A bullet was shot near Joey's foot, he jumped backward and pointed his gun towards where the bullet came from.
That's when he saw a beautiful tall woman with long dark red hair and a sharp yet attractive face, walking towards him, holding a gun pointed at him too.
She jerked her head in his direction, Motioning for him to give her the bags.
"Look, this is not fair. Firstly, I signed some papers to take those bags, Secondly, my friend is injured. Something must be there in these bags to treat him temporarily!" Joey said to the woman standing in front of him, and it seems that she is not interested in whatever he was saying.
"Have you finished talking? Well, I will take it, secondly. I am Alicia, the daughter of the owner of Ju for Manufacturing weapons company, which is the largest company for manufacturing weapons in the whole country, my father is the one who supplied you all with weapons dear! And most importantly, I do not care about the life of your friend, this is a test and no one will die for real"
Her words provoked Joey a lot, "Are you a defender!! Where are your morals as one ?"
he continued" A defender is a person who works under the supervision of the Government, His priority is to save people and to work with other defenders in harmony with Act No. 43 in the Defenders' Law Handbook, did you not study hard?"
Alicia started to get angry, as she lowered her eyebrows and her lips curled inwards.
" Your voice annoys me! "
"Hey Alicia, you left me all alone here! Where are you woman! ... Alicia !!"
A man's voice was heard, it was too familiar to Joey's ears, that he at this moment، automatically lowered his weapon once he heard it, looking in the voice's direction.
they heard a loud sound of the rustling of leaves, When a man suddenly came out with a very familiar face, Looks like someone was wrestling foliage to get out. the leaves covered both his hair and clothes. he looked hilarious, Joey couldn't stop himself from smiling a little, even in a situation like that.
"Ryou" Joey called the man in a low voice to draw his attention, Ryou turned his head to his best friend's voice direction, Which he can distinguish among millions. they both stared at each other from a distance. until Ryou ran towards Joey Overjoyed
"Joey !!"
Ryou took Joey in his arms in a warm hug, Joey was startled a little, he would never get used to this man's overacting. after a second Joey pushed him gently,
"Where were you? How did the test go with you !! What was your test anyway? Did you get hurt?" Ryou deluged Joey with questions as he put his hands on his shoulder and checked him with his eyes, up and down, making sure Joey was not hurt.
Joey took Ryou's hands away and patted his shoulder to reassure him in his warm, reassuring voice.
"I'm fine but... Zain. Is injured"
Alicia interrupted him immediately:
"What? Zain? where is he now ?!" She asked and looked at Joey with terrified eyes and a pale face.
"He's under the tree there, I need to check these bags because maybe there is something to mitigate his injury," Joey nodded in his direction.
She did not wait for him to finish, and run towards the trees where Joey nodded.
When she found him, he was unconscious, his body was very hot, and it seemed that he was hardly breathing.
Alicia sat on her knees, took off her black glove, and put her white slender hand on his forehead gently, he had a high fever.
"How did you got injured damn it Zain !!" Alicia cursed, but Zain was unconscious so he wasn't able to answer her, the way her brows furrowed, showed a lot of her concern in front of the two men who stood not too far from them.
Ryou sat near Zain and Alicia, while Joey went to check the bags as he opened one of them.
"I found something that I think might be useful!" Joey said running back towards them.
Joey started to open the medicine bottle.
"It might hurt a little if you could hear me, but it would make you better for sure, bear with me"
Joey said and started to pour the medicine bottle on Zain's wound, a groan escaped Zain's throat, pain could be seen clearly on his face, he lowered his eyebrows, squeezed his eyes, and raise his upper lip, with cold sweat all over his face.
Joey washed and disinfected the wound. then used direct pressure to control the bleeding and swelling. and it did, the bleeding stopped gradually, finally he wrapped the wound using a bandage.
"You...were a doctor back in the army?" Alicia finally spoke, her voice seemed calmer after she was more reassured that her childhood friend is okay now.
"No...My dad taught me" He answered, wiping sweat on his forehead without sparing her a glance then started to return the rest of the medical tools and medicine which were used to the bag in a quiet and orderly manner.
"I think he'll be fine for now, he still needs hospital care, we need to get out of here first thing in the morning," Joey told them in a quiet, gentle voice.
