[21:04 PM]
Danny stepped away from Owen, which surprised Owen. In the middle of their argument, Danny decided to make his move. This was how he stopped it.
"We throw them off, am I interrupting something?" He feigned confusion. He could've stopped their argument by understanding both sides, but he chose to interrupt them in the calmest way possible. Vanessa didn't react. She simply turned away and walked down the hallway where Danny and Owen had been. She continued up to the attic. Owen sighed and followed her, in this chaotic state, he didn't need any more drama.
However, Danny stayed where he was, not getting a response. Alex sat, leaning his hands on his knees, staring at the floor. The silence felt louder than ever. It wasn't until Danny broke that silence and walked over to Alex, then atmosphere shifted. Danny gently stroked his head, but Alex didn't budge, his body stiff, lifeless. Danny noticed the lack of reaction, and sat down next to him.
"How are you feeling? Does it hurt?" He hesitated, realizing how dumb the question sounded. "I mean, specifically, I know everything hurts." He started stammering, realizing he'd asked something foolish. He thought he looked like an idiot, and that he shouldn't have even asked. His mind tangled with his usual overthinking, but soon enough, it stopped. He heard a soft chuckle from Alex, and felt his touch.
"Stop, no more explanations." Alex responded, placing a hand on Danny's head. He looked at him then.
"I'm okay, really. It hurts with every move. My left hand has broken fingers. My lungs tighten with every breath." He stared at a blank point, honestly describing his condition, which didn't give Danny much relief.
"But..." Alex turned his head to Danny. "It's a small price to pay for two lives." A smile spread across his face, and Danny couldn't help but smile back. Danny remained quiet, unsure what to say to something like that. But once again, Alex interrupted him. Sometimes, it seemed like Alex kept talking just to keep Danny from overthinking everything. Every time Danny fell silent, Alex would ask him something, not letting him drown in his own thoughts.
"Now, I need your help." Alex motioned to get up.
"Wait, shrimp." Danny stood up as Alex tried to rise from the couch on his own. Alex winced in pain with every small movement. Danny supported him, wrapping his arms around him from behind, helping him stay upright. Alex gestured toward the table that held the papers and plans they'd seen earlier. There was no chair nearby, and Alex couldn't stand on his own—he was barely able to walk.
"I could've handed you the papers, no need for you to get up." Danny said, but Alex didn't seem to understand what he meant.
"Harding, your brain stopped working. I want to write something down. I'll sit at the table." Trying to distance himself from Danny, Alex attempted to sit at the table on his own, but the sharp pain in his knee almost made him collapse. Luckily, he caught himself on the table, and Danny, still standing a meter away, was quick to steady him.
"You're really stubborn, wait." Danny took control of the situation and, with ease, lifted Alex and placed him on the table. Alex hadn't expected this, but he was thankful. More and more, he was hit by the reality that he was weak and needed help.
"I wish you could accept that it's okay to ask for help, Alex. Right now, you're in this state, and it's on us to help you. Once all this is over, you'll be better. But for now, you have to let us help." Danny's gentle voice was a comfort that Alex truly accepted and listened to.
"You don't let me do anything, it seems." Alex smirked.
"No, now listen to me for a bit." Danny gave his head a soft pat.
"If you want to help me, we have a big task ahead." Alex picked up the papers from the side and looked over them.
"Dan, try to find their maps. Our map will help, but to get past the military units, we need to know their movement paths." Alex asked him.
"You think they won't give up on us after the sabotage?"
Alex heard the question, but it took him a moment to finish reading one of the papers. When he sighed and put it down, he responded.
"Eh. As you said, they expected the soldiers to return, but they haven't. They'll check in the morning. If they find us, we're dead. We need to come up with a good strategy to avoid them, but also to slip between them so we can make it to the lab." As Alex said this, time seemed to freeze, and they both looked at each other. Danny began opening every drawer, closet, and box, searching for their escape route.
"How do we get Vanessa through?" he asked.
"I'll figure it out, if you find anything." Alex continued flipping through the papers, trying to find something useful. Then Danny's shadow stopped him. He looked to the side at what Danny had brought, and Alex was amazed. Danny returned to his search for military uniforms while Alex grabbed an old military laptop. It had a password and a half-dead battery. Alex quickly broke the password and accessed the system, searching through all the headquarters files. He found several lists detailing the locations of armed units around Mosin. Most of them were stationed at the entrance, but what shocked him most was the lab. A red dot marked the location with a danger symbol, and no units were within a kilometer of it. This puzzled Alex further, but he quickly realized what it meant.
"I have good and bad news." Alex got Danny's attention, who immediately moved toward him.
"First, I know where we're going and how to avoid the military. They're clearly avoiding areas where F4 is surrounded by forests, and where fungal zombies could attack. So, we'll take the forest route. The bad news—" Alex was interrupted.
"Wait, wasn't that the good and bad news? Is there more?" Danny stopped.
"What are you surprised about? Things have been going pretty well for us." He said sarcastically.
"Go ahead, surprise me." Danny leaned against the door, resting his head.
"Around the lab, there are no units, which means it's clear for us to pass. However, based on my guess, since the red dot indicates a hotspot for the infection, it's clearly a magnet for the infected. That's why no units are near it—they don't want to risk getting infected and spreading the disease before the entire country is cleaned out. But according to the last report, they're pulling out of all of F4, and 'X-Sentacon' units from outside the country will take over. After that, they plan to bomb the entire country to wipe it clean, as if it never existed." Alex explained everything he had figured out, and now the pieces started to fall into place.
