It was late afternoon, and as promised, Ava returned to the meeting room at the Tower's headquarters. Upon opening the door, she was met with a completely dark room, except for a yellow light over the table, faintly illuminating the space.
The commander moved forward slowly, cautious due to the lack of lighting, until she found a lone folder with some files. Pinned to the folder's cover was a sticker with a brief message from Nicolas: "Everything we found."
She picked up the folder, and at that exact moment, the phone on the table rang. Ava answered immediately, certain it was the Containment Center calling about Tahiko.
"Commander?" It was actually Nicolas.
"Yes, Nicolas. Why did you leave early? It's not even completely dark yet."
"We finished everything ahead of schedule, but commander, I already tried calling earlier because, while Cole and I were still there, we got a call from the Containment Center about Tahiko," Nicolas explained, a hint of anxiety in his voice.
"And what did they say?" she asked as she turned to face the city view through the large window of the room.
"That Tahiko agreed to cooperate."
"Did they say when he'll be brought here?" the commander inquired, feeling a sense of urgency.
"He'll arrive at headquarters tomorrow at 10 a.m."
"Anything else?" she placed the folder under her left arm, already intending to leave, when Nicolas added "Oh, yes, one last thing... Everything we found about Rod's connection to the Conclave is in that folder. It's not much."
"Understood, Nicolas. Good night."
"Good night, commander," Nicolas responded before the call ended.
Ava put her phone away, turned off the yellow light in the room, and left calmly, closing the door behind her.
In St. Southwest, sitting on the comfortable sofa of his apartment, Cole stared at the only letter left by his parents, which was on the table in front of the sofa. Next to it, his work backpack remained in the right corner of the furniture, while only the living room light was on, leaving the rest of the rooms as if no one was home.
Cole's focus rested on the last paragraph of the letter:
"Don't worry, son. Your mother and I will return soon, we're already anxious and it might take some time, but don't forget about us."
He read those words silently and took a deep breath, absorbing the silent weight of the memories. He whispered softly to himself "I haven't forgotten."
Far from the Tower's headquarters or St. Southwest, both in Brasília, the night had also fallen, of course, over the city of Campo Verde. At the last block of the town, Saik slowed the vehicle until he parked at the center of a roundabout.
Sixty percent of the city was without power, with another 20% of the lights flickering sporadically. Only 10% of the city seemed to have functional energy.
There wasn't a soul on the streets, nor in the houses—the city seemed deserted, like a typical ghost town.
"How can there be no one here?" Koji asked as he got out of the vehicle, closing the door behind him.
"It seems like only those guys from the station were around," Saik remained seated in the driver's seat, with his door open and his usual relaxed, disinterested expression.
"So, why don't we just move on? What are we doing here?"
"We're sleeping here," Saik replied casually, not even bothering to look up.
"What?" Koji was confused, turning to Saik "But we've got enough gas to make it to Cuiabá."
"We're covered in blood with torn clothes. There's no one in the whole city. Didn't you realize we've got an entire city to ourselves?"
Koji looked around, seeing the darkness dominating the landscape, except for a few sparse lights, creating an eerie and exotic contrast.
"Get in the car. Let's find a house with power, and we'll leave in the morning," Saik resumed his position behind the wheel and closed the door.
The vehicle started moving again. Going only 20 km/h, they drove through the city, observing streets and neighborhoods, searching for a house with normal lights. During the search, the car's communication radio emitted a sync sound, followed by Max's voice, the Operations Center controller.
Brrzz!
"Saik? Koji? Can you hear me?"
"Yes," Saik responded unemotionally, and Koji joined in "We hear you."
"Good... I'm tracking your drive through the city. Looks like you're looking for a house with power to spend the night, right?"
"Exactly."
"Have you noticed three Tower drones following you? They're transmitting data, and based on the information we've received, you just need to go one block and turn at the second right. You'll find a house larger than usual with perfectly functioning lights. It's the house with the most stable power in the area," Max informed.
"One block and two rights, is that it?" Koji confirmed.
"Exactly."
"Alright then," Saik turned the car into the avenue that cuts through the city.
A few minutes later, they were approaching the house. Max was right; the house wasn't small. Saik parked the vehicle in front of the beautiful property, and both of them got out of the car.
"This city might suck, but this house... definitely the mayor's place," Saik commented, sounding impressed as he stepped out of the car.
They carefully looked around; the street was quite dark, as were the other houses. Only a few streetlights were working, and those that still functioned flickered, making the scene even more unsettling and tense.
Saik led the way, walking up the discreet ramp to the door. He turned the knob and saw the inside of the house, well-lit and tidy, a beautiful home. The two entered a bit more relaxed and relieved. While Saik went to get water, Koji spoke up.
"Let's check upstairs."
"The house has power. No need to be scared."
"Just drink that water and come check out the house."