"We have to find something like a motel or a rest house, we can't sleep in the woods, can we?" Ryou said in a faint, shaky voice looking around in fear.
Joey threw more firewood into the fire that began to diminish its flame as it started to get breezy there, as the day began to end and the night began to crawl.
All of them got closer to the fire as they started to get cold. but none talked for a while, Joey took two covers out of the bag and gave one to Alicia who took it from Joey's hand and covered Zain with it without even thinking. then covered herself a little bit with the same cover, she slept close to him,
they seem to be close, Joey thought, then took the other cover and covered Ryou who slept and dropped his head unconsciously and went into a deep sleep. Joey adjusted his sleeping position until he slept rightfully on his back,
Joey sat near Ryou, holding his weapon in his hand, and just covered his legs,
"I'll stay awake to keep a close watch on the area, I will wake Ryou up in a few hours. so You and Zain could rest " Joey said while he was loading his gun, grabbing the loaded magazine inserting it into the gun slowly then pushing in firmly with a click sound. put his other hand over the top of the slide, grasped, pulled back, and released,
he looked stronger, more focused. drowned in deep thoughts, as the light of the fire reflected on his honey-colored eyes, but his face was emotionless.
That was what Alicia thought while she looked at him, observing his every move, that's who she is, someone who has no trust left in anyone. all who she trusted in all of her life, were her only childhood friends, Zain and Aran.
She looked away, laying on her back even though her gun was ready under the covers too.
She is not waiting for someone to protect her And Zain as she was ready to shoot whoever tries to hurt them.
Joey looked up. the moon looked great, but it was gloomy, even the sky looked too dark with almost black paint all over it, he was searching with his eyes for even a slight of blue or shining stars but found it nowhere. only black. black skies...black world.
-----
" Sir! The Governor is at the main gates of the station!"
A policeman sitting in front of the CCTV screens said to his chief.
"What? ... but who could have told him ?!" Deputy Commander Yu asked looking alarmed and annoyed.
"one of the participants must have sent them information about the location and date of the test. They always wanted to catch us with anything ... Yu come with me," said commander Bai, wearing his hat, as he leave the room.
"Are you sure Mr. Sam ?" governor Hector asked a man sitting next to him in a car. he wore a gray suit and glasses, and he looked elegant. the man had a bag and held a paper in his other one. he looks like a lawyer.
He was examining the papers in his hand, as he received reports by an unknown number of people, acknowledging that the government was using the wrong methods in hiring applicants.
"Yes, sir, I paid one of the participants to take the test and discover what is the nature of it, also what is the forces that support Commander Bai, "
the lawyer said as he took off his glasses and put the papers inside the bag.
" Which I believe is the Underworld,....." he completed his sentence. looking at the man standing next to him, Governor Hector.
" How do you know such things, the war between us and the Underworld was long ended! there is no need to talk about such things, nowadays some people from the young generations may even laugh at it and wouldn't acknowledge it, only a few people know about this, there is no need to bring that up, you hear me? " the Governor commanded.
" Yes, Sir," Sam said in a low and grating voice, unconvinced, "someone told me that they were on the Seventh floor of the building in a huge dining room sir," Lawyer Sam said.
"if what you're saying is true, then it will be the end of your career, at last, Bai!" the governor said in anger and excitement.
finally, they reached the police station, and both got off the car and headed to the gates.
Once the two men arrived at the station's reception, they were welcomed by several officers and defenders, who saluted the governor with smiling faces.
"Sir, to whom do we owe the honor of your visit?" Commander Bai asked the Governor with a wide smile and happy eyes.
"I want to see how the test is going. I received information from reliable sources that you are using the wrong methods in it Commander, and I need to see with my own eyes!" The governor said angrily and firmly.
The commander smiled and looked at the governor,
"Of course sir, the test's room is this way follow me please,"
Governor Hector and lawyer Sam followed. till they reached the elevator. and got in all of them. Commander Bai pressed the fifth floor. The governor looked at him in surprise and confusion.
"Commander Bai, isn't the test on the seventh floor?" Asked the governor.
Deputy Commander Yu giggled, "But sir, we don't even have the seventh floor !"
End of Chapter Seven.