Bam
A bright light flashed, and the world stood silent afterwards.
The students who were watching had their eyes opened wide, taking in all of the view.
The beautiful city that had come to life went flatline instantly
Debris flew everywhere, but before it could hit the van, something repelled it.
"Those not watching this," The boy with blue hair had his head lowered as his hand clutched on the seat, "You guys knew! Right?!" He hit the chair, glaring at Otta who's in front of him. Tears flowed down his cheeks, "Why?! My family! My friends! The-."
"That's why I said not to look back." Sezia admitted, "I only knew that the attack might-." She quickly leaned forward as a hand tried to grab her, "The max time I could see is three days, the minimum was now." She glanced up, "Kinesi, do you think you would have a chance of even surviving the first wave?"
Kinsei's head gently knocked on the chair, "I told them, I will be back soon," He sobbed, "If I knew, I would have told them how much I love them."
"Does it matter?" The girl beside Kinsei said, her eyes closed as she just sat back, "Won't that make you feel more bitter? Their response might be something along the line of, 'You sound like we ain't seeing each other again.'"
"Dealla damn it! Shut up!" He cried, "River you better not say shit too!"
"Say," River ignored him, "You mentioned this is the first wave. Does that mean there will be more?"
"Of course," Sezia answered, "So-."
"So there's a chance we can see them!" Kinsei raised his head, wiping away his tears. His eyes are already reddish, his nose like a rabbit nose.
"Stop interrupting me.." Sezia brows twitched, "And there's a chance." She slowly leaned back, "I have a few friends making sure this city will survive."
Reginald slowly turned around and sat on the chair, taking out his bag from under his chair and hugging it he placed his head on it.
River was the only one watching, as the city slowly became the size of a dot, unable to be seen.
"The debris," River said, "Why didn't it hit the van? The van also didn't got any impact."
"Sit back down," The driver said, "We will be entering the forest soon."
River sat back down without having his question answered.
Otta pulled her sleeve up a little, looking at her watch, "We will be sleeping in the car?"
"No, we will need to set up camp for the night." Sezia said, "Now isn't too dangerous, so better get some fresh air as much as possible."
Reginald glanced at Dav and Kate that had been quiet the whole trip before placing his head back on his bag.
Otta took one last glance at her watch, reading 19:19, and covered the watch.
The van slowly drove around the trees as sounds of snoring were heard.
Sezia looked at the rear mirror and saw all the students fell asleep. The car slowed down further till it came to a complete stop.
"They are just kids in the end, still need lots of sleep to grow." Dav commented, looking at the students.
Dav slowly opened the car door and stepped outside, "Let the kids sleep in the car." He glanced at Sezia, who just shrugged in response.
He closed the door and walked further in the forest.
Kate didn't say anything and just exited the car. The driver glanced at Sezia, who was trying to sleep. He lowered his head and left the seat.
Sezia glanced at the students who were asleep, "The teachers all left, your classmates asleep." She spoke softly, "And I'm heading out." She opened the door and left, leaving everyone inside.
A head popped up from the back, and Otta scanned the whole car. She slowly moved towards the front by climbing forward, making sure she didn't make too much noise.
She took out a multi tool from inside her jacket pocket and flipped it open.
"What are you doing?" She quickly switched it to a knife and swung behind her, only for her frail wrist to be caught by River.
"Weren't you asleep?" She whispered, trying to get out of his grasp.
"Now I'm not." He didn't let her arm go, "So speak."
"Just trying to ensure our safety, like with what happened to the debris. That was only a little upgrade of the van," She said, trying to pull her arm back.
"Why don't you tell everyone else about it?" He raised a brow. As she stopped struggling, she avoided his gaze. She mumbled some words under her breath, "Louder.. I can't hear you.."
"I… I wanna be like those…" She muttered, and he chuckled softly.
"You wanna be like a secret superhero?" She pressed her head on the chair as he placed her wrist down, "I won't tell anyone about this." He went back to his seat and placed his bag on the available space beside him, which was Kate's seat, and rested his head.
Otta just turned her body back to the front and took out her phone. She opened her notes app and started typing.
[ Day one
Two people found out what I tried to hide! So embarrassing! .....]
After typing for a while, she looked at the time. 'The teachers should almost be done with making sure the surroundings are safe..' She thought as she took out the multi tool and started upgrading the van in her own way.
Dav returned back to the same tree he touched, as he was about to glance at the van, when Sezia hit his back
"You and Frad make good partners in battle!" She shifted her body and caused his body to turn away from the van.
"That's how we escaped Zone G." He simply said, "Not that you understand anything."
"Hey hey, climbing ranks isn't easy too.." She asked, "So what made you decide to join us?" Standing in front of him.
"There's someone I want to meet," He sighed, "I never gotten the chance to meet him."
"Subject zero?" She asked. She saw Otta getting out of the car and coughed, "I've heard that from Lux."
Dav nodded, looking at the direction of where the van came from, "I wonder if he's even alive."
"Have you even seen him before?" Sezia asked, "He might be a she for all you know."
"Well, when he encouraged those around him. The voice sounded quite deep, so we just naturally assumed it was a he." He gazed at her, "Are you subject zero?"
"No." She straight away refuted, "But, she had saved me too."
"He's a.. she.." Dav mumbled, "Wait," He focused on Sezia again, "You were part of Zone G?"
Sezia shrugged her shoulders, "I've never knew the details of Zone G till Frad's explanation," She slowly walked near the trees, looking at the dark red line only visible to her, "Duerrin is about to start another experiment like Zone G." Her voice became deeper, "They've made many people forgotten about the tragedies of Zone G. Even now that I understand what happened, I can't remember fully."
Turning her head, she looked at Dav, "Time will slowly reveal all, and when that time comes. I hope I will still be me," She took out a folded paper from her pocket, and opened it, looking at it one last time, she slowly glided the paper across the red line, causing it to tear.
Dav saw the paper that fell on the ground, and on it was a picture of a young Sezia. But he couldn't read the details on it from this distance.
She folded the remaining half of the paper, turning and looking down at the paper. She said something as she stomped on the paper while continuing talking.
Dav glanced at the two figures standing behind a tree, listening to the whole conversation.
"So, thoughts?"
Back at the city, when the explosion happened.
Lux stood near the gate and saw the van leaving, as a man approached her.
"The kids are all safe inside the bunker, Mdm." He said as he saw the van getting further away. He removed his hat, revealing his bright red hair, "My son will be safer leaving, right?"
"You've asked this countless time," Lux looked at where the explosion happened, "He will be safer, and you will no longer have any weakness." She glanced at the man, "Ignatius, this city needs you more than ever. I want to see the ambitious young man when this place was barely surviving."
Ignatius burst out laughing, "Lux," He's eyes shone orange, "My flame has been passed on," The orange dimmed, slowly turning back to black, "But rest assured, I'm confident this one will burn greater," He glanced at the smoke slowly becoming less thick, "I just hope, the world can withstand the heat." He smirked as he slowly strolled towards the door of the roof before his footsteps suddenly halted.
"Anything else?" Lux raised a brow as Ignatius turned sharply towards her.
"Lux, I know you don't like me talking about Zone G. But who caused its collapse? An outside force? Or an internal one?" He questioned, "Was it 2499?" Asking what he had always wanted.
Lux made a dissatisfied noise but didn't express her thoughts, "I remember is subject one. Subject one has a distinct high pitch voice, so I remember her quite well. Her cell was opposite mine."
"How did she make Zone G collapse?" The wind blew, causing their clothes to flutter.
Lux's eyes widened as a soft gasp escaped.
"I…I don't remember…"