Saik stayed downstairs, drinking water, while Koji went upstairs. Upon reaching the top floor, he was met with a well-lit corridor, full of doors, apparently all leading to bedrooms.
"So many rooms..."
He took another step, and at that moment, déjà vu hit him "Huh?"—he furrowed his brow, confused and deeply puzzled.
Inside Koji, Spherea, who wasn't in her humanoid form, reacted too.
"Who?"
"What is it, Spherea?"
"Nothing, nothing... But what's up, Koji? Walking slowly... are you scared?" Spherea deflected the question in a strangely offhand manner.
"You missed the timing for that joke. Saik already made the fear one."
Koji started opening the bedroom doors, and upon opening the second one, another déjà vu hit, this time stronger. Suddenly, Saik appeared, startling him slightly.
"I can't believe you're actually scared of this house."
"I'm not scared."
"I'm sleeping in this room," Saik pointed to the first room.
"I'll take this one," Koji was already in front of his chosen room, the second one.
They picked their rooms, and each went to their own.
Around 5 a.m., Koji woke up slightly, still trying to keep his eyes closed when he heard a noise on the floor of his room. Less than fifteen seconds later, the noise spread to the walls, which began to resonate with a melodic sound sung by a beautifully high-pitched yet minimally unsettling female voice, accompanied by a faint trembling.
In the room next door, Saik heard the noise and rushed into Koji's room. Upon entering, he was met with a bizarre sight. Koji was standing, just staring at the ceiling.
"Get over here!" Saik shouted.
Before Koji could move toward the door, the room's wall cracked open, and numerous hands, arms, and legs emerged, punching and kicking their way out, accompanied by a grotesque hissing, like zombies.
"What the hell is this?" Koji took a step back, still not fully understanding what was happening.
"They're people!" Saik whispered, looking into the hallway where more bodies were emerging from the walls.
The "zombies" behaved angrily, smashing the walls to escape, but their hisses and disoriented movements made it seem like they were under some kind of trance.
The melancholic, eerie melody grew louder by the minute. Koji tried to move closer to Saik, but one of the creatures grabbed his right arm. Without hesitation, Koji punched the "zombie" in the face with his left hand, sending it flying into the corner of the room.
"WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE? WHY ARE THEY LIKE THIS?" Koji yelled at Saik, amidst the hissing of the zombies and the ever-increasing mysterious sound.
"THEY MUST BE LIKE THOSE GUYS FROM THE STATION. THEY'RE IN A TRANCE, BUT THIS ONE SEEMS DEEPER!" Saik shouted back, amid the various noises in the room.
More zombies charged at Koji, running as if to knock him down. However, when they collided with him, they simply threw themselves against his body, causing no impact, as if they were hitting a solid wall.
Imagine running at full speed and strength to try to push a building, it's the perfect analogy.
"Let's get out of here!" Koji shouted, kicking down the fallen zombies and easily taking out more of them.
In the hallway, Saik shoved three zombies down the stairs aggressively, thinking to himself, "What a bunch of idiots. This trance seems to make them even dumber than they probably are."
"They're fully human, Koji. Despite the trance, nothing about their composition has changed," Saik yelled while casually slapping the approaching zombies away with little effort.
"Yeah, I noticed," Koji replied, also busy knocking down the mindless zombies.
"Aren't you going to use the spheres? They could take care of this," Saik suggested, moving closer to the room's door.
"The spheres only show up against something that poses a real danger to me. These guys don't..."
Suddenly, the eerie melody that had been playing ceased. Koji and Saik exchanged confused looks just as the entire ceiling of the house collapsed in one violent motion. The haunting music resumed almost immediately after.
Koji dove toward the window for cover, while Saik quickly aligned his body with the door, narrowly escaping the falling debris. Rubble crashed down everywhere, crushing the zombies beneath it.
"What an annoying sound..." Koji muttered, covering his ears.
Saik noticed that the music was affecting Koji in a strange way.
"Is the sound getting to him?" Saik thought.
Koji groaned in pain, pressing his hands tightly against his ears. The disturbing melody seemed to hit a breaking point inside him. What had made Koji almost invincible against the zombies now seemed to falter, and he lost his balance, nearly falling back into the room.
"Koji!" Saik shouted, startled by the sudden fall.
Before Koji hit the ground, the spheres appeared, forming a solid base to catch him. He landed softly but was still writhing in pain, his hands clamped over his ears.
"What the hell is this pain...? Aahh!" Koji groaned, the agony increasing.
Saik quickly pieced it together in his mind. "The spheres didn't show up before because these guys weren't a threat, but the sound... the sound made the spheres appear. Where is this coming from? And why is Koji suffering from it while I'm immune?"
The floor of the room began to creak, gradually breaking apart and opening up. The noise was deafening, and Saik realized the obvious "Someone set this up. This was all a trap... for us."