Zayn covered his wound with bandages and then gave Grisella some help. He was worried that she would have internal problems, but he heaved a sigh of relief that the situation wasn't as bad as he thought.
"Ngh, uuhh..." Grisella opened her eyes and felt confused for a moment. She felt rain splash her face, but she was in the car.
"You're awake? Good, you're alright now." Zayn leaned back in the driver's seat while watching the fifteenth squad finish their work.
"..." Angie just sat pretty in her seat. She felt like doing something, but the right opportunity had yet to come. Because of that, she could only glance at Zayn a few times.
"Ah, eh? We, we are caught by a group of masked soldiers. Where are they now? Have you reconciled with them and they ended up letting us go?" Grisella was pleasantly surprised when she realized that everyone was okay and the masked soldiers were nowhere to be seen.
"No, Grisella. They are plotting something terrible again and we have been branded as criminals at the base. They want to kill us all but are killed in return." Zayn replied in a half-tired tone.
"W-what!?" Grisella widened her eyes in shock. If they can't come to the base, where will they go?
"Worry not. I promised to save you and put you in a safe place. We can deal with this slander accusation smoothly if we are lucky. Please bless us with luck." Zayn smirked and gave a thumbs-up.
"If you say something like that..." Grisella pulled her skirt in worry, but she couldn't say anything because the leader didn't look that worried.
"Boss, we can advance to the base now. We will be stopping at thirty-seventh station, and you need to request a meeting with Prime Minister Hendrix Reid. We can't have ourselves surrounded in base with our current situation." Rico came to report after they finished taking care of the dead bodies.
"Yeah, we have to make sure we can leave if the situation can't be salvaged. I hate slander and human scheming. Let's go now." Zayn heaved a subtle sigh and gave a gesture to everyone. It was time for them to leave.
A few moments later, Zayn's entourage arrived at the thirty-seventh station. They were less than three miles from the base, but it was the most suitable place to escape if the other party ignored reason and was blinded by lies.
Zayn activated his cell phone and made a local call to the prime minister.
"Zayn, have you gone mad!? What have you done? Everything has gone wrong because you killed him!" Hendrix immediately snapped when the call was connected.
"I just found out about the situation that happened at the base. You are a wise person and can distinguish the truth and lies. I was framed and a scheme has bloomed only because of the interests of a group. If you can still believe my words, please come to thirty-seventh station. I will give an explanation and the truth. Bring elite troops to ensure the safety of your life. There are human traitors at the base." Zayn responded calmly while looking up at the twilight sky.
"All right then. I'll see you with the third and ninth squad. I hope you don't disappoint me, Zayn. If the situation is not what it seems, I will help you out of this problem." Hendrix sighed.
"You were the one who recruited me, and you should know my character after the last five days, prime minister." Zayn laughed dryly, then hung up the call.
"They'll be here in a few minutes." Zayn tells everyone.
"We have prepared everything to ensure we can escape if things go wrong. The back door is the exit, and the vehicles are ready to take us all away." Steven approached and reported the situation.
"Good. Everyone, please wear masks. Just in case a bad situation occured, we will use a trick to minimize casualties like what Quinn's squad did. Make sure you hold your breath and run away when I give the signal." Zayn nodded slightly.
"Affirmative." Steven saluted and turned around, but he stopped and spoke. "You look like a mad scientist sometimes, but you are still a good boss. I'm sure they will listen to you because of your position and worth. However, if the situation gets to the worst, Washington's base is our best choice to escape."
"Haha, thank you. Humans should help each other survive this dark era, not destroy each other. However, there are still useless idiots there." Zayn folded his arms and stared off into the distance.
He felt disappointed in those human idiots. That kind of person deserved to be thrown into the mouths of zombies!
"..." Angie snorted softly. She had never put her trust in anyone other than Zayn, so she never felt disappointed like Zayn was currently feeling.
About half an hour later, a mid-range entourage came closer to the thirty-seventh station. There were only two heavy armored vehicles besides a dozen hummer cars.
The fully armed elite soldiers immediately escorted the prime minister into the post building.
Zayn and Angie just sat relaxed in the middle of the room, drinking a cup of tea. Grisella felt incredibly nervous when the two dozen intimidating armed elite soldiers entered.
"Stop, just stand there. We want to believe you, but the previous attack made us alert. A group of people want us to die to bury the truth." Zayn raised his palm, preventing the prime minister's entourage from getting closer.
This main room was quite large, and the other party was in danger if they did something as terrible as Quinn's group.
"Previous attack? A group of people want you all dead? Please explain your situation, Zayn." Hendrix frowned. He felt Zayn was an honest and promising young man. If Zayn held the truth, the situation would be even more complicated, but that wasn't necessarily a setback.
"Very well, please not to interrupt me while I'm talking ." Zayn put his hand on Grisella's head and asked her to go behind him.
"Un." Grisella nodded and rushed to cover behind Zayn.
Zayn then explained all the situations that occurred briefly but still had weight. He made sure he didn't leave any details regarding the recent events. But regarding his research and field tests, it would come in the report. So, he should have described it in detail.
"I see... So, Quinn Gordon plotted everything just for his personal benefit. Your explanation makes sense, but we can't confirm it now." Hendrix put his hand to his chin. He was half-convinced by Zayn's whole explanation.
"You seem to have quite a few people in mind. You can put together an in-depth investigation team to thoroughly investigate this case. You are better at this than I am, so I will not go into any depth to defend myself. Quinn's elite squad confronts us on our way back to base.
They wanted to steal my new formula because they couldn't find anything in my lab. If all goes according to plan, we won't be here to talk to you because we are dead. He would gain everything from his teacher's discoveries and my new formulas." Zayn sighed and shook his head.
"Then what about them?" Hendrix pursed his lips. The rotten scheme had indeed bloomed and taken root at the base.
"They are dead. We are not a squad that they can beat with just weapons and knock out gas." Zayn gave a gesture to a nearby masked soldier.
Rico nodded, then rushed out. He returned with a large cart filled with many body bags.
"Those are their corpses. You should clean up at the base and make the human traitors disappear. Humans should help each other so we can survive in this dark era.
Our safety is in danger because of the zombies and monsters, so there shouldn't be a threat from within that will destroy the entire system." Zayn tried to read the prime minister's expression.
He could see the other party was only half convinced and needed some time to investigate.
"Do the investigation first. Anyone who tries to get in your way is suspect. We will be leaving the underground base until the situation is conducive enough for us to stay. It hurts to know I work for a rotten system that is hostile to my good intentions." Zayn wiped his nonexistent tears. He wasn't crying, but the pain was real.
"All right, we will conduct an in-depth investigation once again focusing on Quinn's circles. Don't go too far from the base. New Jersey's underground base needs you, Zayn. We will solve this stupid problem for you and bring out the truth with strong evidence to convince the other higher-ups." Hendrix nodded in understanding.
"Alright, then it is time for us to leave. I have high hopes of you, prime minister. For the time being, we are under the assumption that our lives are in danger. So, we will be going on the offensive against anyone approaching with malicious intent. Call me when the time comes. Let's hope there's local signal coverage there." Zayn stood up and asked his group to leave.
Each plan was canceled for use, but this outcome was alright for both parties.
*Vroom* *Vroom* *Vroom*
The fifteenth squad left the thirty-seventh station without delay, and no one tried to stop them.