Valeria knew she had no one left to take care of her. From then on, she had to look after herself. She knew the moment she was awakened, the reason she was chosen to be an assassin.
Trojan and she were awakened the same day, just like everyone else in the world. He was awakened to the Summoner class yet did not know how to use his powers. He just used a fraction of that power to make others listen to him. He never showed concern for it or used it in public, for he was determined to hide that fact. He knew how the awakened were treated firsthand.
He himself, in a public display, petitioned against them. Yet he chose to be awakened when he found the chance.
**[Would you like to be awakened: Y/N]**
He was delighted when he found out his, as well as his daughter's, class. He was greedy for power and he made his daughter choose his path too. He despised all the others who were awakened just like him. Throughout his career as a politician, he learned to get others to do the work for him. Make others do his bidding while he enjoyed the fruits of their labor.
That's how he rose. His way of life.
Valeria watched everything her father did and didn't question him. She learned emotions hold you back. She saw many who fell being honest and liars and deceivers rose in society.
Surely, her father was doing the right thing?
She, however, had inward disgust for both sides. She hated cheaters and even more the gullible. Being good or bad, choosing a side and sticking to it, all seemed pointlessly tiresome to her. Staying neutral, it seemed, had more advantages than hurt. She stayed that way all through her life.
Even now, the reason she stopped in front of William's house, accepting the shelter the family offered, was all on a whim. She noticed the base was being invaded which, in her book, held priority over drawing emotions for her pitiful father. It wasn't practical, she reasoned, and apologized for being a bad daughter.
Then again, Trojan wasn't much of a good father so it really didn't matter much. But something in her life changed, even she had to agree, and accept that change.
Since the base was in danger, the wanderers attacking, she realized, she should hide. And her quarters were quite far from the town square.
Where else was a safer place than the gullible family in front of her?
"I'm sorry to hear that," Sera said.
"I'm sorry about your loss," William said, thinking about Trojan. He really hated that man. But not enough to wish him dead. Will was an ex-doctor with voluntary military service in his record. He hated the politicians who were running the country in general. It wasn't too intense.
In front of him was the daughter of a man who died in front of him. He could never abandon her, not now that he knows she has no one else to turn to. Anyone associated with Trojan could hardly be trusted to look after a cute girl like Valeria.
What he didn't know, however, was that she was also thinking the same thing.
Valeria had heard about the Grant family living in the base. Most of the families in the base were somehow associated with the military somehow. Their ties and money saved them from the fate of dealing with the apocalypse aboveground like most others.
In the place where everyone cared about themselves, the Grant couple really stood out for their honesty. She gathered information about them the week after she moved in.
"An ex-military doctor and housewife," she thought. "Just the kind of honest bunch I detest."
Yet, for the sake of her survival at least, reasoning with her best interest in mind, she would bear them.
"You can think of this as home, okay?" Sera said.
"Yes. We need to see what happens when this all blows over," William supported his wife.
Valeria nodded. The couple didn't mind her lack of emotion when they said that. They were only concerned about her safety. And their own.
"We need to lock up the quarters and close all windows." William pushed a button to his right.
The mechanical system underbase performed a series of programs to lock up quarter 56. Just like it did for the rest of the homes. The entire place was under severe lockdown.
Each house was made of titanium and was protected from external attacks. Only the badge of a captain could overrule this program and close the lockdown for one home since, for each family, the military handed control of ordinary badges designed for their specific home. It made it so that one does not disturb the other's privacy.
Each quarter was sturdy and could not be breached from the outside unless, of course, they held the same authority as a military captain or colonel.
Everyone hid inside their homes, fearing what might be happening outside.
The intruders are here? What is the army's next move? Everyone was speculating. Since all this somehow depended on their survival.
If the army loses, they're as good as dead. Their soft skin won't last a day in the apocalypse.
Just as the residents breathed a sigh of relief, a few moments later, their fears came true.
"Spread through this whole place." Koul's voice echoed in the shadows in the middle of the street. After Crimson went to check out the wall, he ordered the remainder of his teammates to begin the attack. "Don't leave a single place in this area unchecked. I want all of them killed."
Of course, except Mr. Taryn, everyone obeyed while the old man waited for Crimson to arrive. He wouldn't listen to anyone else but him.
***
The present.
After looking at how dire the situation is, Crimson was so pissed at the whole situation that he blamed everyone he could think of and cursed them in his mind.
"Atomic bombs!? Really!!?"
If that was a joke, he wasn't laughing. "I should've known how stupid I was when they called me. I would've quit the Spades long ago if I saw this day coming."
Sadly, 'should've' and 'would've' wasn't helping him much.
He contemplated his situation for some time. Only curses came to him naturally. There wasn't much he could think of in the area of planning ahead which didn't involve him being blasted to bits.
This totally calls for a change in the whole mission.
They can't fight Zeff with a threat like this around the corner.
The mission must be called off right now. They can always take care of Zeff in some other place. Their superiors didn't specify when to kill. Just execute when they can.
Crimson calmed himself down. That's right, if his team gets out of this place alive, without triggering the bombs of course, they could always think about executing their mission at a later date.
And if Zeff dies here for some other reason, all the better! But Crimson reconsidered it even less likely, not with that cockroach. Zeff is a survivor, just like him. Crimson would hunt him until he was sure of that man's death.
Regardless, first things first! Get the hell out of here.
Coming outside the wall he busted through, he saw a scene he wished was not true.
"What is that idiot doing!?" he exclaimed.
White smoke blinded his vision. He couldn't see anything inside area four that was surrounded in a smokescreen. Crimson wore the mask he brought along. It was a gas mask equipped with lenses capable of seeing through the smoke. He began to walk to where he last saw Koul.
In front of him was the carcass of a man who died not too long ago. It seemed a clean kill. A bullet to the head. It seemed he died without a struggle, so much as a child. A clean hole was visible on his forehead, drops of blood flowing out from vessels.
"Is he executing the plan before I told him? Didn't I tell him to wait until I checked the wall?"
When he heard, from the people he left outside, that a plaguebeast was coming their way, it became a race against time.
In his hurry, Crimson did not specify his orders about what for Koul to do and when to act. He just rushed to the wall to check since they were on a tight clock. He couldn't drag everyone with him. It would only waste time. It would be faster this way.
But Koul misinterpreted this to act without giving much thought. He would move on and try to attack everyone hiding in area four, until he found his target who might be hiding here.
From that moment on, Crimson saw himself on the losing end. Whatever happens, he needed to get out of here. And fast, too. Since there is a chance a monster might be waiting for him outside.
As Crimson began to search for his teammates, he heard a sound.
A constant hum that was getting louder with each passing second.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The sound of footsteps?
No, it was more than that. Like several people were approaching in uniform rhythm. Like a march, for example.
Area four was about to become a battleground.
===
If you find any mistakes in the chapter please let me know in the comments below so I can fix them as soon as possible.