Chapter 30
The Reunion
Karl was tied up in the pillar and Sharine walked near. They both recognized each other. Sharine smirked, as she was amused to see Karl in this unexpected place. They didn’t tie up Tyler but kept a close watch on him. Tasha and Jake came along with Sharine.
Karl is known in Cassandra for the incident that happened in the farm in a rural area. The children were disappearing in the farm at that time and later the farmers spotted Karl in the barn, when he was holding the headless corpse of the baby.
However, Karl wasn’t the one who killed the baby, although he never really tried to prove his innocence. It was the creature who attacked the girl who was babysitting the baby. The creature devoured the girl and ripped out the head of the baby. At the time, Karl was investigating the mysterious attacks that were happening inside the country.
Nevertheless, everyone in the camp thought Karl was a sick psycho. Sharine was interested in what Karl has to say about Veron’s fall. She knew that he didn’t partake in Veron’s oppression and had many connections with mercenaries.
“Yes, I worked independently from Veron,” said Karl to Sharine. “He even tried to kill me, not because I was against the regime, but because he got freaked out about my methods I use for my work.”
“Yes,” said Sharine, laughing. “I heard.”
“Aye, it’s a shame we haven’t met in Cassandra.” grinned Karl. “I thought assassin business was bit bitchy.”
“Oh?” said Sharine, charmingly. “I’d say you are very lucky I haven’t seen you there.”
“Maybe,” shrugged Karl. “Well, past is past. … Didn’t we all, spend our times in that young men’s playground?”
“No regrets…” said Sharine. “Have done what has to be done.”
Karl laughed aloud; the guards stared at Sharine and Karl suspiciously.
“It is quite a pleasure finally meeting you, Sharine Pestice,” said Karl, his eyes blazing.
“I know you are in a trafficking business,” said Sharine. “It’s a shame that you didn’t die.”
“And I know most of you assassins just stand there and watch, when those six, seven-years-old meet their fate,” chuckled Karl.
Sharine silenced in pain, trying not to think of the memory back in Cassandra, those young corpses in the rustic garbage trucks.
“See… you can’t really blame Veron, he is just a slave making bitch, who didn’t know which way is up,” sneered Karl. Tyler and Jake seemed to be horrified by the conversation. “See, they say infants are not humans. What Veron did with Alice’s Experiment, was for the humanity…”
“You are lunatic,” snapped Sharine, crossing her arms.
“Am I? Ms. Pestice?” sniggered Karl. “Well, the good news is, Veron is dead.”
There was a silence, Sharine frowned at Karl. He just snickered, looking down at the muddy ground. Tasha and Jake exchanged their looks.
“… How do you know?” frowned Sharine.
“I shot him,” grinned Karl. “Two days ago.”
“I have nothing to do with Veron; he was Ms. Polchinski’s case,” said Sharine, coldly.
“See, assassin? I was right about you didn’t I?” said Karl.
“Think again,” said Sharine, coldly, disgusted at him.
“I will,” Karl chuckled. “By the way I thought you were dead in that ship.”
“I managed to survive. Weren’t you shot by Caravel?” said Sharine, smirking. Jake gasped, Tasha twitched his belly.
“…When I tried to dig up the files for Nina Polchinski, I’ve set up a trap for Caravel. I think that made him upset. The bullet went through my chest, about half an inch from my heart,” said Karl. Sharine laughed.
“I think we both have some issues with Nina Polchinski, aren’t we?” said Sharine. She turned around and walked away from him.
She head toward her tent. Tasha followed, grabbing Jake’s hand.
“Oh… oh bye Mr.” murmured Jake and dragged by Tasha.
Karl snorted and struggled to move his arm, getting the sore from it. They have tied him up too hard.
“Who is she, sir?” said Tyler, seeing them leave, astonished at Sharines beauty.
“She is the headmistress in the Assassins’ Chamber,” said Karl. “At age fifteen, she killed fifteen gang members with a nail from a steel shop. When the police spotted her, she was all covered in blood, standing on the pile of corpses.”
Tasha and Jake were tagging along Sharine, asking question.
“What did he do, Sharine?” asked Tasha to Sharine. “You know… back in the day.”
“You really don’t want to know,” murmured Sharine, bitterly.
