Chapter 7 - The Promise

  The four of us walked out of the room, and into the empty hallway.

  “What!” Phoebe screamed. “That dude expects us to walk into this giant area covered with abandoned warehouses. And where eight other people gone missing and be fine with it?!”

  “He has a lot of faith in us,” I said.

  “He should have sent somebody of a higher level. Not us! We’ve only been here for a short while. Sending us there might as well be a death sentence!” Phoebe insisted.

  “We can’t disobey them. Might as well go,” Riven muttered.

  “How can you guys be so calm!?” Phoebe said.

  “You're just overreacting,” Kane said.

  “I am NOT overreacting!”

  “You sure about that?” Kane said.

  Just like that, Phoebe and Kane went into a heated argument. Riven looked unfazed like usual, with his stoic expression.

  He seems unaffected by everything; how does he keep a straight face all the time? Is he even human?

  Before I could continue the thought, Phoebe called my name.

  “You’re on my side, right, Kat? He’s just a bully!” Phoebe said.

  “Don’t bring me into this,” I said, raising my hands in a gesture to surrender.

  Once we got back to the dorm rooms, we went our separate ways.

  “Hey Kat?” Phoebe asked in a solemn voice. “Do you think we’re going to die tomorrow?”

  “Hey, don’t worry about that. We can deal with that when the time comes,” I said.

  “There are still many things I want to experience in life. I don’t want it to end just like that.”

  “You won’t die, I promise.”

  “Thank you, Kat.”

  That night, I couldn’t help but think about what was going to happen tomorrow.

  Are we all going to go missing tomorrow along with the other two groups sent there before us? Am I never gonna see Luka again? Will I be able to keep my promise?

  I kept repeating those thoughts until I fell asleep.

  The next morning I woke up to the warm rays of sunlight shining in my face. A reminder that I might die today. I couldn’t help but drag my feet as I got up to get ready for the day. I fastened my white tie to the suit, put on my shoes, and got ready to go to the cafeteria. Just as I was going to leave, I remembered the hair pins that Luka gave me. I rushed back to my cabinet and stuck it in my hair making a bun.

  Now I’m ready to go.

  I made my way to the cafeteria to get food. Just as I sat down to enjoy my breakfast, there was another announcement.

  “The groups who had received a mission, meet up with your instructor in your designated areas.”

  Ugh, now I won’t be able to enjoy my breakfast.

  Once again, I choked down my food and chugged my milk. I stood up from the table with milk dripping from my mouth, and walked towards the room. I dragged my arm across my face, wiping the milk droplets. One by one, the four of us slowly trickled into the room. Only to face Dante, happy as ever.

  “Ready for your first mission?” Dante asked.

  “More like a death sentence,” Phoebe muttered.

  “Oh c’mon, you should feel excited. It's a chance to earn points and level up!”

  That piqued my interest.

  Kane beat me to it by asking, “How many points do we get?”

  “That depends on the enemy's power level. Only if you survive,” Dante explained.

  “REALLY comforting,” Phoebe said sarcastically.

  “Anyways, no more stalling. Let's go to the investigation site,” Dante said.

  As soon as we stepped outside, Dante ran toward the streets.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” Kane asked.

  “I’m going to the site, stop standing there and follow!” Dante shouted back.

  I thought this would be a short run. But no, we ran for at least twenty minutes through the city. By the time we arrived, we were exhausted, even Riven.

  “What was that for? Couldn’t we have just taken a car?” Phoebe asked.

  “Then you wouldn’t have this chance to increase your stamina,” Dante said. “Now it's up to you guys!”

  “You mean you won’t come and monitor us?” Phoebe asked.

  “Of course not. This is your mission and I won’t interfere with that. The outcome is completely up to you guys,” Dante said.

  Phoebe was dumbstruck.

  “What do you mean you're not coming with us?!” Phoebe started shouting.

  “It means you're on your own. Also you get a phone and all once you're done,” Dante said while handing Phoebe the phone. “Toodeloo, good luck!”

