Chapter 51: Fire Alarm

-Serena-

The High General … No, just Mona, was looking at me, her eyes big and her mouth a little open. I knew I had taken her by surprise, and despite being a fantastic liar, she couldn’t come up with anything to say right now. She never expected me to find out the truth, because she had shaped me herself. She had turned me into the perfect little soldier that would do anything she told me to. I would never start asking her questions, she thought. I would never turn my back on her, but here we were. I was turning against her. I had turned against her, and now I wanted answers. No more lies.

“Serena, I have no idea what it is you’re talking about.”

“ENOUGH!” I said and stood up from my chair. “I have had enough …”

“Calm down, and let us talk,” she said.

“Talk? Did you ever give my parents that chance, or did you just kill them without even asking questions?”

I could see it. It was in her eyes. I had thought she might carry some sort of caring feelings, at least towards me, but I was wrong … I saw them turn cold right in front of me, and I knew I saw the true Mona. It was who she truly was.

“They were traitors.”

“They just wanted the war to be over with,” I said. “They wanted to live a peaceful life. They learned who to truly side with.”

“To truly side with?” she asked, smiling a little evil smile. “No.”

“Yes!”

“The wolves are our enemies. They slaughter our people.”

I shook my head.

“Stop it. We both know it is a lie. You just love the power, don’t you?” I asked. “You just wanted to be the one to lead, while you sacrificed the rest of us.”

“Serena …” she said and slowly took a seat again, almost like she had all the time in the world.

“You have been manipulated.”

“Yes, by you. My whole life … I thought the wolves killed my family because that is what you made me believe, but no … You did it.”

“We can’t have traitors among us, you must understand,” she said.

“I do understand. I understand this has nothing to do with saving the humans. It is all about power,” I said.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“But I do, because I fell in love with one.”

Mona stared at me shocked and then got out of her seat.

“What did you say?” she asked angrily.

“I’m done serving you,” I said. “This war ends tonight.”

Mona narrowed her eyes and then grabbed the gun from her belt. She fired just as I jumped to the side. I then did a sharp turn and went for her, crashing into her and knocking her over, so we landed on the ground and the gun was knocked from her hands.

“You killed them!” I shouted just before I punched her in the face. “You will pay for it!”

I punched her another time before she was able to grab my wrist, bend my arm to the side and then land a beautiful punch on the side of my jaw. My head whipped to the side and I groaned in pain before the whole world started to spin, and Mona turned us around.

“I did what I had to!” she said. “I did it for us!”

“You did it for yourself!” I said and spat the blood in my mouth right in her face.

She turned as cold as ice when I did it. If she had truly cared about me at all, then those feelings were gone now. Like she had turned into another person, she landed punch after punch on my face, and it felt like I for a moment could barely focus on where I was, but then I saw her keycard dangling from her hip. I reached out, grabbing it, and it distracted her long enough that I was able to push her off me, and get back up on my feet.

We were both bleeding badly and panting like crazy, as we slowly stood up. She looked like a tiger ready to pounce on its prey, but I was ready for her. As she came for me again, I leaned to the side and tripped her. She lost her balance, and just as I was about to turn and see her land on the ground, I instead heard a loud bang, before she finally landed on the ground.

I stared shocked as blood started to pool from a gaping wound in her head. She had hit her head on the edge of the table before she had landed on the ground.

“Shit …”

I couldn’t move for a few seconds, so shocked by what I was seeing, but then I was finally able to snap myself out of it, and I grabbed Mona’s gun before I stormed out of the meeting room. I quickly found the control room, which I now had full access to thanks to her card. Two hunters stood from their chairs, looking at me confused, and I shot each of them, going for a leg or a shoulder, so I wouldn’t do too much damage. When they were on the ground, I ran to the control panel and looked for the right buttons to push so I could open the gate and turn off the security system, but as I was distracted, one of the hunters was able to push a red alarm button, and then hell broke out. I looked around for the control panel again, knowing it had to move fast now, but then I saw a button that would solve all my problems.

It was a fire alarm.

I reached out and pushed it before every door in the whole place started opening and water came down from the ceilings. I smiled and threw the keycard away and, on the cameras, I could see the wolves come running towards the gate, while some hunters had already reached the exit and were running out. It was not going to be pretty. I knew that. I quickly turned on my heel and ran out of the room and down the hallway, which was one big chaos now. I had hoped I could perhaps get a chance to talk to some of the hunters before the chaos happened, but there was no time anymore.

I took the stairs to get to a higher level, since the elevator didn’t work now, and then when I came to the right one, I stormed down a long hallway, hoping to find my group in their usual room, but it was empty when I arrived.

“Shit!”

I banged my fist against the doorframe before I looked down the way I had come. I had hoped I could reach my group at least, but no, even they had taken off … or so I thought, just as I had run back the way I had come, someone shot at me. I dug and then looked behind me, seeing Elisa running towards me.

“Elisa?!”

She tackled me to the ground, and I hit the wall behind me with my back before I landed underneath her.

“Why?!” she shouted.

“What?”

“It’s you! I know you did this!” she said.

“Elisa, listen …”

“You doomed us all!” she shouted over the big buzzing alarm and the sprinklers that kept pouring water down on us.

“I did it to save us!” I shouted back.

“How is this saving us?!”

At least she was listening to me … sort of. Mona had already made her opinion about all of this. She would never have been able to change her mind. She wanted the wolves gone for her own selfish reasons.

“Because we have been lied to!”

“What?!”

“We have been lied to,” I said. “The wolves aren’t the monsters!”

“Yes, they are!”

“You think I would be here if they were? You really think I would have been able to escape them?” I asked.

Elisa seemed shocked, like she couldn’t quite get it to make sense how I had actually escaped, but she wasn’t going to be convinced that easily.

“No, you’re smart! Clever! You’re a Commander for a reason!” she said.

“You’re right … I am. So, listen to me now!” I said.

“No, they must have turned you against us.”

I shook my head.

“I did this to save us. You have to believe me.”

“No! They killed Vince!”

“We were misled!” I said. “They were never our enemies. The generals are!”

“You’re wrong … You are!” she said almost desperately.

“Please … listen to me … They are not the enemies. Everything we were taught … it’s not true,” I said.

Elisa stared at me scared. I knew she wasn’t ready to believe anything. How could she? It had taken me much longer than a few minutes to be convinced. It would take longer for her too.

“Believe me,” I said.

Elisa pressed her eyes together, looking like she was in pain, and that was my chance. I turned us around, and she stared up at me shocked, before I hammered my gun into the side of her head, knocking her out.

“We will discuss this later,” I said before I got up and threw her over my shoulder.