“Perhaps I am…” said Sharine, breathing deeply. “Sick of this.”
She walked, leaving Tasha and Jake, and entered the tent where Kevin was still being treated.
She was looking at Kevin, breathing softly. He looked a lot better now. Sharine walked toward him, sat down by his side. She looked into his eyes.
“Hi,” said Kevin.
“Hi,” replied Sharine, touching his cheek.
“How are you?” said Kevin.
“Discouraged and feeling cornered.” said Sharine, smiling weakly. “But somehow I’m at God’s mercy, or the curse. The works which I don’t understand, nor do I claim to know. So my beloved, I don’t know much, set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is as strong as death, passionate love unrelenting as the grave. Its darts are darts of fire, divine flame.”
After Alvin left, Nina’s army went down the stair and found the mine carts. They pulled some of them from the side and connected it to the one that was on the track. The creatures attacked them. They fired at them, the roar of machine gun echoed in the third storage below. They tried to get out by riding the cart but more creatures gushed out to them. The army moved slowly, using the cart as a shield, throwing grenades. Their ammos were running low, and they were out of grenades. Nina just pulled the lever down and advanced in full speed; it smashed through the pack of creatures. They used their gurka swords to slash the creatures. But soon they were overwhelmed, the carts had to stop.
“Hold the ground!” bellowed Sarah, standing back to back with Michel.
“There are many rooms… but do not enter,” murmured Nina, pulling the trigger to the creatures jumping toward them. It hit the cart and squealed. The screaming and yelling filled the space. The army formed the circle and fought. That was a time when she realized that there were manholes on the side. She realized what the riddle meant.
Nina got out of the cart hurriedly and gushed to the manhole. She lifted up the lid and looked down to the darkness. The cold air gushed toward her. They were completely surrounded. At the moment, Sarah’s eyes met Nina. Nina smiled weakly and closed her eyes.
“Help us…” whispered Nina and she dropped into the darkness.
“Nina!” shouted Sarah and followed her. Michel and Paul looked at each other and went in too. Stein looked at them and shouted the men to get into the hole. The creatures ran toward them, they all dropped into the darkness.
Moonlight was dim. Among the woods, Alvin turned, sweating, and shot at the dark. There was a howling sound and hurried steps. He used up all the bullets, he took out his knife; it flashed against the moonlight. But he didn’t thought he could take all of them, so he just ran as fast as they can. The cloaking device deactivated as the power ran out completely.
Alvin panted and stopped to catch a breath. Seeing that he is no longer being pursued, he walked for hours and hours. He had no idea where he was, he merely looked at the compass. But he knew he was very near, the terrain was getting rocky. He was very tired, his leg trembling. Alvin took a rest on the spot, almost collapsing down.
Next day, the dawn came and he realized he was at the creek. The magnificent landscape filled the view.
He looked around with the binocular, but there was no sign of the Gilbert and refugees. The creek was deep and vast
. For few days, he searched the area. He captured the fish from the stream to eat. But no one was here, the area was completely deserted.
‘Was he too late? Or did they meet the Assassins’ Chamber?’ he thought.
All the worries were swimming inside his head, but he was too tired to think. He lost his senses and fell asleep under the tree. A moment later, he almost screamed. Someone jumped down from the tree right next to his face. One man pointed the gun at him. Alvin stared at him, but the man didn’t shoot. Instead the man lowered his gun and few other men came out from the woods.
“Always careless,” said Gilbert, smiling. “That’s my pee spot.”
Alvin smiled in relief; he grabbed Gilbert’s hand and Gilbert lifted him up.
“Good to see you my friend,” said Alvin.
“You look extremely awful,” grinned Gilbert.
“How’s Diana?” asked Alvin.
“Oh, she’s getting used to eating food with her fingers,” said Gilbert, chuckling. “By the way, next time, be more specific about the location.”
“I sorry,” said Alvin.
“Yes, shame on you. All my scouts spent time looking for your ass and I came later and still couldn’t find you,” said Gilbert.
Diana was sitting in the chair, hearing the song coming from somewhere in the camp. She didn’t quite hear the lyrics but she could sense that it was a love song. Also she heard occasional clapping and some men shouting from a distance. It was a peaceful.