  Dante ran off into the horizon leaving us stranded here.

  “DAANNNTEEEEEE!!!!!!” Phoebe shouted, flailing her arms. “How could he leave us here?!”

  Phoebe went into full lecture meltdown mode. Throwing punches into the air and pulling her own hair.

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  “Should we just leave?" Kane whispered.

  “Yeah,” Riven muttered.

  Riven and Kane turned around and scuttered away, leaving me to follow them. After a few moments, Phoebe realized that we’ve left.

  “Hey! Don’t leave me!” Phoebe shouted while chasing us.

  We stopped and waited for Phoebe to catch up. As I waited, I checked our surroundings. The ground was made of cement. There were two rows of ware houses. Each row containing five, each looked run-down and rusty. But there was something very eerie and unsettling about this place. Even though we were told that this place was abandoned, it didn’t seem abandoned. Almost as if it was being haunted, or someone was living here. There was a small hint of cigarette smoke in the air, though it could have been left by the people previously here. Before long, Phoebe had caught up.

  “You guys can’t just ditch me like that!” Phoebe complained.

  “Maybe if you hadn’t complained so much we wouldn’t have left you,” Kane muttered.

  “I can hear you,” Phoebe said.

  I intervened before there could be another fight, “Lets put that in the past. We have to focus on the task at hand. Let's split up into groups of two, one group will take the left row of warehouses and the other group will take care of the right. After you’ve investigated all the warehouses, regroup here to report anything suspicious.”

  “Got it,” Riven said.

  “Did you two get it?” I asked.

  “I got it, now stop pestering me,” Kane said.

  “Got it boss!” Phoebe said enthusiastically.

  “I can go with Kane. You and Phoebe can take care of the left row,” Riven volunteered.

  “Alright. Just remember to not let any of you partners out of sight. We don’t want any casualties,” I said. “Let's go.”

  As Phoebe and I walked into the first warehouse, it was completely empty. The air was full of dust particles that made it hard to breathe.

  Cough, cough, “This one is a dud, lets go to the next one,” I said while coughing.

  “Yeah,” Phoebe agreed.

  The second and third one also didn’t have any signs of life in it. Though in the fourth one, the air seemed much cleaner. There were actually shelves of boxes in the warehouse. Phoebe even shrieked when she saw a spider, the first sign of life we saw out of the four warehouses. As we searched through the crates, I saw one of them was particularly more dusty than the others. As I wiped the dust off, I could make out the word Crimson.

  I propped the crate open, sending dust flying into my face. As I took a glance, it looked like a shiny river in a box. But as I looked closer, it was a box full of syringes. But not any normal syringe, it was filled with the same blue hue that I’ve seen before. It was morphogen.

  “Hey Phoebe,” I said. “Look what I found.”

  Phoebe walked towards me and gasped at the sight of the morphogen.

  “We have to tell Dante about this,” Phoebe suggested.

  “Yes, we should. But before we do, we have to check the last warehouse first.”

  As we walked towards the last warehouse, my muscles began to tense.

  If there is someone here, then they are either in this warehouse or one of the other five Riven is in charge of. I hope that they are okay.

  I placed my hand on the doorknob. Instead of being cold, it was warm. It sent shivers up my spine even though it was warm.

  There is definitely someone here.

  This whole process is so unnerving. I slowly pushed open the door, with every push there was creaking.

  As I stepped in, I was met with racks and racks of crates. Similar to the warehouse previously. The atmosphere was chilling, giving me goosebumps. I could feel the sensation of Phoebe breathing on my neck. It was unsettlingly silent. With each step my heart beat faster, the wind blowing through the windows did not help with my nerves.

  I slowly made my way to the first crate. Compared to the previous crates, it had only a thin layer of dust. I was just about to open it when Phoebe suddenly startled me by asking me a question.

  “Kat? I have the feeling that we're not alone.”

  She was right. I hadn’t noticed earlier, but there was definitely someone watching us.

