Chapter 43 The Dilapidated Building

"I"m sad to say I"m not a child of Arcania since I"m not originally from here."
"I know," The man answered Jayson"s retort to him and placed his hand on his back since Jayson refused to take it. "We all know everything about you including the two you left behind on that building you've been occupying since yesterday."
I almost lost my cool and shoved Jayson to the side, my chest was heaving when I faced Melvin. There are so many threats I want to say to him but I realized that"s kind of ironic since Jayson and I are the ones who are in a desperate situation here.
Melvin put his hand on his sides and said, "Hey, calm down. I didn"t send any of my men to that place if that"s what you"re worrying about."
Eyes still wide with fear for Mona and Li, and Jayson still holding my arm to stop me from punching Melvin in the face, I tried to breathe slowly and looked around us. I counted all the men I see in my mind and they"re around fifty or more...
"What do you want from us? Where is my friend?" I asked Melvin. I tried to hide the despair in my voice but my emotions betrayed me.
"He"s safe. There"s nothing to worry," He smiled at me and he raised his hand, bidding for someone to come. Under the dazzling light, I saw Timothy step towards us, unhurt but anxious.
"TIMOTHY!!!"
The second I cried his name, he automatically ran towards me and embraced me so tight I almost couldn"t breathe!
"Oh, goodness you scared me! Did they hurt you?" I asked him, I can"t stop my body from trembling out of fear. Although Timothy"s in good condition, I am still not sure if those people had brainwashed him.
"I-I"m good. They didn"t hurt me." Timothy answered, still embracing me tight. I even felt him kiss my hair. "I don"t know if I"ll be glad to see you here or I"ll be upset because you risk your life again for me."
I broke free from his embrace. "Shut up. There"s no way we can leave you here."
Melvin cleared his throat. All three of us look at him with contempt. "What do you want from us?" I repeated the question because it seemed he avoided it the first time I asked him.
"Let"s go inside first. There is too much to discuss. And don"t worry. We didn"t summon you here to hurt you. We are not the bad guys here, Miss Harriet." He smiled and turned his back on us, expecting us to follow him inside their base.
Timothy and Jayson look at me as if waiting if we"ll follow the guy. But what else could we do? There is no other option here unless we want these people to put holes in our body.
I stepped forward and the two followed behind me, all of us are wary and in full alert, trying to ward off the fear of seeing these men with their killing intent in their glare as we walk past them. We are weaponless, not even having a knife hidden in our clothes or so I thought. I don"t know if Jayson has his own trick to defend himself but before he could even pull a knife, I"m sure all of us are already dead.
We follow Melvin into the old building. The walls are cracked and the roof is partly destroyed with lots of holes in it, making it useless against the bad weather of this place. The vandals on the walls made it look worse as I watched the unhappy faces of these men as we got inside their safe haven.
What made it more interesting is the women in this place are as scarier as the guys around them. They are also armed, wearing sweat drenched leathers, their hairs look like they are not having enough water to wash it, let alone to have enough to clean themselves.
It"s a picture of pure struggle in this place. But why are they still staying here?
"Here," Melvin glanced on his back to check if we"re keeping up on his pace and he opened a door which led us into a wide, almost empty room. The wallpapers on it are already ruined and torn; the wooden floor is creaking under my shoes. Melvin sat on a worn out couch that had a hole on it, revealing the synthetic cotton from its inside. In front of him is a desk, looking old and full of scratch. It was then that I noticed a small dog entering the door and swiftly ran to sit on his lap. It licks his hand and the animal seems very fond of him.
It"s been a long time since I saw a pet dog. I had an urge to call it and feel its fur on my hands.
Melvin must have noticed me staring at his pet so he put down his dog and it moved towards me, wanting attention. It seems tame enough so I knelt down and held its brown fur, its body heaving like it likes being touched by people around it.
The dog barked at me twice and it made me smile as it playfully moved in a circle around me, making Timothy step away from it, surprised by the animal being too skittish in a depressed place like this.
"Her name is Juliet. She"s the star in this building," Melvin said, his smile never left his face while watching Juliet running all around the room. The two bodyguards behind him who are both holding rifles are silent yet looking dangerous and the happiness that Juliet made me feel had quickly disappeared. The reality reminds me that we are still in a hostile area with people who kidnapped Timothy.
"Tell us what kind of business you want with us," Jayson uttered in a threatening voice, his eyes still glaring on Melvin who was still smiling.
"Okay, I guess I can disclose things to you now. I"m sorry we only have one chair in this room,"
"We don"t mind standing. Just please talk,"
He sighs after I exasperatedly scoffed at him and propped his elbows on the desk, his hands clasping as if he"s praying. "I just want to ask why you are all in Zone twenty-three. The last time we watched you being broadcast, you were in Zone four sharing your experience when you all miraculously escaped the airport full of Creepers."
I look at him and thought that there is no use lying on him so I inhaled before I talked, "My parents and me got separated from the airport when the bombing happened. My friends and the military are helping me to get into Zone twenty-eight to rescue them because they are apparently in the third level of the bunker and that place doesn"t have enough resources for its people so the plan is to pull my family from the place and bring them back to Zone four."
"And what happened? I didn"t see any military men with you when we saw you staying in that convenience store,"
Jayson cleared his throat and explained, "The helicopter we used to get in here was shot by people we don"t know, resulting in an ugly landing which killed the pilot. It exploded and the other military that survived the crash with us were killed by the Creepers while looking for a vehicle we could use. We just got to this place and made a stop when we saw the gasoline station which is an amazing coincidence because we are almost out of fuel and the convenience store has all the things we need. We just had to kill the Creepers inside and we all decided to camp for a little while to plan on our route."
I looked at Jayson and was amazed that he didn"t mention about the other two vehicles that we have to meet on the west border of Zone twenty-three, at the end boundary before it enters Zone sixteen. He"s so smart to think so fast. It"s not safe if we give all details to these people when we don"t know any of their intentions yet, if they are against New Arcania or just collecting information to raid bunkers and loot the area.
Melvin smiled. The kind that looked so fascinated from what we had told him. "And you all survived again? You? Five?"
"I know it"s absurd but yes, we survived and we have to go back because we can"t stay here too long. We still have two friends waiting for us back in the gasoline station." I answered, a little frustrated because I am starting to get worried about Li and Mona.
"Fine. That station was one of our targets for supply and we are all surprised after we recognize you all staying in that place. I am curious what led you here and now that I found you, I have something I need to discuss more. I have my men sent to bring your other friends here. And also, to take the stuff that is supposed to be for us." Melvin"s talking about all the supplies in the convenience store. "But don"t worry. We will all share it equally so no hard feelings ok?"
I glared at him, looking unbelievable at how mischievous this guy is!
"I wish your men didn"t hurt any of those two or I"ll swear to god—"
"What? You can"t fight us, Miss Harriet. You have no weapons and no matter how many times you all survived death; I don"t think you need a real miracle to survive all of these men around you. They are not mindless Creepers who you can just evade. These are vicious men abandoned by New Arcania. And now that you"re here, you will all provide us with what you know about these bunkers!"
My teeth gnashed together.
Oh heavens, I knew this would happen...