As the couple reminisced about the past, the plane shook to the point that Logan's cards shifted and he had to hold on to his seat. The SEAL team grabbed onto theirs as well, and Fassbach face planted onto the floor being the non athletic one of the group. One of the team pulled him up as the plane leveled back out as the pilot told them what happened over the intercom.
"Sorry about that, it would seem a nuclear blast has been set off nearby" He said, making everyone look tense at the fact. "The blast was small and we should be outside it's radiation zone, we will be arriving in Jerusalem in eta. 30 minutes." Logan went back to his cards while Akane's focus had never left her screen.
#####
As the plane touched down Logan and Akane geared up as Gerry walked out of the Cockpit.
"Doc, you stay with the SEAL team on the plane" Gerry said before he pointed to the couple, "you too are with me." Logan nodded as Akane gave a thumbs up. Fassbach looked annoyed as he walked up to Gerry.
"Why? I should be there as much as you" he said and Gerry shook his head.
"No, I can't risk you like last time, plus this isn't about finding the origin and curing the plague as it is combating the dead now" Gerry said. "I can relay any information you need with the sat phones, and if there are records will bring back copies." Fassbach looked miffed but still remembered the dead and just nodded his head as he sat back down. The SEAL team nodded at Gerry and then the couple who nodded back. The two had proved themselves skilled in the team's eyes and now had their respect. as the back dropped open Gerry and the couple walked down to meet the small squad of military vehicles. Up above a copter flew over though seemed to be scanning the massive wall then them.
Two of the vehicles opened up and gently half raised their weapons at the group of three. Gerry raised his hands and so did the couple. The soldiers moved in and confiscated the couples weapons much to their annoyance but just let them go. After that they were each led to a separate car to be transported making the drive a boring trip for the couple. Luckily it lasted mere minutes as the cars drove through the city streets to meet with the man in charge.
It was a three story government building if the nation's flags flown high on polished poles didn't give it away. They looked around and saw the bustle of life that most cities had, though the slight undertone of fear of what was behind the wall held firm in the people's eyes. They didn't get a long look after that as the soldiers ushered them along with a female soldier taking the lead. They entered and walked up three flights of stairs until finally being let into an office. It was decently sized with a lived in look. Behind the desk in the middle was an average looking man who gave off confidence and authority, telling them they had found Mr. Warmbrunn.
The man ushered the three into seats, which only Gerry accepted. Warmbrunn looked at the other two but just shrugged as he walked over to a coffee pot.
"The problem with most people is that they don't believe something can happen, until it happens," Warmbrunn said. He then poured the three cups of coffee and handed them off. "It's not stupidity or weakness, it's just human nature."
"How did you know?" Gerry asked, not appreciating the hospitality. people were dying and he didn't have time for the song and dance this man wanted to pull. Warmbrunn looked at him and smiled.
"Gerald Lane" he started eyeing the Investigator. "Wrote a self-defeating Jeremiad about his employer, the UN., back in two thousand and ten. Caused a few ripples, Sidelined your career... Thought you'd have parlayed those ripples into a self-righteous book?"
"No nose for profit" Gerry cut the man off. Warmbrunn was showing his knowledge of him and he internally sighed. Every two bit leader always needed to show that they were aware and couldn't be tricked. It was almost always the same shit, just a different flavor that boiled down to bla bla bla, look at my dick, look how big it is, don't try and compare yours to mine. It was all the same shit and he wasn't having it, not when his family was without him. "How did Israel know?"
Warmbrunn blinked as he took a sip of his coffee. "We intercepted a communique from an Indian general. It said they were fighting the Rakshasa, aka zombies, undead, living corpses." Gerry looked at the man in disbelief.
"Jurgen Warmbrunn, High-ranking official in the Mossad, Described as sober, efficient, not terribly imaginative" Gerry pointed out. "And yet, you build a wall because you read a communique that mentions the word...zombie?"
Well, when you put it like that, I'd be skeptical as well" Warmbrunn said before looking up at the two. "Come," he commanded as he got up and walked to the door. Exiting the three followed and walked back to the jeeps. When they did, Warmbrunn waved to the soldiers and spoke in their native tongue. The soldiers saluted and then handed back the couples guns. "Can't have bodyguards without weapons, can we?" He said while hopping into a jeep. Gerry joined him as the couple hopped into the back.
