out of the president's office as soon as possible.
…
A month ago. 3 days after the break out.
Zella doesn't have the time to bow down her head to the taxi driver who safely dropped her off in a park nearest to their apartment. She slipped her hands inside her pockets, and sighed. Panic came rushing to her, seeing the parents and children bubbling up at the playground, laughing like there's no tomorrow.
Zella wouldn't get past them without being noticed. She turned at the bushes, decided to walk there like she's a lone doctor, and bowed her head down. Zella walked meters away from the park, and onto a deserted, narrow street towards their apartment. Midway before their street, she saw people wearing hard hats.
Zella raised her head. People pushed a cart full of cement, rocks, and even hollow blocks down the road, passing in between, and disappeared on another corner. Zella maintained her stance, listening to the sound of the surroundings, and her hunch… was right.
Zella's home was ruined. Like someone had pushed her out of the way, she ran fast. Reaching their street, she saw the mess of the construction. Zella turned swiftly around, looking at the dilapidated buildings, and her lips trembled right away. Her eyes widened in shock, seeing how they break the homes, that was once been her sweet teenage years.
Zella thought she had seen the worst, but no. This is one of the most traumatic nightmares she had seen in her entire life. She staggered back, holding to the post, careful not to be seen by the construction workers. If they found out who she was, and where she had been, she's doomed.
For the first time, her tears filled with wrath fell down her cheeks. So, this is how unjust life could be, huh? To the point where she no longer have a home to come back and her family is dead without her knowing the reason? Zella wouldn't be able to recover that fast. As the last bits of the apartment complex wrecked, she turned away, sucking all of the pain, as if it could relax her for a while.
Her feet moved, but her mind stayed at the post. She breathed, but for all she knew, it's ragged. Zella doesn't even know how to sob until now. As the pain piled up inside her chest, with her family dead and receiving a death penalty, there's no room for it anymore. Everything was just a suffering.
No matter how much she wanted to put on a smile in her face, she couldn't do it.
Zella sobbed. "Mom…"
The memories of her mother flashed back. "Take care of yourself, Zella."
Zella closed her eyes. She saw her dad, mumbling, "Dad…"
The angry face of his father showed up. "Don't let yourself get hurt, Zella."
Zella opened her eyes, looking at the street from where she came from, and stared at the girl who ran past her and onto her sister's arms. The giggles of Maggie were what she longed for.
"Maggie…"
Zella flunked down at the side street, and buried her face at her palms.