Despite Nadia's strong opposition, Aidan went ahead inside Zone C.
While waiting, Nadia couldn't stop picking the skin around her fingers. I squeezed her hand and said, "He'll be fine."
She looked away as if telling me that I didn't understand what she was feeling. And she was right; I had no twin sibling, so I couldn't fully comprehend. But Aidan was important to me as well.
"Nad, he's Aidan Bathory, the first on the Monsters list, the best of the best."
"That's not what I'm worried about," she muttered.
Her expensive goggle allowed me to see her whole face without the interference of the oxygen valve around the nose. I could see her squint, then she made a dark expression.
"He doesn't want to show--heck, he doesn't even want to admit it, but he's sick."
"Aidan is sick?" The news was hard to swallow. Aidan was privileged, living in heavily sheltered Zone A. Unlike houses in other zones, which had rocks and dirt for walls, Zone A was a robust bunker with real houses and windows. They also received a higher supply of oxygen and better-quality food.
Not to mention, Zone A was the only area with complete facilities as the center of the country's administration and politics. It had schools, a justice center, and a hospital.
"He's been unwell for a few days now. I could hear his coughs echoing throughout the house at night, but he denied it every time I confronted him. I might have let it slide if that was all, but it's not. I saw him covertly taking painkillers."
"Is he injured?"
"Not that I know of. It's most likely a headache. He usually takes painkillers for headaches."
I analyzed the situation in my head and calculated several scenarios. However, with Nadia as the closest person to Aidan being so concerned about him, there must be something going on that he refused to divulge.
As Aidan rejoined us, his tense and uneasy demeanor didn't go unnoticed. He kept looking over his shoulder, giving off the impression of being watched.
"Did you find anything?" I asked.
Aidan didn't answer right away. Instead, he took a deep breath before finally speaking, "There's something you need to see."
Aidan led us inside Zone C. We climbed onto the manual elevator and brought ourselves down to the fortieth floor. The silent corridors were only interrupted by one house, its door slightly ajar.
Reacting quickly, I took a defensive stance, ready to attack. Aidan calmed me down. "He's harmless."
"You know him?" Nadia voiced her curiosity.
"He's only been an acquaintance for a few minutes," Aidan replied.
"I know who you are!" The skinny man suddenly got excited. "You're Tesla Iota from the second block of the Copper Zone. My sister lives there. You're very famous. Common folks like me have to maintain knowledge about you and other Monsters so as not to accidentally mess with your supplies. You see, we value our lives--"
Ticked off by the man's pleasantry, Aidan cut his sentence midway. "He jumped at me, mustered all of his courage, and then cowered on the ground, shaking badly. He told me what's going on."
"And?" Nadia asked.
Aidan looked at the man, and the man received the signal to move to the side. "Welcome to my humble abode. Please, no matter what happens, do not scream!"
I was taken aback by that notification. What could possibly be inside his house that was so shocking as to warrant such a warning?
"My name is Varg." He nervously eyed each of us while taking a big gulp of saliva. I guess he was afraid that we would take off our gas masks and consume the little portion of free oxygen supplied by the government to his house.
"We'll keep our masks on," Nadia said, being the perceptive person that she was.
The interior of his house was plain and tiny, and nothing was out of place. There was one door inside the house, which must have been the toilet. Then there was a makeshift door, adorned with clothing.
Varg sat with his knees folded, "You must have already heard the rumors. People are talking about a monster being responsible for all of this. The strongest monster across Genesis, who can kill every last one of us easily. And it's not just speculation anymore, we have proof!"
"Where is it?" I asked.
He slid several inches backward to reach a small plastic cupboard. "I told you that my sister lives in the Copper Zone, right? A few weeks ago, she left her husband and moved here to help me feed my family since my wife got sick. So I could look after my daughter, and my sister would be the breadwinner."
Varg searched through the cupboard, retrieved a piece of paper, and placed it on the table. "A few days ago, she disappeared and left this."
I took the paper and examined it closely.
"The handwriting is smooth and consistent. There are no creases or abrupt starts and stops in the strokes," Nadia whispered to Aidan and me.
"It seems like this was written willingly, with no one forcing her," I concluded.
The letter stated:
"Varg, life in Genesis has always been lawless. But it's becoming more anarchic lately. May this letter serve as a testament that, if anything happens to me, it must be the government. As one of the Monsters, only other Monsters, toxic air, and NSS bullets could kill me. Other than those reasons, the government must be responsible for my death. Your sister, Sanna."
"Sanna is your sister?" I asked.
"Yes. You know her?" Varg replied.
"No," I answered. I knew of her but had never seen her face-to-face. Monsters were known to be hostile, and most of them were lone wolves. So I would leave the vitamins and medicines at her door to maintain distance.
"She's one of the Monsters. This is nuts. Even a Monster disappeared? Who could have dared to kidnap them?" I muttered to the twins before turning back to Varg with another question. "You said she left her husband to move in with you?"
"Yes."
As far as I knew, she was unmarried. But my knowledge of her was limited. How could I know more about her than her own brother?
"She told me that people had been following her. My sister is one of the Monsters in the Copper Zone, so I wasn't worried. But then I found this letter. Shouldn't this be enough to support our theory about the government?"
I wasn't the only one who noticed Varg's subtle accusation against Aidan as an arm of the government. Nadia glared at him but didn't speak up. Instead, she asked for more information. "Did she say anything before leaving the house?"
Varg shook his head. "There was nothing out of the ordinary. She left to get supplies and didn't come back. I even took my daughter to check her house in the Copper Zone, but she wasn't there. Her husband was missing too."
"Can we take this letter with us? We'd like to examine it more thoroughly," Nadia requested.
Varg nodded. "Yes, take it. If it helps."
"It will definitely help. I will--" Nadia started to reach for the letter, but then a piercing scream interrupted her. We all jumped in fright.
"GGGGGUUUAAARRRGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
Nadia stumbled and fell, grabbing my jacket for support. We froze in terror, not knowing what was happening.
Someone jumped from the room with the clothing door. It's a woman with disheveled hair. Dark circles were visible below her eyes, and her lips were dry and cracked. She was wearing a dirty tank top and striped panties. She screamed again, causing us to press ourselves further into the wall. Her neck veins bulged as she strained to reach us, but her wrists were chained to the room.
As she struggled to reach us, she clawed at the floor with her neglected toenails, causing them to break and blood to spurt out, making me wince.
To be continued...