As they drove the man continued his speech, making Akane and Logan blink as they had just witnessed what goes on in a scene change when the dialogue would continue uninterrupted. it was a little jarring as he could have just said everything there but I guess Gerry needed to be where the dead breach the wall for plot reasons.
"In seventy two we refused to fathom we'd be massacred in the Olympics" he started. Akane dropped her head back as she had to put up with this constant world building and reasoning for why they built the wall. "In the month before October 1973, we saw Arab troop movements, and we unanimously agreed they didn't pose a threat. A month later, the Arab attack almost drove us into the sea. This caused us to reevaluate our warning system, and thus we made a change."
"change?" Gerry said with Logan looking at Akane and mimicking the word silently.
"The tenth man," Akane mimed back as Warmbrunn continued. "If nine of us look at the same information and arrive at the exact same conclusion, it's the duty of the tenth man to disagree." No matter how improbable it may seem, the tenth man has to start digging on the assumption the other nine are wrong."
Logan leaned in and gripped Akane's cheek gently. his eyes pierced her as he caressed her face while miming out as Gerry spoke, "And you were the tenth man." At this point the Jeep had stopped though Akane, with a face of longing and yearning, leaned in and kissed Logan before leaning over and breathing on his ear as she mimed out with Warmbrunn voicing the words.
"Precisely," Warmbrunn finished as the couple snorted in the back from their antics. getting out they walked with Warmbrunn and his soldiers into another building as Gerry and Warmbrunn went back and forth. At this point the two zoned out as they waited for the fun to start. The Mossad head led the three through a few doors and eventually out onto a balcony to see his pride and joy. "The Jerusalem Salvation Gates, two out of ten portals to the safety of our city.
It was a crowded area filled with people entering the city. Many were praying, crying in joy at the safety, and a few were singing. Logan and Akane looked at the singers and took a breath as they eyed the wall. The copter they saw before, or perhaps another, flew by and passed the wall on its rounds. Logan checked his rifle and made sure it wasn't jammed. Akane cracked her knuckles as she started to stretch lighty. Warmbrunn walked the three off the balcony and into the crowd itself.
"We would get more points," Logan said looking at the people around them. saving them would be a bonus in the eyes of the Cineplex, thus causing Logan to want to be the good guy.
"No, I want this," Akane said, stretching out her neck. the squelch of a speaker system sounded out and they looked over to see a little girl about to sing.
"It's a lot of life, are you good with that?" Logan asked.
"We can always do the movie over if the completion is needed for you" Akane said. She loved her husband but his need to get the best ending or score sometimes drove her up a wall. Just play the game and enjoy the damn thing, not restart a level thirty times just to do it perfectly. He sighed and nodded as the girl started to sing, the speakers sounding out, and the crowd joined in. It honestly was such a symbol of hope to see as the girl sang beautifully with a big smile on her face. The crowd danced and sang with her as they had found the oasis from the dead all around them. If Logan or Akane were decent people they would have shed a tear.
Gerry was desperately looking for answers from Warmbrunn as Logan and Akane looked at the spot they guessed would be the start. The music rang out somehow louder and louder as the crowd kept singing. Another woman joined the first to duet the foreign song while the Americans just ignored it as they did a few final stretches'. Akane was grinning wide as Logan grew hyper focused from the hell about to be sprung. As the last few minutes passed and Gerry looked despondent at Warmbrunn telling him he had no answers, the investigator noticed the soldiers running around in a panic.
"It's too loud," Gerry said but Akane had something better to say.
"Hey, Jurgen!" she shouted over the crowd. He looked at her as Gerry started to panic. "Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day" she started before looking at the top of the wall. Jurgen followed her gaze and his eyes grew wide. A dead was atop the seventy foot wall looking down at the fresh and healthy living just a leap away. He was soon joined by two more and arms and legs of others could be seen climbing over. "But it sure as shit fell in one" she got out before the first of the dead leaped off the wall.