  “Calm down, we will leave right after I open the crate and check the warehouse,” I whispered.

  “Okay.”

  I was in the process of opening the crate, when I felt the shift in the air. I quickly turned around and pushed Phoebe behind me. Only to be met with a hit straight to the stomach.

  “You're stronger than you look,” a man said.

  Phoebe screamed as soon as she saw the man. He had the same blue vines coming from his neck like the guy from before. He must have also used the syringe.

  “Come at me,” I said, taunting him.

  He darted forward, even faster than before. Instinct took over once again. Every attack, I blocked.

  His punches are wide and uncontrolled, he hasn’t received any proper training.

  I found my chance to counter as he was loading up his strike. I slid in between his legs and popped out on the other side. Sending a punch straight to his back. But he didn’t flinch.

  He turned his head and said, “Weak, is that all you’ve got?”

  Before I could react, I got punched in the face. As I looked up I felt something warm trickle into my mouth. It had a metallic taste, then I realized that it was blood.

  Ugh, I can’t beat him in hand to hand combat.

  I then realized, I didn’t have to fight him with my fists. I had my hairpins, I had Luka by my side. I pulled them out of my hair, allowing my locks to flow down onto my face. I held the silver pins up and readied my stance.

  “Bring it on,” he said.

  Lunging forward, I aimed the silver pin directly at his stomach. He was winding up for a punch straight for my face. Instead of going through with my stab. I ducked and weaved behind him, sending a stab straight through his chest.

  “AAGGHHH,” he screamed.

  Should I kill him? If I didn't he would continue to attack me, but if I did that would make me a murderer.

  I took too long to decide, the man got back up. But instead of aiming his attack on me, he turned toward Phoebe and lifted her up by the neck.

  He’s trying to kill her. No. She can’t die. I made a promise.

  Her face started turning purple. I dashed forward, only to be stopped by another man who used morphogen. I didn’t have time to hesitate, if I did Phoebe would die.

  Immediately, I ran to the left side of the man. There were two flashes of silver. One pin was launched to the side of his neck, the other penetrated the heart of the other man.

  The resistance of the skin as I punctured a hole through their body made me sick. The feeling as the pins drove through the flesh was squishy. The warm blood splashing onto my hands made me want to scream. The smell of metallic blood was revolting, sickening.

  Both of them dropped to the ground, deep red blood gushing out of the wounds and forming a puddle of red. It sprayed on my face and my tie, tainting it red. It took me a moment to process everything. My stomach dropped, and the realization hit hard.

  I killed another human being. I KILLED A PERSON.

  I stared at my hands, the hands that have been stained with the life of another, stopping their journey. My very own hands. I crouched to the ground and started wailing.

  My muscles burned from all the running. My gut is screaming because of the pain. This was all too much to process. Tears started flowing and dropped to the ground. My eyes started burning too. Every part of my body ached. Phoebe just stared at me, like she’s looking at a monster, not a person.

  I kept my promise to Phoebe, but at what cost?

  I felt my breakfast wanting to come back up. There was a disgusting feeling in my throat. My breathing became heavier and my heart pounded faster.

  I wanted to sink into a hole, never to be found again. But I had to take Phoebe and get out of here. I was about to stand up, but suddenly I was hit in the back of the head by something hard. I fell to the ground and into the pool of blood. The scent of metal filled my lungs, it was overwhelming. My vision blurred.

  I saw a man aiming a gun at Phoebe’s head and another one restraining her still.

  I have to get up. I have to rescue her.

  But my body wouldn’t listen to me, it was giving in. The only movement I could do was raise my hand.

  Right before I lost consciousness, I saw threads. Fine white threads dancing around in the room with a hint of teal. Weaving around the debris surrounding the men.

  My hands felt cold then suddenly warm. There was an electrical hum that vibrated from my chest to my finger tips. There was a slight tug to it in my hands. As soon as my hands landed on the floor, the threads moved. It wrapped around the two men's head and neck.

  Crack.

  Thump.

  Scream.