Diana, closing her eyes, enjoyed the cool evening breeze. Nancy went to the pond to wash Tasha who refused to take a bath for three days. Diana didn’t like that sympathetic look of Nancy toward her. Nancy seemed to be thinking that, (although she didn’t say aloud) either Alvin got himself into more trouble or dead. This made Diana sad.
Tasha and Diana were getting along fine now. Tasha seemed like she was having too much fun in the camp. First the legendary assassin popped out from nowhere and now there was a cannibal tied up in the middle of the camp. Tasha hopped around as if it is her birthday.
Diana just wanted to listen to the cozy song. She just sat down and smiled.
She heard the tent opening up. So she glimpsed at it, thinking that it was Nancy; and she silenced, just staring at the person who just entered. Alvin was standing there, scratching his head.
Alvin had a hard time realizing she is real. The pain swept around his heart and his breathing became much slower.
“Urr… Umm…” he said. Diana suddenly stood up, blushing and started throwing stuff at Alvin.
“Honey, uhh, honey?” muttered Alvin, ducking. He got hit in the face and crouched on the ground. Diana broke and started sobbing. Alvin approached her and she started slapping him. He tried to stop her but she slapped anyway, screaming. He held her and pushed her against the table. She grabbed his head and kissed him.
There was a feast at that night, not only the initial squad survived, but also they’ve successfully have made a wine from the berries. Alvin didn’t tell them about what happened to Nina. He didn’t want to spoil their cheerful mood. Gilbert sensed that the situation was not good but silenced on the matter too. They made a drum out of the skin of the animals.
They gathered the woods in the middle of the camp and set it on fire, the flame rose and the orange warmth spread. People gathered and roasted the meats and biscuits.
“Whooa! How did you made this?” said Alvin, gulping down the berry wine. Gilbert was sleeping on the ground, snoring. “Well… Gilbert enjoyed too much,”
“Good good huh?” said one of them.
“Well, we prepared some dishes that go along with the drink,” said them, offering the various unknown vegetable dishes they’ve made. It all looked gross and weird. Alvin picked one of the red plants and bit it.
“This looks not bad actually…” said Alvin, taking a bite; the men there wanted to find out whether it is poisonous.
“Nope, no way,” said Alvin, frowning, spitting out.
“Are you alright? Are you feeling alright?” muttered one of them, giving out the yellow plants to him. Again, Alvin bit it and frowned.
“No, I don’t think this is alright,” said Alvin, feeling his tongue hardening. He took another gulp of berry wine, hiccupping.
“Well, how about this? Is this alright?” said another, with a little disappointed look. But he turned into a bright face quickly when he handed Alvin a big purple plant with a yellow stripes.
“I will tell you what,” said Alvin, cracking his fists. “Let’s try whether this is poisonous.”
There were shouting and yelling among them. Alvin threw one of them on the table knocked him on the ground. But soon, Diana came and dragged Alvin out from the fight, pinching his ears. Alvin was screaming all the way to the tent.
They seemed to be in such a good mood that they gave Karl a wine and meat; Tyler was feeding him. Karl, red faced, ripped the huge deer leg out of Tyler’s hand and swallowed it. The town girls were dancing around the fire. Catherine was tied up in the camp somewhere, burning with rage, as she tried to shoot Sharine during the party.
Jake wasn’t feeling good; he swallowed the weird plant which Tasha gave him and felt sick, vomiting all over. Nancy thought Jake was drunk; she took him to her tent and grounded him there.
Sharine was just giggling and hugging Kevin on the grass with the wine bottle, pulling his wooden leg and playing it around.
“You are a creep now!” Sharine giggled.
The guitar guy, who was playing since the early in the evening, sang a love song near them. Later in that night, it started pouring cats and dogs but no one bothered to go into the tents.
“No no, you are my mermaid,” said Sharine, drunk, touching Kevin’s lip with her finger.
“Am I?” said Kevin.
“Yes, now flap your fin for me,” said Sharine, smiling. Kevin merely looked her in the eyes; he was completely captivated by her. The rain fell from the sky soaking their bodies. Sharine looked at him silently, she looked extremely beautiful.
“I love you,” said Kevin. Sharine seemed little surprised, but kissed him in the next moment.