"That's why they planned to scatter us and send two soldiers back to F4 to finish the attack. What a nightmare. Modenia will disappear, and our own government is going to destroy it. Pablo and the whole of F3 are clearly outside all this, and they'll be disposed of without ever knowing what's coming. Damn it. "
"This is getting more complicated. I don't even know where to begin. Try to plot the movement coordinates with our map, but we'll need to sneak into Mosin through the forest. I'll try to find something else." Alex handed the laptop back, still with 30% battery. He had already searched everything. Now he was trying to find the needle in the haystack. He tried to open a few more locked folders when the system crashed and rebooted. But the real shock came from what he saw on the screen.
"This won't be good." Alex couldn't take his eyes off the laptop. Then, he rest his head in his hand. Danny dropped the map and came over to him. When he stood next to Alex and looked at the screen, he was just as stunned as Alex.
"Shit. Fucking shit." Danny rubbed his eyes, feeling as if the world was collapsing in front of him. On the screen was a military alert with the latest information for the F4 district. Their faces were displayed with wanted labels:
"Danny Harding - WANTED (dead/alive)"
"Owen Morino - WANTED (dead/alive)"
"Vanessa Norton - WANTED (alive)"
"Alex Savs - WANTED (dead list)"
"They figured out we're still alive." Alex added. "Go call those two. We need to act fast." As soon as he said it, Danny started heading for the hallway, but before he could reach the door, he already got what he was looking for.
"Because of what exactly?" Owen stood at the door, questioning Alex about what he had just overheard.
"Are you always spying?" Alex asked.
"As needed. Since we're here, it's fair to hear what it's about." With that said, Vanessa appeared next to him. Alex didn't want to continue the argument, so he just ignored her angry scowl. Now, they had much bigger problems to deal with.
"Wait a little bit more. In order for everything to be done properly, you can gather the necessary things you see and pack them with us." He said, moving the laptop aside. "It's an understatement to say that we're in a small shit, it's actually a much bigger one. You will be informed soon about the movement." With that, he finished his speech and grabbed a paper and a pen from the table.
"So, we're in deep shit." Owen confirmed.
"We have zombies on our backs, and the government. F4 will be full of soldiers searching for us." Danny informed them, showing them the laptop.
"Why are they only looking for you alive? And why are you the only one on the blacklist?" Owen stared at the laptop, confused about what was going on .
"I know why. William reported me as the organizer, and that was enough for them to want to get rid of me." He answered calmly, scribbling on the paper. He then added, "Vanessa might know about herself, or am I wrong?" He might have sounded rude, but Alex wanted to push her into speaking.
Vanessa just turned her head. "Oh, sure." She said bluntly and turned away. Alex didn't even look at her, he was buried in papers.
Danny returned to the maps while Owen and Vanessa packed their things. They were divided again, just talking to each other—two light eyes ones and the "nerds." Despite all the tension around them, the biggest was the one between them. It had been about two hours by the time everything was written down. Alex had taken much longer because he didn't have his glasses, but he managed.
Danny called Vanessa and Owen to come back. Now the plan was actually in place. Alex held a paper with all the important locations and plans written down.
"Before I guide you through the movement plan, some general facts need to be commented on." He threw the paper aside and looked at the three of them.
"Let's refresh your memory. The entire state system has turned against us. Of course, this doesn't include Pablo and their army. I assume Pablo didn't know that William and F2 were collaborating with the F4 and government. He told them our plan, and of course, they wanted to get rid of us. They chose to deceive and eliminate us without us even noticing. The whole plan is to spread the infection and declare the country destroyed. They would get permission from the UCS because all the citizens would already be dead from the attack, and we, of course, would be killed too. Then they'd drop the bomb on the entire Modenia. Since they would cut ties with F3, F4 and F2 those would be completely zombified, and in F1, there's already no one left. Their plan would succeed. The government and mercenaries would escape the country, and after the bomb, they'd sell the land. As far as I've found, the country will be sold to Sodenom. They plan to build the largest solar panels and oil extractors, which, as we know, are present here. They probably plan to escape there. No other country knows what's been happening here all this time because the TV broadcasts were destroyed, and on the common NPL channel, there have been fake news broadcasts for a year already, with predictions from the radio stations, to fool everyone." Alex had been studying the situation in the country ever since everything started. He had never trusted anyone completely, and it was this very insecurity that had led them to the real picture of everything.
"So, they really fooled us. EW, man, how could they do something like that? They killed so many people just for damn money." Owen was disgusted, while Vanessa remained silent.
"We have the next step." He grabbed the papers and the map Danny handed him. "Since they are already starting the hunt on us, we need to act quickly. We must react fast because we only have two days, otherwise, it's all over." He paused.
"Two days to stop this, and we're even their targets. This is impossible." Vanessa added then.
"There's no turning back now, we have no other choice. Actually, if they catch you, you'll survive. But we have nothing left but to fight." Owen added.
"Now we'll go through the plan together. If they attack us, I'll be the first to die for sure. That's why I want everyone to understand the plan and finish this without me if necessary." His words were cold and ruthless. Alex wasn't afraid. He knew there were high chances of dying. Maybe the only thing that would haunt him was that he hadn't managed to talk to Danny about the letter, and how the apocalypse had stopped him from doing so.
They all gathered around the table, going through the map and the plan. Marking where they would go, how to track the army, and how to sneak around. They would leave early in the morning, even before the dawn broke, and then head to their fate. There would be no turning back; they had once again chosen to live for danger.